Did You Know?-The ESCO HVAC Podcast

In this energetic, on-location episode, we head to the 2026 United Association ITP Week and Apprenticeship Competition in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Clifton sits down with Ryan, last year's international competition winner turned mentor, and a table full of fourth- and fifth-year apprentices from across the U.S. and Canada. We dig into what it really takes to compete at the state, ...

Live from the UA Instructor Training Program, we chat with Joe Fernandez Jr. about the trade that's increasingly overlapping with HVAC: plumbing. We dig into how heat pump water heaters are reshaping expectations for both plumbers and HVAC techs, and why education and service are driving the transition.

We explore:

• Why heat pump water heaters are already the nor...

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Rob Vilches, training specialist with the United Association (UA), live from the 2026 UA Instructor Training Program (ITP) in Ann Arbor, Michigan. With roughly 2,200 UA instructors on campus and over 400,000 members across the U.S. and Canada, the UA quietly runs one of the largest training operations in the skilled trades.

Rob...

In this candid episode, we sit down with Jess Slade, a fourth-year pipefitting apprentice at UA Local 502 in Louisville, KY. She’s a participant in the UA's Future Instructors program, part of an effort to train the next generation of trade educators from within the apprenticeship pipeline.

We discuss:

• How the Future Instructors program identifies apprentices wi...