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 queue up the intro music yo, how you guys doing, hopefully you guys are doing well. We got a couple things i want to cover as usual and a couple things i want to rant about. As usual, i got to give a shout out to my buddy bill.

I got a surprise package in the mail today and uh bill curious, hvac guy. If you guys haven't already definitely go sub to his channel so uh a couple weeks ago, he had told me he was sending me a package. I had no idea what it was. So i was like all right whatever and then uh.

I got this package in the mail today and we thought it was like christmas presents or something that we had ordered. You know, because everybody's ordering stuff these days and uh it's these - these tumbler cups right like these little yeti, tumbler cups and the bastard put my name on there with a pineapple in there and he made one for my wife too. It's got this bright pink cup. That says jill on it with a pineapple on it too.

So i didn't choose the lifestyle. The lifestyle chose me and i'm just gon na embrace it so got ta rock the pineapple cup man. That was too funny, though i had a good laugh when i opened that box all right, so uh yeah the news. The news today is that uh here in southern california, they just locked us down again actually in california, pretty much um, so they went into like a modified lockdown when it comes to the whole shutdown stuff, uh, all the restaurants, let's see bars, have to close completely Hair salons have to close completely um.

Restaurants cannot serve food in the parking lot like they have to serve to go only. You cannot eat it on the restaurant's property. So, for the longest time our restaurants have. They were briefly open for a short period of time, but then they had to close back down and they were just doing patios and different things like that.

So anyways it's a giant cluster right now we don't know what's going to happen as far as work and all that stuff we don't know if it's going to be dead or if it's going to be, you know, keep going. I have a feeling, like my guys, were asking me today. You know what's gon na happen, and i know that in my area, when we had the first lockdown all the restaurants just stopped everything. They were only fixing emergency repairs and uh.

I had heard through the grapevine that they made a mistake and they realized they made a mistake when they did that, so i'm hoping that they continue to repair things fix things um it just you know, just not going to be as busy it sucks for the Restaurants, but hopefully we can stay moving and chugging it's already. You know this is our slow time of year, as it is because here in southern california, it's almost officially winter time - and i think it's i think the high today was 70 degrees and the low tonight's like 56. So you know we don't know what what cold is here in southern california, unless you go to the desert to the mountain regions and stuff, so it's definitely uh going to be interesting, so to say the least, but uh today i really did nothing. I drove i.

Let my guys keep working and i drove and took parts to them and stuff and just kind of came home and worked in the office a little bit so nothing too crazy um. So, as usual got a couple things, i want to talk about um, something i wanted to address right now, and this is something that came up in the comments and i think it's a really good topic to address for everybody that's in here and for the new People that are coming into the trade and all that good stuff is technical support. Okay, technical support is a great resource to lean on when you need help. It's amazing uh, every man, almost every manufacturer, has their own individual technical support department and they do a good job but technical support.

You need to understand something. You know you can't call them and expect them to do your job for you, okay, especially when it's the new guys, okay, don't call technical support and ask them what superheat was. I made that mistake to be honest with you early in my career i was, i was, i'm pretty sure it was hoshizaki technical support and i'm pretty sure i can picture the ice machine. I was working on and i was concerned about an expansion valve problem.

No, maybe it wasn't hoshizaki, i can't remember it was. It was some technical support department, and i remember that the tech advisor on the other end of the line asked me what the system super heat was, and i proceeded with what is super heat and uh. He must have been having a bad day. Okay and i'll.

Give him that much, because the next thing that i heard was the phone clicked. He hung up on me and i was like embarrassed because i realized i should have known what superheat was by then i was you know three four years into my career, i didn't know what superheat was and it was just like what what's that you know. So don't be like me, okay um, but i promise you something when when he hung up on me, i was embarrassed and i still had to call them the next day. But i did a bunch of research when i got home figured out what superheat was how to measure it all that good stuff? Okay, so it is possible to get a couple years into your career without understanding what superheat was um.

It's just definitely something you don't want to do like me, okay, but still technical support. You know you don't want to call them and have them ask you questions that you don't know the answers to okay, so you know before i call technical support. The best advice. I can give you guys is get a notepad.

I know people aren't using notepads these days, but you need a paper and a pen. Okay, you can do this on your phone, but it's a pain in the butt okay paper and a pen, and you write down all your vitals. You write down funny things that are happening within the system. You know you're working on an ice machine.

You know it keeps shutting off after this. You know you need to that's why, when, when i'm working on ice machines, i've said this many times and everything. Okay, i like to watch cycles naturally happen when it comes to ice machines, refrigerators and all that stuff. It's great that you walk up to an ice machine and it has a circuit board and it tells you that uh, you know something funky is going on.

It's got a bad sensor or whatever, but i still like to watch a cycle. Okay watch. The entire cycle. Watch what happens write it down so that way when it does come time to call technical support.

You have everything in front of you now understand something all these manufacturers with their technical support departments, they're busy, okay and they put um factory, approved service companies ahead of non-factory approved service companies. That's just the way that it works. It frustrates me too, but it happens. Okay, so if you're a factory approved preferred vendor most of the time they put you, they, they recognize your phone number.

