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 ceue up the intro music.

Oh oh, this live stream is brought to you by Heatcraft Refrigeration Find out more about him at Heatcraft Rd.com Yo! What is up my friends? Hello to everybody out there! Welcome to the Hvacr videos live stream Whether or not you're listening to this in podcast format or watching the actual live stream, Welcome to the show As usual I Got a bunch of stuff I Want to talk about but first and foremost I Got to say hey to everybody in the chat and everybody that's watching right now in the chat right now. you know I say this every time, but I don't care what platform you guys watch on, it doesn't benefit me either way. Okay, but if you watch it on YouTube There is a huge Community there's a large group of people, a lot of regulars that are in the chat and it's really awesome. There's a whole group and like you know, I come on here and I answer questions and I try to answer people's questions in the chat.

Well, there's people in the chat answering people's questions too, so there's a whole conversation going on and uh, it's That's what's really cool about these live streams is the community, right? It's not just the host, right? The host is just me, right? But the community of people that come together is really awesome. So welcome to the stream and hello to all the regulars and everybody that's in there. Um Adrien from reliable Hvacr I've got Jason Johnson will speed um Steve from everything Hvacr Brian Sanders Uh, I mean there's so many different people, right? man? Thank you very much Brian you don't have to do those super chats, but it is very much appreciated. Thank you so very much my good friend Again, there's a lot of other people that I'm not mentioning to thank you to everybody.

Um, it's it's really awesome to have the support right? you know? I encourage and I from the beginning I have encouraged everybody out there to share your knowledge and I I think that's something that's really great about the the whole social media community in general. For the most part, with all the different creators, you know we all know each other and we all communicate. Uh, you know it's not really a competition thing at least. I Don't see it that way.

it just it is what it is. you know and everybody's out there just sharing their knowledge. Some people may not like to listen to me, they may want to listen to Adrian they may want to listen to Steve They may want to listen to you know whoever else and and so be it. That's great.

as long as the information gets out there, that's the most important thing. And I encourage everybody to share your knowledge. you know I shared a story uh on the live stream last week about a little kid that I you know, inspired or whatever you want to say and we all have that ability. We really do.

We all have the ability to inspire other people whether it be to get into the trade, whether it be to just be good people, you know, just share whatever knowledge you have with others and you know in hopes that you can better someone else's life too. So I think that's really important and that's what I Find happiness right now is is just sharing knowledge, right? So I do have to acknowledge you know and I don't think I acknowledge it enough? Um, you know? Uh, Heatcraft. Refrigeration They've been a great partner of mine and um, they're sponsoring this live stream and you know it's really cool. Uh, you know again.

I'm still waiting for some footage to be delivered to me from my visit to Georgia I Went back. if you guys don't already know I Flew out to Georgia and filmed a bunch of footage with the Heatcraft refrigeration team. Uh, multiple different factories. My gosh, we went to so many different factories, different facilities.

I got to see all kinds of cool stuff. And you know one thing that I really took away from that like and I'm truly being genuine is that they have a small town feel as far as a company. Um, you know they they have family members that work at the company that have, uh, worked there for years and years and years. They have generational employees basically.

So it's something that's really neat. and it's really cool to see that from a uh, you know, an American-based company that you know, um, still, uh, likes to hire local and you know it's just really neat. So uh, definitely check out Heatcraft. Go to Heatcraft Rd.com Lots of great information I do want to kind of talk about something too? You know better yourself with knowledge.

you know, whether it be whatever manufacturer out there, take as many training classes as you can I encourage every one of you to do that. Remember that you know your your knowledge is yours to keep forever. So it doesn't matter if a company sends you to go get trained, that knowledge is yours to keep forever. So remember that take as much training as you can you know in your in your off time you know, on your vacation time, as long as it doesn't interfere with family stuff.

you know, uh, when when you have, uh, you know, spare time at home research, read, find information, you know? um I Just recently went through a couple different classes when I was at Heatcraft. Uh, I have no interest in working on hot gas defrost I don't work on hot gas defrost but it was an interesting class to take, right? So I took the Mojave 101 class and then I have previously taken the intelligent class because I work on a lot of the intelligent controllers. Um I am an old school service technician and I love holding a manual in my hand. So when I can get my hands on these manuals Amazing! Love doing it.

Lots of great information so you know I just encourage everybody out there continue your education right? You know, back when Nate was really really popular, uh, it's a training organization right? back when that was really popular I didn't so much believe in the idea uh or in the the the concept of Nate because you have to pay to maintain your education. But what I do like about industry certification such as Nate or an Esco certification? or you know, an RSS certification or any of those, right? What I do like about those is that in order to maintain the certification, you have to continue your education. So in no way does a certification make you better than the next guy, right? Because you know there could be a guy that's never taken those certification trainings and he's just as knowledgeable, right? So it doesn't necessarily mean that you're better than someone else because you have a certification, but the fact that you took the time to educate yourself, and if you maintain your certification, then that means that you're taking the time to continually educate yourself and continue your education. That's what's most important because this industry is.

Ever Changing Every day every week, There's a new flavor of refrigerant coming out. Oh my gosh, everybody's freaking out like you know what and it's just going to keep coming and coming and coming. So you know, just educate yourself better yourself. Let's see what the chat has going on right now.

Um, jumping through here right now? Um, right on. that's funny. that is funny. Jason Johnson's got a lot of things going on.

What's up? Scott My buddy Hbac rookie I Got the chance to hang out with Scott Uh, we had a local trade show going on. the Icky trade show in Southern California and Scott is a couple hours away from me so he drove down and we hung out for the day. just kind of walking around the show catching up. had lunch together Scott was very gracious and he uh, bought me lunch so that was really nice of you.

Scott So thank you very much. Uh, what is up man. All right reading through the chat right now. What am I missing? Ice machine training is so important.

Yeah, any kind of training. And it is ice machine training season right now. You know most most manufacturers aren't doing big heavy trainings in the summertime because that's usually the busy time. So they try to get you in the Fall and they try to get you in the spring, right? The winter time some of them are doing them, but for the most part in the Midwest up north, in the colder climates, the winter is just as busy as Summertime so you know it just depends.

