HVACR Videos Q and A livestream originally aired 05/01/23

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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 Foreign thank you thank you thank you sorry about that I'm trying to like do things nice and smooth and then I stumble on the trans. Yeah, Anyways, whatever you guys don't care about that, just know that I'm a bumbling idiot over here. So what is up everybody, how are you doing today? Welcome to the Hvacr videos live stream So I do these for the new people that are watching right now.

I do these? Try to do them weekly and it's a consolidation of questions. So I get a lot of questions and emails I can't answer all of them, you know? but I try to and some of them are repetitive. It's like the same questions over and over again and I totally want to answer everybody's stuff. So I try to do it on here.

So got a few things to cover today. Do not have a big list today so I don't think this one's going to go very long unless you guys have a lot of questions in the chat. So um, had an interesting week and I'm going to get into a cool little like, uh, callback story here in just a few minutes. but I want to go ahead and start off with a couple other things and say hello to everybody in the chat.

So depending on what platform you guys are watching this on, whether it be Facebook LinkedIn YouTube um good. majority of the people are actually in YouTube So just know that if you guys are watching on other platforms and you're trying to chat, you're probably not going to see everything that's going on. There's you know, probably a hundred something people in the YouTube chat right now just going on talking about different things. So but again, I'm all good.

Whatever platform you guys want to watch on, it's all good. Okay I really do appreciate you. Remember if you guys are on Facebook you want to make sure that Facebook you have like the permissions and you I don't know what you have to do to give Stream Yard your permission something like that because if you're not approving stream yard or something like that on Facebook then uh it just shows up as Facebook user in the chat. so I can't see your name so if you guys do have questions, feel free to throw them in caps lock and I will try to get to them as the stream goes on.

Okay, Um, so Sam Mitchell I Saw in the chat he says that he's getting a lot of leaks in evaporator coils. Doesn't matter the brand of the unit, if it's R290, he's always finding evaporator coils leaking. age of the unit is not a factor. So I too see a lot of evaporator leaks I work on a lot of R290 equipment and I do have to say that I don't think it has anything to do with the refrigerant and I think it has a lot to do with the manufacturers.

The leaks that I'm seeing are consistently in the same spots. but I'd say probably 80 percent of the R290 system leaks that I see are on the expansion valve brace joint a good majority of the time. I think the factory is just not using a proper filler metal I don't think they're using 15 so fast. They're probably using one of those, uh, like the the eight percent silver whatever solder you.
It's not silver solder, but it's whatever. It's like a knockoff soft solder or something like that. I think a lot of Manufacturers are just not prepping the equipment right and not uh, brazing properly. I I and I tend to see the leaks on the R290 equipment I work on a lot of Delfield equipment.

um, some. True Manufacturing Uh, but I'm seeing a lot of the leaks in the same spots on the Delfield unit. so I think it just has to do with the installation and the way manufacturers are prep and things. So um, but I do see a lot of people, a lot of people in Facebook and different things are just swearing up and down that they think it's the R290 that's causing the leaks I mean maybe I don't know I I don't think so though I just think it's poor installation practices is really what it is so let's see what else we got going on in here.

Uh yeah, a lot of people are commenting I I had some new intro music I'm still trying to figure out like what kind of intro music I want to use. It's kind of exhausting but I tend to have like the 80s synth Wave Music or something like that. It's not the only kind of music that I listen to, but I do have always had like some sort of weird appreciation for the 80s like synth music Beverly Hills Cop intro that kind of stuff. you know the weird thing.

there's a good majority of the things in my life like music has always been a big thing for me and and really what it is I think is music takes me back to like a good place. Had some weird crap happen in my childhood. um anyways I don't need to go into that but the music has always been something for me. so I don't know.

80s synth Wave Music takes me to a place that I was happy when I was a kid or something like that I don't know, it's kind of cool but I still like we'll get this like you know Goosebump feeling or something like that every time. Like certain songs. come on. just kind of reminds you of a moment, you know.

Really cool. So um, let's see what else we got going on in here. What do we have? Lots of great people in the chat? hello to everybody, hello hello um so for people that are watching, maybe you haven't watched the last stream or so. Uh I am still working on my house project I have uh selected my equipment so I have new equipment for my house and um I'm doing some testing and still trying to figure out some details.

Uh, had a hard time finding circuit breakers for my house. foreign I mean the the size circuit breakers that I want I have an old uh old panel and I needed some specific Uh 208 volt circuit breakers. So I needed a 25 amp two pole and a 15 amp two pole and with my particular configuration their Cutler Hammer Breakers I was having a hard time finding them locally so I found a cool place online. um I got no affiliation with them but I guess I'll plug them simplybreakers.com Hey super easy fast shipping got me the breakers that I needed.
They're not broken, they seem in decent shape I think they're new so we're just moving along again on my house project I am not in a rush I really am not I'm taking my time uh my good friend Adam Muffich from HVAC overtime show a team Adam He has been helping me with the equipment selection the load calculation, the duck design so we've been kind of working through that and trying to figure out where we're going to order things. Everything is very precise with what I'm doing I specifically have a type of equipment that I just you know selected and then I'm being very precise with the line sizing. Uh, the line set run. um, you know, voltage and surge protection.

So we're working through everything trying to find the perfect setup so that way I can finish this and then probably move. So that's probably how it usually goes right. Dump a bunch of money and then decide yeah, it's time to move. Uh, let's see Al Anonymous Said he got a true flow grid that is awesome Bud! So uh, you will be very very happy with the true flow grid.

I Have a true flow grid and uh it's it's game changing and stay tuned because I know they're going to innovate with that true flow grid and there's going to be some really cool stuff to come out in the future. things that you can do with it. So it's a really awesome device if you guys don't know what. the true flow grid my friends over at the Energy Conservatory I'm not being paid to say any of that stuff okay, uh, but my friends over at the energy Conservatory Uh, create Uh.

