Refrigeration is its own little world within appliance repair. The presence of a sealed system introduces all kinds of specific knowledge and skills you need to have to properly troubleshoot these machines, from thermodynamics to compressor technology to brazing. And that's not even mentioning the other systems, like airflow and control.

So how do you learn all this stuff? Well, if you want to troubleshoot refrigerators like a real tech, you'll need both brains-on and hands-on training. To that end, here's an easy two-step plan you can follow to jack up your refrigerator repair skills into the stratosphere.

1. Take the online Advanced Refrigerator Repair course at Master Samurai Tech.

If you want a comprehensive course that covers every aspect of refrigerator technology and troubleshooting, it doesn't get more thorough than our Advanced Refrigerator Repair course at Master Samurai Tech (tuition: $425). It will teach you how a refrigerator functions on a deep level, including split-phase, BLDC, and linear compressors, different refrigerants and their properties, sealed system thermodynamics, diagnosing sealed system problems using temperature and pressure, and computer control systems. You'll also learn troubleshooting strategies, identifying what various symptoms imply, and using the schematic to diagnose issues with pinpoint accuracy.

All of this is essential to learn to effectively troubleshoot refrigerators. If you want to fix it, you have to understand it. Click here to enroll in the Advanced Refrigerator Repair course today.

Want a FREE taste of our refrigeration repair training? Click here to download our free guide to advanced refrigeration repair.

That's your brains-on training -- and really, all training is brains-on. All that you need after taking the MST refrigerators course is to get some practice applying what you've learned in the nitty-gritty of the real world. And if you want to do sealed system repairs, you'll need to pick up some manual skills as well, like swaging and brazing. And to that end...

2. Take a hands-on refrigeration training course.

When it comes to hands-on training, we're not talking about disassembly. All you need for that is a bit of basic handiness and a YouTube video/service manual. What we mean by "hands-on training" is to practice applying your brains-on training to real world situations and to learn essential, specialized hands-on skills, like brazing or using Lokring.

You've got various options for hands-on refrigerator repair training. One is to simply practice it yourself. Get an old dehumidifier or refrigerator from a friend or the town dump and practice dumping the charge, brazing in access valves and filter-dryer, pulling a vacuum, and recharging. It's a time-honored method and lots of guys get their hands-on practice this way. 

Or, if you've got the budget for it, there are several in-person options out there that can get you up to speed more quickly.

One that I can personally attest to is Dyer Appliance Academy's weekend refrigeration training course (Tuition: $999 plus travel, hotel room, and food). It's two full days of in-person refrigerator training in a pleasant classroom space. They've got several refrigerator units that you can practice sealed system repairs on, fleshing out your skillset with some experience charging the system and brazing.

Now, a decent amount of time is spent on troubleshooting and thermodynamics, which you will have already mastered in the MST course so it will be a review. They try to offer training that's a full package by itself, but the reality is that it's nearly impossible to learn all the ins and outs of troubleshooting a refrigerator over a single weekend. That's why, ideally, in-person training should come after an online course prerequisite. That way, the full weekend could be spent getting hands-on practice changing a variety of sealed system components and other kinds of training you can't do online.

That said, the instructor, Aaron Wilson, is a knowledgeable trainer who's both experienced and personable. He does a great job of adapting the class material to what the students want and need to learn. So if you go to that class already loaded with troubleshooting knowhow from the MST refrigeration course, he can help you get right to applying that training in the field.

With these two courses under your belt, you'll be able to go toe to toe with any refrigerator problem you face in the field.

If you've had any experience with hands-on refrigeration training yourself, let us know what you thought of it in the comments!

Want to get your journey started right now? Click here to enroll in the Advanced Refrigerator Repair course.