A commercial refrigeration technician keeps walk-ins, reach-ins, display cases, ice machines and condensing units cold in restaurants, grocery stores and cold storage sites. They mix emergency calls with planned maintenance, track down leaks and failed parts, and record every pound of refrigerant they add or recover.
By the HireBus team · Updated · Pay data: BLS, May 2025
Median pay, HVAC and plumbing contractors · BLS, May 2025
Refrigeration Install & Service - Refrigeration Technician
Company Name:
[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]
Department:
Operations
Reports to:
Service Manager
Location:
[INSERT LOCATION HERE]
1. Position Summary
You'll keep restaurants, grocery stores and cold storage sites cold. You'll run repair calls and preventive maintenance on walk-ins, reach-ins, display cases, condensing units and ice machines, fix problems on the first visit when you can, and keep an honest record of every pound of refrigerant you add or recover.
2. Essential Duties and Responsibilities
Diagnose and repair walk-in coolers and freezers, reach-ins, display cases, condensing units and ice machines.
Troubleshoot defrost cycles that won't start or end: iced coils, failed heaters, timers, termination controls and drain line heaters.
Find and repair refrigerant leaks; recover, evacuate and charge systems; and log every pound added or recovered.
Run preventive maintenance visits: clean condenser coils, check drains, gaskets and door heaters, descale ice machines, and record box temperatures.
Replace compressors, fan motors, expansion valves, contactors and controls.
Write clear tickets: what you found, what you did, parts and refrigerant used, and what still needs a quote.
Explain findings to the store or kitchen manager, and protect their product while you work.
3. Key Tasks / Daily Activities
Review your calls and phone stores with arrival times.
Run [4–6] calls, mixing emergency repairs with scheduled maintenance visits.
Check in and out with the store manager and, where required, the customer's portal.
Ask the store to move product when a box must come down, and confirm temperatures are dropping before you leave.
Order parts and restock your truck at the end of the day.
4. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Calls fixed on the first visit: [your target].
Repeat calls on the same equipment: [your target].
Maintenance visits completed on schedule: [your target].
Tickets complete with refrigerant records: [your target].
Billable hours: [your target].
5. Required Qualifications and Skills
[3+] years of commercial refrigeration service.
EPA Section 608 Type II or Universal certification.
Electrical troubleshooting with meters and wiring diagrams on contactors, motors and controls.
Brazing with a nitrogen purge, leak detection, evacuation with a micron gauge, and charging.
A refrigeration or mechanical license, if your state or city requires one.
Your own hand tools and a valid driver's license with a record your insurer accepts.
6. Preferred Experience
Rack system experience in grocery stores.
Ice machine manufacturer training.
Experience with electronic case controllers and remote alarm monitoring.
7. Physical Requirements
Lift and carry tools, parts and cylinders up to [50] pounds; team lift compressors and coils.
Climb ladders to rooftops, and kneel or lie on your back to work under cases and in tight spaces.
Work inside freezers and on hot roofs.
With or without reasonable accommodation.
8. Work Environment and Schedule
Field-based in a company service truck across [your service area].
On-call rotation for nights, weekends and holidays: [schedule].
Work in occupied kitchens and stores, following each customer's food safety and site rules.
Longer days in hot weather, when condensing units fail more often.
9. Compensation and Benefits
Pay: [range and hourly or salary basis].
Additional pay: [overtime, bonus or incentive terms, or none].
Benefits: [health, dental, vision, retirement, paid time off, and when they start].
10. Company Culture and Overview
[Two or three sentences on what your company does, the area you serve, and the support a new refrigeration technician gets in the first 90 days.]
11. How to Apply
[Apply link or email]. Our process: [phone interview, in-person interview, and next steps]. Contact [hiring contact] if you need an accommodation during the application process.
Need help filling this role? HireBus posts the ad, Iris interviews every applicant by phone before you do, and you decide who to hire. Start hiring now
The equipment holds someone else's food, and each hour it runs warm puts that food at risk. Federal refrigerant rules reach most of the systems a tech opens, and the ticket is part of the repair.