But this right now is training time as we're heading into winter. so it is very important to sign up for those ice machine training classes. One thing I will say is that manufacturers across the board, um, you know they don't do the greatest job and as they probably don't have a obligation to do so, but they don't do a good job telling you hey, it's time for training right? If you get up their email list you can get it. But ice machine training classes? Oftentimes you have to go to your ice machine.

Distributors And you have to say when is the training class and get signed up? U My local training classes are typically January February So I will definitely get on the list here soon and get signed up. Uh for those that don't already know I Plan on being an attendance at the Hvacr training. Symposium Uh that Brian or from HVAC school is putting on it will be in Uh Claremont Florida at the Kaos Uh facility. Uh, that will be I think that is at the end of January I think and then also at the beginning of February I will be at the Ahr trade show in Chicago It's pretty safe to say you can catch me at the Sportland booth at the Ahr trade show.

You can catch me at the Heatcraft Refrigeration Booth or the Refrigeration Technologies Booth Between those three, you'll probably be able to catch me while the show is going on. So if you make it out to Chicago definitely come look me up at the Ahr trade or trade show and what is up? Oh Scott you didn't need to do that, but thank you very much man! I Really do appreciate it. Uh Jason Johnson So Jason Johnson says that he had to work on a Voyager 3 today. that is a train package unit and he says the diagram was gone.

so you know what? Interesting my buddy Bill Russell Today was doing an install and startup on a few new Uh train package units with the new Symbios controls. and uh, the schematic was loose in a little plastic thing on the door so you pulled out multiple pieces of paper that were just floating in the wind. They were not glued to the door whatsoever. Uh, something that Bill brought up and I'm sure he'll talk about it more, but that seems kind of silly, right? because one guy out in the middle of the snow pulls that schematic out when it's windy and see you go.

you know, Uh, that's one thing. I don't think you know I don't know? who knows I don't want to get into a bashing Fest But um, let's see what else we got going on in the chat right now? Yeah, lots of great people Michael C and Franco's in here. What's up my friend? How's it going man? Um, lots of great great people. This is really awesome.

So thank you so very much. Um, all right. so I want to talk about something that I just have to get off my chest and this is something I've been talking about for a long time. Um, let's see.

Uh, super said. did that hot gas Defrost class focus on single systems or rack systems? Uh, the class that I went to was specifically on their Mojave system. Um, so it was, uh, a single system kind of I Mean, you know for the most part, but uh, they have more advanced ones. This was an introduction and then they have multiple levels explaining Hot Gas defrost and how the different systems work.

Uh, and that was at Heatcraft Refrigeration So if you're interested in any of those training classes, Heatcraft RPD Decom. Um, so uh. the A2l Refrigerants. There is so so much misinformation and hypee about the A2l refrigerants.

Everybody is freaking out Way too much. Okay, first and foremost, let me clarify right now. spread the word. Share with everybody.

A2l refrigerants do Not contain propane. They do Not contain butane butane. Okay, They don't. There is no propane in the A2l refrigerants.

Okay, A3 refrigerants have propane and butane. Those are pure propane and pure butane. Okay, A2l is a classification right in between. Um, it's It's mildly flammable because one of the refrigerants or two of the refrigerants in there do have flammable components to them.

So they're called mildly flammable. The next thing to clear up: A2l refrigerants will Not be popping up in existing air conditioning systems. You will Not be converting existing air conditioning systems over to A2l refrigerants. That is Not part of the picture.

A2l refrigerants will only be used in new system startups, equipment that was designed to work with those A2l refrigerants. Okay, and uh, you know, while I don't necessarily love the fact that they're changing the flavor of refrigerant every single day, I Mean what control do I have over the matter? I Wouldn't be so concerned about the A2l refrigerants. If you are a competent service technician that follows proper Refrigeration practices, you will be just fine. Okay, if you're like myself or some of the other kitchen appliance guys that happen to deal with A3 refrigerants hydrocarbon refrigerants, it'll be a walk in the park.

Working on A2l systems, the biggest thing is is that you need to sweep the systems before you, uh, braze on them. before you, uh, take components out. it's always good to sweep the system with nitrogen to try to clear out as much of the potential combustible refrigerants out of the system. But again, with the A2l refrigerants, it's not going to be that big of a deal.

Okay, you're I mean you're not going to have systems blowing up and different things unless you have dumb Dums that don't service the equipment right? I Think the biggest issues with all these different A3 refrigerants and A2l refrigerants is going to be people that do improper repairs like for instance. Okay, I don't know this to be fact. but what I will say um I don't know. Six eight months ago, there was a a thing that went around the internet about a domestic Residential Refrigerator that blew up in a lady's house.

It literally blew up, her whole kitchen was in shambles, and the refrigerator had blown up. And the Rumor through the industry was that was a Isobutane system, right? R600 was in there and that's why it blew up because it had flammable refrigerants. But what a lot of people failed to recognize. If you read that story thoroughly, what you would have read is that there was a service technician out there the day before and he worked on it and he had to order a part.

Okay, he left the system running, what part he had to order I don't know. Okay, we don't know all the details. we don't know at least I don't maybe someone else out there does I don't know exactly the final outcome of what happened there. Bottom line: there was a service technician there before.

supposedly. what the article had said you know is that he bypassed something to get it operational and then there was an explosion after he had left. Okay, so we can kind of kind of guess. maybe he bypassed something strange.

Who knows what happened. Okay, when it comes to A3 refrigerants when it comes to hydrocarbon refrigerants. one really easy thing to say is that if you have a failed component, if you have a refrigerant leak, you shut the equipment down. Period.

You shut it down until you can get the replacement parts. Okay, that's like a basic Common Sense practice that you should be taking. Okay, when it comes to A2l refrigerants, right? it's just a mildly flammable refrigerant. Basically, as it stands, if you try to light the refrigerant coming straight out of the bottle, it's not going to catch on fire.

Okay, it's only going to catch on fire under certain circumstances. It really is just basic common sense. So don't be afraid. and don't believe the internet hype and do Not believe whatever idiot at the supply house counter told you that it's got propane in it.

