Ah, it's time to chill out and get ready for a mediocre Q a live stream. If you're old enough, grab yourself your favorite adult beverage and if you're not, stick with apple juice. put your feet up and relax. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the chat.

and now let's cue up the intro music. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you Hello everybody Hopefully you guys are doing all right. I'm doing okay just another Monday you know, just uh. catching up with everything I Had a nice weekend I was able to kind of put pause on everything I wasn't on call this last weekend and my wife Jill and I um actually went to a wedding this weekend and it was really cool.

uh, not HVAC related but get kind of sentimental here. So we got to go to a wedding uh for a mutual friend that my wife and I both had. This person actually introduced my wife Jill and I um some 20 something years ago we were all in high school and this particular person who was getting married she basically had a convenience introduced me to my wife because her current boyfriend at the time didn't have a car and I had the car so they would always ride with me. but it was weird because I didn't have a girlfriend so we'd go out together.

and anyways, long story short, she introduced to me to my wife so it was kind of Full Circle to be able to go to her wedding And it was really neat so we got to spend some time away and I encourage everybody out there. you know, with all this busyness and craziness we have going on at work, you know I'm again I'm telling myself more than I'm telling you guys, take the time and spend time with your family and this is something that I've had to realize and I struggle with all the time is actually stepping back and going to spend some time. Uh, you know it's it's one of those things that it's really easy to get caught up in work and life and everything and not pay attention to the important things in life and that's your family. So again, I'm talking to myself more than I'm talking to you.

but maybe you guys can get something from that too. So it was cool. but I hope you guys had a good weekend. hope your week started off nice.

I know Mondays are always a little bit rough so Let's see we got going on in the chat. Um, right on. Yeah, the weather here is pretty nice. It's still kind of cool.

We still had some rain last night uh, probably been in uh, the mid 60s all day long and then overnight. it was probably in the high 40s so it's still kind of cool. but it's you know it's it's going to be warming up here in the next couple months. I Think we have another storm coming this week.

uh sometime this? Friday I think possibly I know up in Northern California they're getting a lot of weather and I think we might get the tail into some of that. um, let's see what else we got going on in here. Uh, if you guys have questions or things that you want me to cover, uh, feel free to show, throw them in the chat. Okay, whether it be on LinkedIn Facebook or YouTube I can see them all I'm not streaming to Instagram tonight because I have some video clips and stuff that I want to play that they wouldn't be able to see so that would be awkward.

Um, so when you do put them in the chat though, put them in caps lock. It helps me to be able to differentiate between questions you're asking me and questions that you guys are just having as a conversation within the chat. That's one of the cool things about this chat and my streams. And you guys, the audience um is y'all are great and you all tend to help each other.

I already saw some of it in the chat before the stream. people are answering people's questions. it's really cool. So um, if you do have a question that you want to try to get onto the show, your best bet is to shoot me an email before the show.

if you shoot me emails now I'm not going to check my email as the show is going on. you can try to put them in the chat again, put them in caps lock, helps me to see them if I miss it, just uh, remind me and I'll throw it in the the live stream for next week. So definitely do that all right. Reading through the chat right now and then of course I Can't help but stare at my phone when I see work orders coming through and yeah, no big deal.

Okay, that is not an important work order. All right, so let me see. Yeah, if you could, please smash the Thumbs Up Button um or I I'm sorry Dave G made a good point. Don't smash your thumbs up button.

Don't smash your mouse, just click the thumbs up button. It definitely helps out the stream. Okay, I was actually talking to Dave G on the phone before or a couple hours ago. We were having a cool conversation.

Just about some problems that we run into. It's really neat. the um Community we've been able to create and uh, you know we all help each other out. I'll reach out to my friend Dave G sometimes he'll reach out to me and then there's several other people that will communicate back and forth and it's really neat.

It's kind of cool because we can all lean on each other and ask each other questions and this is a great community and I'm thankful for all of you! So um, welcome to the HVAC videos Live! Uh Eddie Great! that's awesome! Eddie Bought a hat and I do appreciate that if you guys are interested in purchasing hats. I haven't announced it on social media yet other than doing it in the video but I did just get a whole new stock of the hats so we have plenty of the large extra large and the small medium. If you're interested in purchasing any hats, go to Hvacrvideos.com It's a great way to help support the channel. Keeps my wife Jill busy because that's what she does is process the merch orders and make sure that they get delivered and taking care of all that stuff so it helps.

So I do appreciate y'all and let's get on with this stuff right? Um, so I had a lot of great questions. come in and uh, have to have a little video clip that I made because I get some really repetitive questions. so I'll be showing that here in just a little bit. Um, you know one of the common questions I get is how come I don't use um you know a Turbo Torch how come I don't use a Captain Hook brazing rod and all these different ones? Um I'll be honest, the reason why I don't use a Turbo Torch that's a really on uh common question I get a lot is because I have issues.

okay and I don't like the noise that a Turbo Torch makes. That's I mean that's the real main reason why I don't use a Turbo Torch Turbo Torch uses a air and a settling mixture. You only have one tank. Okay, it's typically in acetylene tank and it has a special tip that mixes air with the acetylene.

It doesn't give you such a tight flame. it's not very precise so it's not great in small reaching coolers and things. It does good on bigger lines, like if you're brazing residential and things like that, it'll probably do fine I prefer an oxy acetylene rig for a good majority of the work that I use. I use a zero tip on my oxyacetylene rig and then depending on the size of what I'm working on, I'll move up to a one, a two, or even possibly a number 15 Rosebud tip.

Okay, that's typically what I do. That's what I've always used. Let's see what goes in the chat here. Um, yes, I don't like the whistling.

Um I just like the oxygen and acetylene. So yeah, I definitely have problems and I know I do so. But why don't I use a Captain Hook rig or a Captain Hook tip. So if you guys don't know, a Captain Hook tip is a rounded tip and it's meant to.

