This video is brought to you by Sporland. Quality, integrity and tradition. All right. we are free of our rain for a short period of time here in Southern California and now it's time to clean up a bunch of messes.

So in the midst of all the crazy rain that we got, we had several service calls that we had to come out and just get them operational. Uh, because it was just a little too difficult to be working in the freezing rain. I Realize other places that deal with low ambient temperatures on a regular are probably laughing at us, but it is what it is, right? So the other day, uh, about four days ago it was pouring rain. It was actually snowing here too.

And I got a service call on the walk-in cooler right here this first compressor. What had happened was the capillary rubbed out for the low pressure side of a dual pressure control and it dumped the charge. Okay, so I'll throw up a little clip right now. uh of you know, just some stuff that I shot real quick.

It's one of those nights it's raining outside. Had a failed pressure control doing a quick repair for the night. Pulled a quick vacuum. We're going to come back and change the dryer I Don't want to open up the system any more than I had to because it's raining.

Luckily the factory has the factory charge written down. It's 14.4 pounds so just got to charge it up. But gotta love the rain right? So and uh, you know Bind I didn't have a dual pressure control on my truck I only had a low pressure control I threw a low pressure control on here and then just capped off the high side. So today we've got to recover the charge, put a dual pressure control change the dryer which I didn't do the day that I did this because I didn't want to open the system any more than I had to.

it was only open right here and granted it pulled probably some atmosphere in it. didn't pull that much. So I pulled the vacuum. All right, put this guy on, pull the vacuum and then just charged it up.

Well today we got to finish that. Then in the meantime, we've had a refrigerant leak on this walk-in cool or walk-in freezer right here. so we've got to dig into that a little bit. That's been going on for a while and then today, it's like one thing after another.

This guy right here was stuck in Defrost and the pressure control is bad. So the defrost clock was stuck at 5am and uh, the pressure control wasn't shutting off the compressor so when I put my gauges on it, it was at negative 17 PSI and the compressor was pumping its little heart away. So we got to dig into that. But first and foremost, we're gonna get going on this guy right here.

and we're gonna get this guy, the gas recovered out of it, and get this one finished up the walk-in cooler and then we'll move on from there. I'm gonna have other people here with me today too because they also have a couple heaters on some of the package units that aren't working. so I don't know what I'll get footage of, but it's going to be a long day. For whatever reason, we don't have clean power up here so there's convenience receptacles on a bunch of the ACs and they're not getting the right voltage.

I took the cover off that one I I reset There's a couple Gfcis around here I reset all the gfcis and we're getting like 89 Volts for some reason, so something's funky with that so I hate to have to do this, but uh, I had to use my cheater cord or my Widowmaker which these aren't the safest things in the world, but sometimes you got to do what you got to do. Um, so we're gonna hopefully recover this gas real quick, but we got to verify we have the proper voltage. All right. My method of purging the lines is: I'm going to open this up.

Open this up I Open the high side already. So we've got gas right here and it's stopped. It's coming out when I open this. it should start feeding right here because I left this loose.

There we go. That's how we purge it and then just tighten it on and then now we know that all the gas that we recovered is going to be clean. This is a Clean vacuum down recovery cylinder too, so we should be good to go. I'm going to put a scale under this guy.

We'll weigh the charge as we're recovering it and we'll go from there. I'm not going to open up the low side yet and I still got to turn the compressor off too. So I'm gonna go ahead and hit recover and I'm going to turn the breaker off for the compressor so we make sure that it doesn't turn on. So System A is what it is.

System A: walk-in cooler right there. All right, we're moving along now. Um, this. uh, this other compressor over here that the defrost clock was stuck on looks like we might have a flooding TXV too because the whole compressor is just Frosty but this guy also just turned on.