Because it doesn't. A2l refrigerants do Not have propane. Okay, they do not have butane, right? Don't listen to them. They're wrong.

Okay, all right, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um, reading through the chat. Uh, haven't had a a chance to. Oh, they're talking about the Symbio system.

Um, Intel Aacs are his favorite. Oh, that's what Jason's saying. Yeah, right on man. Um, let's see what else we got going on here.

Portable charger for a phone blew up on an airplane today. Yeah, that's pretty crazy man. Um, if you buy those crappy Chargers that tends to happen with the lithium ion batteries. that's why they want you only taking uh, portable chargers and battery packs and things in your carry-on luggage.

That way it can be accessed and it's not down in the cargo hold of the airplane when there's potentially going to be a problem, right? Because if it's up in the cabin, then at least you can deal with it. For you know, in whatever way, you can somehow grab it, contain it, put it in a place where you know. I'm sure they have some sort of fireproof containers or something based on the way that they operate these planes these days. So uh, fire is cool says Beas and Buad.

Yes! I did grow up on Beas and Buad myself today too. Uh, let's see. Jacob Crabtree says tanks will have left-handed threads adapters will be required to use FYI They are taking all precautions to make the switch safe and seamless. Just use common sense.

and and Jason I find the tanks having backwards threads. Kind of silly too. That's just annoying. Do you remember when they first came out with um, mini splits that had 410A in them and you had to have a silly adapter to be able to make the mini split? work with normal refrigerant hoses? Do you remember if you guys have been in the industry long enough? Do you remember all the crazy hype everybody thought when they changed over to 410 in the the mid to late 90s? the rumors going through the supply houses where that everything's going to blow up.

Oh, you know you're going to need different gauges for everything. You remember that everybody's saying you need a separate set of gauges to work on? 410A to work on? R22 to work on all these different? That's a bunch of baloney. Okay, it was a bunch of overhype people overreacting to things. It's not going to be that big of a deal as long as you follow some basic safety practices.

Okay, I Really don't like the idea of the left-handed threads on the tanks? I Think that's dumb. That's just dumb. It really is okay. I mean Common Sense People you know like we don't have left-handed threads on R290.

it's just a basic normal adapter for your system. You know it's just I don't know. I I Guess we do need this training with all these people that refuse to accept the fact that there's no propane in these refrigerants. Even if you can read all the technical documents, they believe anything that anybody tells them like I don't know.

maybe we need all this training I I just don't really understand it very much. Um, let's see why don't I expand my services to other places other restaurants right now I don't have enough staff to expand? uh and it's difficult to get any bigger than I am. I would love to. but I need to become a better business owner and have better capabilities of of delegating and you know not having to deal with so many different things.

So if I could find better staff, not better staff. if I could find more people that could potentially work for me and I could slowly build my business up I'd love to. but I have no interest in growing like 10x or of that crap I just want to just have a nice comfortable business that I don't have to stress too much about. and right now I have way too much stress in my life as it is with my business.

I don't need anymore. So um, do I run my home unit on? Just fan for filtration? How much? Dale I'm still kind of working through my home unit and figuring out the the best practices for everything right now. Um, as it stands for the last week, I've had my system running on low fan speed all the time. continuous just to kind of circulate some air throughout the house.

Um, as we update and finish some things up and I'll talk about my home unit a little bit more as I get further down the line. So um I do have to say I apologize for the clickbait in the last video but I just had to. that was just too perfect to be working at the very first place I ever filmed a YouTube video at and then just be able to throw that silly comment in there I Couldn't help myself. sorry about that, but not really.

Um, so this last weekend uh, if you don't already know I have been over the last course of the last year I have been installing a new air conditioning system in my house and I'm a very slow mover when it comes to that because my business and YouTube and everything came priority. So I've been doing it a little bit at a time, but I got my equipment installed about a month ago and it's been operational. but I've been slowly tying up some loose ends. So this last weekend I was able to fix a problem with my system I was able to uh measure my air flow and Air Balance my entire system.

Uh, that was kind of a chore and I have some frustrations to say about carrier with the infinity system. uh Preston thank you very much for that. uh, super sticker I think is what that is. thank you very much.

It says I am in school or that's a Super Chat says I am in school for my second month in your 10-month program. What would be the best thing to do to get ahead in school and to increase your chances of getting an apprenticeship job? Great question there, bud! So Preston what I would highly suggest you do is just continue to focus on your studies, bust your butt, research, study, and watch lots of YouTube videos. Okay, um, that that's going to be your best bet. Just really, really dig your head in there and try as best as possible to ask as many questions as possible.

Okay, when I go to a training class I sit in the very front of the class if I can help it and my goal in a training class is like genuinely to ask every single question that pops up into my mind and I'll be honest with you majority of the time. The person that's teaching the training classes can tell they usually get sick of the questions that I ask because I ask questions all the time. I also ask questions as I'm sitting in the class and I feel like someone behind me asks a question and it doesn't quite get answered the way that they think because a lot of people are tend to be a little hesitant to continue to ask questions if they don't understand it. So I'll ask follow-up questions to get the instructor to clarify other people's questions too.

so ask as many questions as you can understand that your instructor is not going to know everything. Okay, they aren't. It's just not possible. So just do your best and do as much research as possible.

and I promise you will be uh, you know, ahead of your game as long as you just stay on top of your studies and research as much as possible. Okay, um, let me see. reading through the chat, see what I'm missing in here I'm seeing do I already answered that question. Um, all right.

cool. Stay off your phone Freon Leon says that's a really important thing when you're in school. Yeah, if you can stay off your phone, don't disrupt the class. pay attention to what's going on for sure.