It has several orifices drilled into it and it it allows the heat to hit several different spots and you can light it and you'll actually have like three or four different Flames coming out of your torch. Tip: Uh, personally I don't care for those because I have used them before I haven't used them on video but in weird situations the Captain Hook tips they get stuck and they can cause some big problems and that's one of the main issues because sometimes you know when you're brazing with just a normal tip that just has a normal you know end like that if something happens, you can yank it out of there. but in weird situations and some of the smaller equipment that I'm working on, if you get a Captain Hook tip on there, you can actually have to move it around pipes to get it in place and then if you needed to jam it out in a hurry, it's not very easy to get it out in a hurry. So that's the main reason why I don't use the Captain Hook tips.

Um, just because it's just kind of awkward and it Heats really fast so you have to be very, very careful not to overheat the pipe but again, to each their own. I'm not judging people for using it I'm just I don't feel confident enough that I can get it out of the system fast enough if I'm working in tight little spaces so see what else we got going on here. Um, Will said honestly, the Hvacr hack Chris gifted me at Ahr Vegas you've worn for an entire year, like almost every day at work. Well, right on Will, That's awesome I appreciate that.

Yeah at the previous HR not this one. I did have a bunch of hats and I was handing them out this year I just handed out stickers. Um, but uh yeah, it was really cool to be able to see you those last couple years will. So it's been awesome.

Um, how often do I show my clients uh, the videos to show them the problems I don't really show them the videos at all. Uh, it's not really something that I use um for marketing or advertising purposes or anything like that. My customers do know that I film but more on a corporate level than an individual location level. Um, but yeah, it's just not really something that I find the need I mean I take that back.

There's been one or two instances where I've used video clips and sent it to like the corporate office, but for the most part I don't really try to draw any more attention than necessary. So um, let me see what else we got going on in the chat. Uh, cool. Feels like it's pre-recorded No, this is not pre-recorded I can promise you that my friend.

um, let me see what else. where am I located I am located in Southern California specifically Riverside California So um, how do I feel about R458a as a replacement for 22? You've had issues and then you said it. uh, doesn't feel like much cooling getting back to the compressor running 55 PSIG Mike Mike Um I have not used R458a yet? Okay, but I'm not afraid of any different flavor of refrigerant. but certainly with Blends which any of the 400 series refrigerants are going to be Blends right? You have several different refrigerants to make one.

Um, you're gonna run into issues. There's gonna be ramifications for each one. 448a is a very common one that we are using on the refrigeration side right now. That is the new flavor of the week that we are using for a majority of it for walk-ins and walking freezers.

Okay, uh and one of the downsides to 448a is it tends to run higher than normal discharge pressures and temperatures I'm sorry, higher than North ball discharge temperatures which can lead to super heat problems at the compressor. So if you're using 458a and you're saying as a replacement for 22 and you're having issues with it getting, uh, enough cool refrigerant back to the compressor, you definitely need to be making some adjustments checking the superheat I mean if the system was designed for it honestly I don't know know what 458 A is that there's so many different refrigerants I can't even keep up. So is 458 A the new one? that like carriers using or something like that in their new equipment that was designed for it? If it was designed for it? then there's probably fine because carrier usually accounts for that kind of stuff in their design. But if 458a again I don't know which one that is.

If that is a replacement for R22 like you're removing the R22 then putting 458a in which I don't think it is because for some reason in my head I'm thinking 458a might be the new one that they're using as the replacement. But um anyways, yeah, just just read into that and make sure you're checking compressor, superheat and adjusting expansion valves or different things accordingly. Um, 448a is already on the chopping block as other as the other refrigerants that's 100 True John Deere fan Uh, R32 which is supposed to be the next refrigerant that's coming out. We haven't even really pushed it out into the market yet.

It's already in a lot of the European countries and R32 is already being phased out in the European countries. which means it's next to be phased out here, but we're not even using it yet. So basically, just stop being afraid of refrigerants changing and just understand the refrigeration cycle and how to read a temperature pressure chart And don't even worry about what refrigerant you're on. Just you have a pressure chart and call it a day.

Don't focus on refrigerant pressures, focus on refrigerant temperatures. It makes it a lot easier to change refrigerants. Uh, see what else we got going on here? Did I get to read the article you sent? Um, why rooftop units are always the wrong answer? I breezed through that I do remember seeing the email Adam but I did not completely go through it I'm gonna actually make a note right here. You would be so surprised if you saw how many emails I get on a daily.

So I have to remind myself to read certain emails. So um I'm gonna write it down Why rooftops bear with me here are not always the answer. and I think it was like a European article or something, wasn't it? I don't I remember reading something about it and uh, I'm gonna write from Adam from Adam and then I'll try to take a look at that later and see. But yeah, I do remember glazing through it real quick, but I didn't spend a bunch of time on it.

All right? Um, what's the difference working on r290 and regular refrigerants? David Youtubing. So David r290 just happens to be a flammable refrigerant. It's a natural refrigerant. Okay, it is a hydrocarbon.

It is pure propane that does not have a smell whatsoever. So if it does leak out, if you had a large accumulation of it in a room, you would not be able to smell it. So it does make it a little bit dangerous when it comes to that aspect. But the reason why they don't have an odorant or a spell inside of it is because it's potentially a contaminant.

I Kind of talked about that last week. a little bit too because someone was asking me what happens if you use regular propane and I said I don't know I've never tried it but I just know that we're told that it's a contaminant. so I don't want to try to become an engineer and try to, you know, science, it or anything. So um, okay, Adam yeah, Canada and Architectural digest.

Did you remember it was from a foreign country? Even though Canada shouldn't really be considered foreign, it's literally just a little north of the United States but still I knew remember it was from somewhere. So yeah, I'll try to give it a read. Um, all right. okay, Pure on Advanced is going 454b.

Okay, so 454b is the replacement for 410. Okay, yeah, those systems are going to be designed for that, so I'm not worried about it. Um, let me see. reading through the chat.

Uh I have to remember States also have their rules for refrigerant. Yeah, and the state of California that I'm in pretty much sets the standards for the United States Uh, you know you guys are get stuff that's starting to phase out. It was like 404 is already being phased out in California You're not supposed to use it on new installations. uh, major system retrofits or anything like that.

