Top Operator

Top Operator

Adelaide-based Nathan Budarick, M.AIRAH, is a research and development technician/engineer for Seeley. 

Responsibilities 

Every day can bring something different, from discussing/designing concepts, testing/building these concepts, field-testing prototypes, all the way to helping commercialise products. 

Passions 

Innovation and creating energy-efficient solutions that can be manufactured in Australia.  

Finest professional hour 

Getting my first conceptual prototype built and running reliably, then working on it being built into a saleable product. 

Important lessons  

Taking shortcuts will always catch up with you; putting in the time and effort pays off. 

Whom do you most admire? 

Frank Seeley, M.AIRAH, for always having a passion and drive for innovation.  

Dream sabbatical 

To travel overseas to study and do research with a university at the forefront of refrigeration or HVAC development 

What is your motto? 

You know what they say about assumptions! 

Greatest personal achievement 

Winning the SA Worldskills Refrigeration competition and being able to represent TAFESA at the national competition in Sydney in 2018. 

Favourite film 

Currently Top Gun Maverick, a solid action film. 

Favourite website 

Google.com – where I can find any information I need! 

Coming in a close second would have to be engineeringtoolbox.com 

How would you describe yourself? 

Quiet but driven. 

Define success 

Being able to work on or with something you are passionate about while still making ends meet. 

Favourite Ecolibrium cover 

Favourite recently would have to be the “Critical mass” cover of June–July 2023 – both for the aesthetic of the concrete and reinforcing the idea that thermal energy storage will become a fundamental component of decarbonisation and load-shifting. 

What does AIRAH membership mean to you? 

An AIRAH membership means being up to date with the innovation and information of the Australian Refrigeration and HVAC industry. 

2023 Summer issue

This article appears in ecolibrium’s Summer 2023 issue

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