Ask all the questions you can 100% So uh, what's the story behind all the compressors in the background? Um, those are all just compressors that have been on my Channel that I have cut up and whatever I just I I start to have fun I've cut up so many cor compressors over the last couple years that I find myself I consider myself pretty decent at cutting them up just using an angle grinder I am jealous. Uh, if you follow I think it's Roman Roman ba I think who is uh, one of the new commercial service managers for Kaos he works for Brian or at HVAC school. He posted on social media that HVAC school or Kaos is buying a an actual compressor cutter. So basically the compressor is going to mount on a jig and rotate so they can get perfect cuts on that.

and I am so envious of that because if I could get a perfect cut on a compressor, that would be amazing. But yeah, all those compressors are just basically slowly destroying the shelving behind me because they're so heavy. But I just enjoy cutting them up to try to figure out what killed them. That's just something that I do so.

Um yeah I Air Balance My system this last weekend and I got to say I have some frustrations I already had a problem with my I installed a new Carrier Infinity at my house and I already have a problem with it. um I was getting ready to Air Balance it and there's two different apps that you can use to access your Carrier Infinity system. You have a consumer facing app that the homeowner can basically adjust the temperatures. That kind of stuff right? I have access to the consumer based app, but for whatever reason I could not log in on the Service Technician app now I didn't know what cool features the Service Technician app had, but I I couldn't log in I could see the equipment and I was able to get that fixed.

You're going to have to stay tuned for the video to figure out what I had to do to get that fixed, but it will be coming out hopefully in my next video. Um, but I was able to get in there but then W ww I Get into the Service Technician app and it doesn't do anything cool. It's stupid. All it does is give you a window just with some more advanced numbers.

I can see everything from the thermostat that I can see in the Service Technician app I that was just a I Mean it wasn't a waste. it was just silly though, right? But couple things. I will share a few details with you guys my total external static pressure. So we designed my system and we went Nets with it right? We went crazy sizing the duct Works sizing the registers.

so I want you guys to guess in the chat what you think my final total external static pressure was after I Air balanced my system. Okay I have a two ton system. Uh, we redesigned the entire duct system. We cut in all new register boots we perfectly.

We carefully sized everything we put in a 4-in media filter. Um, we did our best. So what do you guys think in the chat? My total external static was on high when my system is running at Max Capacity Um, Well I don't know about some of those. Some of those are pretty low, but yeah, some of them are pretty close too.

my total external static it was not 1 in Jennifer I Can promise you that. Uh, Ryan it was not 3/4 of an inch. it was uh 33 Ines of water column was my total external static. After was all was said and done.

okay and that is with a fully balanced system I Air balanced it within 1% of design on every single register. Okay, something that I learned because I've never really done residential air balancing or really commercial air balancing besides just winging it and feeling building pressures right? So when I was air balancing every single diffuser I had to learn through this process. Luckily I have some really good friends in high places that can help me with that. but I had to learn right? And uh, when you see a a design report that says um, that, uh, when you see a design report, you know and you see your required airf flow and uh, number one.

One of my biggest gripes with the Carrier Infinity system is you cannot dial in air flow, You can't You can't dial it in. You only have three adjustments on the Carrier Infinity system three air flow settings and you have to just pick between the three and that's just what you get. The next thing is the Carrier Infinity wall control that's on the wall. Maybe there's something wrong with it, but it does not read the accurate Cfms.

It says 850 Cfms on the carrier wall control. It's not reading the accurate airf flow right because my air flow is right at a thousand Cfms so it's not accurate. Uh, the total external static pressure is close because on the Carrier Infinity system I think it said Point 38 I think is what it said my total external static was, but it was actually 33 using the Uh the Uh Energy Conservatories dg8. So I know that's 100% accurate.

Um, but I was able to get the air flow balanced within 1% at every diffuser. In fact, um, uh, it's basically like a Cple Cfms over when you actually look at the CFM But I had to learn not to look at the CFM because if you're trying to chase the exact you know design CFM out of every register, you're never going to meet that because it just airf flow is just too weird. So you got to look at percentages and that's how I learned because it was just too difficult trying to chase it per CFM. So you look at percentages and I got uh plus 1% on like four of them and everything else is dead on.

As far as perfect for 100% designed airflow. Um, let me see what else we got going on in here. What else do we got in there? Uh oh yeah. I've got lots of surge protectors on my system I put one in on my fan coil and on my condenser outside.

Did I install a MV filter in the home unit? What's the MV number? I Installed a MV 134 inch um media filters what? I installed. So um, let's see. yeah, you were off. Yeah, exactly.

Um. reading through here. Oh yeah. and the other thing too.

You know all the flex duct haors. My system works perfectly. Like honestly, I didn't need to Air Balance it really? I didn't because it was so close on everything. but I went ahead and did it and I've got perfect air flow, 33 inches of total external static plus 1% on like four of the registers and everything else is 100% And That's all with Flex Duck.

but it all just depends on how you install your systems. and I used a plenum system and you know it's a A A A single run plenum system. Basically, you know, home run from the plenum, going to each thing. so you might call it a Doctopus system or whatever you want to call it.

but it works perfect right? It's just a matter of stretching out the flex duck, trying to get air flow as best as possible. Um, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. What else we got? What am I missing in here? Uh, reading through the chat? uh, breaks into a zip? TI Oh yeah, exactly. Uh.

Dj8 is 0.9% accurate. There you go. So um, reading through the chat, see what? I'm missing Okay cool. So that was fun doing that.

Uh, I'm sure my wife is just about completely done with me doing this home system. so what's left on my system now that I've air balanced it I've still got to air seal a few more things. uh, my return cabinet I encased it and enclosed it all with plywood but I did not air seal it yet. so I got to all the seams and get it all sealed I put new Returns on my system because I had custommade bar style returns that were special order so we had received those.

So I installed those those. this will all come out in the next video. Um, so as far as my existing system I still have to tidy up the condensate drain, put an overflow switch on it I still have to bring in fresh air which will be a whole another project. uh, deciding trying to figure out what kind of fresh air I want to do and then I still need to install jumper Ducks Um so I have a return path from every bedroom because my master bedroom is getting over pressurized now before it was over pressurized by like 20 pascals.

Uh, meaning that there was too much air coming in if you shut the door. there wasn't enough return path so the room's pressures would build up and it would slow down the incoming air coming out of the registers. So uh, we still need to finish that up, put the jumper, ducks in, and find the return path for every room which will all be coming soon too. You know when I am working on equipment and let's say I'm working on a package unit and I need some parts for it, right? of course.