They put you on a queue ahead of everybody else and they'll answer your call first, so sometimes i'm not kidding with you for those you guys that don't know you could be on hold with technical support for 45 minutes to an hour, maybe more okay. So with that being said, there's nothing worse than being on hold that long. Then the tech support guy answers and then he asks you a question and you don't have the answer to it and then you have to get off the phone go, find the answer and call back and get in line again. Okay, so trust me from experience, you want to have all the information written down, even if you think it's just not even relevant write it down.

These notepads are the best thing in the world. Okay, write everything you can on there and then that way when they. Finally, do call you you have it: okay and i've literally been driving home before i finally gave up on technical support and start driving home. Tell the customer i'll be back tomorrow, and then they call me and guess what had the notepad sitting in my van right? Next to me, so i had a conversation with tech support over the phone.

We were able to diagnose it with all the information that i had on the notepad, so trust me, but that doesn't just reply: um apply to ice machines, okay, that applies to everybody. Jonathan perez, thank you so very much for that super chat. I really really appreciate it all. The support you guys give is awesome.

Okay, thank you guys so very much all right, um, okay, so let me go ahead and mark that one off real, quick, okay, um. So that way, because i sometimes forget to what i've covered and i'll get to some other questions in here too, so i'm gon na go back and forth between the chat and what we have on here. Okay um, so i see a question of here. Let me see i saw one in here, so what did i do before thermal imaging to judge how full the receiver is? Okay, so that's actually something that i want to cover on my list and so we're going to segue into that and talk about a few different things.

Okay, because i'm going to consolidate a few questions that i had so first off um when i'm checking the liquid level on a receiver. Typically, it applies when i have a head pressure control valve in my system. Okay, a head pressure control valve requires extra refrigerant when it's being used. Okay, simplest way to save that pressure.

Control valve typically will be used more so in the winter than in the summer, but it does get used occasionally in the summer, depending on the system. Okay, so the head pressure control valve is there to maintain a set head pressure which maintains a set pressure differential across your expansion valve okay. This is a very common confusing thing that a lot of people have questions about so for a head pressure control valve to work in a refrigeration system. Now this is a refrigeration system with a receiver and an expansion valve you're going to need extra refrigerant in the system when the head pressure control valve opens and lets refrigerant flow through the bypass okay.

Now, with that being said in in the past, we have called that refrigerant charge the winter charge okay, but that leads to some confusion. We are not typically okay, we are not going to the refrigeration system and adding more gas in the winter and then removing it. For the summer, okay, now there's some times that that might happen, but it's very slim and it's typically because the system wasn't designed correctly okay, but we're not going to go into that right now. So, just to be clear, the winter charge is not something that you add in the winter and remove in the summer.

Okay, we just call it the winter charge, because the head pressure control valve is typically going to operate in the winter time. So therefore, the extra refrigerant needed theoretically is only used in the winter time, so we call it the winter charge okay, but it does not mean that we're moving it and adding it throughout the season. Okay, it's a one-stop shop. If you charge the system correctly on the day of installation, theoretically, if there's no refrigerant leaks, you should never have to add or remove refrigerant from the system if it was charged correctly and you don't have any bad components or anything.

Okay, so normal operation, you shouldn't, be adding extra refrigerant. Okay, with that being said, using a thermal imaging camera which i've done a few times in my video is a shortcut method to check the refrigerant level on the receiver. Now, with that being said, the proper way to charge a system with a head pressure control valve is to weigh in the right amount of refrigerant okay, but sometimes that can be difficult actually weighing it in, especially when you're out on the field or in the case Of my recent video, i think it was in my recent video or one of my recent videos. I went up to a system.

Actually i haven't made that video yet, but i have a whole nother video explaining some things, but uh stay tuned, um, so uh i lost my train of thought there, but anyways. So a thermal imaging camera. I will use that to check the liquid level on the receiver. Now a thermal imaging camera is a cool toy.

I don't have to use it. I certainly can check the liquid level on the receiver without a thermal imaging camera. But again my preferred method is to weigh in the factory charge. Now, if you have a built up system or a custom refrigeration system, there may not be a factory charge.

Okay, so you'll have to do some calculations. Now, if you have a um, a lost, my train of thought again too, i'm having brain farts right now. If you have a um, a system that you designed and it has a tube and fin condenser, then you can use spoiling's 90-30-1 method. Just google search spoilin, 90-30-1 and you'll find the way to calculate the flooded charge or the winter charge of a system.

Okay. So but again i got ta reiterate this so many times because i get so many questions. You do not remove the refrigerant in the summer and add it in the winter. Okay, we just call it the winter charge, because typically, the valve is only going to be used in the winter okay, but there's some situations.

If your ambient temperature drops that your head pressure control valve will bypass and flood the condenser in the summer too, okay, especially when you're dealing with ice machines or things that have hot gas, defrost, okay, you can see that. So hopefully that answers you, oh, but i never answered the question. What would i use before? I used a thermal imaging camera? Okay. So what i do my my shortcut method is to pump the refrigerant system down so front seat the king valve on the receiver.