You're supposed to convert to something new like 448a. That's a California thing. It's now moving across the country, but it started here, so we typically have most of the new rules. We're pretty Progressive when it comes to that stuff.

Uh, let's see. All right? So Corey says Oh, so this was an interesting thing. Corey watches my videos and he said that, uh, you know he notices that um I do a lot of repair of refrigeration racks and he said that at his company, they typically try to pull compressors out of the refrigeration rack and install condensing units next to the rack like and kind of just having individual condensing units in the beginning when racks are in decent shape. I Don't like doing that because I don't like to just clutter up a roof with a bunch of condensing units as racks get older and older and it gets harder and harder to find parts.

sometimes, that is the best situation. Now, for instance, if you're working on a cold Zone Rack cold Zone happens to use a common condenser with different circuits for each compressor, so it's not very easy to change a condenser on a cold. Zone Rack All right. So in that situation, it becomes a problem in the condenser alone.

would have to come on a diesel truck because they're giant. They're like eight, nine feet wide by six feet tall. They're huge condensers, so it's the odds of it getting damaged and shipping is pretty high too, so it's not something you're going to change very easily. now on.

Chirac equipment, which is most of the racks that you see in my videos oftentimes are Chirac racks you can buy the individual condensers. It's not a big deal, you can swap them out, but in certain situations I would consider getting condensing units out of the rack for sure. but I don't do that all the time because I like to preserve a roof and keep it nice and clean as long as possible. So all right, let's see what else we got going on here.

Um, all right, got that one off. So um, micromanaging. You know a lot of people will make comments here and there about micromanaging and and I was thinking about something the other day and I can see this from multiple angles I can see this from a service technician's angle, but I can also see it from a business owner's angle I Can promise you that nobody I'm gonna mean nobody is gonna care as much about my business as I do. Okay, so I don't like micromanaging but I do keep a tight Reign on the things that go on in my business and I know everything that goes on in my business.

and if I don't I find out eventually and we get to the bottom of it. Okay, a good majority of the time my customers want one point of contact. they don't want to have to talk to seven or eight different people. and for sure that happens within the corporate office.

So I don't like micromanaging and I don't want to micromanage Okay, but sometimes I have to get in and try to tell people like look, this is how you have to do it. call me and let me know what you find. Then once they find it, I tell them how to proceed, especially people that are not as familiar with my company. But my ideal goal is to be able to get to a point where my guys start thinking more and more like me and I can trust them to start making their own decisions now.

I've gotten there with a good majority of my employees pretty much everybody now where they know what I want and they they know how to approach certain situations. but there's always going to be a break-in period and someone may call that micromanaging. but I just call that training I mean I'm coaching someone on how I want them to operate within my business. It's not their business, it's my business and they happen to work for me.

Okay, so it's obviously going to go the way that I want it to now. of course there's ways to approach that properly. So that way you're not making them ask you every single moment of their day. That's the last thing I want I don't want my employees to call me every time they're on a service call I don't because it stops me from being able to do tasks like service calls because I'm out there working every single day.

Okay, so, but there is a point in time when you have to be Uber involved in your business to make sure that it's operating the way that you want it to, right? All right, let's see what else we got going on in here. Um, okay, um, on my recent video, I had a compressor that had gone off on thermal overload and I had to cool it off and during that I also made a YouTube short and it went on all the other platforms too As a short form video where I showed the compressor being cooled off with a water hose. Okay, um, so what was the actual cause of that compressor going off on thermal? Well, I never found the absolute cause, but I know we found a bunch of problems. The the best conclusion that I came to was that the unit had been short cycling for a good majority of the day and eventually it shut off on thermal overload.

That's the best conclusion that I could come to because it was a little bit low on refrigerant and uh, the condenser fan motor was not working right because the fuse was blown and it was really cold outside. So that was the best conclusion that I could come to as to why the compressor was off on thermal overload. I was very surprised that it reset. Looking at the top of that compressor and how the paint had all peeled off.

That was not a good sign and there is some oil damage for sure. It the paint peeled off the top of that compressor and I know that oil has never been changed in that compressor. We have some problems. Okay, because that means that the oil got way too hot in the system and it probably compromised it reducing the lubrication potential that that oil has.

So definitely need to be talking to the customer about what to do. Um, yeah, and if you guys do have questions, it's best to put them in caps lock because I really do get to see them better. Okay, um, Hoshizaki Ice Machine Harvesting too early? Any thoughts: The good Guy: Well, the Hoshizaki Ice Machine. Once you read the installation and operation manual or the the Orange book or whatever, go online and download the tech book.

Um. Hoshizaki Ice Machines Harvest Cycles are initiated by the water flow. Okay, when the sump Runs Out of Water on a Hoshizaki on the Km machines. When they fill up with water at the beginning of the cycle, that's the only time that they fill up with water.

During the cycle, they use that five gallons of water. Typically that's in that sump to make that entire evaporator. Sometimes it's three gallons depending on the size of the machine, but it fills it up and then it uses all that water. And then it uses the water level via the float to tell them when the water's gone away from the sump.

Once that happens, the machine thinks that all that water has been frozen into ice cubes in the evaporator section and so then it starts a timer. Then after the timer, it initiates a harvest cycle and then it goes into a harvest cycle and it uses a timer and it uses a thermistor to terminate the Harvest cycle. It looks for an evaporator temperature using the thermistor. Once that happens, then it starts another timer, then it counts down and it goes back into the freeze cycle.

Okay, so hopefully that answers a little bit of your question. If you need some more clarification, feel free to shoot me an email to Hvacrvideos Gmail.com Okay, let's go ahead and move on to the next one. What else do we got here? Uh, Danny says. what are the typical symptoms of a compressor starting to get weak and losing compression? Well, if it's a scroll compressor, Um, you know you're gonna have to go ahead and use the Copeland mobile app.

Um, I mean you really should use the Copeland mobile app for almost any of them. You can also look at the compression ratio and see where it's at compared to what the manufacturer says it should be at. But always pay attention to the compressor voltage because that's going to change how the compressor operates. So keep that in mind.