Several different airflow measurement tools, but one of them is the true flow grid. And the really cool thing about the true flow grid is it goes in place of your existing air filter, You take pressure measurements before you take pressure measurements with it in the system. and uh, it has uh, mathematical calculations and it gives you your true airflow with the system without using a flow. Hood it gives you your your airflow going through your air handler.

Um, it's really really cool and it syncs up with measure quick too. so that's really awesome. So if you guys haven't seen that, I I think I showed the true flow in one of my my house videos. Um, really cool tool.

So I'm really excited to see where that goes with the true flow grid. So um, lots of ice machine and talk in the chat before the stream started. Uh, let's get into that real quick. So um I do a lot of ice machine work.

Uh, mainly. Manitowoc and Hoshizaki are the two main ones that I do a lot on. I have a lot of restaurants that use those two two machines. uh or two.
Brands I should say uh, have worked a lot on Scotsman in the past Isomatic in the past, vote ice machines. In the past, lots of uh, fallet ice machines. but currently the only ice machines actually. I have some Isomatics out there right now too.

So I have Isomatics uh, Hoshizakis and Manitowocs out in the field. But you know all manufacturers have their issues, but certain manufacturers I'm not going to name names, but they make the only all stainless steel evaporator for a crescent Cube ice machine out there and you guys can insert the name of that brand inside the chat. It's just not me saying it, but lately they have been sucking. Okay uh, their plate separation issues are insane.

Uh, currently right now I have got a set of evaporator plates ordered for two side by side 1600 pound modular machines and uh, they needed they both had plate separation. The machines are still under warranty and they have no machine, no plates, no plates. They told us estimation of a year out before this customer can get two new evaporator plates and that's just minimum minimum, you know? So um, I was blown away when I called the manufacturer and I was like hey, we got these ice machines. We need new evaporator plates.

What do we do And they said well, we got a solution for you. They're sending out new evaporator plates that are for smaller machines. uh I think they quoted me at a eight percent capacity lost. eight percent capacity loss if you use these new evaporator plates and they're sending them out under warranty and I'm like really? So all that I did was give that information to the customer and the customer decided they were so desperate that they're taking the smaller plates.

but it just kind of blew my mind. You know, imagine a car manufacturer saying oh yeah, we're having an engine recall but we're going to send you a smaller engine like what? like it just dumbfounds me right? I was blown away but this manufactured as so anyways I had uh that I ordered those plates those 260 or two I think they're 1300 pound plates or whatever now but I ordered those about two months ago and they told me for the the lower capacity plates it was going to be three to six months so let's see. But then last week I had two more sixteen hundred pound machines that weren't working properly. We were out there cleaning them and the evaporator plates are separated on those too.

And you know when you go into some of the ice machine groups when you start talking about plate separation, everybody's like it's because they're being cleaned with the wrong cleaner. it's because they're doing this. No, it's not okay. I'm sure there's a some instances where the plate separation is happening for some user caused issue, but I'm gonna I'm gonna go out on a limb and say 99 of the plate separation issues out there are just because the machines are not being made with high quality.
I mean and it's sad to say because that particular manufacturer and again I never said what their name is but they make the only stainless steel evaporator modular machine with a crescent. Cube You know again, the chat can say the name, but um, everybody knows who they are and they used to have the best quality. Now to be fair, their parts have always been ridiculously expensive. I mean ridiculously expensive, but it's It's a price you paid for the quality of their machines.

Unfortunately I would be embarrassed to sell one of their machines right now. now. to be fair, all Ice machine manufacturers were having issues during covid getting parts. For the most part, almost all the ice machine brands that I deal with have gotten through their part shortages except for the one that has the evaporator plate issue right now.

I'm I'm having pretty decent luck finding all the other parts so you know every manufacturer is having quality issues. and let's be honest. I mean consumers are still paying top dollar for everything and everybody's having issues. It's just a normal thing so the prices are just going to keep going up and up and up and in in the exception of subpar equipment is just people are just going to get used to it.

and it's sad to say that, but that's just how it is, you know? So let's see what else we got going on in the chat right now. um uh oh yeah, that is funny. So yeah, one of the things um that I would love to um to bring up when I am in an ice machine training class and it doesn't matter what brand it is. One of my favorite things if you open up any ice machine literature for: Manitowoc Hoshizaki Isomatic Scotsman vote Fallout any of those guys right? If you open up any other stuff, Marketing always has their hands on the technical literature and the brochures right.

And they're trying to do everything to sell the machines because they're marketing right. They're a marketing department right of that company and they will constantly. One of the things that they like to do is to tell the customers that our machine is so easy you can clean it yourself. Okay, there's a particular brand of ice machine that's in almost every Starbucks out there and uh, they are engineered so the customer can clean them.

They only have so many parts and they come apart. Uh, they have all kinds of other issues that the customer can't do, but they're trying to make these things more user friendly so that way the customers can clean them themselves. The marketing: Department's always saying. you know you know our ice machines only take this much time to clean.

And one of my favorite things is when I go to the training classes I love to ask the Technical Training person and I'll usually go in there and I love I'll be cool about the whole class and I'm not rude about it. but I love you know, ask good questions that I think that he's not covering. That'll help them educate the rest of the class and hey, what about this? and what about that? and so I usually get them to where he answers all my questions right and then usually somewhere in the middle or towards the end. I'll start asking them all right? So how long does it take to clean one of your machines and then when they say the Spiel like oh yeah, our machine can be cleaned in 27 minutes, you just push the clean button, then I'll be like you know, Okay, that's cool.
So what happens when you have to do a full tear down like you know they? they're having sanitation issues. We've got to tear the entire machine apart, take it apart, rip it out, and then you have a dual machine next to it. You know, and and getting rid of the ice? you know, and all this different stuff like how long is that going to take and when you can actually get them to start admitting that it's going to take four to six hours to clean some of their machines thoroughly. I Love doing that because they don't like to admit that stuff.