Let all the refrigerant back up in the receiver and in the condenser and then what i do when i can't figure out the factory charge when i can't use the spoiler 90-30-1 method. What i do is, i add, the maximum amount of refrigerant to that system. Okay, the maximum amount of refrigerant when it's pumped down is three quarters of the receiver pumped down okay, eighty percent, whichever one you wan na, say: okay, close enough between the two: that's the maximum amount of refrigerant, because you have to leave room for expansion. So that way, your receiver doesn't blow up when it's really really hot in the summertime, or something like that, okay, so uh.

What i will do is, i will pump the system down and then i will take a heat producing device. Now, i'm not going to tell you guys what heat producing device i use and i get questions about that all the time. The reason why i'm not going to tell you is because i don't want to get sued for someone blowing their head off. Okay, so i'm going to use a heat producing device and i'm going to give you a caveat that does not exceed the soft plug temperature on the side of the receiver or anything that could explode okay, so whatever you need to use, you need to use your Brain and figure that one out use a heat producing device that can just warm up the side of the receiver.

Okay, a couple passes up and down, and then what you're going to do is take the heat producing device off and you're going to start from the bottom of the receiver and run your fingers up the receiver, okay and then what you will do is you'll feel A temperature difference a huge temperature difference at the point in which the vapor refrigerant, that's in that accumulator and the liquid refrigerant meet okay. That is your liquid level on the system. Now again, you always want to lean on the manufacturer to find out what they recommend for the refrigerant charge. But if you can't that's my shortcut method now, i started using a thermal imaging camera just because it's fun and i had the ability to buy one.

So i did okay, but i certainly for most of my career just use my fingers to find the liquid level in the system very, very important and i'll pay attention to the chat in a minute is to mark the liquid level when you are done. Okay, so no matter where you put it, let's say you weigh in the factory charge: okay and it's only half the receiver, but that's what the factory is calculated to be the right amount of flooded charge mark it with a paint marker, not a sharpie. Okay, with a yellow paint marker or something that stands out, so everybody can see it and it stays there for the life of the receiver. Okay.

So that way, the next time someone comes in behind you and they have to fix a refrigerant leak. They can charge us to that level and know that they're going to be good. Okay, that's the easiest way. So then nobody has to do the calculation after that easy peasy.

Okay. So let me look at the chat here and see what i'm missing. What do we got? Are they reclosing schools? The virus is getting worse. Well, they never open schools here in california, but for a brief amount of time i think they open them in some areas.

My kids never went back to school. My kids have been out of school since last year, earlier this year april, whatever, whenever it was, we went on the original lockdown, so my kids have been online ever since in some areas they are they let some people go back to like uh pe and things Like that um, like even my daughter in her school she's, been going and meeting with the tennis club or whatever and or not if she does tennis for pe so or an extracurricular activity, i guess and um she's been going and doing that, but i heard that They might be shutting that down again too so yeah. The numbers are definitely going crazy here. Unfortunately, here in california we have such a dense population that we have a you know a huge amount in a small area.

So all right, let me see um when i was working in medical refrigeration. How cold did the boxes get um? I didn't really work on any crazy ultra lows. I might have worked on one once or twice so uh, the the lowest. I saw the stuff that i worked on was like negative 10 negative 20., nothing too much colder than that.

I had an opportunity to work on an ultra-low, uh cascade unit, one time and i honestly turned it down because i just felt like i was in way over my head, so that was a long time ago, though um. Let me see what else we got in here: uh watched a few videos the other day with your father, an hvac mechanic for 30 years. He learned a few things from me. Well, you know what thank you very much.

That's cool! I'm glad that i can share the little bit of knowledge that i have okay. I certainly don't know everything and i just try to um share what i have learned via my mistakes. Okay, because i made lots of mistakes over my career and i just try to share that information so that way um, hopefully you guys won't make the same mistakes as i did. So i think that's that's.

The whole point of my youtube channel is just to share my mistakes. So all right, let me see what else we got in the chat here. Uh. How cold does the kovid 19 vaccine need to be for storage, uh, molly penderson? You know each one of the my understanding is different.

Vaccines need to be stored at different levels or different temperatures. So uh really depends. I'm not an expert in that um. Don't know all right all right, so uh questions on my list of things to talk about.

So i wanted to cover this really quick, um ice machine manufacturers. I want to reiterate this because in one of my recent videos i kind of hinted on this and i want to cover it again: okay, ice machine manufacturers are there to sell ice machines? Okay, i have a personal preference in the ice machines that i like to work on. It's simply because i'm super comfortable and confident working on those particular brands. The two particular brands that i'm most comfortable confident with are hoshizaki and manitowoc ice machines.

Those are the most common ones here: okay, nothing against scotsman, isomatic fallit vote any of those okay. It's just that. I work on hoshizaki and manitox all the time. In the past, i used to work on vote ice machines all the time i had three or four of them and we were super busy on them between a couple different restaurant chains.