Um, so it's still bringing the box down to Temp but it's running. It's already in the 40s so we're gonna wait for it to satisfy and see if the Txv's calms down. Um, this guy right here also has a leaking receiver that we're in the process of quoting I Was possibly just going to do it today, but since there's uh, we were also checking TDS across the coils and two of the Txvs don't seem like they're giving great TDS right now, but we're also flooding so we're gonna give it some time. That's probably going to be a problem for another day because if it's coming down to Temp, we'll leave it.

I'll just bypass the defrost clock temporarily and we'll finish with the walk-in cooler. more than likely. All right. It's a cold day so we're having a hard time getting all this refrigerant out of the system.

We're just hovering at 0.5 we're riding about 12 pounds six ounces. I Know that there's 14 in there because I just put it in like two days ago. The dryer is all Frosty up there and the receivers got frost on it. So we've got oil and we're having a hard time boiling the refrigerant out of all the oil.

So what we could do is take like a MAPP gas torch and heat things up or you just let it run longer and longer. You can tell because when you shut this down, notice that it rises and it continues to rise because it's slowly boiling out. But the recovery machine is pulling much faster than it boils out of the oil. so that's why the pressure goes so low so fast.

So we just kind of let it keep going. It'll get there, it just takes some time. I Went ahead and put these caps on because these valves always leak on the tops. So when we're doing the recovery process, we're trying to coil all that pull out refrigerant out.

We don't want to be pulling air in through these caps, so put those on nice and tight. We'll just let it keep running All right. We're still struggling to get the last pound out, but I think I'm just gonna have to proceed. We just need to change a flare dryer and do the Dual pressure control so we're not going to actually uh um well.

Anyways, yeah, that's what we're going to get started on it so it just has the tiniest bits still in there. but it'll be okay, so we're gonna go ahead. I Went ahead and hooked this guy up. hit it on the purge.

Got everything out of this machine that I could so we should be good to go. Kind of doing this on the fly, but the high side. we might run into a problem because it looks like we kind of came up to 15 psi. but uh, I never really opened the low side to Atmosphere so that's kind of cool.

so that makes the evacuation a little bit easier. We're still going to pull an evacuation, but if we're not opening it to Atmosphere it's not going to be as big of a deal because we're probably just pulling the refrigerator. so just got to do the high side real quick. Lube it up with some Nylog right here, and then lubricate the flare.

Slap it on right! We're changing the dryer over there and getting ready to pull a vacuum on. This guy got this guy installed. We need to set the pressure control real quick, so I'll work on that right now while they're changing the dryer over there. All right.

As we were changing the dryer, just like I thought there was just pockets of refrigerant stuck in the system because we had a good bit of liquid come out. but we had zero pressure on the gauges so there's just little pockets when we were changing the dryer. But we got a new boiling catch-all and Scoreland see all sight glass down below and you see that the the indicators yellow. That's because it was open to atmosphere and it should change as the refrigerant starts flowing across it and it realizes that the system's dry.

We're currently pulling an evacuation right now. Um, this. Uh, I'm pulling through my gauges because the system was always in positive pressure, right? So we're just going to do a quick vacuum through the gauges. Don't see a need to hook up the true blue hoses? Then before we're done, we'll have to go through and do something to secure these to prevent them from rubbing out again because that's what happened.

We'll put some silicone or something on them. Uh, yeah, and that's where we're at. So it's holding a pretty decent vacuum. It pulled down and it shut off now and both these guys are open.

So this is the true system vacuum. It's holding at about 914 microns. That's pretty good for Decay Again, the system never went into like atmosphere, never entered the system really because it was always venting out a little bit of refrigerant the entire time we did it because of that trapped refrigerant in the oil. So at this point we're going to go ahead and get ready to charge this guy up.

I'll turn off the vacuum pump and uh, you can still see it's still holding there. So we're gonna go ahead and close these guys up and then, uh, we'll um, be able to start charging it I Turned off the system breaker and we're just dumping the liquid refrigerant in from the liquid Port which has a dip tube going down into the high side. We're putting as much gas into the high side as we can and then we'll turn the system on and meter it in through the low side if necessary. All right.