But the truth is, every manufacturer out there, if you truly want to clean their machines and I'm talking scrub the hoses and tear them down, it's typically at least four hours per machine. Like that's how long it takes to properly clean an ice machine. You can do a half-ass cleaning in a short amount of time. Okay, now unfortunately, what happens with that is they start because a lot of ice machine manufacturers.

If you guys don't know this, they actually sell direct to the customers when you're dealing, especially with chain restaurants. One of the things you have to learn to understand is is that manufacturers a lot of them in restaurant chain restaurants buy their own equipment direct from the manufacturer. So I have customers that have national accounts with Linux So they buy their own package units that have national accounts with well. And here's the the Shady part.

Like Okay, so I'm just gonna say it. Linux They'll sell direct to the customer. No big deal. Okay, it's just something you got to learn to deal with.

But some other manufacturers don't sell to the customer like they like to say. We don't sell direct, but what they do is they're sales. People will negotiate deals with supply houses and then the supply houses will sell direct to the customer. So it's a manufactured negotiated deal you know? And it's just like so it's just their way of being able to go to the contractors and be like you're my dealer.

I'm not selling direct, but we're selling cheaper than we're selling to you. To this guy, and this guy's selling direct. You know it's just one of those fun things you got to learn to deal with. it's kind of fun.

All right. let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Uh uh. I'm reading through the chat right now again.
you guys have questions. throw them in caps lock. we'll try to get to them. Okay, cool.

So again, lots of great people I see in here? Um, all right. So I had a really cool interesting story. now that we got a few people in here. I'll tell this story.

So last weekend or last Friday had a service call and I did not get a video of this so it just it just couldn't be videoed. But it's a pretty cool story. and I'm going to tell you the type of person that I am and how this really messed with my head. So I had to serve.

It was a simple service call. We had a water leak. water dripping from the roof. this is a restaurant with package units on the roof and they had water dripping down into the dining room.

Okay, it occasionally happens and these days most customers are not doing routine maintenance right now. so this is happening more and more. Okay, but this one, this one just. it was like a a rusty dagger just jammed in my side.

Okay, so um, how does service technician go out there? Service technician was taking a little while. It was starting to get to the point where I was kind of thinking I should probably give them a call, make sure he's doing okay. probably been about an hour and a half or so and I just pretty much expected this was going to be an easy call. you know? So anyways, he called me before I called him and he's like yeah, just letting you know.

Um, you know when he got there he said there was no water leaking, no water leaking. it was dry, but you can see there was a hole in the ceiling. There's a hole up in the ceiling where it broke through the drywall from a drip drip drip and it had leaked onto the floor into the restaurant. Okay, so he goes out there.

he's looking at the hole, he goes up under the roof. it's all package units. no water leaks. Okay, there's no water leaking and he's like, okay.

so he starts going to where all the ACs he's looking at the ACs making sure the drains aren't overflowing. nothing. Okay, you know it's not coming from the ACs it's just not. So he goes downstairs just to verify because this is this is the way that I want my technicians to do things I said go downstairs or no I didn't tell him this because I've told them this before.

So this is why it was taking him so long because he was going through all these steps to try to find this leak. Okay, so he, uh, he goes downstairs and he goes to climb in what little of an attic they have because most of the restaurant is an open ceiling concept that has spiral duct ran exposed where you can see it, it's just painted black. Okay, so that's a whole nother thing. We can actually see where the AC is and where the water leak is this.

AC is a good 15 feet away. Okay, it's not in the area of this water leak, but we go out there and he starts climbing in what little attic they have. He does his best to get as close as he can, but it was just he had to get through some really tight stuff so he couldn't quite get to exactly where the water leak was. but he could see there and he sent me pictures with his phone and he zoomed in and he's showing me he goes, dude, there is no air conditioning equipment above that he goes.
there's just none and he goes. there's no AC drain lines above that. There's not an AC drain line running over the leak or anything. So after doing all that information and doing all that research again because I teach him to do this.

go find where the drain is. like where's the drain going to follow it in the ceiling, look and find. You know, make sure like cover your basis and he's like I don't he goes I Don't understand why there would be water lines in that area because there's just nothing there. It's a host stand like there's no sinks, no anything.

he's like he goes I don't know what this leak can be coming from. He goes I see a fire sprinkler and he tells me that I go it could be the fire sprinkler I've seen fire sprinklers leak in in the Attic but that's not our thing right? and he can't get to it. So we go ahead and tell the customer hey, this is not an AC problem you need to figure out. Uh, you know you.

We basically said it's just you're going to need to call another vendor. this isn't us. We don't know what it's coming from and we said there could be a fire sprinkler line in there, right? And that's what we told the manager on site. Now he goes to leave and immediately I get a phone call from the corporate office.

Okay, because the corporate office monitors the work orders. They use a work order system. They see this come through. They call me, they're like hey, do we need to get a plumber out there and I said well I said here's the thing: it wasn't leaking when we were there I go if it's a Plumbing Leak it would be leaking all the time, Right and again I haven't been there I'm just using logic as we're going through this, right? So I'm telling corporate I don't think it's a plumbing issue I think that you have some sort of a leak because like I told him if it was a plumbing issue it would be consistent and this one hasn't leaked since we got to the restaurant.

you know? But we can see that it was leaking so they call a plumber out. plumber goes out that night within like 10 minutes. I Get an email from the corporate office right? Um, later that night because and again this this is what just sent me through the roof. So I get an email from the corporate office and it says they forwarded me the notes from the plumber.

so the plumber went out there, the plumber put in you know, put their information in the work order and then the corporate office forwarded it to me and I read the notes and the plumber said found water leak at AC unit drain broken repaired on the roof and then the corporate office person sent me an email and said dude, you haven't let me down in eight years I Can't believe I'm having to tell you this but you let me down. You know, you guys said it wasn't an AC problem. All this stuff right? and so I'm just reading this email and it's just like a knife twisting in my side because I'm like what the flip like for real, you know, like there's no way. But and it's starting to just build inside me, right? So this is my Friday night.
I Go through the whole weekend I'm sitting here thinking what to do like damn, that sucks you know I don't like my reputation is Big with me Okay so I don't like to be made look stupid right? So I go out there this morning, right? I wait all weekend I It just twists me up inside just thinking about this because I this is how much I'm obsessed with my reputation I don't like to be told I was wrong, right? So again, this was one of my other service technicians. but I'm responsible for my tax right? they're a direct representation of me. So I go out there this morning, right? I Don't tell them I'm coming I Show up Now. Let me tell you one thing I Forgot to tell you the corporate office called me right after my tech left.