Okay, so i was really comfortable working on those it's been so many years. I'm rusty okay doesn't mean that the vodice machines are bad. They're, simply uh way way overkill for restaurants, but they're very fun to work on. But if you ever have to change a compressor on a vote, ice machine, at least the old ones, you were changing an o6d carlyle compressor.

I mean that's a big ass compressor. You know so you're using lifts and all kinds of stuff to get that compressor in there refrigerant charges on some of those uh. I think they were the he models. If i remember right on the vodice machines, i think the refrigerant charge was 60 pounds of refrigerant.

I mean they were huge receivers. Those things were giant man. They made two bias, they're really really interesting to work on. I i'm pretty sure the newer ones have scroll compressors in them, but that's a whole nother thing going off on a tangent as usual, but ice machines, it's all about what you're comfortable working on okay.

But one thing i'm going to tell you is that each one of those ice machine manufacturers is out there to sell ice machines in order to sell ice machines they market them in order to market them. Okay, the marketing people come up with all these cool things that they want to make these ice machines sell. We have agion built into the plastic, we have a really short cleaning time. We have dot dot, whatever warranties, whatever okay, so they're, always pushing stuff, and one of the things that almost every manufacturer out there pushes is how easy it is to maintain their ice machines and how inexpensive they are to maintain okay, they're lying sorry, but they're lying.

Okay, i can't tell you one ice machine manufacturer out there that, in the service manual manual, truly tells you how long it takes to properly tear down and clean one of their machines. They all give you like a really short condensed version of cleaning and they typically don't tell you how much time, okay, i'm gon na, make it flat and plain and simple for you if you're working on a hoshizaki ice machine, um anything from a 900 pounder up. Okay, minimum four to six hours, sometimes longer to properly clean one single machine. Okay, that is a complete teardown that is soaking the parts disassembling de-liming, putting it back together, running cleaner, again, sanitizing dumping, all the ice going through that whole process, four to six hours, sometimes longer per machine.

Okay, mana talk ice machines, usually four hours three to four hours, okay per machine, depending on which one uh the simplest i used to do hospital refrigeration, the simplest um. I just saw justin richmond uh. Thank you very much for that super chat bud. That was really nice of you.

I really really appreciate that and i'll answer your question in just a minute: okay, so um with the uh folded ice machines, i used to do hospitals, uh ice machines right we used to service these tiny little. You know 400 pound ice machines, itty bitty, countertop things. Those things took three to four hours to clean, they're, the tiniest little ice machines, but they took forever to clean because you weren't just simply following the instruction manual and pouring cleaner in there you're pouring cleaner in there running it cycle, then you're tearing it apart, then You're soaking all the parts then you're. You know you're going through everything, okay, so to do complete, tear downs on whatever brand ice machine.

You need to understand something it's going to take a long time, okay, and also, if you're, working on hoshizaki ice machines, you're gon na cut your hands. It's just plain and simple: okay, do your best wear some gloves and different things, um adam! Thank you very much for that super chat bud. You didn't need to do that. Of course, i'm going to plug the overtime show definitely come to the hvac overtime show on friday, myself, adam joe and bill i'll.

Do a show where we just hang out and talk about everything make sure you post the link to the overtime show in the chat guys so uh yeah just make sure that you guys understand that ice machines take a lot longer to clean than what the manufacturers Tell you, okay, make sure your quotes reflect that too. So that way, you can properly clean the machines, especially nowadays guys with all this craziness going on in my area. I don't know about in your areas, but in my area, health inspectors they don't open ice machines. They don't touch ice machines, they they look at the ice machine from in the bin area.

They just open up the bin door and they look up in there. That's the only bit in my area that health inspectors do. Okay, one of these days, that's going to change and health inspectors are going to start in my area, opening up the machines and looking inside and they're going to lose their minds. Okay, so then there's going to be a lot of crap going on there's going to be a lot more cleaning going on and then with all this everybody's concerned about health and all that stuff, it's gon na get so important too.

Okay, so my goodness guys, i see super chats coming through like crazy, philip you're amazing. Thank you very much for that super chat that i'm so thankful for that bud. Thank you very much, phillip. Okay, all right justin to richmond.

Am i completely against aftermarket condenser fan motors. So i've said that many times before? No i'm not completely against aftermarket condenser fan motors. I will use them in certain situations, but what i am i'm a business owner - okay and if i put the power in my employees, hands to try to figure out how to make things work that don't belong in something there's a very small chance that something might Go wrong and that very small chance worries me so to make it easier for my employees to service equipment and to make sure that they do it right and don't have mistakes. I prefer that they use factory oem components whenever possible, but there is times that we use aftermarket.

So i'm gon na put something in your hands: you're working on a train package unit, a voyager train voyager and you have a bad condenser fan motor. Have you guys ever bought a train? Condenser fan motor for a 460 volt system, they're stupid, expensive, let's just say a 208 volt system, they're stupid, expensive, because they're oem motors, but did you know that there's actually something about the body of that motor? That makes it oem and if you don't use that you're actually causing more problems on the motor itself, there's little dimples that stick out that hang on the motor brackets and if you don't get a factory oem motor and you try to put in an aftermarket motor. If you do not get it tight enough, then what's going to happen, is the motor is going to slip down over time and you're going to have the damage happen to the unit? Okay, just from the vibration so with train, it's really important. Another thing that manufacturers do - and this is my personal opinion - is they change the ratings on the motor.

