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Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Technology, Cengage International Edition, 10th Edition

Eugene Silberstein, Jason Obrzut, John Tomczyk, Bill Whitman, Bill Johnson

Copyright 2026
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Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Technology, Cengage International Edition 10th Edition by Eugene Silberstein/Jason Obrzut/John Tomczyk/Bill Whitman/Bill Johnson

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Overview
Meet the Authors
What's New
Features
Table of Contents
Pricing

Overview

Silberstein/Obrzut/Tomczyk/Whitman/Johnson's REFRIGERATION & AIR CONDITIONING TECHNOLOGY, CENGAGE INTERNATIONAL EDITION 10th Edition, offers hands-on guidance, practical applications and a solid foundation to understand modern HVAC service and repair and environmental challenges. Content aligns to industry standards and emerging technologies, providing skill-building activities to prepare for certifications and exams. Focused on sustainable technology, emphasizing new technologies and green awareness, the text features the latest advances in the HVACR industry, including hundreds of new and revised figures and images. The authors cover soft skills and customer relations issues that professionals need to master to succeed in the industry. Real-world examples, photos and Service Call features bring key concepts to life and help students develop the knowledge and skills to succeed in today's dynamic industry.

Meet the Authors

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Eugene Silberstein

Since entering the HVAC industry in 1980, Eugene has taken on many roles ranging from field technician and system designer to company owner, teacher, administrator, consultant and author. Eugene is currently the Director of Technical Education and Standards at the ESCO Institute. Eugene has twenty-five years of teaching experience and has taught air conditioning and refrigeration at many institutions including high school vocational programs, proprietary post-secondary institutions, and community colleges. In December of 2015, Eugene retired from his tenured teaching position at Suffolk County Community College, in Brentwood, New York, to join the ESCO Group and relocate to Southern California. Eugene earned his dual Bachelors Degree from The City College of New York (New York, NY) and his Masters of Science degree from Stony Brook University, (Stony Brook, NY) where he specialized in Energy and Environmental Systems, studying renewable and sustainable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, biomass, and hydropower. He earned his Certified Master HVAC/R Educator (CMHE) credential from HVAC Excellence and the ESCO Group in 2010. Eugene also carries ASHRAE’s BEAP credential, which classifies Eugene as a Building Energy Assessment Professional. He is also an active member of many industry societies.Eugene has served as the subject matter expert on more than fifteen HVAC-related educational projects. His most notable work is Cengage Learning’s Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technology title, which is now entering its 9th Edition (2021). This book is used in more than 1,000 schools both in this country and abroad to help individuals master the skills they need to install, service, troubleshoot, and design HVAC/R equipment.

Jason Obrzut

In 2002, Jason Obrzut graduated from the HVAC Technical Institute in Chicago, kick-starting an accomplished career in the HVAC Industry. Jason began working as a service technician and, within a short time, became an installation supervisor, and ultimately a business owner. While working during the day, he returned to the HVAC Technical Institute as a part-time, evening instructor. Teaching quickly became his passion, and he scaled back on working in the field to focus on teaching full time. While teaching, Jason developed, wrote, and implemented the curriculum that is currently being taught at the school. His dedication to his students and the institution was evident and he soon became the school’s director of education and lead HVAC/R instructor.

John Tomczyk

John Tomczyk received his associates degree in refrigeration, heating, and air-conditioning technology from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan; his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan; and his master’s degree in education from Ferris State University. Mr. Tomczyk has worked in refrigeration, heating, and air conditioning service and technical writing consultation for both the academic and industrial fields for numerous years -- enabling him to bring a wealth of experience to this text. His technical articles have been featured in many HVACR magazines and journals. Mr. Tomczyk is also the author of TROUBLESHOOTING AND SERVICING MODERN AIR CONDITIONING AND REFRIGERATION SYSTEMS. Mr. Tomczyk has 29 years of teaching experience at the Refrigeration, Heating, and Air-Conditioning Technology program at Ferris State University and is a member of many HVAC/R trade organizations.

Bill Whitman

Bill Whitman contributed a wealth of academic expertise as well as industry knowledge to this book. Mr. Whitman graduated from Keene State College in Keene, New Hampshire with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Education. He received his master’s degree in School Administration from St. Michael’s College in Winooski, Vermont. After instructing drafting courses for three years, Mr. Whitman became the Director of Vocational Education for the Burlington Public Schools in Burlington, Vermont, a position he held for eight years. He spent five years as the Associate Director of Trident Technical College in Charleston, South Carolina. Mr. Whitman was the head of the Department of Industry for Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, North Carolina, for 18 years.

Bill Johnson

Now retired, Bill Johnson has taught heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration for more than two decades in various technical colleges and factory schools. A graduate of Southern Technical Institute, a branch of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, he has also served as service manager for a major manufacturer for six years. Mr. Johnson owned his own HVAC/R business for 10 years and has been a member of the Refrigeration Service Engineers Society and the American Society of Heating Refrigerating Air Conditioning Engineers. His authoring credits include three major textbooks on the market today as well as their ancillary materials. He has also written monthly articles--BTU Buddy--that are available online.