But as far as like a dead giveaway of a compressor that has valves that is not working properly. if you have a failed read within the top of the compressor and it's not pumping the way that it should be, you're typically going to see a higher than normal suction pressure and a lower than normal head pressure. And that's going to indicate something faulty within the compressor. It's not very often that you'll see something like that with a scroll compressor because of the style of compressor that it is it.

It usually doesn't fail that way. When it fails, it usually explodes within itself. I Guess if there was something wrong with the motor, it might be running kind of slow, but for the most part, there's no valves in a scroll compressor. It's an orbiting scroll set right.

So you have a fixed scroll and you have an orbiting scroll and one is fixed and then one is oscillating basically and it's creating that that um, compression that it needs. Okay, so you'll typically see higher than normal suction pressure, lower than normal head pressure, poor performance, and then you would have to evaluate it further from there. Um, Truetech Tools sells the Subco Cool Presser. Uh yeah, they do.

So in my recent video, I was cooling off the compressor. Oh, and I see Austin says where can you get the compressor cooling tool So if you go to Truetechtools.com look up Cool C-o-o-l-p-r-e-s-s-o-r I think Cool Presser. It is made by Sapco. Um, if you use my offer code big picture, you can get an eight percent discount on majority of the items on their website.

And when you do that, I get a small commission so it's a great way to help support the channel. But yeah, go check out Truetechtools.com And it's the Subco Cool Presser. So it's a magnetic device that goes to the top. The magnet allows the water to kind of come around and it just gradually drifts over the head of the compressor.

I Had a lot of people reaching out to me saying man, you know they were worried about all that water going over the wires in that compressor. Those compressors I Mean while they're not meant to be submerged in water, they're for the most part can handle water coming over the top as long as all the covers are in there properly. Think about a residential air conditioning compressor. Even before they had the Molex connectors, you would have a terminal block.

and that terminal block is designed in a way that if it was to rain on top of the compressor, it would protect the compressor as low as long as everything's still intact in it. Okay, so as long as the connections are all good and nothing's exposed, it's okay to let it kind of run across the top of the compressor, but not while it's running, right? I mean in the rain? That does happen. but I won't do it while it's running. Um, but I still give it a little bit of drip time to kind of dry off in there before I actually start the system up.

So when I'm working on a refrigeration rack like that, what I can do is you can turn off all the compressors and turn on all the condenser fan motors if you can make that happen. and you can help to evaporate some of that water and kind of move some air across it. That's something that I'll do typically on those racks when I'm doing that. Um, Oh yeah, Cyborg.

Yeah, I did there One one bad word did slip in that recent video. It did happen. Yep, every once in a while it happens and I didn't edit it out. What do I think about the Ke2 controllers? Randy I Really do like Ketotherm? Ke2? Um, they're a great company.

They make some really interesting products. Uh, the Ke2 EVAP Efficiency controller is kind of what made them famous and that's their most common controller. Then they've slowly, um, changed and they have a bunch more products. A very common one in the refrigeration side is the temp plus defrost controller.

That's another one that I use often. Now I'm going to give some criticism swords the the EVAP Efficiency Controller. The user interface on the controller itself absolutely stinks. It's no good.

Okay I do not like it I have a hard time seeing certain things and the scrolling. Marquee When you want to read something like room temperature sensor and then 53 degrees or whatever it says that goes by, buy too fast for my eyes to be able to read it. and I oftentimes like have to like refocus and so their scrolling Marquee is the only thing that I hate about their controllers. But one of the coolest things is you can hook a computer up to it and then it's just so easy to operate and program those things.

But I will say that they need to hurry up. They they set the standard for smart evaporator controllers. They really did, but they're getting a little slow in their update. Okay, they need to update those controllers I Realize they have a patent and it works good and they probably make a good profit off of it.

But that Evap Efficiency controller. Every single one of them should come with a module inside of it that gives it Bluetooth capability. There's no reason why every Evap Efficiency Controller, even the little Smart controllers the the Temp Plus Defrost controllers. and this goes for the other manufacturers too.

There's no reason why every one of you manufactures that make circuit boards that need to be programmed air conditioning or Refrigeration There's no reason why they shouldn't all have a Bluetooth module in them so we can connect our phones to them and program them via our phones. As a business owner: I Don't deal with computer stuff very much I Realize that the KE to evap efficiency controllers are amazing and being able to hook a computer changes the game with them. but I still don't put computers in all my employees Vehicles It's just one more liability in their vehicles. but they all carry smartphones so every one of you controller manufacturers or boards that need to be programmed, you all need to have apps and you all need to have Bluetooth capabilities so we can program all your stuff from our phones.

There's no reason why you don't like other than financially 100. That's the only reason why people don't do that. Um, let's see. answer that question.

uh, how's the home HVAC project it's coming. it's just slow. I Just um, haven't been able to focus very much on it lately, but I do have some big plans to get going on this thing because I want to get it done before summertime for sure. How involved in my in my everyday office and business operation a hundred percent I Control everything.

Now my main focus um is the field. My dad still does work within the business. Uh, he started it I've since partnered and I'm in the process of taking everything over but he's still involved. but he doesn't, um, go out in the field.

He doesn't work operations anymore, he just works In the office and helps me kind of. you know, handle majority of the office stuff. But I am 100 involved in every customer communication with all the employees, the hiring process, the fire I mean I do it all. So I do it all and I do it every single day.

and I I am a field technician. Uh, that's my heart. That's what I love to do. So I am out in the field almost every single day running calls, and in fact, I put in more hours than everybody else.

like legit billable hours than everybody else at my company. So um, Jason Johnson saying compression ratio is a good metric on compressor efficiency and operations? Hundred percent hundred percent. Uh, I already answered that one reading through the chat right now making sure I know I'm missing a bunch of stuff so keep going. At the very least.

the Usbp USB port with an OTG functionality. Yeah, but I don't even accept a USB port they need Bluetooth connectivity. There's no reason I mean come on, like for real, we're coming on What? Bluetooth 5.0 right now? or is it 6.0 like you know and some people haven't even picked up on any Bluetooth Like that's that's unacceptable. So um, let me see.

let's see you like being able to track the history on the Ke2s and see live information on systems. Yeah, Randy 100 I Do like that. And uh, the first time that I was able to pull a graph for like a month or two or maybe it was three months I can't remember what it was on a Ke2 and then look and what I knew there was a refrigerant leak in the system and you could see it in the graphs. You could see it with how fast it came down to temperature after a defrost and how long the recovery time was after a defrost.

and how often the defrosts were having to happen. And it's really interesting what you can see with trending data. So um, reading through the chat, how many texts do I do I have working for me? We're a very small company I have Um for people including myself in the field and then I have two other people working in the office. So all together we have six people total working at the company between the office and in the field.

but for technicians in the field every day. Um, let me see what else we got going on in here. Uh, how often have I seen a package unit with the wrong compressor? Uh, pretty common actually. uh and and I can usually the ones that I do see it are associated with certain companies that aren't don't have the greatest um track record.