Right before he sent me the email, he called me and he said he was asking me do I need to get a plumber and I was like I don't think so I said because it's not happening during the day or because it's not happening when we're there I said I think you have a roof leak and he goes what do you mean a roof leak? it's not raining and I go no, but it only leaks in the morning and again I hadn't been there I just know this location I said it only leaks in the morning. Okay and you guys are near the coast so they have the Marine layer come in every morning so that entire roof is covered with Dew every morning and uh I Go! Dude, your roof is full of due every morning and this leak is only happening in the morning. I Don't think it's a plumbing issue right? Okay, so now Flash Forward he sends a plumber out there. The plumber says he fixes it.

They give me crap right? All this stuff. So I go out this morning and what do you think I saw when I walked in the front door coming from that hole. drip drip and it was like in my gut I'm like yes, right? So but I don't just leave it at that I go up onto the roof and I'm looking at the ACs Nope, nope, don't know, You know that's there's nothing going on with the ACs the roof is covered in Dew I climb into the attic and I go further than my service technician and I can physically see the water. There's a fight of all things.

This is so weird and I wish I could show you guys pictures. right now there's a fire sprinkler that comes from in the Attic it goes up onto the roof and then it goes back into the building. It's really silly. It's a fire sprinkler line and what it is is at that fire sprinkler line where it penetrates the roof.

It's the low spot on the roof. so all the water runs to that and there's a bracket holding that fire sprinkler line and that bracket is completely rusted out so that bracket's been getting rotted. it ran through the hole, it's dripping down into the building and my whole weekend was ruined because of my own fault because I obsess about things right? But my whole weekend was ruined because I thought we messed up and I thought you know we just really dropped the ball when we didn't and that customer overreacted sent me an email that he shouldn't have sent me and then for the kicker I called him back today I felt so Vindicated when I saw the issue and I called him back I sent him pictures because I climbed right to the leak I circled it I was like very blatant with all these pictures. Here's your leak.
it's not me and I said after I told him he's like oh okay, that's odd all right. Well I'll get the roofer out there right? and he was just really cool about it and I said and I got to tell you something I've been working with this guy for a very long time. I said you ruined my weekend with your email and he's like, what do you mean and he goes what email and I go the email you sent me on Friday uh uh I sent you an email For real. He doesn't even remember sending the email and then he was like oh oh oh yeah yeah, uh yeah, you just took that wrong.

It's like no I didn't take that wrong and he didn't remember sending the email. which means he probably was late at night and on a Friday you know you get the drift. but oh my gosh, that stuff drove me nuts. So I know I just told you guys a long ass story but that was a good feeling to go back and still see that water leak and then go in there and tell them it's not my problem and take pictures and videos and send it to him.

Sometimes you got to do that, you know? Ah man. Yep, exactly running down the line. Oh man, um, it was a frustrating one, right? and sometimes that stuff just really really messes with my head. But I can send a really good follow-up email I'm a Wordsmith when it comes to those emails.

so very very precise and very whatever. But anyways, what made the whole deal is just consistent water sitting in a spot over time it's going to make its way even if it's sealed. but this is like a rubber TPO roof or PTO roof. So you know, whoever whatever penetration goo they use to seal that up is just not a good place.

So yep, exactly exactly. So um, all right, let's see what else we got going on in here. Um, so with that being said, it's funny that that happened over the weekend, right? because I was monitoring social media which I'm always looking at different groups on social media and there was an interesting discussion going on in one of the Food Service Groups I don't remember which one and it was talking about micromanaging. Now the particular person that posted on the group was more or less talking about a specific problem that he was having at his specific company and there's a lot of variables involved in that problem and I do kind of feel for him and some of the things that he's saying and the points that he's trying to make.
but I'm going to kind of cover that a little bit too. Okay, um, so I commented the person posted something along the lines and I'm paraphrasing. that has anybody else's company started micromanaging to the point that the technician has to call the management after every service call. So he's asking and what he's saying is his company is now instituting a policy where after every service call, he has to call in to get the next service call and give a rundown of what happened.

And you know some people see that as micromanaging. Okay, so I'm going to give a different perspective. I'm not saying that the people that see it as micromanaging are wrong. Okay, but I'm giving my perspective on it and it's okay for you and I to have different perspectives.

I'm not attacking any one person. I'm not that kind of person I Don't get my fairy feelings hurt when you know people say stuff that contradicts with what I believe. Okay, it's okay, just you know. Relax, right? Um, so anyways, the point is he, you know I run a business and all of my technicians check in with me after every call.

I dish out every service call for a couple different reasons. Okay, the main reason is that I remember being a service technician and I've always known all the calls and when I look at my call list and I know that I have seven calls and it's six o'clock at night and it's 110 degrees outside and I can just see that I'm never going home. That stresses me out and doesn't allow me to focus on the one call that I'm at. Okay, so I don't try to overload and stress my guys out showing them the entire call list.

I will give them updates like Hey We're swamped right now. We got a couple more calls, but focus on what you're on. I'm not giving them a whole list so they can pick and choose. Okay, the next thing.

uh, and that's to reduce stress. But the next thing is that I need to know what's going on at my company and I realize I do realize that this is not scalable. Okay, the way that I run my company, it's not possible for it to be scaled and become a giant company. but I don't want to become a giant company.