I try to use OEM Parts as much as possible and this is something that someone had. Ask me. You know where do I find my part numbers? How do I find out if I have the right part numbers? How do I find out if the supply house is given you the right part numbers? Okay, first and foremost, the best advice I can give every single one of you is always question people when they give you information. Always question them right.

Be informed yourself before you call for part numers. Don't just blindly trust someone that you gave a model and serial number to. For example, I do a lot of refrigeration parts right? because I work on restaurant refrigerators I order a lot of parts through Parts Town Okay, Partstown is a just a giant conglomerate that owns service companies sells Parts All this different stuff, right? But Partstown, um, has all kinds of equipment manuals and you can go in there and look up model numbers and serial numbers and it'll tell you what part you need. But Partstown is constantly wrong.

And here's why: Manufacturers oftentimes use the same model number for four different designs of a same model number. It may have two drawers. It may have one door, It may have one door, three drawers. It may have all different configurations for a specific model number.

Same thing goes with a lot of the air conditioning manufacturers too. so you as a technician cannot just blindly trust someone to say that this is the right part number. Okay, you need to be educated yourself when you're calling for those part numbers. Measure things you know when I am uh looking for parts I will typically download the manuals or use the actual manufacturers apps.

a lot of Manufacturers all the major air conditioning manufacturers um or good majority of them. Uh, they have their own apps that you can download and you know if you're working on train equipment. Um, you can get the Train app. I think it's is it is it com? No, it's not.

Comfort Side: is it train 360 or did they change the name again I can't remember what trains app is but anyways I have it on my phone. you download trains app. you get a login through your distributor and you can look up part numbers you can look up Tech manuals same thing with carrier Linux You can find it all. Okay, a lot of ice machine manufacturers have different apps.

Heatcraft Refrigeration has an app. You can go to the download The Hub from Heatcraft Refrigeration on any of the app stores and you can find all kinds of information. So do your due diligence and research your own stuff. Ask questions When someone gives you a part number, ask them.

How did you find that You know? How did you get that part number without the serial number? Oh, because it's the same. No, it's not. You know you need to question that stuff. That way you're not given the wrong information.

Blindly trusting the supply house is asking for a world to hurt for sure. So I'm reading through here, reading through here. What am I missing? Did I stretch out my Flex before I installed it? Yes. I Did I stretched it out, pulled the memory out of it, let it sit for a few minutes, then took it up into the attic and installed it? So yes, I went out into my front yard I Grabbed the flex I had my wife hold one end of the the 25 foot run.

I went and held the other end. We pulled it tight, grabbing the metal ring and we stretched it out for about two minutes. just held it and then we let it go and then I carefully took it up into the Attic out of the box and then ran it, stretched it, ran it as tight as possible. Um, it's not perfect.

I mean I'm sure you know people will criticize me, but you know I tried my best. That's all. Uh, reading through here. Uh, you need to close your bedroom door.

No, actually, we don't close my bedroom door to be honest with you very often. So anyways. but yeah, that's a whole another thing. All right.

What's cool? Um, okay, so uh, when I recently posted a video where I was working on a a Linux package unit and I installed a 30 cubic inch filter dryer. Why? and this I got this question from a bunch of different people: Why did I install ball valves? and if you know and then other people are asking since I installed ball valves? how come I didn't install a flare dryer? So the reason why I installed ball valves was to make it easier for the next service technician that has to change a filter dryer. This particular system was a grounded compressor okay and the customer had been resetting the breaker so it was a nasty burn. The oil was just pure.

Sledge Okay, so why in the heck did I install ball valves? Because I predict that we're probably going to have to go back and change that filter dryer. but I also massively oversized the filter dryer because what was originally in there was an 8 cubic inch and I changed it to a 30 cubic inch now I had to adjust compensate the refrigerant charge because of the added internal volume of the dryer. But why didn't I use a flare dryer if I thought I was going to be coming back. Okay I installed that dryer in a location that was very far away from my shop.

Okay, I prefer not to do flare dryers when I'm way out in the bonies if I can, because there's always the potential that there's going to be a problem the next thing on air conditioners themselves. I Actually prefer not to use flare dryers because oftentimes air conditioners tend to have more vibration issues and if you have a mechanical connection, you have more of a potential such as a flare of vibration issues, caus causing problems, especially for customers that don't do good routine maintenance in a perfect world. Yeah, it would have been smart to install uh, flare, right? it would have been smart, but you know it's just like, eh, it's not really that big of a deal. So um, oh, great question.

I Actually get this one quite often and people are always curious. Does unsweating a filter dryer in a system then release that moisture into the system? So best practices tell tells you that in a perfect world, you should recover all the refrigerant from the system and then you should try to cut the dryer out. So that way, potentially, as you're heating up the brazed fittings, you don't potentially heat up that dryer to the point that the desicant inside that dryer starts to release the moisture and then that moisture flows back into the system. Okay, so should you always cut out a dryer? I mean I guess in a perfect world, but who in the right mind is going to cut out a filter dryer every single time? When you cut out a filter dryer working on a package unit, what you're doing, you're oftentimes don't have a lot of room to work with, so if you cut out the dryer, it's usually 3/4 of an inch above the braze connection, so then you have to add extension pieces.

It's not very practical in what I'm doing, so am I concerned about releasing moisture into the system if I unra or unsweat a dryer? I'm not really worried about it at all for the most part I try to braze with nitrogen whenever possible. Okay, um, but then on top of that, uh, you know I'm evacuating the system to Crazy amounts and I think that if there is potential of any moisture being released into that system, it's so negligible, it's so minute that I mean in my opinion, maybe someone can correct me if I'm wrong. but I don't see that big of a deal. Okay, you're brazing with nitrogen.

It's flowing through the system, un sweat the dryer and move on. Okay, all right, let's see what else we got going on in here. Uh, what am I missing? Okay, cool reading through here. Moist moisture is usually at the metering device.