So what kind of sealant for the end of line set insulation? What kind of sealant for the end of the line set insulation? You mean like uh, the insulation? glue? like armaflux glue or something? I mean that's typically what I use as far as a sealant for line set insulation would be just armoflex glue and then obviously tape. Um, all right let's see. uh Ed is saying Goodman and Amana has the cool Cloud app which allows you to use smartphone Bluetooth to set up gas. Yeah, there's a good good majority of the companies that are starting to do that.

Okay, I'm gonna play you guys a little video clip that I put together. Um if I can figure out how to put this on now this to to to kind of get ready for this right now. I'm gonna explain again. This is one of the more common questions that I get two videos ago I released a carrier evaporator change out and so many people are pushing back on the fact that I changed the fixed orifice metering device rather than just clearing it using nitrogen.

Okay, so I know I keep describing this I'm going to play it again and I'm going to put some more content out about this too to show why it's danger impossible to clean a fixed orifice metering device on a carrier package in it. Okay, so let's go ahead and put this up. A bunch of people reaching out to me telling me that I'm missing the ball and that I should be cleaning the fixed orifice metering devices rather than replace the liquid header or replace the entire evaporator. All right, here's what I have here.

This is a cutaway of a liquid header for a carrier fixed orifice metering device. Okay, an accurator metering device, carrier package units. So what we have here is we have a little stamp and we have a little stamp each. one of those is a metering device.

There's actually a double orifice in here. There's two orifices I'm going to show you guys right here. Okay, this one I said there was one here and one here. So what I did was I cut right between the two.

There's one orifice okay and the other orifice. the other side of that is this right here. This goes right there. Okay, I cut it right between so you have a double orifice inside of there.

okay, one there, one there. Furthermore, I have a cutaway right here where I cut the header because I happen to have one of these headers at my shop and I cut it apart and here's what you can see right in there. that's one metering device that's the other metering device. Again, double orifices on these guys.

So let me ask you if you're going to pressurize this system and you're going to clear this orifice by putting high pressure nitrogen on one side and then say for instance, heating up the fixed orifice metering device which I personally have tried many times and not have any success. Think about this logically. how could this work If you are pushing high pressure nitrogen through here, right? And let's say it's pushing on all the metering devices doesn't really matter which direction you're going, you still got to push whatever it is is plugging that up through one and two and then make it all the way through back into the system for the dryers to catch it if you push it backwards. Okay, let's say you push from the low side, the suction side and you're trying to push it back through the metering device the moment you turn the system on, it's just going to go back in there.

Okay, majority of the time that these carrier fixed orifice metering devices plug up, what it actually is is the oil is contaminated and compromised. usually because of lack of Maintenance overheating overcharge. Different things like that and it's actually the oil that's plugging up these little metering devices and causing issues. Okay, so again, how in the heck are you going to push with nitrogen? Let's say you're pushing from this side and pushing something through two orifices.

It's just not gonna happen now. I Realize some people say they've made it work. Maybe you made it a little bit better, but it's still not working right. And furthermore, majority of the time like I said, the thing that was plugging it up is bad oil, so it's just going to go all the way through again.

I mean unless you really clean the system out now, even using like a solvent or something like that, if you have the system fully intact, what's going to happen here? When you pressurize and you push 3 through, there's going to be a small pressure drop. May not be significant, but there's going to be a pressure drop because you're going from high pressure through an orifice. Okay, it's a metering device. Its job is to create a pressure drop.

so there's going to be a pressure drop here and then the pressure is going to build back up and then there's going to be another pressure drop. So what are the odds that that 450 PSI of nitrogen is going to be 450 PSI through this orifice and through this orifice? It's just not going to happen. Okay It really isn't. So why did I change the entire evaporator instead of changing just the liquid header? Well, because it's easier and faster.

Why didn't I install a TXV Show me the manufacturer's recommendations where you can install a TXV Show me the distributor that you're going to put on all the different individual orifices or individual. uh um, what do you want to call in circuits? Okay, so if I was to install a TXV on this, I'd have to cut it before the first metering device right? I'd have to cut it or actually it'd be over here. Really? Because this is our liquid header so it'd have to be on the evaporator side, but I'd have to cut it after the last metering device and then I'd have to get a a small diameter line coming out of a distributor going into each circuit. You'd have to get something like that custom made or you'd have to steal it from something else and hope that it works me personally.

Like I've said many times: I don't want to hope that things work I just want to put in the OEM part and be done with it. Okay, so that is why I did not clear this fixed orifice restriction and I replaced the entire liquid header along with the evaporator coil. But you could just change the liquid header, but even that's going to be a chore because then you have to unsweat each feeder going into the header and it'd just be a pain in the butt. So that's my two cents on the matter.

So you know again, if it works for you, doing it another way, you know, clearing them, installing a TXV or whatever. That's fine. Okay, it is fine. If it works for you, that's good.

But looking at the design like there's really no way that you're gonna clear that fixed orifice metering device now. um Dave had said he's true, he's seen true R11 clean it and I believe that. Okay, I do believe that R11 true R11 will clean the system Okay, um now. but the problem is is when it cleans it, how's it going to get through that double orifice though? how's it going to get through the double orifice? I Mean it.

It's really is gonna have to break down that oil which I guess it could, but you know there's always potential that there's still going to be. think again going through that. um, going through that double orifice, that double orifice right there. There's going to be a small pressure drop too.

