Hi, I’m Edgar Ruben Mandujano, and I’m here to share my journey and passion for plant operations with you. At 26, I’ve been deep in the industry for 8 years now, and it all started back when I was 17 at the David L Carrasco Job Corps Center where I got a short introduction to the residential HVAC world.

Over the years, I’ve had the chance to work in a wide range of environments and roles. My career kicked off with a stint as a PM HVAC tech at a university, where I got introduced to the complexities of hydronic systems. Since then, I’ve worked in nine different plants across six companies. From operations in central plants at universities, to working in conventional and combined cycle power plants, and even dabbling in a chow factory for a couple of months, don’t let my age fool you as my path has been anything but ordinary. Currently, I’m involved in a district cooling plant project in the downtown of the mile high city, a thermal storage facility that makes ice which cools buildings throughout the city.

My career has seen me move between El Paso, Texas, and Denver, Colorado twice now due to family personal reasons. While some might view my frequent moves as a downside, and for a while even I did too as it was hard for me to believe I let such great roles like the one with El Paso Electric and Xcel Energy making me even depressed and feel like a failure at times, I see it as a unique advantage now. It’s given me a broad perspective on different plant processes and has allowed me to get out of the operator mindset that “How my plant operates is how all plants operate” at a young age. Each of these experiences has deepened my understanding of the fundamentals that unite all these processes.

My passion for plant operations truly ignited when I was 20 and began exploring the basics of atmospheric pressure through my Boiler Operator trainer at the time Jeff Brown. Up until that point, I was like many operators—getting by with practical knowledge but lacking a deep understanding of the underlying principles. Once I started uncovering these fundamental concepts, my thirst for knowledge grew. I began translating and organizing information from various books and articles into simple, digestible documents. This effort was driven by my desire to make complex concepts accessible to others in the field. My goal has always been to create resources that can turn a high school graduate into a competent plant operator within a year or two. I believe that strong fundamentals make it easier to adapt to any plant, regardless of its specifics. Obviously every plant on its own takes a year or even two to fully understand through the traditional methods of tracing the pipe, and fully uncovering the capabilities of your equipment, but a good operator can be placed in a new plant and be able to operate it in just a couple of months even weeks depending on its size.

I’m not a mechanic, electrician, or I&C tech; I’m simply a plant operator. My focus here is on providing a solid foundation in plant operations, including theory, trivia, and practical insights, and altough a true stationary engineer is supposed to be a “Jack-of all trades” I do not claim to be a journeyman electrician or a millwright and I have found that many building engineers aren’t either, but are competent enough to know what they can and can’t put their hands on. The content on this site is designed to be a resource for operators to enhance their understanding and knowledge. I don’t expect anyone to memorize everything here as even I don’t, but I hope that it helps you recognize and understand key concepts when they come up in your work.

Thanks for stopping by. I’m excited to share what I’ve learned and continue learning alongside you in this fascinating field, which was known for a long time as the Mechanical Engineers Sandbox.