Well, Mario The reason why people will say moisture is at the metering device. moisture will. typically if it gets past the filter dryers, the coldest spot in the system is at the metering device. So if you have moisture and you didn't do a good job evacuating the system, that moisture is potentially going to freeze at the point at which the metering device flashes that refrigerant into a a vapor liquid mixture.

After it, you know goes through the expansion valve. So that's typically the point at which you're going to have the most potential of freezing any moisture that's in the system. If you do a good evacuation, okay, you're going to be fine. You're not going to have to worry about the moisture, Just make sure you're following proper Refrigeration practices.

Um, when uh I released a video over uh last Thursday where I was working on a glycol unit and I had to change a pump on that glycol unit. Why in the heck did I not use a pump saver coupling on that pump? So uh, on the glycol units, we have a carbonator pump and a carbonator pump motor. Okay, I call it a glycol pump assembly I change them all together. but you can put a pump saver coupling in between the motor and the pump.

And the theory is is that if there's ever a problem, the pump saver is going to break before it ruins the motor or before it ruins the pump. Honestly I don't find the the useful and I don't really see that pump saver couplings really and the kind of equipment that I'm working on save you any anything I mean what usually kills your pump motors is the customers not maintaining their glycol. the glycol getting thick and dirty and then gumming up the pump and then causing the pump to be hard to turn so then it burns out the motor. Okay, that's usually what causes these things.

And I realize if you put a pump saver coupling there, that in theory you would only have to change the pump and the coupling. but I just Chang the pump and the motor together. So I really don't see the point in pump saver couplings. That's just my two cents.

I'm not saying that you're wrong if you use a pump saver coupling. it's just not practical for what I'm doing. Um, my office is looking chaotic. Yeah, my office is a dumpster fire right now.

Absolutely. so. Something that I want to talk about is as the weather starts changing, it starts getting colder outside right now. for the refrigeration guys and the builtup air conditioning guys, you really need to start paying attention to the refrigerant charge.

You're probably already getting the uh, my walk-in coolers not working first thing in the morning, but by noon it starts working. Fine calls. And typically in my experience in my area, we see those in the fall and those are typically refrigerant related issues. Okay, oftentimes on refrigeration systems we will have something called a flooded charge.

Okay, the flooded charge is extra refrigerant that the system needs to operate properly in the winter time when it has a head pressure control valve, the head pressure control valve um, bypasses and it needs extra refrigerant. If you guys want to find out more about head pressure control Valves I Highly suggest you go to Spin's website Sporin Uh, Spin.com I think is what it is Sporin online. Do Sporin? Yeah! Spin.com Um and download the 90-30 series of tech docs again. I Love holding these things.

So this one right here is 90-30 This one gives you a basic understanding of head pressure control valves. This one right here is 90- 31. Okay, this one goes into a little bit more detail about the head pressure control valves and then this one. I I Do think that they need to change the number in on these? This one is 90-30 D1 This one right here is one of the best documents that they have because this one right here breaks down sizing and figuring out how much extra refrigerant you need for flooded charges.

Okay, highly suggest you guys look into those very good documents to have on your trucks understanding how head pressure control valves work. The other thing I Encourage all you guys to do is cut things open. This is a typical Lac Head pressure control valve I Put it in the band saw, cut it open so that way I could understand the operation. There's really nothing to them.

Everybody thinks these things are the devil. They're not What usually in my experience kills these things is contaminants. Okay, contaminants floating through the system is typically what kills them. Um, there's a couple different types, but one thing I Want to point out: have you guys ever seen an Lac valve that has this funky power head on it? Okay, as compared to this Lac valve that just has a dome style.

Does anybody in the chat know what the difference between these two valves are? Okay, it's not what's the difference between these two valves. They're both Lac valves, but one of them has this weird funky look powerhead and one of them has this just standard style. So I'm curious in the chat. If you guys have an idea what these two different, what's the difference? What's this valve? Why is this valve different? Why is the powerhead so funky compared to this one? Let's see what the chat says: Did I oversize the run for my office Considering the two-ton computer load? No.

I Did not design my new air conditioner in my house. It did not account for my computer load. Uh, because I didn't want to oversize my system just for a computer that would run sometimes. Um, we're slowly coming to a conclusion to that problem of having high heat in my office and it has nothing to do with the air conditioning system.

So we're going to fix that. Um, no. Okay, so they are not the same. It is not a hot gas bypass.

It kind of looks like it. This is a head pressure control valve. It's just the power head that's different. Okay, um, it's kind of adjustable.

Super tech, Kind of adjustable. Okay, this is a dual pressure head. This right here can bypass at 70 or 180 PSI. But here's the trick.

if you cut the tip on this one. Okay, you clip the tip on it, then it changes the bypass pressure on this guy. Okay, this one right here only has one bypass pressure. This one happens to be a 210 PSI bypass pressure.

So at 210 PSI this thing stops bypassing anything below 210. PSI This thing opens up and starts flooding the condenser. This one right here. When you cut the tip on it, you change the bypass pressure permanently.

It's not something you can change after that, but if you ever see this funky head, it's a dual pressure head right here. and basically it has two different pressure bypass settings. One is with it fully intact and then when you clip the tip, it changes it and it becomes another pressure setting. Okay, so um, a lot of people see these things and they're so confusing for people and it's just a head pressure control valve.

It does kind of look like a Hot Gas bypass valve, but it's not necessarily. So um, see what else we got going on in here? Yeah, it's kind of adjustable for sure. So um, reading through the chat right now, uh, no, it's it's oh yeah, you said it's like a Epr hold back pressure. Um, let's see.

do I clean my field piece Temperature clamps. If so, how often I mean I don't know I Probably don't do a good job of cleaning my temperature clamps. No, Um, so refrigeration systems in cold weather. Make sure you're checking the charge, make sure it has the proper flooded charge in them.

Those can be kind of tricky. Um, if you're running a fan cycling system, you know those. Those are a little bit easier to charge. but I don't really care for fan cycling where it's at and I know that the supermarket guys are already dealing with this.