I Know it's not going to be huge, but there is going to be a pressure drop after the first orifice and then going through the second one. so there's always going to be potential of something getting stuck. Let's say, if you clear whatever it is, the odds are you're going to get it through one metering device, but not through the second one. so it just doesn't make sense now.

I I Think if you probably go back to my history of videos, I might have shown myself trying to clear a fixed orifice metering device. maybe in some of my earlier videos I may have I don't remember for sure, but I know that I wouldn't have said that. it worked perfect. It made it maybe a little better, but it wasn't working properly.

Okay, so that's that's the way that I come to it. Okay, um, let's see what else we got going on in here. Uh, and I'll definitely try to do more guys. Well, that's one of the things too that you know as much as I hate YouTube shorts and all that crap I really do hate it.

Um I do like it for that fact because it makes it easier. like I can literally make a 60 second video turn that thing that I just made into a 60 second video I could do that. That's easy. So I'm going to start doing that stuff more.

Um I definitely want to do that more. All right, let's see what else we got going on in here. Um, reading through the chat. uh oh.

The other thing I wanted to talk about too. so R11 was a flash. It wasn't a flush. it was a refrigerant that actually worked as a cleaner too because at a low boiling point and you know, whatever.

But um, so there's a replacement, right? There's a new manufacturer I don't remember who it is that came out with it. One of the chemical manufacturers came out with rx11 flush. Okay, um, and it's literally, uh, just a solvent, a refrigerant that you're allowed to vent into the atmosphere. which is a whole nother thing, right? How can game? You can vent rx11 but you can't vent.

But okay, that's a whole nother thing. but with Rx11, a good majority of the people don't even know how to use Rx11 flush. Okay, so Rx11 flush again I don't like using it I have used it in the past, but I was so humbled when I realized that I hadn't been using it my entire career the right way. Okay, so here's the deal.

if you're using Rx11 Flush and let's say you have a six foot suction line that's 7 8. Okay, a six foot suction line that's seven eight and you hook up the Rx11 flush and you dump it in one side, right? And how does that Rx11 flush make it back out the other side? Well, you chase it with nitrogen. Okay, so everybody knows you dump in a bunch of Rx11, then you put nitrogen on top of it and you blow it through the system and the theory that it's gonna scrub the walls and clear everything out and shoot it down the other end right doesn't work that way because you have to create a restriction in the line. see that's where I didn't know this I'd used Rx11 flush for so long and never read the instructions.

if I'd have read the instructions that says it right on there. but I'm an idiot and I don't like to read instructions okay I like things to be intuitive and I'm not smart enough to be able to Intuit how that works I don't think that's what you're supposed to say, but you get the point, right? So yeah, when you're using Rx11 Flush, if you actually want to use it and make it do anything, you have to create a pressure drop by pinching down the line at the exit to a very small opening. So that way the solvent can actually back up in the system and truly scrub the lines and then push it out. But the reason why I don't like using Rx11 Flush is: what are the odds that there's still some sort of solvent left in the system? Some sort of anything? I mean um, I think it was Bill spone or someone in one of the Facebook groups.

Forgive me because this is not my phrase, but it makes so much sense when they were describing flush. Okay, this by I swear it was Bill's phone. but maybe it was someone else. But the analogy that they gave was.

remember a couple years back when we had a problem with Copeland compressors and Txv's failing on every single air conditioning system like four years ago, right? That was because someone at the manufacturing in the manufacturing process after a compressor left Copeland or before it got to Copeland somewhere along the lines. Okay, someone put a rust inhibitor inside that compressor that wasn't approved by Copeland and that single rust inhibitor and we're talking these smallest amount, right? Because it's literally just protecting a certain part of the compressor. Someone put a rust inhibitor in those compressors that had not been fully researched and that led to an epic disaster. And it wasn't even that much.

Okay, so just think about what the potential of a solvent being left in the system can do when you heat up. add oil, add friction, add all this stuff within the compressor and you create this Melting Pot for bad things to happen. So that's why I Don't like using flesh personally? Okay, but that's my two cents if you like to use it. Good for you? Okay, it's okay.

Um, let me see what else we got going on in the chats. Reading through the chat right now. Flush was invented by the red-headed stepbrother to the guy who invented cork tape. Hey, you know what? I Agree Jason I Agree.

All right. Uh, you have to change out service valves on a Mini Split Any advice? No, just, uh, make sure you cool the area. um Refrigeration Technologies has a new heat blocking pad that you put on the wall when you're brazing. protect whatever you're working on, and then also use some of the Viper wet rag.

The heat blocking Compound on the the valve to protect the internals of the valve make your brazing as fast as possible and as thorough as possible, right? Because there's a fine line between doing it fast and not doing a good job or doing it as fast as possible, right? So do it as fast as possible, but make sure that you get a good braised joint now. I Do this too. But when I teach people how to braise? Okay, there's no exception for a braised joint not being good. I Inspect every one of my braised joints.

Okay, and there's no reason why every braised joint shouldn't be perfect. but I still screw them up sometimes. Okay, but still I always try to get it done in one time I Don't want to have to re-light my torch and go hit a joint again because it didn't flow properly right? If you really start paying attention to what you're working on in the environments and that's something really important too. you can go to brazing school all day long.

Okay, or someone on Facebook can tell you how to braise, but you got to do you as long as it works. As long as it's not leaking and it works and you didn't just destroy everything, you want it to look as good as possible. But the the main point is is that as long as it doesn't leak. Okay, but when you're brazing, you have to learn what works for you.

and you have to learn the environments you work in I work in small reach-in coolers where sometimes there's a lot of stuff in there that can burn and I don't have a lot of time to get in there and set my torch tip at a really low heat and be able to carefully heat up the joint to get a perfect brace joint. Sometimes you have to go in there hot and fast and it's not perfect and yeah I know there's repercussions, but you got to get in there hot and fast Knock it out, you know I like to in a perfect world I like to heat up a joint so hot that you put the solder on the top and it flows all the way around the pipe. That's perfect for me. but I got to get it hot that way.