So if you look at a carrier package unit um the the condenser fan motor is going to say 1100 rpms. If you look at a and it's gon na say you know, uh quarter horsepower at three and a half amps eleven hundred rpms okay. Well, if you get an aftermarket motor and you compare the specs a three and a half amp motor is going to be a a half horsepower motor okay, but the the carrier, one says: quarter, horsepower so again, you're having to use brain power um. So if you do have to use aftermarket motors, i throw the the horsepower out the door.

I pay attention to the current draw the shaft size, the body size and the rpms, and i the the the horsepower, is kind of out the window, because the manufacturers do weird crap to make it, in my opinion, harder for people to use aftermarket motors. Okay, then there's the other thing of you know the aftermarket motors having four wire systems, which you can certainly use a four wire motor, but your capacitor. A lot of people tend to mount the capacitor in the wrong place, and you know i prefer to use oem parts whenever possible, but i realize that there's times that you have to use aftermarket too okay, but you just you - have to use brain power when it Comes to aftermarket you can't just trust. What's on a box or what a supply house says or anything like that? Okay, so that's my two cents on that.

One again guys! Thank you so very much for those super chats. Those are awesome. I really really appreciate it. Uh, let's see um what else do we have going on in here, hello to everybody in here? It's really awesome um, i'm gon na say it again for the people that just came in here right now, so i got this little package in the mail today from my buddy curious hvac guy bill uh, he told me he was sending me a package.

I didn't know what it was and he sent me those these cups, one for myself and one for my wife. My wife says pink and it says jill and mine is black and it says chris and it has a pineapple on it. So i had a good laugh out of that bill. Thank you very much, man that you didn't have to do that, but that made me laugh pretty good, and this is tea, so don't get any ideas um all right.

Let me see what else we got going on in this chat. Uh, oh advanced basher. Thank you so very much for ordering a shirt, but that was really awesome, so uh for those that are interested. I do have merch available.

It's a way that you could help to support the channel. You can go to my website, hvacrvideos.com uh. I have zip up hoodies, i'm wearing one right now. I have shirts hats beanies couple different shirt designs.

I have women's shirts designed so if you guys are interested, definitely go check out the website, it really does help to support the channel. So, thank you guys very much um, all right yeah, if you guys have questions type them in caps, because sometimes these things go bad. So i can't um keep up with what's going on who's on call i'm on call, so i'm on call tonight for sure all right, um yeah, definitely smash the like button. Guys i'd really really appreciate it.

We have 300 people in here 94 likes. So please get that number up to match the amount of people that would greatly help out the channel okay uh. No, it is not a long island iced tea. It is actually chamomile tea um.

I really like having hot tea at the end of the night. Long island iced tea man - i don't think i've ever had a long island iced tea. I don't think i ever have so all right get to my list of things to talk about. So i already covered that one.

I'm gon na mark that off my list, um keith had said something in the comments and he made a really good point. You know guys i am not very good at following safety practices. I make mistakes all the time, i'm not the perfect technician. I'm human okay and he brought up the point and asked: why do i not wear gloves when i am brazing and and on the other fact someone had asked me: why was i not wearing glasses when i was brazing either both good points? Okay, the gloves with brazing is a personal choice of mine, and i realize that as a person that has a you know, people watching my videos and stuff - i really do need.

I have an obligation to set an example, but at the same time i have to be practical too. I have yet to find a set of welding gloves that i can actually feel what i'm doing and work on what i'm doing so. My personal choice - i don't wear gloves when i'm bracing, okay, of course, i don't want to wear flammable gloves, because no, you don't want to burn your hand off okay, i've done it by mistake. People call me out on all the time where i'll be wearing rubber.

Gloves and brazing and they'll just you know they can melt to my hands, but i'm not the perfect person out there. Okay, as far as glasses yeah, i really do need to wear safety glasses uh. You know technically, when you're brazing you're supposed to wear welding glasses that have a tint to them, so that way it protects your eyeballs and stuff. I definitely don't do that, but i do try to wear safety glasses that at least protect my eyes from popping and splattering, because i have had that happen before one time i was uh brazing a piece of copper and it was like a valve and i set It down on the ground on the concrete and i was hitting it real, quick and i was gon na sweat it on the concrete because it was more convenient and what i did was i heated up the concrete and if you don't know, when you're heating up Concrete it'll pop and explode and it popped and exploded - and i heard it and i closed my eye and it hit me right in the eye and it actually scarred my eyelid.

My eyelid was scarred. It hurt really bad, but had i not closed my eye fast enough that would have been in my eyeball, so i try to wear safety glasses, but i do forget sometimes too so you know again, i'm human. I try, but i can't always be perfect. So what do i have to say to new refrig reefer, guys um new refi guys have been residential? What do i have to say to new refi? I don't know what you mean by that miguel.