Reach-ins and walk-ins can need different EPA types
EPA sorts Section 608 cards by the equipment they cover. A reach-in or under-counter ice maker that left the factory sealed, holding no more than five pounds, counts as a small appliance. Servicing it takes Type I. Field-built walk-ins, remote condensing units and racks take Type II. Universal covers every type. So a tech with only Type II isn't certified for sealed HFC reach-ins. Propane (R-290) reach-ins and self-contained ice machines are exempt from these federal rules. Source: 40 CFR 82.152: Definitions, including small appliance and technician (Cornell LII).
Leak limits for older and newer refrigerants
Two federal rules decide when a leaking system must be fixed. Equipment charged with at least 50 pounds of R-22 or another ozone-depleting refrigerant falls under 40 CFR 82.157. Since January 1, 2026, HFC equipment charged with at least 15 pounds falls under 40 CFR 84.106. Both use the same yearly trigger: leaking over a fifth of its full charge for store and cold storage refrigeration, three-tenths for industrial process systems, and a tenth for comfort cooling. Repairs generally come due within 30 days. Source: 40 CFR 84.106: HFC leak repair and records, from January 1, 2026 (Cornell LII).
The ticket is the owner's compliance record
When an outside contractor services an HFC system of 15 pounds or more, 40 CFR 84.106 says the contractor hands the owner a record. It names the equipment and where it sits, the date, the parts worked on, the work done, who did it, and the type and pounds of refrigerant added. The owner works out the leak rate from it and must hold on to the records for three years or more. A vague ticket leaves your customer exposed. Source: 40 CFR 84.106: HFC leak repair and records, from January 1, 2026 (Cornell LII).
The store's product is on the clock
A walk-in freezer full of meat or a dairy case near closing is stock losing value by the hour. The tech decides fast whether product has to move, helps the manager plan it, and stays until the box is pulling down. If an account uses a check-in portal or remote alarm monitoring, have the tech log arrival and departure there and read the alarm history before changing any setpoint.
Some states license the technician, not only the company
Massachusetts requires a refrigeration technician license for refrigeration work over 10 tons in total. Applicants send a Universal certification card and proof of apprentice hours and approved schooling, then pass a state exam. From November 9, 2026, every applicant needs a 450-hour course the state board approves and at least 6,000 hours as a licensed apprentice. Rules elsewhere differ. Ask your state board and each city you serve what a tech needs. Source: Mass.gov: Apply for a refrigeration technician license.
How much commercial refrigeration technicians make
The closest BLS group for commercial refrigeration technicians is heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $28.86 an hour ($60,030 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s about the same as the $61,010 median for heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in all industries. About 297,290 of the 409,670 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in that survey work for HVAC and plumbing contractors.
Hourly with overtime is typical. Stores call at night, so decide what a tech earns for each week on the phone and the minimum paid for each callout, and write both into the offer.
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$60,030$60,030 median Middle half $47,790–$75,510 10th–90th $38,920–$93,790
All industries
$61,010$61,010 median Middle half $48,360–$77,060 10th–90th $40,050–$95,210
$30k$40k$50k$60k$70k$80k$90k$100k$110k
10th–90th percentileMiddle halfMedianAnnual pay, May 2025. Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics.
Annual pay by percentile
Group
10th
25th
Median
75th
90th
HVAC and plumbing contractors
$38,920
$47,790
$60,030
$75,510
$93,790
All industries
$40,050
$48,360
$61,010
$77,060
$95,210
BLS doesn’t publish pay for refrigeration contractors on their own. These figures cover plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractors, which include them. Post a real range for your market in the ad.
Skills to hire for, and what you can teach
Hire for these
Diagnoses defrost, airflow, charge and control faults on cases and walk-ins with gauges, probes and a meter
Finds leaks with an electronic detector, bubbles and a standing nitrogen test, then proves the repair held
Swaps compressors, valves and driers on low-temperature systems and leaves them dry and tight
Writes tickets with the equipment, refrigerant type and pounds that the owner's records need
Talks a kitchen or store manager through a product move calmly
Holds a Section 608 card that covers both sealed units and field-built systems
Teach these on the job
Your customers' check-in portals and alarm monitoring screens
The case and rack controllers your accounts run
Each ice machine brand's cleaning and diagnostic steps
Your refrigerant tracking and leak rate tools
Service steps for A2L and CO2 equipment, through maker courses
On top of gauges, a meter, a recovery machine and a vacuum pump, a refrigeration tech carries a refrigerant scale, a probe thermometer for box and product temperatures, an ice machine cleaning kit, and a laptop or app that talks to the store's case and rack controllers. Name the controller and ice machine brands your accounts run.