Okay I like what? I do I like the size of my company of course I could use a couple more texts but I don't ever plan on being a big giant company. At one point the most service technicians we ever had was seven and that was exhausting. It really was okay and it's my own doing because I I'm focused on my business. Okay, but I make my technicians call me and they tell me everything that happened on the call and then you know they tell me hey, this is what I found.

This is where it's going. Sometimes I'll ask a more detailed questions, but if I feel confident in what they're doing and what they're telling me, then I dispatch them the next call. Sometimes I'll give them some feedback. Did you double check this? Did you Check this and they'll go back and check a couple more things right? Understand something again.
Just because I do things doesn't mean you have to do them Okay, Um, I I Um, I'm okay. If you guys feel differently, this is just my perspective, right? But here's the thing. The reason why I'm telling this story now is because Flash Forward to what happened this weekend for me and what I had to do to make a phone call on Monday immediately after my service technician left that particular restaurant, the corporate office called me direct me and said hey, what happened over there they expect an answer right away. that's the type of customer that they are and that's the type of customers that I have my customers want one point of contact, just one.

they don't want to have to call my tech nor do I want them to call my tech because what happens if my tech doesn't say something correctly or tells him something about pricing that's incorrect I prefer those Communications to go through me therefore I need to understand what's going on at my company. Okay and again I Realize that makes my company never sellable or scalable because it all relies on me. Okay, but this is just the person that I am I like to make sure that my company is ran the way I want it to be. My reputation is huge to me.

so when the customer sent me that email over the weekend that that that ruined my weekend because I was thinking about that all weekend was damn, we screwed up. Damn we screwed up I don't like when we have big mistakes and this wasn't a big one, but it was just in the eyes of a customer. you know? So all right, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um, reading through here, let's see if it is a call that you have people to answer to then you better hear from them.

If normal then call the office. Okay, yeah, um let me see your three calls at most usually meaning Jason Johnson Saying that he has three service calls and then you know they usually don't do too much. So micromanaging is something we have to do to low call volume daily. Okay, all right, um, let's see what else.

uh, what else we got going on in the chat just reading through here. Now that I've went on multiple rants, um what else do we have? uh what do I think if this? oh what do I think of the HVAC School 3D animation and that was really cool. So Corey Cruz bad TXV on Instagram uh make some really cool videos. So he collaborated with the HVAC school team and they came up with a 3D animation of a basic pump down refrigeration cycle and it was a really really awesome video.

Now I had some personal Insight on this because I have a good friend that is on the HVAC school team that helps to create content and you know do different things. But also um Corey had mentioned something to me about this video. He had been working on it for quite a few months. Like these videos If you guys don't realize how much time goes into one of those 3D videos.
It's insane again. I've never done one. I just have inside information because you know I know people at the HVAC School company right? and um, it's really they put in a lot of work to that stuff. So you guys, if you haven't already, make sure you guys go search out the new HVAC school.

um 3D Refrigeration Pump Down video and it is an awesome video and make sure you leave some comments and find Corey Cruz bad TXV on uh Instagram I think and I know for sure Tick Tock Leave them some comments and let them know because Corey worked hard on that one. So uh, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um oh wow, lots of great people. My buddy Ike's in here my buddy Joe's in here Jennifer's in here LED Handyman awesome Roger Wakefield uh see.

really cool. Good to see you Roger Really good to see you, you know Roger I actually saw you at Ahr but we were I was in a hurry and you were busy and we didn't get to cross paths. but um, let's see what else we got going on in here. Oh boy, um let's see.

Jason Downs is saying that they run corrigo um I use corrigo 2 uh and I have to deal with all that fun stuff. um the the nte junk and everything like that. It's all interesting. uh Adam that was a very nice Super Chat Thank you Bud! Um you gotta yeah you gotta call Roger out Roger you should come on the HVAC overtime show.

We do it on Friday evenings on YouTube You should, uh, definitely come on that one time. All right. Got a couple things I want to cover from some of my viewers? so uh, a viewer of mine asked about Measure Quick. Okay, let's let's be frank: I Do not work for Measure Quick I do not know Jim Bergman I don't even think Jim Bergman knows who I am Okay, um I have nothing to do with Measure Quick.

Okay I just use it a lot. It's a really cool app. So Measure Quick is an app that you use on a tablet. It communicates with a lot of Bluetooth tools and gives us great Diagnostic and troubleshooting information when you are working on air conditioning equipment.

Okay, again, this is a non-paid endorsement. Okay, but I do like Measure Quick. But Measure Quick has been having some drama going on in some of the Facebook social groups and different things because of some changes that the Measure Quick team made and a lot of people are asking questions. Now again, I'm not an expert in the subject, but I can give you some general Insight So the person had to ask me a question about Measure Quick and was curious if it's free and he just doesn't understand because there's also a paid version.

And then also there's a bunch of stuff going on on social media about how Measure Quick is charging you to take screenshots of their equipment. Okay, and a lot of people are frustrated with that. So first and foremost there is a paid version of Measure Quick. When you use that paid version, you get extra features.
Okay, a couple years ago there was a change that was made because Measure Quick. They're putting a lot of money into that program and they're building it up. They have to start making money. They have a crap ton of people using it because it's a free software.

So they started to have to pull back on some of the features and one of the features that they pulled back on was being able to email reports. So that became a premium feature. So yes, it was in the very beginning a free feature. But there was a lot of stuff that they always prefaced this is free for now, but it will become you know something you chart we charge for in the future.

Like they were very open with that stuff. So they pulled the reporting into a premium feature a couple years back and a lot of people got really frustrated because they felt like they deserved the reports for free and they were frustrated. Okay, so what they started doing was they started to circumnavigate emailing reports and what they would do is they would put everything on Measure Quick on one screen, then they would do a screenshot with their tablet or their phone and they would email that to their corporate office or save it for their records or whatever. Okay, so instead of paying for the reporting feature, they decided that they were just going to circumnavigate the reporting feature and screenshot it.

