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 and we'll remove that drama and we'll do the right intro. Foreign. and I Guess we're just gonna have technical difficulties here and this is not going to work out the way that I want it to work out. so bear with me here for a second I almost want to just start over.

and yeah, so I guess I'm just going to start the live stream because that didn't start the way that I wanted it to. That's kind of frustrating I was supposed to have an intro right there. Well, hello to everybody, how's it going? Let me see if I can cue this thing up correctly. I don't know what the heck happened I totally grabbed the wrong intro and uh, you know things don't always go the way that you want them to.

So bear with me one second and uh, I think that this is it right here. So why isn't that working? That should totally be it. Yeah, this is the right intro. Why Didn't it work right? Stay tuned? Here we go.

let's see if this works. Ah, it's time to chill out and get ready for a mediocre Q: A live stream. If you're old enough, grab yourself your favorite adult beverage and if you're not, stick with apple juice. put your feet up and relax.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the chat. And now let's cue up the intro music. Thank you thank you thank you thank you Foreign! This live stream is brought to you by Heatcraft Refrigeration find out more about them at Heatcraftrpd.com So I don't know what happened to my my synthwave intro music I I did I have that music last week or did I have the synth wave last week I don't know huh? Interesting yeah. How many times did I hit the button I was totally tripping out by the music because that's not my normal music that I have the intro for.

But hello to everybody Brian Sanders thank you very much for that! Super Chat Man that is really awesome I really do appreciate that. So hello to everybody Welcome to the Hvacr videos live stream So I got a few things as usual that I'd like to talk about this evening. but uh, remember that if you guys have questions or things that you want me to talk about, feel free to put them in the chat. Just put them in caps lock.

It helps me to see and uh, because there's there's whole conversations going on in the chat if you guys are watching on any of the other social media platforms. Facebook LinkedIn Twitter all those different ones. Just understand, it doesn't benefit me any differently what platform you watch this on? but there's a giant community of people on YouTube that have a whole chat going on so the the chat is most active on YouTube if you're interested. Okay so it is what it is, but hello to everybody and yes yes I did get a haircut I've been wanting to do this for a while.

My family wasn't too into it and stuff but I'm just over the it. felt like I lost 10 pounds when I got my my head shave today. So super awesome! It's just too hot to have a mop on my head so just can't do it. and yeah, so hello, um how many texts do I have out there out in the field? So I am a small service company so let's let's do a proper intro.

So this is the HVAC videos live stream. Okay, my name is Chris I'm an Hvacr, service technician and business owner. Uh, run a small business in Southern California I Started making these videos as a training aid to my employees and these live streams are a way to consolidate the questions that I get from all the different videos that I post and just kind of answer them all in one place. Okay, so Miguel asked how many technicians I have out in the field I have three technicians out in the field, four trucks including my own rolling around every single day and I work every single day and I'm out there turning wrenches If I can do anything to stay out of the office, that's what I try to do.

but unfortunately I do have to get into the office every once in a while now. Um, let's see what we got going on in the chat. Uh, definitely have pants on. definitely have pants on my friends.

Definitely. Okay, uh, let's see what else you guys make me laugh. The hair was Majestic Jennifer the hair will be back in like six weeks if I just let my hair grow, it just grows. It's insane.

So um, you guys are killing me in this chat right now. This is hilarious. Oh man, yeah. Jason uh Jason Johnson was talking this week about his on call.

He was on call last week or last weekend last week. whatever it is. and uh, he had some crazy overtime. Yeah, a few years back.

I'd say about eight or nine years ago we changed our whole call rotation and our call schedule. Now this works for us. Because we're a small company, we changed it to the most you're ever on call is three days at a time. Okay, the most you're on call is Friday Saturday Sunday There's a possibility it would be four days if if uh Monday is a paid holiday than the person that's on call for the week and takes the holiday too, but that's pretty much it.

Um, and then we have a rotating schedule where each technician gets a day during the week and that day rotates every week and then the one technician that's on call for the weekend gets Friday Saturday Sunday We did that just because. Again, it works for us. you know, um, to try to reduce the amount of work that a service technician has when he's on call. That's just our personal preference and it's worked out well for us.

So let's see what else we got going on in the chat right now. Um, reading through here. Uh, what meter do I have that has the mega and phase monitor feature built into a pack? Okay, so there's a couple different meters I do not have one meter that has all that stuff built into it I'm sure there is one out there. The meter that I use and carry in my tool bag most daily is the Fieldpiece Sc480.

It is a clamp meter and it does have phase rotation built into the meter. Okay, the mega that I use would be the fluke 15, 1507 or 1587 I can't remember Jason might remember Jason What? What fluke? Uh Mega do I have I think it's the 1507 or the 1587 is what? I have? Um I also have a couple fluke like the 902 FC I carry that with me too every once in a while. It just depends. Okay, but I don't have one meter that does all of that stuff.

so let's see what else we got going on in the chat right now. Um, as usual I got a bunch of stuff on my list too, but I wanted to get through this comments real quick. Okay, cool. Um, all right.