Do you mean new refrigeration, guys um? I i don't know what you mean by that, but give me some clarification, make sure you put it in caps lock, so i can get to it. If one of the moderators sees miguel vasquez respond, please make sure i see the question or the thing have. I tried out that 18 volt makita vacuum pump. Yet is it worth it? No, i haven't tried out the 18 volt makita vacuum pump.

I happen to have the the small navac vacuum pump and it's more of a novelty to me than something that i would actually use out in the field. I use it to evacuate, cylinders. I used it to evacuate a system that was known to have leaks in it just to get it. You know as low as i could one time um i haven't tried the bigger navac vacuum pump.

Uh, no i'd be interested in trying the makita one, but i don't know that i'm gon na go buy the tool um so we'll see, let's see what else what we got. Um are ecm motors better than permanent capacitor motors. Yes, and no i mean that's a that's a really difficult question to answer: there's not any motor. That's going to take very much abuse.

Okay, one of the most common things that we have, especially in residential systems, is poorly designed. Ductwork, okay, poorly designed ductwork an ecm motor can actually cause more problems with a poorly designed ductwork than a non-ecm motor. In my opinion, okay, especially the like the x13 motors, my understanding is that you can have some more problems so properly sized ductwork and installed. Ductwork is the most important thing, and then you know you can figure out your motor after that, but don't put an ecm mode on there, expecting it to solve your ductwork problems, because that's not the case.

Of course. An ecm motor has more electronics than a psc motor, so um, you know those are things to concern or to be uh considerate about, but all right have, i ever thought about venturing into hvacd world with indoor circulation. I don't know what you mean by d but um with indoor cold. Oh, oh uh, desert air stoltz, oh okay! I know what you mean yeah, like the pot, farms and stuff like that um yeah.

I you know, here's the thing i'm interested in getting into all kinds of stuff guys. I've always wanted to work on supermarkets, it's it sounds and seems awesome, but as a business owner, i have to be practical and know the limitations of my employees. With you know the the it's hard for me to train everybody, while i'm learning too that's a difficult thing, so it's one of those things that's hard for me to get involved in. It sounds very interesting to me.

You would have to hire people that already have that kind of uh heavy commercial experience. You know we don't have that right now, so i definitely would be interested in getting into that. That's definitely a new up-and-coming field, um sector of the hvac industry for sure. So let me see: do i often get false alarms on my detect, select refrigerant leak, detector um.

I wouldn't say that i get that many false alarms. I actually upgraded from the detex select uh. I've shown it in a couple different videos. I now have the inficon detect stratus.

That name is way too long by the way, i'm just going to call it the stratus, but i now have the stratus leak detector and it's cool it's great. So far, i've only used it maybe four times it's worked. Every single time i've done some experimenting with my detect select and the stratus, and some up and coming leak detectors that i can't mention and um the the stratus kicked, butt and the up and coming leak. Detector kick butt, so stay tuned on that um all right.

What is the proper charge for a small ice machine? You were given one, but it needs charge. Every ice machine is going to have a different number uh. If you send me the model and serial number of the ice machine, i'm sure i can get you some information that might help you a little bit more some documentation. But i would need to know the manufacturer, the model number and the serial number to be able to get you the correct charge for that unit.

Let me see what else, what about co2 systems never worked on? One uh. I've never worked on co2 systems either. I've heard and read a lot about them very interesting, but yeah. I personally don't have any experience with those so um.

Let me see what else do i often okay? I already answered that one uh. How often do i run into older r22 systems in the current day? Scott savage? I work on r22 systems whenever i do work on air conditioning majority of the time there are 22.. I still have at least 100, if not more r22 package units out there they're still very popular um. You know customers, especially with these big chain, accounts and stuff.

You know they it's very difficult to change equipment here in southern california, legally as far as polling permits and all that good stuff. So a lot of times customers opt to repair their equipment versus replace their equipment. So i still have a lot of r22 out there. I still every one of my trucks carries r22 um during the summer time.

Each one of my guys probably goes through three to four drums a month of r22 um. We still use it a lot. Okay, let's put it this way. I have more r22 units out there than i have 410.

That's that's pretty. That tells you a lot. Let me see what else we got in here. Have i used the ppm feature on my detect stratus no john deere fan.

I have not used the ppm feature, but something that i did learn so on the detex stratus detect stratus, that's boring on the stratus leak detector. There's a couple different modes: okay, um and it'll - give you a parts per million readout, but the parts per million readout is actually not as sensitive, because if you think about it, this way the whole point of the parts per million readout. It gives you a numerical parts: per million value is to be able to go into a heavily saturated environment that has a lot of leaking refrigerant and be able to pinpoint the leak, whereas a normal leak detector would be going crazy. High low it'd just be going nuts well, the parts per million increases that you get closer to the leak.

My next question about the whole parts per million readout is who really wants to go into a leaking system, a walk-in cooler or something? That's that clouded with refrigerant to walk in with your leak detector, because i don't have a respirator, but that's a whole nother question to have but uh so i have played with the parts per million, but i have not had a need for it. I just use the the high sensitivity thing and it does really well so uh one one critique i will give the stratus actually really big critique is the audible sound on it is not nearly loud enough. Okay, the detect select, makes a loud beep, beep beep sound right. The stratus is very quiet and it's hard to hear.

