Mechanical Engineering -- HVAC Tips and Hints

[Delories1]

Hello all. I'm new to the board. Also dealing with a time difference as I currently reside in Europe for work. Been out of school for a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time and I have recently set the goal of conquering this beast that is the PE exam. Where do I start? I'm working on getting enrolled in the School of PE course in the fall. I heard PPI's materials are good though. Can anyone recommend the books they found themselves using during the exam that yielded a successful result? Thanks so much for your help!!!

 

[starquest]

Welcome to the board.

I'd advise following Ramnares' study approach here.  Although it was initially intended for TFS, it has been a proven method for all three ME exams.  Here is one for HVAC specific...note the similarities with Ram's approach

I have no experience with the HVAC PM portion, but have run across a few threads discussing the additional resources needed.  Looks like you will need the ASHRAE code books at a minimum.  I'd highly recommend scanning thru the first 5 or so pages of this Mechanical PE prep forum to start.  There is a lot of great info here on different study approaches, required references, etc.  

When I was starting out early this year, I went through all 35 pages of this forum and bookmarked every thread pertaining to specific questions within the references I was using.   It was a common occurrence for me to get stuck on the same questions that others were stuck on prior...so this enabled me to gain assistance in a very timely fashion.   Prepping for this exam is all about time management.  Not just time management during the exam, but how to utilize your preparation time in a very effective and efficient manner.  

Focus a lot on TFS and MSM questions in prep for the AM test.   I'll share that originally I was very nervous about the HVAC questions for I had zero background in this area.  By the time of the test, I thought the HVAC breath questions were the easiest of all and actually the most enjoyable.   So what I'm getting at is the MSM and TFS questions will kick your butt on the AM if you only focus on HVAC and don't study the other areas adequately.  

 

[MikeGlass1969]

I too was out of school for 19 years before taking the PE first time this past April 2016. I passed first time.  HVAC people need to be proficient in Thermal Fluids as well as HVAC design.  I took a local class here in the states.  It certainly helped as there is a vast amount information that must be covered for the exam.   I would definitely buy the NCEES practice exams (TF and HVAC),  PPI MERM text, PPI MERM Practice Problems and the  Six Minute Solutions practice exam.  I worked all the problems in the exams and started the problems in the PPI Practice problems, all the thermal fluid and hvac sections.  I did not practice many Mechanical systems problems other than what was in the exams.  This is where my class helped me review.  But with that said Mechanical systems was my best subject in college... 

Good luck on your exam.  You trying the Oct exam 2016 or April 2017?

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

I was out of school 19 years as well.  I took and passed the exam last fall.  I decided to review some of the math sections in the front of the MERM.  Actually, there are some relevant engineering problems there, and the bone-up on math won't be time wasted, IMO: but to be clear, there is no calculus on the exam.  There are some diff-eq related equations (motion, trajectory, etc.), but you won't need to be doing math centric problems, such as "derive this equation from this" etc.  Follow Ram's approach.  Add in the HVAC specific references and get reacquainted with mollier and psychrometric charts.

 

[johnnyl507]

Definitely the ASHRAE reference books will come in handy for a few problems. Familiarize yourself with mollier and psychometric charts, they will save you a lot of time. PPI's unit conversion book was really helpful. While reading from MERM is helpful, what helped me the most was just doing problems. It's hard at first, but once you get on a groove, don't stop! PPI's practice tests are definitely much harder than what you would find in the actual test (they prefer over-preparing you).

 

[Delories1]

I too was out of school for 19 years before taking the PE first time this past April 2016. I passed first time.  HVAC people need to be proficient in Thermal Fluids as well as HVAC design.  I took a local class here in the states.  It certainly helped as there is a vast amount information that must be covered for the exam.   I would definitely buy the NCEES practice exams (TF and HVAC),  PPI MERM text, PPI MERM Practice Problems and the  Six Minute Solutions practice exam.  I worked all the problems in the exams and started the problems in the PPI Practice problems, all the thermal fluid and hvac sections.  I did not practice many Mechanical systems problems other than what was in the exams.  This is where my class helped me review.  But with that said Mechanical systems was my best subject in college... 

Good luck on your exam.  You trying the Oct exam 2016 or April 2017?

I'm trying for the April 2017 exam. Only because I want to get the stress of merely applying out of the way well in advance. I also am trying to get my job to fund it. So that takes a while also. Thank you for the wealth of information. You all are awesome! My best friend of 25 years pointed me to this board. She passed it on the first try in Environmental Engineering just last year.

 

[Delories1]

You all are amazing! I can't thank you enough. You are helping calm the butterflies. Ok...time to start stacking books! As we say here in Sicilia...Grazie Mille!!