# MD to fluids/Thermo or HVAC



## buick455 (Aug 6, 2009)

I have taken the MD depth twice and failed by a few points mainly due to kinematics and vibration which is not my area of expertise. As a result I am thinking about switching to fluids/thermo or possibly HVAC. I am finding the afternoon problems much easier. Has anyone else stitched and did they also find it easier? Note: I did minor in fluids and thermo in College which also included a year in HVAC courses.


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## cjdecuir (Aug 6, 2009)

I did the opposite, I went from fluids and Thermo, to MD and I passed on my third try. My education and teacher were a whole lot more thorough with MD than they were in the Thermo section though.


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## JoeysVee (Aug 6, 2009)

I'm going from Thermo/Fluids to HVAC


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## buick455 (Aug 10, 2009)

I wonder what the passing rate for the three depths are?

If I were to take the HVAC depth I guess I would need the ASHRAE handbooks which I do not have and do not plan on spending another $500 for just to pass this exam. I will check the library for them but at this point I will probably just stick to MD as I am only a couple points away from passing.


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## MechGuy (Aug 10, 2009)

buick455 said:


> I wonder what the passing rate for the three depths are?
> If I were to take the HVAC depth I guess I would need the ASHRAE handbooks which I do not have and do not plan on spending another $500 for just to pass this exam. I will check the library for them but at this point I will probably just stick to MD as I am only a couple points away from passing.



You can usually find older editions of the ASHRAE books online for much cheaper. When I took the exam, I bought the 1997 Fundamentals book, 98 Refrigeration, 99 Applications and 00 Systems/Equipment book, all for less than $50 each. then when the exam was done I sold them for about the same price, so it was essentially like "renting" the books for the exam.

I would get the Fundamentals book no matter what depth I was taking.


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## Agg97 (Aug 10, 2009)

buick455 said:


> I wonder what the passing rate for the three depths are?
> If I were to take the HVAC depth I guess I would need the ASHRAE handbooks which I do not have and do not plan on spending another $500 for just to pass this exam. I will check the library for them but at this point I will probably just stick to MD as I am only a couple points away from passing.


Or borrow them from a vendor like I did.


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## buick455 (Aug 10, 2009)

MechGuy said:


> You can usually find older editions of the ASHRAE books online for much cheaper. When I took the exam, I bought the 1997 Fundamentals book, 98 Refrigeration, 99 Applications and 00 Systems/Equipment book, all for less than $50 each. then when the exam was done I sold them for about the same price, so it was essentially like "renting" the books for the exam.
> I would get the Fundamentals book no matter what depth I was taking.


Would I need all four books if I chose to pursue the HVAC depth? Also, is there a specific year for each book (s) I should purchase? Is there a good source for these? Also did you take the HVAC depth and if so did you use all four books?


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## nashbmattPE (Aug 10, 2009)

buick455 said:


> Would I need all four books if I chose to pursue the HVAC depth? Also, is there a specific year for each book (s) I should purchase? Is there a good source for these? Also did you take the HVAC depth and if so did you use all four books?


2006 Refrigeration

2007 HVAC Applications

2008 HVAC Systems and Equipment

2009 Fundamentals

if you can get the CD with 2009 Fundamentals print the idex for easy reference to all 4 books


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## chaocl (Aug 10, 2009)

buick455 said:


> I have taken the MD depth twice and failed by a few points mainly due to kinematics and vibration which is not my area of expertise. As a result I am thinking about switching to fluids/thermo or possibly HVAC. I am finding the afternoon problems much easier. Has anyone else stitched and did they also find it easier? Note: I did minor in fluids and thermo in College which also included a year in HVAC courses.


If I am you that I will stay with the MD because you are just missing a few points and you are familiar with it. However, if you do more partice problems that you should timing yourself.

Always missing by a few points in 2 tries that might because of you are using the same steps to getting the answer always. You should getting more partice problems from different books (because they might have the similar type of questions but using different method to solve)

My point might not be 100% correct because I wil take my PE first time this Oct, 2009. I might getting even less questions correct than you. However, I using that to prepare my FE exam and other university finals...It works well.


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## Kephart P.E. (Aug 10, 2009)

The MD problems did seem very hard to me too.

I did Thermal and Fluids, (passed) but I really didn't have much trouble with the few HVAC that were on the exam.

I think I passed because I know the Fluids stuff forwards and backwards. I understand the Thermo stuff but I didn't know it well enough for the exam. You definetly need to be very comfortable with one or the other.

I think you would need some HVAC References to take along.


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## JoeysVee (Aug 10, 2009)

If you take the HVAC depth, you will need all 4 ASHREA books. I'm using the 97-2000 versions. They definitely do NOT need to be the latest versions. I think if I were buying a used set I wouldn't go with a set earlier than 1990 but that just me.


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## MechGuy (Aug 11, 2009)

JoeysVee said:


> If you take the HVAC depth, you will need all 4 ASHREA books. I'm using the 97-2000 versions. They definitely do NOT need to be the latest versions. I think if I were buying a used set I wouldn't go with a set earlier than 1990 but that just me.


I agree.

I remember doing many sample problems (and some on the actual test) where I had to look up information that can really only be found in these four books.

Joeys is spot on, I think any edition from the 90s-present would work just fine. You can probably find early 2000s editions for pretty cheap.


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