What's New

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Technical coverage has been updated to include leak repair requirements and EPA regulations for AIM Act alignment, low GWP, A2L information, ASHRAE-classified A3 refrigerant information, system evacuation without the use of a gauge manifold, general refrigeration retrofitting considerations and guidelines, combustion air, compressor testing and Chilled beam technology.
System references include new-generation refrigerants such as HFC replacements. New refrigerants are referenced in new figures and diagrams. Expanded refrigerant content includes information on the refrigerant numbering system, azeotropic and near azeotropic blends and general refrigeration retrofitting considerations and guidelines.
The text includes new commercial ice machine content that reflects some of the many technological changes that have taken place in the commercial ice-making sector.

Features

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The authors have carefully aligned the text to the National Skills Standards for HVAC/R technicians, creating an excellent resource to prepare students for certiﬁcations and exams, including ICE, NATE, HVAC Excellence, RSES, HARDI and United Association (UA) STAR.
Safety topics include safe workplace surroundings, working in confined spaces, personal protection equipment (PPE), first aid, ladder safety, fire extinguisher usage and heat-related injuries.
Reflecting their importance to the industry, the text includes expanded content on topics including specific volume, specific gravity and density, R-value, U-value and calculations, systems with combinations of metering devices and indoor fan motor control.
The text includes information on capacitor testing, fan-cycling devices, scroll compressor efficiency and piston metering devices, combustion and high-efficiency furnaces and combustion air, Temperature Difference (TD) and compressor testing and chilled beam technology.
Find all the information students need to prepare for technician certification, along with an introduction to all the key organizations that support both voluntary and mandatory technician certification for the industry. A special section is dedicated to career opportunities available in today’s HVACR field.
Coverage of key green organizations and their goals familiarizes students with current and emerging plans to establish green buildings and green mechanical rooms throughout the country.
A special section dedicated to professional preparation includes a comprehensive list of career opportunities available in today’s HVACR field.
A unique technician Service Call feature showcases real-world scenarios to help students develop a service mode of thinking and encourage them to apply what they’ve learned in practical ways.
Updated leak repair requirements and EPA regulations, as well as information on system evacuation without the use of a gauge manifold.
At the request of many instructors, the end-of-unit summaries have been removed from the text. Many instructors felt that students were relying on the summaries instead of reading the actual units. In addition, instructors felt that the summaries, in many instances, provided the answers to the end-of-unit questions.
Completely re-aligned content (all units) where unit objectives clearly align to the major unit topics as well as to the review questions at the end of each unit. This alignment is provided to instructors in the for of a Content Verification Grid (CVG), which is provided as part of the instructor resource material.
Unit summaries can be found in the instructor resource center. This arrangement allows instructors to control access to the summaries, so students can use them as a study aid, when appropriate, rather than a primary source of information and substitute for chapter reading.
The text includes expanded content on workplace surroundings and personal protection equipment (PPE), including new material on first aid, heat-related injuries, and confined spaces, as well as expanded coverage of ladder safety and fire extinguisher usage.

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SECTION I: THEORY OF HEAT.
1. Heat and Pressure.
2. Matter and Energy.
3. Refrigeration and Refrigerants.
SECTION II: SAFETY, TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT, SHOP PRACTICES.
4. General Safety Practices.
5. Tools and Equipment.
6. Fasteners.
7. Tubing and Piping.
8. Leak Detection, System Evacuation and System Clean-up.
9. Refrigerant and Oil Chemistry and Management—Recovery, Recycling, Reclaiming, and Retrofitting.
10. System Charging.
11. Calibrating Instruments.
SECTION III: BASIC AUTOMATIC CONTROLS.
12. Basic Electricity and Magnetism.
13. Introduction to Automatic Controls.
14. Automatic Control Components and Applications.
15. Troubleshooting Basic Controls.
16. Advanced Automatic Controls—Direct Digital Controls (DDC) and Pneumatics.
SECTION IV: ELECTRIC MOTORS.
17. Types of Electric Motors.
18. Application of Motors.
19. Motor Controls.
20. Troubleshooting Electric Motors.
SECTION V: COMMERCIAL REFRIGERATION.
21. Evaporators and the Refrigeration System.
22. Condensers.
23. Compressors.
24. Expansion Devices.
25. Special Refrigeration System Components.
26. Application of Refrigeration Systems.
27. Commercial Ice Machines.
28. Special Refrigeration Applications.
29. Troubleshooting and Typical Operating Conditions for Commercial Refrigeration.
SECTION VI: AIR CONDITIONING (HEATING AND HUMIDIFICATION).
30. Electric Heat.
31. Gas Heat.
32. Oil Heat.
33. Hydronic Heat.
34. Indoor Air Quality.
Section VII: AIR CONDITIONING (COOLING).
35. Comfort and Psychrometrics.
36. Refrigeration Applied to Air Conditioning.
37. Air Distribution and Balance.
38. Installation.
39. Residential Energy Auditing.
40. Typical Operating Conditions.
41. Troubleshooting.
SECTION VIII: ALL-WEATHER SYSTEMS.
42. Heat Gain and Heat Loss in Buildings.
43. Air Source Heat Pumps.
44. Geothermal Heat Pumps.
SECTION IX: DOMESTIC APPLIANCES.
45. Domestic Refrigerators and Freezers.
46. Room Air Conditioners.
SECTION X: COMMERCIAL AIR CONDITIONING AND CHILLED-WATER SYSTEMS.
47. High-Pressure, Low-Pressure, and Absorption Chilled-Water Systems.
48. Cooling Towers and Pumps.
49. Operation, Maintenance, and Troubleshooting of Chilled-Water Air Conditioning Systems.
50. Commercial Rooftop, Packaged, Variable Refrigerant Flow, and Variable Air Volume Systems.