We got the low pressure control on this one. changed the see-all sight glass. the box is satisfied I went ahead and labeled it. Everything is good so we're done with that one now.

We're doing a lot of other repairs that I actually am not filming. I've got guys fixing leaks on the walk-in freezer. We went ahead and did an emergency replacement of the Dual pressure control on this guy right here because it was not shutting the compressor off and it was when I got here this morning. it was a negative 16 vacuum and not running.

it was a problem. So because the time clock had failed, it was stuck in defrost all this stuff. So that's going to be a Uh, we got to do a lot more work to that. We actually need to change the liquid line receiver and possibly change some expansion valves downstairs.

That's a problem for another day. We got it going. We changed the pressure control. Uh, the charge is fine for now, so we'll submit the quotes necessary for that one.

now. Normally when it comes to this stuff I like to quote everything, but like the Walking Cooler, we couldn't because that was an emergency, but this one. we did the emergency repair without quoting it, putting a new pressure control, but everything else will quote will follow the proper procedures. The walk-in freezer.

There's no quoting that either because that has to be fixed. We have an understanding with our customers that walk-in coolers walk-in freezers I don't need approval. Even if I have to change a compressor, just do it. Usually I'll send them an email or a text just say hey, we got a bad compressor.

We're in process of changing it and they're good with that so we're fixing those without even asking for permission. Uh, the walk-in freezer. The liquid line rubbed out on some lines in the Attic So I've got two guys down there I went ahead and pumped it down for them, opened up the low side and they're down there fixing that guy right now so that's it for this one. We will catch you all on the next one.

Okay, so I wouldn't say that this was anything spectacular. this was just a really quick video and and you know there's a there's another thing that I should point out: I don't film all my service calls I'd probably say I might film a third of them. Okay, because there's times that I can take the time and and work through a project and film it. and there's other times when I'm just neck deep in it and I just don't have time to pick up my camera.

Okay, so there's a good majority of the times that I don't film things I've been trying to Make a Better Effort of doing like the short form content when it's one of those times where I can't film it. So funny thing is, that's how this video started I didn't think I was going to make a video about it because it was raining outside and I didn't I couldn't really hold my camera while I'm trying to get the equipment going. But long story short, about two and a half weeks ago it is March 8th right now. maybe two weeks ago something like that.

I was supposed to be on the HVAC overtime show on Friday evenings we do that. So this was a Friday evening. We had a special guest Eugene Silverstein from um, uh Esco and he's one of the authors of the racked manual refrigeration and air conditioning. Technologies Anyways, we were supposed to have J uh Eugene on the show and we they actually did.

but I wasn't able to make the show okay, this is where I was I was. It was a long day of service calls. Okay, so this was the last call of my day. Walking cooler not working.

Drove down there. it was pouring rain. It kind of let up a little bit when I took that clip. but it was raining.

It was snowing everywhere. that was in the midst of all the craziness. So um, when I got there, the system was completely out of gas and it's like oh, great. Here we go and right away I found a giant leak.

The capillary for the low side of the pressure control rubbed out and it dumped the charge out. Okay, so all right cool. I can fix this, go down to my van, grab a dual pressure control and I don't have one and I'm like for real man, you know? So then I'm like, well just give me a high pressure and a low pressure because sometimes I have those I only have a low pressure I do not have an individual high pressure I'm like man that stinks Well I Got to make a decision here. The system needs a low pressure control to run because it's a pump down system now.

You should always have a high pressure safety on it too. I Took a risk I Don't encourage any of you guys to take this risk, but I took a risk and I ran it without a high pressure control. That is not ideal, but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. I didn't want to open up a supply house.

it was only for a couple days. I knew it was going to be cold, but there was still the potential that there could have been compressor damage, had a condenser fan motor stopped working or something, and the high pressure control being out of the picture would have caused a problem. Okay, so do as I say not as I do, but I went ahead and removed the high pressure side and went ahead and put just the low pressure control on there. Now some may ask, hey, you could have welded it, you could.