Actually, if you're in a busy kitchen, you find yourself needing to look at the leak detector, which i will say is a little bit frustrating because i want to hear the sound now granted they tell you you can plug headphones into it, but that's kind of frustrating. I just want to be able to work in a kitchen and hear the leak and the little speaker on it is way too low. It's it's just not loud enough at all um. Oh okay got it miguel.

I see your question now so you're saying any tips to new refrigeration, guys coming out of residential yeah. Definitely there's a book that i want you to order right now: okay, uh. The book is called commercial refrigeration for air conditioning technicians. It's by a guy named dick wurs you're driving right now, so don't write this down.

Send me an email, uh, hvacr videos, gmail.com! You can look in the show notes at any one of my videos. You don't got to write that down either. Okay, just look in the show notes or the the you know, comment or just above the comments on any one of my videos and my emails in there send me an email - and i can tell you the book there too, but it's called commercial refrigeration for air Conditioning technicians by dick wars, it's a great book. It really goes over the fundamentals: the differences between air conditioning and refrigeration, the control strategies, the extra components, receivers, uh bypass valves, check, valves all that different stuff, so definitely a good book to start with.

Okay, i would highly suggest anybody that is getting into refrigeration get that book um. So let me mark that point off my list here: real, quick uh. This is a question that i had just before the stream started. Was someone asked me what my education level was as far as how high in college, what was my major all that different stuff? So i am a knuckle busting mechanic out of high school.

I went to work for my dad. I actually grew up working for my dad, but obviously went through high school worked a couple fast. Food jobs worked at an auto body, shop, working on cars and then right out of high school. I came to work officially for my dad full time.

One of the requirements that my dad had for me was that i needed to go to trade school, so i went to my local community college. Mount san antonio community college in walnut california went through the hvac program. I'm actually two classes shy of a certificate. I never got a degree or anything like that college.

Just wasn't for me as far as the higher education classes, but as far as the trade classes, i still need to take a technical, math class in a welding class. You guys can probably see it in my braising that you guys see in my videos. I can use some some training on that, but um in the uh and i can get a certificate, but as far as college um don't have anything higher than that. I tried going to a few college classes, but i just didn't: have the attention span? I think i got a learning disability as far as like 80d or something like that, because i have a hard time paying attention.

If i'm bored, i just lose interest but yeah. That's the education i have so high school, that's pretty much it and then some trade classes at a local college, um, and then i've just been doing this ever since my dad and i run the company together, he doesn't work anymore um, you know we're, you know He wishes he could retire yesterday, but i won't let him right now because um i need him. I just i can't do it on my own. So all right, let me see what else we got in here um.

What am i missing? What's my preferred r22 replacement? You use 421a justin richmond um, i'm gon na be honest with you dude i use r22. I don't use a replacement. I've had some horror stories with certain replacements. Uh 427a.

I have some really bad horror stories and i'm going to say this: if you're going to use any refrigerant replacement, okay, first off, you need to understand. There is not a refrigerant replacement out there. That is meant to be mixed with r22. It's not right, don't do it don't mix any one of them with r22.

I don't care if someone tells you that it works. I don't care if the supply house tells you that it works because they're lying and you're not supposed to do that. Okay, but that's a whole other topic to have: you need to read the manufacturer's installation instructions, almost every refrigerant manufacturer out there that makes an alternative for r22. Every one of their instructions has some wording in it that either says works best with preferred method or whatever is polyester oil.

Okay, none of them are meant to work with mineral oil. Now they try to add different additives, they add hydrocarbons and different things to them. To try to make them work better and move the oil in the system better with that particular refrigerant, but the bottom line is: is all the replacement refrigerants out there to work properly and work best? You should change the oil to polyester oil. Okay.

With that being said, it's kind of difficult in a scroll compressor to change the oil. I think i have a video a couple, maybe a month or two ago where i was changing the oil in a compressor and i dropped the damn thing on its head. Trying to flip it over, i had to unsweat the compressor, which seems so stupid unsweat it take it out. Pour the oil out pour new oil in try to dry the oil out of the fitting, so you can braise it back.

It's just a pain in the butt okay, so my personal preference right now is that i use r22 now there's going to come a day when i'm going to have to use an alternative refrigerant with that being said, more than likely, i'm probably going to push for 407C, my reading says that that's got the best. You know efficiency and all that stuff, but it's also been a while, since i've done a lot of reading about it, i do have my buddy in here ralph. I don't know if he's in here today, but i i will give you guys his email right now, because ralph is a wealth of information for alternative refrigerants ralph, actually works for honeywell refrigerants and he's always willing to answer everybody's questions when it comes to alternative refrigerants. So i'm going to put ralph's email on the chat right now and you guys can here we go, feel free to send ralph an email.

If you have any refrigerant related questions when it comes to changing refrigerants over converting all that different stuff. Ralph is a super cool dude again he works for honeywell. Refrigerants, definitely give him an email and talk to him a little bit more about it. Hey clive, how you doing big clive is in here guys uh new refrigerants weren't chosen in the first place, yep.