Well, a couple about a month and a half ago. Two months ago, Measure Quick said hey, guess what, you can't screenshot anymore because they can get into your phone and the permissions and stuff. They can tell if you do a screenshot and a warning came across. So starting May 1st is the official start date the screenshots the last I Heard if you try to do a screenshot, you have to pay for premium features to be able to use this Measure Quick app.

Okay, here's the deal guys. They I guarantee they have millions of dollars into that app. Give them a couple bucks and just stop whining, right? I Get it? I Don't measure Quick's way of monetizing their app. It doesn't make sense to me either, but guess what? It's their true choice to do that.

Okay, I I Pay Basically, here's the deal. You have a qubits account on Measure Quick, right? It takes five qubits per system I Think it's for a year or two. one or two years you can always log back into that system, but it's five qubits per system every system you work on. Okay, but here's the deal guys.

I Don't personally do the reports so all that I do is I just put money in the qubits account I don't need the premium features but I appreciate the app. Okay, so I don't even use them I got a bunch of money sitting in my qubits account I just don't use it I put in a hundred bucks every couple months like because it benefits me. So pay them for their app. Like you know, don't use the reports, Put a couple hundred bucks in your qubits account and be done with it.
Even if you don't use it, then it's their money. They can use it. You're still paying for it. You can do the reports.

So yes, there is premium features with Measure Quick Guys, if you want something that amazing, you've got to pay for it. It can't be free. Okay, all right. Anyways, let's get what else we got going on in the chat right now.

Um, hard work and good software shouldn't be free. Someone worked hard to make it. Let them get paid for their work. Exactly Okay, Um, exactly.

Danny Said free at first and when they come back for more, you start charging. It's like your normal street dealer, huh? That's funny. Oh man, that is funny. Uh, is the EPA gonna make a new rule for the new refrigerants? I Mean the EPA isn't really the one that would be regulating the new refrigerants? It's more or less other departments that are going to be talking about safety and different things, but there's really nothing big to worry about with the new refrigerants.

It's really not that big of a deal. Okay I've been dealing with flammable refrigerants A3 Refrigerants r290 Unotorized Propane You can't smell it. Okay, I'm working with that for a couple years now. It's not a big deal, just follow some proper safety practices, right? Sweep the system with nitrogen.

Cut as many components out. Even that I don't do that all the time, you know Clint Glasgow Thank you my friend, thank you for that. Super Chat That is awesome bud! that is really cool I really appreciate that Clint It's been a while since I've uh, actually interacted with you so that's really cool man. Good to see you! Um yeah, ANSI would would have a big say in the regulations on the different refrigerants, but I I don't think it's really I don't know I don't really think too much.

You need to worry about them. Just understand that the new A2l refrigerants are mildly flammable. Um, again. same practices: Sweep the system with nitrogen.

try to cut components out, but if you can't cut a component out, just be cautious. You might have a flame out just like you would with normal. um, Hcfc refrigerants or Hfc refrigerants. I Mean you know you can have flame outs when oils get to certain temperatures in those too, so just be careful.

So uh, what else we got going on in here? Um, hello, hello. Just use common sense. Yeah, so um, someone had asked me about cleaners. uh what would Jim Bergman do? Thank you Adam we're and guess what guys.

um I think we can say this? Can we say I'm gonna say it. Screw it. We're gonna have Jim Bergman on the show soon and we will be talking about this stuff on the HVAC overtime show. So uh, we're gonna get them on for sure and we will talk to them about all these different things and he'll he'll talk.
you know, let us know. I'm just getting some feedback on these stupid speakers. Um, let's see what else we got going on in here right now. Uh, all right.

Um, so someone had asked me about cleaners and uh, they were asking specifically about Refrigeration Technologies So Refrigeration Technologies cleaners. They are a partner of mine. They are one of the sponsors for my stream, but um, they're good people. One thing that I'll tell you I have two current sponsors on my channel.

That's it. Okay I give a lot of free info, product information out for a lot of Manufacturers Hell, I've probably done a crap ton for measure quick but I like doing that. Okay, um I only work with the only. the only time I really charge people is when they want specific stuff right? But anyways, I've worked with uh Parker spoilin and Refrigeration Technologies for a very long time and you can go back.

Uh I don't think I started actually working with Parker Sporland until a year or two into making videos. Uh Refrigeration Technologies I think it was two years into making videos. Okay, before I partnered with them I If you go back to my first videos, you'll notice that I'm always talking about their products. So if I bring someone on as a partner of this channel I genuinely genuinely like them.

Okay, um, because of something that they do and you can see it because again, I didn't start working with them for years. but yet you go back to the beginning and I'm constantly using both of their products all the time. But anyways, Refrigeration Technologies Um, they make the Viper coil cleaners their uh, environmentally safe cleaners and they're very good. uh, micro Channel safety.

They have different, several different cleaners, right? But the person was asking me with those cleaners because this particular person that sent me this email said that they live in an area where they don't want chemicals going down the storm drains I have experience with this exact same stuff and uh, he was asking if the refrigeration Technologies chemicals are clean enough to go into storm drains to go to the ocean. Okay, um, you know because some places regulate well. I'm gonna tell you right now again. I Don't have your name written down, but every different municipality that's near the ocean here in Southern California They have strict regulations about runoff and They don't want you putting chemicals into these storm drains right? If you put it into the sewer, it goes to a processing plant and can be cleaned and processed appropriately.

But if you put it into the storm drains or you wash off a roof and that goes into a gutter and runs down onto the street that goes to the storm drains, it's going to be hard to get any one of those people to approve any kind of cleaner. Okay, do I know if everyone will approve the refrigeration Technologies Cleaners I Mean you're gonna have to talk to each different municipality and find out what kind of cleaners they allow I Will say that the the refrigeration. Technologies Chemicals though they are very good chemicals and they're very safe too if they're used properly. So, but you'd have to talk to each individual manufacturer.
That's a very common thing. There's sometimes in some of those areas too. I Can tell you guys some cool stories. I've never had to do this I just have friends that have had to do it.