Yeah, I could have, but this was the easiest and this was the fastest. Okay, so I pulled the door pressure control out. it was completely out of gas, put a low pressure, tighten it up, pulled a vacuum on the system, and then just recharged it. Now here's another thing.

There's a common misconception that you can't work when it's raining and the reason why people think that is because you don't want to pull moisture in a system, right? You don't want to open a system up when it's raining outside because there's a lot of moisture in the air, right? It's going to suck into the system, ruin the compressor oil and that happens. Well, this is. Refrigeration Okay, in a perfect world, Yeah, you don't work in the rain, but Refrigeration doesn't break down at the perfect time, right? It breaks down at the most inopportune time and it hits you when it really hits you right? So in this situation, it's pouring rain outside and I have a broken low pressure control I Got to do what I got to do. Okay, so I slapped on a low pressure control, vacuumed the system down I did not change the dryer because I knew I was going to come back I didn't want to have to open up the system any longer than it was already opened up for.

Okay, so I didn't want to do that that night. Went ahead and let the existing dryer and here was my thought. Process was I pulled a vacuum on the system the existing dryer because I didn't think it was plugged up and then I later found out that it wasn't would go ahead and clean the system up as best as possible. then I come back a couple days later and I recovered the entire charge and changed the dryer.

Now the funny thing was because you guys saw in the video that it was actually so cold outside that we were having pockets of liquid refrigerant stuck all over the system that were randomly releasing. So I knew that there was 14 pounds in there. but I could only pull out 13 in some change. and then when we're pulling the dryer out even though my gauges said zero PSI zero PSI we got to Puff a liquid coming out when we un, you know, undid the dryer and so there was still liquid refrigerant in there.

you know, in different little places, displacing any potential atmosphere that was going to get into the system. now. I was really quick about it and I changed the dryer, added the Dual pressure control. never really let the system come into a negative pressure or atmosphere come into it as all kind of in a positive pressure.

and there's a way that you can tell that okay, if you guys ever open up a liquid line, especially if it's a flare. Okay, because it's a lot easier to open up a liquid line after you've pumped a system down. If you put your head in the right direction and you just look at that open liquid line right with no dryer in it, you'll actually see the refrigerant Vapors coming out of the system. Surprisingly, the system's actually off gas for quite a bit of time, even when you pull a recovery right now.

That is another reason why. Per EPA guidelines, when you recover refrigerant, you pull down way into the negatives I Don't remember the exact number, but they want you to pull down way into the negatives to ensure that you get all that trapped, uh, vapor and potential liquid Pockets out of the system. Okay now I use that to my advantage when I went back to do the repair because I just pulled a quick recovery, went and swapped it out real quick, and then pulled a vacuum on it and everything went good. Okay, so just things to understand.

You always want to try your best. you always want to. You know, do the best for the system and the best for the customer. But you also have to understand that sometimes things happen and you have to get it fixed when it's in refrigeration.

we need that equipment fixed ASAP because they don't want to lose 15, 20, 30, 40, 50 000 worth of product depending on how big the walk-in is. Maybe even more. Okay because there's strict Health standards I say that and I kind of joke. Inside, there's strict Health standards.

A lot of these places don't follow the strict Health standards, but this restaurant does. but it is kind of funny when I say that. but there's strict Health standards and um, you know you got to make sure that food doesn't go above a critical temperature for too long. Okay, so I did my best I got the system back and operational and like I said, this wasn't an amazing video, but I thought it was important because people need to see that you do have to work in the most inopportune times.

Sometimes right? sometimes you do have to work in the rain, right? I happen to keep like canopies in my van when it's rainy season or winter I keep an easy up in my van I could have gotten that out, but I didn't think that it was that critical. Now if I had to change a compressor or something like that, Yeah, I would have gotten the easy up out and I would have positioned it in a way that I could work without getting soaking wet. but this was a just get it running. It was a, uh, not a big picture night, but it was definitely a big picture repair when we came back later.