Okay, try to flow nitrogen as much as possible when you're doing that too. Um, all right, let's see what else we got going on in here. Um, reading through here. Okay, so um, had another really, really good thing that I wanted to talk about.

so someone had emailed me. um, it was actually Chad Chad Emailed me asking me about some contamination issues that he's having. So let me go ahead and add this to the stream and we'll talk through it. So on this one Chad Was given this picture in like a presentation and was asked you know to solve the microbial growth in the AC Okay so Chad was kind of asking me hey, what's the best way to solve what this customer wants? Well first and foremost You've Got Dirt buildup that's got some moisture added to it.

There's like a little petri dish going on right there, right? So that's because, uh, dirt is making it through the filters. Bottom line: that's all that that is. dirt is making it through the filters. Okay, or possibly well, yeah, but still would be through the filters.

possibly pulling in through an access door or something like that. But dirt is getting in the system. Okay, so how do you clean that? Well, the dirt. You know that you know how to clean that.

That's not too bad. Okay, just kind of clean it off soapy water. Do what you got to do. Now, What about what potentially looks like bacterial growth on the insulation? Going to the expansion valves are coming out of the expansion valve, so that's easy.

Just change the insulation. Okay, you're not going to clean insulation on a pipe. It's just not happening. Okay, so change that insulation.

What about the insulation on the walls of the unit? I Mean good luck, dude. Like, for real? there's not really. I Mean, really? Think about this if they're really getting crazy and they want it to be completely bacteria free. They need a solid stainless steel air conditioner that has like the craziest air filters going into it and everything that you can hose down and clean after every single day.

Okay, you will Never be able to get the insulation clean in that unit without compromising something. Okay, yeah, you can get in there and scrub the insulation with a brush. Okay, but you're breaking the insulation down and eventually that insulation is going to release. Okay, so well.

what if you put a chemical on the insulation? That's fine, but you're still not going to get everything out of that. You can do your best, but if this customer is sending pictures like this, these people are reaching a little too hard and your customer is going to have to start paying a lot more money if they want that kind of work taken care of. Okay, now in a perfect world, you have a better filtration system, but this is a commercial AC That's normal. You're not going to see anything super clean unless you're in like some crazy government clean room.

Okay, it's just not going to happen. So I mean really, they just gonna have to learn to deal with that or they're gonna have to change the whole dang. AC But then before they change a new AC they're going to need to really figure out the air filtration problem if they really, really want to be dealing with this kind of stuff. Racs are not made to be leak free, so there's not a whole lot of solve in that problem.

All right, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um, you can use two pipe but you need to change over. Oh, you're telling someone else cooling not both times and consuming to change it over without shock on the other. Oh, okay, I got you all right.

Um, let me see what else we got going on here. Uh do I have the ability to set how many ads play on my live stream? Um, is far like I have a button that I can push but I usually don't push it where it'll make a commercial. but I usually don't push it I usually put the commercials in at the end but I don't I honestly. but I don't know I'm not super smart with this YouTube stuff.

so I don't know if I can like I know in the when it posts as a video I can put the amount of commercials in it? Yeah, but I don't know. Um and telepacks are cool. They can be daunting at first, but it gets easy. You have to pay attention.

Yeah and I believe that was an intellipact that I was showing in there right? Jason because looking at the size of the Txvs and stuff I thought that was an intellipac too. Um, let's see will speed saying you can buy some nice double walled stainless steel. Air Handlers And yeah, that's what they'd have to go with and they'd have to really solve. you know, infiltration issues.

But you know I mean that customer is gonna have to change their whole maintenance program and really start paying some serious money if they want that kind of cleanup. Um, all right, see what else we got going on in here? All right, cool. So um, why add refrigerant before I look for a refrigerant leak? Um, and again, that's going to change. Okay, first off, for people that are watching this in other countries in the United States we're at allowed and legally allowed to add refrigerant to a leaking system as long as the refrigerant charge is under 50 pounds total.

Um, if it's under 50 pounds total, you basically can do almost anything. If it's anything over 50 pounds, the customer has to have an action plan in place to solve the leaks, but that doesn't mean that you can't keep filling it up. It's kind of a gray area as long as they're taking action on fixing the leaks. Whether it be scheduling things and getting ready to go, you're allowed to keep adding refrigerant.

Okay, but it's not perfect, right? If I have a system that's low on refrigerant of course I want to make sure that it doesn't have a giant pipe that's cut open where I'm just dumping refrigerant in and it's just going to Atmosphere you don't want that? Okay, but if I have a critical piece of equipment like a walk-in freezer down and I do a quick brief search and I don't see any major leaks, I'm gassing that thing up and I'm getting it running because the food in there is critical and we have to keep it so. that way the customer doesn't have to throw away 15 to 20 000 worth of product because their food temperature got up above the safety limits for like an hour, you know? so we have to get it going within reason. So that's why I will typically add refrigerant. Now here's some things that happen in my head that maybe you guys don't see I walk up to a refrigeration rack and yes, I'm talking to my camera but I'm also visually looking at everything.

if I walk up to a rack, the high side of that system is all within sight I can see every discharge line, every liquid line I can see the condensers I'm right there so I can see everything on the high side. So if I'm looking for a catastrophic leak, I would typically know when I'm standing in front of the rack if it was on the high side. now the low side. that can be repaired after the fact because my Refrigeration racks have liquid line receivers and I can pump down the refrigerant charge.

So if I've walked up assessed the situation, maybe I didn't explain it on camera, but I assess it and I go. This system's low on charge and I don't see a crap ton of oil over here I don't hear refrigerant I don't see anything showing me that it's on the high side in my systems which is all in front of me then I know it's typically on the low side so I'll do a quick little walk through downstairs just make sure nothing's broken. Then I'm dumping gas in there and it's more than likely going to be a small leak that I'll be able to fix by pumping it down after the fact. So that's why sometimes on video you guys see me just adding gas to systems.

It's because I've done evaluations. Remember even though I turn on my camera and I'm rambling to in it, you're still not hearing everything that's going on in my brain. My brain's like a petri dish. I'm thinking about puppies I'm looking at Birds I'm looking at mountains I'm talking to you guys I Got all kinds of crap going on up here that I don't necessarily tell you all about.