One time someone was doing a coil cleaning in a fancy area in San Diego and they made them put up diapers on the roof and soak up all the wash like the water coming off. They basically wanted them to pull permits whenever they had to clean the coils. That's insane now. I Don't work in any of those areas and I don't think I would want to work in any of those areas.

That is a pain in the butt. Uh, same thing like when people go out and wash cars in some areas too. They'll make them put up like rubber diapers and then vacuum up the water and pour it down the sewers. It's kind of crazy.

So um, let's see what else. Uh, this is a really good comment. So this gentleman named Richie said that uh he. He was talking about something his father says all the time and it was a comment on one of my videos.

and his father's phrase is that this new generation of technicians that are currently in the industry and coming into the industry Right This Is Us you watching this right now. This generation of technicians has more new technology than the previous generations ever had. There is no excuse for us to not be thorough proper technicians. We have the greatest tools available to us right now.

The only thing we have to do you and I is use our brains, put in our effort and do a good job. The tools they they help us to make that job even better. So we need to remember that we have awesome awesome tools that can help us. And sometimes a tool doesn't have to be fancy digital gauges.

it can simply be a really cool tool that I used the other day. Uh Leslie orm uh he's he's a market service technician. A while back he emailed me he's like hey, I got this little tool that I patented and I want to send you one if you can use it in a video I was like sure, whatever man send it to me It is a thread fixer. Okay, it's a little tool when you're working on a compressor or a service valve and the the threads are rusted out on the suction side.

that happens all the time and you can't get your gauges on there right. Your hose is on there and what you end up having to do is get channel locks into, twist your hoses on, and ruin the end of your hose and ruin the gasket just to get it on there so you can work on that system. Well Leslie emitted this little tool and it's called the Falcon thread fixer. It's a re-threader for refrigeration threads.
I mean he didn't He didn't invent the re-threader but it's it's a cool little compact tool. He calls it the Falcon thread fixer and I've used it in one or two videos but I used that just the other day and it was like I ran into a problem I couldn't get it on and it's like oh, I'm gonna go get that tool from my van I Went downstairs, got it. Use a crescent wrench on it. Boom! It cuts the threads, cleans them up.

We have these Cool Tools and you know it's awesome that we do and it's really, really neat. Um, if you want to know where to get that from I think does anybody know Leslie Orm's website. is it marketservicetech.com I Don't remember if that's it or not, but look up Falcon Thread Fixer Leslie Orm it'll come up. so I don't know if any of my moderators knows any information about them.

You can post a link in there. Um, what hoses do I use on the roof water hoses I use the 5 8 inside diameter. uh, rubber hoses. The solid rubber hoses they're from.

You can get them from Lowe's or Home Depot they're 5 8 inside diameter. They're heavy duty hoses. They're made from tires is what they are. they're You can get them from Goodyear or from Continental Tire and their hoses, they're They're great.

Great hoses. that's what I use. Um, and they last me about a year or two. I get out of each set of hoses.

so I keep two 50-foot hoses on my truck. so I can do 100 foot of whatever I need to and um, use them quite often. They last a long time, but I'm very particular with my hoses. When I'm done with my hoses, I take a towel in one hand and I roll them up and I drain them out over my shoulder and drain them and clean them at the same time.

So I'm cleaning the hose, draining the hose I roll them up, seal them dry, put them back into my van I take care of them. So they last me sometimes up to two years. Um, see what else we got going on in here? Uh, uh. All right.

Mike B see you later, buddy. Um, all right. Danny asked Oh so uh Danny had a really good question and uh I'm curious what the chat has to say about this too because I mentioned something in one of my videos Danny comments on my videos all the time and he had a really smart question and he had me questioning myself for a minute. But I'm going to ask the chat and see if this makes sense to you guys.

Maybe I'm an idiot. Okay, um so I mentioned in my recent video that I released on Sunday that when I use water hoses at that restaurant, it was uh, it was hot water coming direct from the hot water or from the water heater I almost said hot water heater but coming direct from the water heater and uh, it's really, really hot water and I was using it on the roof and it was like working wonders on this condenser because it was hot, right? But I mentioned that when I'm using hot water and they have high pressure that I don't ever let the hose shut off I try to keep it running at all times so I'll put my wand on it and I don't shut it off because in my experience and maybe I'm dumb here. but when you have the hot water running through the hoses, it, it really softens them up right and it makes them more susceptible to, especially when the hoses get older and they might have some unseen damage on them. You get more susceptible to ruptures when you have the hot water and I feel like when you shut it off? Maybe I'm wrong, but I tend to notice that you know as you have static water sitting in a hose, the pressure will build up.
but then as you let it flow through, there's going to be a little bit less pressure as it's flowing because there's no restriction. So I tend to notice that I don't like them to shut off now. Am I an idiot for thinking that I'm asking the chat right now so you know, would it make sense to not shut a hot hose off? You know, with the water running because you are afraid you're going to make it burst Because in my head that logic makes sense. So let's see what the chat has to say.

Um, zero G hoses? Yeah. I can't use the collapsible hoses. They just scare me. Um, let's see what else we got going on in here.

Uh Flex on Ranch hoses? Yeah I know, um reading through here. Uh okay, so um oh now see I don't see them Burst when they're flowing Dave So Jason says uh uh. water in your hose equals a frozen hose if you leave the water. Oh I See what you're saying? Yeah, when you're uh yeah, let it rip.

Um, yeah. so Dave G's saying he's burst numerous hoses that way? Yeah, uh, less. Okay, so yeah, yeah. exactly.

Um, no, they're not made well. they're made for like 120 degree water. Maybe sometimes you can see some pretty hot water on these restaurants. So um, water hammer is a big problem.

Yep, exactly. So right on. All right. Cool.

Um so Ahmed asked me and this is a great question too again I Love questions from people that are homeowners, restaurant owners, technicians. whatever. I'm not the best technician out there, but obviously I'm approachable because I have content so people feel the need to want to ask me questions sometimes I can help them sometimes I can't but I'm cool answering questions. Okay, uh, do me a favor before I get into this last question or this this question I Have on here.