We're starting to see it a little bit more in the higher end systems. Um, in the smaller refrigeration systems. I Think it'll catch up in that they're going to start to go to variable speed condenser fan motors where they can slow the motors down instead of doing a fan cycle where it turns off the motor and just violently messes with the system pressures. If you can just slow down the speed of a fan, you know it's starting to become more prevalent these days.

I Know some of that stuff has existed for a while, but it hasn't really become mainstream because they weren't very reliable. So hopefully with the newer Motors but you know they are. ECM Motors So are they really more reliable? That's a questionable question. Um, so oh I Had another good question actually.

my buddy Adam asked me about this but I had someone in the chat ask me too the pipe clamps that IED used on my home system. I Used a hydrosorb. Well, this is a special kind of a clamp that mounts in Unistrut you know and and I get it you Refrigeration Guys, You guys already know what these clamps are right. You already see these fittings, but a lot of people don't and they don't understand them.

So if you have a typical hydrosorb clamp right, it's just a piece of rubber that goes around the pipe. and then oftentimes if you have insulation coming up to it, it's it. Just I don't know. You lose your insulating value at the point of the clamp, right? So so this is called a Kushia THM clamp.

Essentially, it only clamps around this piece that has 3/4 wall insulation. So this is a 5/8 inch inside diameter and then it has 3/4 wall insulation. So what you actually do is you clamp it around the pipe and then you bring your pipe insulation right up to the side and you just glue your pipe insulation to this. and then you never lose your insulation when you go to the clamps.

So again, it's just a Kush a THM clamp for Unistrut Google that it'll come up. Everybody can find those they're They're really not difficult. If you're dealing with refrigeration. you're already seeing those a lot.

but a lot of refrigeration people don't actually see them. Kush clamps are different than that. A cush. that's a Kush a THM clamp.

So that's the one that the insulation comes up to. A Kush clamp can be a little bit different. Um, there's a couple different styles, but I prefer that style right there. So um, I I keep getting this question and I've answered it many times.

I released a little short form video where I went up to a rooftop where the customer didn't take my quote and they used someone else and they had the wrong unit changed and people everybody keeps asking me in the chat, why in the heck do I continue to work for that customer? Why was I there again if they didn't accept my quote because I'm not gonna fire a customer just because they use someone else. Now if it consistently happens over and over and over again and they're just undercutting me, then yeah, I would consider firing that customer. but I have no problem in competition. If someone can do the do job cheaper than me and they can do just as good of a high quality job, then I clearly have something to learn from that person.

Okay, so I have no problems if people use someone else. It's not the end of the world right in this situation. It benefited me because had they used my quote yeah, it would have cost a couple extra bucks more, but they would have got the right unit changed. So right.

All right. Um, yeah, see Super Tech saying that already seeing Vfd on condensers for Supermarket racks very common? Yeah, exactly. And and for the higher end stuff, you see that for sure. Um, crazy thing is is when you listen to the price of something and I've heard some of the horror stories about some of the the older like Ebm Paps Motors and stuff that you can't get right now that's a nightmare or that they discontinued certain models.

that's kind of crazy. That's scary to think customer spends a bunch of money and then you know, uh, guaranteed leak point if rubber wears out Josh Are you talking about like on a hydrosorb clamp? Um, uh, let's see you asked you meant to ask, how do I clean my field piece clamps? if not, how often how do I clean them I mean I would just wipe them down is really all that I would do uh I don't really have any other things What courses would I suggest to make myself more valuable or for Aaron saying to make himself more valuable to his company I mean anything. Take a business course, Take a customer service course. Um, just any kind of classes that can better you as a service technician, that's going to be your best bet.

Start: Uh, you. know one of the best pieces of advice for me. Understand: I'm probably not the same as every one of you and I shouldn't say this is the best advice but people will ask me often. You know how do I ask my boss for a raise or how do I do this? How do I do that? What I always do is say reflect on yourself, what about you thinks that you deserve a raise? If I was to go, ask my boss for a raise right? If I was still working for someone, what I would do is I would look at myself and think okay, what do I need to do what goals have I met what goals have I obtained right and then I would go to my boss and i' say hey, you know what I feel like you know I I've I've excelled I feel like I've gotten to the point where I've really reached some Milestones but I want more responsibility and I want to grow with this company.

So what can I do as a service technician to start making more money? That's how I would ask my boss for a raise. Okay, if I was working for someone I would just simply say what can I do to make more money Now of course there's a difference between a raise because you're you're improving your job skills And then there's also cost of living raises too. That will happen often. cost of living raises should kind of be automatic, but as far as a you're bettering yourself, you're becoming a better service technician.

You're becoming more valuable I Always personally would say go to your boss and just say hey, what kind of goals do you want me to set? Is there something you want me to do to be able to get to a point where I can start making more money and just ask them Okay, um, reading through the chat right now what am I missing? Nate certification Aaron G If Nate is good for the company that you work with, there's nothing wrong with Nate I Personally am not a huge fan of Nate certification just because as a service technician, you now have to pay every time it's time to renew your membership. When Nate first came out, you basically just had to continue your education and then you can get a new you would be update but now it's more or less like a money-making thing. I Don't know I don't know if I'm a huge fan of that concept. But the cool thing like I said earlier in the Stream that I appreciate about any kind of industry certification whether it be Nate Rscs, whatever you insert name of whatever certification is, most of all of them require you to continue your education.

So any certification better than no certification. But don't think that just because you have a certification that makes you the best service technician. because that's absolutely not true. Okay, there's plenty of amazing service technicians that don't have one single certification.

Okay, but any certification is better than no certification in my opinion. Hopefully that helps you there. Um can I show the open compressor behind me? Um I mean I tell you what? Just uh, shoot me an email and I'll shoot you a uh uh a link to the video where I open those up because it's pretty in-depth to pull those things apart so and they're kind of heavy. and I don't want to get all dirty and greasy right now I'm a primadonna now I don't want to get my hands dirty.

No. I work every day. So all right let's see. I got I've gone through my list right now.

let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um, what am I missing? Uh, definitely. if you guys haven't already and you don't already know about it. I Do a a YouTube show with my friends on Friday evening 6:05 p.m.