Two of the 6 questions we'd ask, and what a strong answer sounds like. Ask every candidate the same questions, and rate each answer on your own before you compare notes.
Situational · Protecting product
A walk-in freezer is down at night, and the part you need won't be available until morning. What do you do?
A strong answer: Tells the manager honestly, helps protect product using the company's options (moving it, temporary cooling), leaves product safety calls to the store, makes any temporary fix only if it's safe and legal, and books the return.
Behavioral · Explaining findings
Tell me about a time you explained a repair to a kitchen or store manager who was in a hurry.
A strong answer: Kept it short and clear, explained the impact on their product and the next steps.
Pull last year's work orders before setting targets. Supermarket routes and restaurant routes run differently, so keep separate targets for each.
Calls fixed on the first visit
Count a call as fixed when the box is back at setpoint before the tech leaves, from work orders. Code calls waiting on a quote approval or a maker's part apart, so they aren't scored as misses.
Repeat calls on the same equipment
Calls back to the same case, walk-in or ice machine for the same fault inside a period you choose, such as a month. Flag repeat leaks separately; they also push up the owner's leak rate.
Maintenance visits completed on schedule
Planned visits finished in the month the agreement calls for, out of those due. Check that each report has coil, drain, gasket and box temperature notes, not just a signature.
Tickets complete with refrigerant records
Tickets with refrigerant work that list the equipment, refrigerant type and pounds added or recovered, out of all such tickets. Review a handful each week before invoices go out.
Billable hours
Hours billed to customers out of hours paid, from timesheets and invoices. Track on-call nights, drive time to far sites and training on separate lines so the comparison stays fair.
Does a commercial refrigeration technician need EPA certification?
Yes. Anyone whose work could let refrigerant escape needs a Section 608 card. That includes hooking up hoses and gauges, charging or recovering, changing parts on the circuit and cutting into a line. The template lists Type II or Universal. If your techs also open sealed HFC reach-ins or under-counter ice makers, ask for Universal, or Type I and Type II together. The card doesn't expire.
How much does a commercial refrigeration technician make?
Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers who work for plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors earned a median of $28.86 an hour ($60,030 a year) in May 2025, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The middle half earned between $47,790 and $75,510 a year. Pay also depends on your local market, experience and overtime.
Do EPA leak rules apply to CO2 refrigeration systems?
Not the federal ones covered here. EPA's Section 608 rules exempt carbon dioxide in any application. The 2026 leak repair rule covers HFCs and other refrigerants with a global warming potential above 53, and EPA lists CO2, or R-744, at 1. That doesn't make CO2 work simple. Its tools, controls and safety steps differ from HFC systems, so send techs through the maker's training before they service one alone.
How is a refrigeration technician different from an HVAC technician?
An HVAC tech cools people. A refrigeration tech keeps product below a set temperature, often below freezing, around the clock. That brings work HVAC techs see less of: defrost heaters and timers, case controllers, door heaters, low-temperature compressors, racks with many circuits and ice machines. Many techs cross over, but an HVAC tech needs time on reach-ins, walk-ins and racks before running refrigeration calls alone.
Do refrigeration technicians work on ice machines?
The template lists them, and restaurants expect it. A factory-sealed ice maker charged with five pounds or under is a small appliance under EPA rules, so sealed-system work on an HFC unit needs Type I or Universal. Much of the job is cleaning, descaling and sanitizing on a schedule with the maker's approved products, plus water filters and bin controls. Maker training, a preferred line in the template, covers each brand's fault codes.
What should a commercial refrigeration technician job ad include?
Name the kinds of accounts, such as a grocery chain, restaurant groups or cold storage, and whether racks are part of the work. Say how often the tech is on call and how callouts pay. Say which EPA card you need and whether you'll pay for the Type I or Universal exam. Mention the refrigerant tracking you use, and whether techs keep the service van overnight.