Smash the Thumbs Up Button Guys on YouTube Right now we have 145 people watching, but we only have 55 likes. so if you're on YouTube do me a favor. smash the Thumbs Up Button help the stream. It really does help.

Okay, um, reading through here. So Ahmed asked me a question about his mom's restaurant. Okay, so um Ahmed says and I forgive me if I'm pronouncing that wrong but I believe it's it's pronounced Ahmed Okay, uh, but um, his mom's restaurant. What they tend to notice is that it gets really hot in the kitchen.

I'm paraphrasing this question and the walk-in cooler equipment stops working. They've had several people out there. they're frustrated because nobody can fix it. The last person told them that the reason why the equipment's not working is that it's overheating in the kitchen and they need to move it onto the roof.
So Ahmed's asking me if that makes sense. Okay So understand they've had a lot of different people out there they don't know who to trust. Now the reach. Now to me saying Hey will it help us to move this equipment on the roof And the easy answer to that question Ahmed is generally yes.

It will help the kitchen if you move condensing Unity equipment out of the conditioned space and move it to the outdoors if it is Outdoor Equipment it will help. Typically the restaurant heat go down okay. but I don't know your specific situation right? If you have a hot kitchen, you've got to solve the problems. Okay, you cannot just operate your kitchen without air conditioning.

A kitchen needs to have air conditioning. For a restaurant restaurant, kitchens need to be usually cooler than 85. Degrees if they're anything over 85. Degrees Equipment starts breaking, especially the the refrigerators you have in your kitchen.

They're typically only rated for sometimes 78 degrees. It just depends. Okay, for comfort, you need to have your kitchen between 75 76 degrees or your cooks are going to lose their minds. Okay, but if you have refrigeration equipment in there too and you don't have air conditioning, yeah, and if the condensing units are displayed or dispelling their heat into that kitchen, yeah, that's going to be a problem.

You are increasing the temperatures. So for your Refrigeration equipment, if it is sized correctly, that's a key thing. If it's sized correctly, a good majority of the refrigeration equipment is not. But if it's sized correctly, to move that condensing unit all the way onto the roof, not just BTU capacity, but it also has to have refrigeration storage capacity.

The liquid line receiver needs to be big enough to be remoted onto the roof, so that way it can store all the refrigerant. Okay, so if your equipment is properly designed and operating is, you know within what it's supposed to be. Yeah, moving the equipment onto the roof is going to drastically improve your kitchen and your Refrigeration equipment's operation. Okay, so hopefully that answers your question for you, Bud.

let's see what the chat has to say. Um, let's see, just fly out and look at it. Yeah, exactly. Um, let's see how do you end membership? Uh I don't know I'm assuming you're talking about the YouTube membership I think I Think it sends you reminder emails so you can probably look for an old email and then I'm sure it's really easy to unsubscribe from the membership or whatever if you need to.

So um, written through the chat. what else we got going on here? Um, the temps in? okay, yeah, yeah, exactly okay. cool logic makes perfect sense. Oh, and it's Danny so right on Danny Yeah so anyways, um and that was that was a great question Danny that really was a good question and I appreciate you asking those because it does make me question myself and I like to make sure that I'm correct, right? because I I say incorrect stuff all the time like I really do so I'm glad when people point that stuff out.
and the cool thing is that Danny wasn't criticizing I didn't take it that way Danny was just asking a question. but I love those kind of questions because they make me question and you know it's as weird as it is guys. I can't stress this enough I look forward to being wrong these days and what I mean by that is I don't I don't want to have to like slack off I don't want that kind of stuff. but when I'm wrong, it's something new that I can learn right? So I actually in a weird way have found enjoyment in that.

Of course no one likes to be wrong, but if you are going to be wrong, at least learn something from it so you can grow from it and that's a fun thing to be able to do. So I Appreciate appreciate that question. Danny um uh do I almost strictly work in kitchen? AC uh yeah I I Really would like to pick up some more uh, business type work and um I would love to do some some other stuff too. but yeah, 99 I'd say 100 of my work right now is in kitchens? Yeah! so Refrigeration Air conditioning, ice machines, exhaust fans, and kitchens I do all those So um, reading through the chats uh hahaha what else we got going on in here? Um Bill is hilarious.

Bill is hilarious. You guys definitely go. Make sure if you guys don't already, check out the HVAC overtime show on YouTube Myself, Adam Joe and Bill who are at one point all in the chat today all do this show on Friday evening and it is a great great time and we tend to have some really cool guests. So um, definitely check out the overtime show.

Anybody want to post a link to the overtime show? any of the mods that'd be great? Um so uh, any hot side work? No, no hot side work. So all right. well it is time for me to wrap this up because uh I have to go eat some dinner and I'm kind of hungry so I really do appreciate you guys making it to the stream. Thank you for all the super chats and Channel donations and channel memberships and and all that stuff.

And I take absolutely no offense to anybody that needs to end a channel membership. You guys do not have to support this channel, only do it if it's something you want to. I Take no offense if you don't I appreciate just a simple interaction on all the different social media platforms. A thumbs up, Whatever, right? I Just like sharing the knowledge that I have so again I really do appreciate you I am going to cue up the outro music and we will catch you on the next one.

Thank you Thank you Foreign Foreign! Thank you Foreign Foreign.

3 thoughts on “Hvacr videos q and a livestream 05/01/23”
  1. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Sevag Armoudikian says:

    That plumber was a f***en liar

  2. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars StackItUp1 says:

    We have dozens of Delfield reach ins in the field and seeing reoccuring leaks on suction to compressor even on units only 4-5 years old. Condensing units on Delfield double doors are also severely undersized. No more Delfields for us. We are equipping with Traulsen for now.

  3. Avataaar/Circle Created with python_avatars Joeisacoolgamer says:

    It's ended..

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