Okay, uh. Also talked about the agreements that I have with my customer when it comes to walk-in coolers, walk-in freezers, and critical pieces of equipment I know what needs to be fixed. okay I have agreements and understandings with my customer If I have a walk-in cooler that's down, a walk-in freezer that's down, or even a beer walking that's down, it has to be fixed ASAP if it's completely down, I have approval to get it going even if I got to change compressors, my customers that I work with are just like just get it done. There's no sense in wasting hours sometimes trying to get approvals when they're inevitably gonna approve it right.

A walk-in cooler. Walk-in freezer. beer. Walking with my customers is a critical piece of equipment.

It's important that you all understand what your Agreements are with your customers okay and set those things up. If I have a customer that loses a main exhaust fan I'm allowed to fix it If I got to change a motor If I got to put bearings on it, belts. Whatever. I'm allowed to do it because exhaust fans can shut down the restaurants.

Okay, where you have to start thinking logically is when you have non-critical exhaust fans like a restroom exhaust fan or something like that. Yeah, the customer probably doesn't want to put a motor in that they'd rather replace the fan. It leaves my customers okay. So understanding what you're working on and thinking big with your head, call your service manager say hey, You know what? dude, we got a walking cooler down.

This is critical. Like do we have to go through the approval process Or can we just do this? Let your service manager or the hierarchy of your company make those decisions, but make sure that they're communicating with your customers to find out what you guys are approved to do in an emergency situation. Okay, now this particular restaurant, the management isn't really involved in anything. The management calls to say hey, it's broken But other than that, I'm dealing with the corporate office and I'm not dealing with the management very much I Do courteously, just let them know hey bad compressor, hey refrigerant leak I got you up and running.

We'll be back to finish it later like I'd give them a heads up just so they know what's going on in the restaurants. But for most of my customers, the on-site manage judgment is really there for the customers and not so much there for me the vendor. because of the type of a vendor that I am I actually work for the corporate office and have direct phone numbers with 24-hour communication with people at the corporate office. So I can call and wake people up at night time just like I'm on call.

Certain people at the corporate office are also on call, so I can call them and say hey, we got a big critical issue. This is what I got to do, you know? But I try not to wake people up because I have an understanding with most of them. All right? Another thing is that when it comes to supply houses, yes, I could have opened a supply house up in this situation, but I didn't deem it to be an absolute necessary thing. Again, it sucks that I was working late at night.

The last thing I want to do if I don't have to is make a supply house. Um, counter guy, come in and open up a supply house. Now on the refrigeration side for people that don't understand I work with 24-hour supply houses. Okay, my refrigeration supply houses are open 20 or they will open 24 hours a day.

They have emergency after hours on call people. so I can't just go to the supply house at two in the morning I there's a process I have to call a phone number I'll get a call back. They'll check their inventory status and you know when it comes to opening supply houses I try not to do it if I don't have to, but sometimes you do so make it worth it. Okay, so you know I'm not going to open a supply house for something stupid, but if it's a major something that I gotta fix, I'm gonna do it.

I'm going to do my due diligence though majority of my supply house is at least all my refrigeration supply houses. I have online access to their inventory. so I'll go online and I'll research to make sure that they have the product that I want before I waste their time, wake them up, call them so then they're like hey, okay, let me check status and I say hey, look I already checked status. you have three in stock.

Here's the part number you can verify I'm heading, you know and then I'm already on my way to the supply house hoping they'll meet me as soon as possible. Okay, so not a spectacular video, but I did think there was some value in it so I went ahead and made it and pushed it out here. I Really appreciate y'all making it to the end of the video. Thank you so very much! If you haven't already, please, please please subscribe to the channel.

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uh I Will uh catch you on the next one? Okay.