That is true. There is a reason why they weren't chosen in the first place so uh. I prefer what came in the system? Okay, now again, there's gon na come a day when i have to convert or something and, of course i'll lean on my buddy ralph and we'll find a good solution for it, but always read the installation instructions. Okay, you're gon na have to change system components.

You're gon na have to do this. You're gon na have to do that. Okay, they're all different, refrigerants um. Let me see, let me see what else i'm missing in this chat right now: um yeah, so supply house.

There says you can mix 427a, but it just convert to 407c. If we need to do not mix 427a, see that's the thing. If you lean on the manufacturer of that refrigerant, they do not say it's okay to mix, see that supply house counter guy. That's my frustration and i'm going to go down this path right now: okay, supply houses; they are not for the most part service technicians, okay, what it is, in my opinion, supply houses here from the service techs walking in saying yeah.

I mix that stuff. It works. Fine and they hear it from enough service text that they think that that works, so that they share that bit of crap with people out in the field that have questions it's wrong. You do not mix refrigerants period.

Okay, i realize there's probably people in here that say: they've done it and i realize it probably works half ass, whatever okay, but the problem is, is the guy that comes behind you that has to work on that system? He doesn't know what the hell's in that system, and it just makes it a nightmare you're, not a technical you're, not a chemist you're, not an engineer. Don't try to field modify the system and make your own refrigerants, because it just makes it harder for the next guy. So what happens? If you do make a refrigerant? Okay and then what happens? If you make some weird blend right, it's got all these different gases. In it now because it's got a mixture of r22, a mixture of 407 mixture of 427, whatever okay, so what happens? If half that charge leaks out what's left in the system? How's it going to operate you, and i don't know that.

Okay, so that becomes a problem. Refrigerants are manufactured to operate under certain conditions. Okay, you know that a lot of people talk about glide and all this different stuff right and yeah. It's confusing as hell a lot of people talk about fractionation, that's confusing as hell, okay for 410a.

In the very beginning, they they preach that, oh my gosh. If any of this leaks out it's going to fractionate, that's that's baloney. Okay! Fractionization is so minimal on 410a. That you don't need to do that, but we know that because the manufacturers have told us that that you know it's not really a concern so much okay.

So the manufacturers have done the research on that when it comes to making your own refrigerants by mixing whatever you don't know what you're dealing with and neither does the person after you or the person after that, what happens if you come in and put 427a in There and then the next guy puts 407c in there and then some other guy puts 421d in there. What do you got? You got a freaking molotov cocktail there who knows what's going to do you know it's just a nightmare and i'm not trying to get down on any one person, but that just frustrates me because i've had to troubleshoot systems that i was 99.9 sure someone had mixed The refrigerants, because it just didn't, operate right right and it wasn't labeled any refrigerant, but the manufacturer's oem r22. But guess what all that i had to do was take all the refrigerant out vacuum the system down and put r22 in there, and it worked perfect. All specs are good, so it confirmed my diagnosis.

Some asshat had mixed the refrigerants in that system and made it difficult made. My job harder, okay made me have to charge the customer more money, um, it's a pain in the butt, so don't mix refrigerants bottom line. Okay, it's just gon na make a headache for the next guy and i don't mean to feel like i'm talking direct to anybody in this chat, but it's just it's frustrating, so don't mix them. Okay, do i work on rbi boilers? No, i do not work on boilers, i'm sorry, i'm not that cool um.

Let me see what else we got in here. Uh is dallas in here ralph. I see people saying dallas. I don't know if he is but oh cool.

If he is um. Let me see what else uh, what am i? Okay, i'm gon na go ahead and go to my list of things to talk about um. I already answered that question and uh. Let's go to this real, quick um.

Oh, i already answered that one. Oh uh pat had asked me: do i own my own company, i kind of already covered that my dad and i run the company together. How long have we been in business? So my dad started the company in the late 80s like 89, or something like that. We've been in business since i came to work for him full time in 2002 and uh.

You know we're running it together now and, like i said, he's about to retire so um yeah. Thank you very much. Clive! That's a good idea, top them up with acetylene. That's a really good idea.

You never know how that one's gon na work out, but that was actually a thing clive. So we had a thing here in the u.s before um, before r290 was approved and used as a mainstream. Refrigerant r290 is a refrigerant-grade propane. Was we had some manufacturers out there that were making r22 substitutes and it was very shady marketing? They weren't really labeling the packages right and essentially it was just propane and they were sending propane out there without telling people and they were putting it in systems that they didn't know, because propane and r22 actually have very similar characteristics.

They operate almost identical, so they were using propane to top off the charge of r22 systems. Now, in a perfect world that wouldn't be a problem, but without someone knowing that they had propane it's a problem when you're putting in these hydrocarbon refrigerants into systems - and i know you were just joking clyde - but i'm just saying in general, if you're putting this hydrocarbon Refrigerants into systems you have to understand something with a hydrocarbon propane or butane: r600. R290. You can't use recovery machines.

You even have to be careful about the vacuum pumps that you use and stuff too so um.