Okay, um, why would I put in a complete charge if there's a refrigerant leak? Uh, it depends. Okay, um I mean do I walk up to a walk-in cooler and it's completely flat on refrigerant. Am I just going to put gas in it? No, not likely. Okay.

I'm gonna evaluate that carefully. Okay, the first thing I would do is I would I would find out from the customer if I walked up to a walk-in cooler and I don't know if I'm adding things to your question Scott but if I walked up to a walk-in cooler and it was completely out of gas. Okay, first thing I do to go to the customer and say how long has this been down Oh well, it's actually been down for two years and okay, so you know Again, not knowing the history, you're always going to evaluate everything now. if they told me I've been down for two years, I'm gonna put some nitrogen if I don't find anything big, who knows, you know we may get it going or whatever.

but most of the time if it's completely out of refrigerant, I'm going to be investigating for a leak. Okay I on my systems because they haven't been down for extended periods of time and it's not I know it's not a slow leak on my systems for the most part. if it was completely flat, I know there's going to be something broken somewhere. Okay, so I'll put a pressure control or like in a recent video I just did that I had a walking cooler that I got was completely out of gas.

so actually I didn't show that in a video because I didn't make a video of that one actually I think I showed have I edited that one yet? No I haven't you guys? that video is coming. so I'm not going to give any more spoilers sorry. um oh right on. uh Miguel with uh Martinez climate control in San Dimas California what's up Miguel So San Dimas California is about 35 40 minutes away from my house.

um, in light traffic. so it's actually somewhere that I work in quite regularly I do work in Glendora and West Covina and everything. So I'm passing around that area all the time. Um, all right so what's up my friend? uh God Seeing what else we got here, most systems you're out or okay, so that's all another thing.

So Matthew says that he prefers using plumber's tape to mount capacitors and I'm assuming these means rather than in my recent video I Use zip ties. It just depends on what I'm working on in the situation and that one. I Just happen to have zip ties on me and I was lazy and didn't really want to go dig in for my plumber's tape. Plumber's tape's not something I use a whole lot.

however I don't have the part number but I did just go to my supply house and they moved all their capacitors out to the front of my house and I walked in and I just like to look through shelves and see the kind of things they have and I'm looking through and Mars I didn't know this again I don't have the part numbers anything Mars makes a capacitor holder that comes with the rubber boot that you put on the top to protect it. So if you have an oval 10 microfarad capacitor, Mars has a little kit you can buy that has a hanger that you can screw in and it's like a legit hanger and it has the rubber thing for the top of the capacitor. I Thought that was the coolest thing I Never knew you could buy that little kit. I'm probably a dummy, maybe you all knew that.

But anyways, I'm gonna go buy a bunch of those because I could start using those on capacitors instead of having to wrap them with tape because I always have a hard hard time getting those from manufacturers. You know what? I'm talking about the little boot that goes over the top that after like 15 years, they rot away. Yeah, I'd love to be able to get my hands on those. Um, let's see.

Uh so I hung out with Bill and Ted if I did you go up, would I go? Oh okay so I hung out with Bill and Ted if I did, would I go on an adventure with Bill and Ted 100 I would go on an adventure with Bill and Ted. My gosh, that takes me back to like my childhood when Bill and Ted came out. Those are great movies Man they are! They were fun. like it's hard to watch them now because they're so corny.

but back then they just had such a great meaning. but uh yeah, I would totally go on an adventure with Bill and Ted for sure. Hey Scott thanks so much for that! Super Chat man I Really appreciate it. Yeah everybody, if you could hit the Thumbs Up Button no matter what you're watching this on Facebook YouTube LinkedIn Any of them hit the Thumbs Up Button Leave comments in the comment section.

It definitely helps these things get noticed by all by all the social media platforms. Okay, so I appreciate that. Um, let's see what else. Um Nick had asked me if uh, okay, so this is a great question.

Nick Emailed me and he was talking about one of my videos when I said uh, when I charge for the flooded charge I'll put in I'll fill up the receiver to you know, 75 or three quarters of the way full. uh Adam Wetstein, thank you very much for that Super Chat Man, that was very appreciated I do thank you very much. Okay, Um so anyways, Nick had asked me if he had a 200 foot line set and he's saying would I still in that situation fill the receiver up to three quarters of the way if it had a 200 foot line set and um, so I'm going to answer that question Pro I mean it depends. Okay, so it depends on how the manufacturer designed the system.

Okay, and if you have a system that has a 200 foot line set, that's going to have a huge refrigerant charge. So depending on whether or not that receiver was massively oversized, filling it up to the three-quarter Mark if it doesn't necessarily need that much refrigerant is going to waste a lot of the customers money in my situation. um I typically go with a three-quarter mark because I'm dealing with smaller receivers so it's not very much extra and that works fine. But the other thing you have to think about too is again, in what I kind of already discussed is design.

Okay, those receivers need to be designed appropriately. Systems that have 200 foot line sets are gonna have to be properly engineered for line sets that long. Meaning condensers are going to have to be big enough. Line sets are big enough.

It's going to have to have solenoid valves somewhere for pump down Reasons for oil migration and different stuff like that flooded starts. Um, you know there's a lot of things that go into having line sets that long, so that really needs to be taken care of by an engineer or someone who's very proficient in understanding the proper design for those systems. Okay, so it's a it's not necessarily. you're not always going to fill it up to three quarter of the way when it's pumped down.

So um, let's see Jason Johnson Saying you're having to worry about oil returning Refrigerant Velocity 100 When you're dealing with line sets that long pressure drop, that's another thing which is going to lead to. So if you have a line set that's 200 feet long, if the line set isn't designed right, more than likely you're going to have some big pressure drop problems that's going to affect the refrigerant velocity through the system. That's then going to have effects on oil return because every time refrigerant leaves the compressor, it takes oil with it. Okay, even if it has an oil separator, it still takes oil with it.

Okay, a one way or another. If it has an oil separator, reduces it tremendously, but o