Pacific Time Called the HVAC overtime show. It is a not safe for work If you don't like bad words, you definitely don't ever even want to research the HVAC overtime show. Okay, polar opposite of this channel. but uh, it's a good time.

Good friends. Good hangout on Friday nights. Uh, watch the reruns. Download the podcast.

it's a great time. So um, reading through the chat right now is 38 too low to get into Hvacr you're interested in commercial is 38 too low? It depends on the area you're in and what your skills are. Um, oh oh I See what you're saying you're saying age wise, no, 38 is not too old, too late. No, no, you you can.

There's There's plenty of work as long as you're a fast learner and you're able-body person that can lift compressors and you know lift a reasonable amount of weight and you can function and move around. Yeah, 38 is perfect. I Thought you were asking wages. Um, but no age? No, there's nothing wrong with 38 man.

plenty of time, plenty of time. Is my parking brake on right now? 100% nasty Hvacr. My wife's parking brake is on In our garage. That's flat.

Uh, my parking brakes on in my truck. My parking brak's on in my van. Everybody in my family puts their parking brake on every single time they. Park I Don't care if they're on a flat surface or on a hill we always put our parking brakes on.

Um, reading through here: clear the site glass on the coldest day of the year. Mike Be saying yeah I Mean you know that's that's that's one way to find the proper flooded charge for a system is to clear the sight glass on the coldest day of the year. But how practical is that? That's the question. What's the purpose? Let me ask the chat right now.

What is the sole purpose of the Head Pressure Control valve? I'm looking for a specific answer. The sole purpose of a Head pressure control valve in a refrigeration system. Why is it there? I'll give you a hint, it has to do with the expansion valve. Now, this is a thermostatic expansion valve, but it has to do with the expansion valve.

That is the sole purpose of a head pressure control valve. In a typical refrigeration system, control head pressure. Okay, liquid refrigerant to the TXV Those are all. um, good guesses, but not quite the right answer.

Uh, it was part of the stream of comments. Oh, okay. I See, you're saying there might be uh to keep the pressure up to create enough pressure drop across the TXV That is 100% correct. Nasty.

So think about a thermostatic expansion valve. Okay, a thermostatic expansion valve has a power head putting downward force on a spring that's opposing that power head. Okay, and it's set for a certain uh, amount of volume of refrigerant to go through that valve. Okay, but refrigerant reacts to temperature.

As it gets colder outside, the pressure in the system will typically go down. As it gets warmer outside, the pressure in the system will go up. This expansion valve is meant to operate in a very small operating envelope and anything outside of that operating envelope. Depending on the type of expansion valve, it can start to act really wonky and not work correctly.

So as the head pressure drops, the pressure drop, the differential across this valve starts to go down and then the valve starts to act kind of messed up and it doesn't work correctly in really low ambient conditions. The head pressure control valve floods the condenser, creates a artificial warm outside ambient temperature by flooding the condenser, partially blocking off the condenser, increasing the head pressure while still putting refrigerant downstairs. liquid refrigerant. Um, and it makes the expansion valve operate properly.

So that's the point of a head pressure control valve is to create or maintain a constant pressure differential across that expansion valve so it can operate properly. That's the real purpose of a head pressure control valve. Um, All right. Yeah, lots of great great answers there.

Uh, all right. you work on any semi hermetic compressors. Yeah, I I have a few semi-hermetic compressors, but to be honest with you, most of the equipment that I'm working on these days um is Scrolls I still have a few discus compressors out there I Still probably have maybe 15 to 20 small fractional horsepower semi hermetics maybe slightly bigger, but most of the compressors I deal with are the Hermetic pot compressors and the Uh scroll compressors is most of the stuff that I'm working with. When I first came up in the industry, there was a lot of semi hermetics.

We had a lot of Carlile compressors 06s and different things. We had them in ice machines I used to work on vote ice machines. We had them in a lot of the carrier equipment. the 10 ton stuff all had um Carlile compressors with unloaders but we don't deal with a lot of that anymore because they got they kind of.

you know, got rid of a lot of that stuff to reduce the weight, increase efficiency. they went to scroll compressors. uh when sizing units. If you're between two sizes, it better to go bigger or go smaller.

Aaron It really depends. like what kind of equipment are we talking about and you know when you're talking about Refrigeration equipment. If you look at a load calculation chart a lot of times they're they're sizing that equipment based on a certain runtime and hours for the equipment. So you do have a little bit of margin of error there.

and if you oversiz equipment on a condenser or on an evaporator, you can lead to some problems. So you do have a little bit of Wh room. Uh, when it comes to like load calculations for air conditioning equipment and different stuff like that, what you're going to find is that a lot of load calculations software already has fudge factors built into it. so if you think Ah that's not big enough I'm just going to go up in size for a residential air conditioner like for instance, my house.

We sized my load at a two ton load and we were kind of aggressive because we were slightly over two tons of required cooling capacity, right? But basically, we know that there was, uh, a fudge Factor built into the load calculation. So we sized right at the two ton because it's like we know it could do it and and it does just fine. So um, reading through the chat, uh do I ever swap valve plates I have super tech Again, it's not something that I do very often anymore, but I have in the past for sure. So um, reading through the chat Sean says he misses Commercial Refrigeration Shawn used to work with me uh, quite a few years back, but Shawn moved out of state.

Um, but yeah, Shan Definitely he moved to the land of cold where he deals with I believe you deal with a lot of oil stuff, don't you? Sean and a lot of heating systems where he's at so um, when sizing units if I'm in between? Oh yeah, I already answered that one. Erin Uh, do I ever dip my toes into chillers? No. Michael I've never gotten into chillers so um, what meter do I use? Uh, currently in my bag I I have two meters in my V actually yeah, I think I have two meters I have three I have two flukes and a field piece and my go-to is just my field piece c480. It's a super small clamp meter.

It may not be like the most scientifically accurate thing, but it it does. Perfect for what we do and it has all the features that I need in it. and it's relatively inexpensive. I have higher-end fluke meters too, but to be honest with you, I don't use those very often at all.

so um, new racks are all going to scroll racks says super tech yeah, that's pretty common. So and they're going to l