Jennifer thank you very much for that. Super Chat that is really awesome and uh Jennifer you didn't have to do that but that is really cool. Um, tentatively or no, I am going to be on the Misfits of HVAC podcast on Saturday live stream uh Saturday evening. so check it out on the Misfits of HVAC YouTube channel.

Um, so I will be on that show. this Saturday Jennifer is one of the co-hosts along with uh Ryan why am I Ryan Hughes Good gosh. I had a brain fart for a second. um from the Huesman HVAC YouTube channel.

So um, my my brain is not working today and I'm going to get into that a little bit. I've got a little jumbled brain from being out in the heat today, so uh, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Reading through here real quick. All right.

Um, all right. So uh. this last couple weekends I have been working on my house project. the little bits here and there.

It's been a little difficult if you don't already know. I've been in the process of changing my air conditioning system in my house for a while now and again. Understand something because I have no obligations because I have nobody to answer to I have been taking my time and learning along in this process and doing it as you know. I Please, it's my own house and I'm just taking my time working through it.

So uh, this last weekend I've been uh, finishing up cutting in register boots and we're changing all the registered sizes and boot sizes all throughout my house. all the different bedrooms? uh, we're deleting one of them. Um, and we are. Uh, so I've been in the Attic cutting those things in I start early in the morning and I'm usually out before it gets too too hot up in there.

Um, but this last weekend, man, I had a dose of fiberglass all in my arm all up here. My arms are just tattered with freaking insulation and glass, but they're just all scarred up for me scratching them and driving me nuts. But for the most part, I'm pretty much done cutting in all the boots. I still have one more.

but I don't know if I'm gonna be able to get to it anytime soon. I might have to take the lid down to be able to get to it because it's in like a totally inaccessible spot in my attic. So my next step uh, this next weekend that I'm going to be up in the attic is, if all goes well, I'm going to be spray foaming the the boots and uh, just going to get like a two-part uh, spray foam kit like a froth pack and I plan on spray foaming around them to kind of insulate them and seal them up. and uh, hopefully we'll be connecting some ducks to them and getting that pre-ran I'm trying to do this in phases because I'm leaving all my existing registers because my system is currently operating my existing system and we're going to be blanking off a bunch of them.

I'm gonna have a drywall guy come in and Patch them all up when we're done. But the ones in each one of the bedrooms uh, they're like 90 degree angle boot boxes that go into the wall. We're actually going to turn those into, um, transfer grills essentially or jumper ducts they're going to be dumping into the hallway to kind of relieve some of the pressure issues that we may or may not have in the bedrooms. I Haven't really measured the room pressurization yet, but I'm just doing that.

Instead of adding returns into every room and then having to worry about duck leakage and stuff, we're just going to be doing short jumper ducts from the existing grills into the hallway that's out in front of all the bedrooms. So just been working on that project. Um, let's see. So I do want to talk? let's see am I adding registers in my garage? No I don't and I'm not leaving the door open in my garage anymore.

Uh, let's see you're doing a condenser coil repair tomorrow where you have to cut the metal and Patch the leak where the liquid comes in and can't bypass like in the loops. Do I have a video on it? No. I I've done that before and I actually have uh, evaporator coil that's leaking that you have to cut ductwork out to access it. but I'm trying not to do that.

I'm trying to get them to uh, um, uh. replace the equipment basically. So Adam Dude, you didn't have to do the super chat man. Thank you very much man.

All right. Uh, so I Want to ask you guys a question in the chat right now: Do you trust load calculations? Okay, so a proper manual J load calculation. Do you trust it? A proper heat load calculation on a walk-in cooler or a walk-in freezer? Do you trust them? Okay, so I want to know in the chat? yes or no. Do you guys trust load calculations? So I want to talk about that here in a minute? but I want to see some answers coming through in the chat so let me know.

Do you trust the load calculations? Do you add a fudge factor to them? Let's let's discuss that a little bit so let's see what the chat has to say. Um, let's see Jennifer says she trusts them with her life. Let's see what else. Uh Jason Johnson saying manual J Let's see what else people are saying.

Why do some compressors have different shapes? Uh, different brands, different manufacturers, Different types of compressors? Okay, you have semi hermetic compressors. You have hermetically sealed compressors. Within the hermetically sealed compressors, you have little fractional horsepower compressors. You have scroll compressors.

It all just depends on the types. So let's see what people have to say in the chat right now. Um Adams Being sarcastic right now. Uh, is it because of the HVAC School podcast? Uh, no, no, it is not because of the HVAC School podcast.

This is actually just A. my buddy Adam was having a comment in one of the Facebook groups and a lot of people are afraid of load calculations. So um, let's see Dale Mars asking uh, Contact replacement Solid state relays. Okay, so I'll get into this really quick and then we'll jump into the load calculation talk.

As far as my understanding goes, solid state relays are not designed to handle the type of current and the type of inrush that we have on a good majority of our equipment. or at least the equipment that I'm working on. and they aren't as um, inexpensive as a standard contactor. I could be completely wrong about that, but my brief research on that just basically says that the solid state relays just can't handle what we the abuse that we put on this equipment.

I Understand that solid state relays seem like an amazing idea and I'd Love if I could find one that's affordable that can handle the current and the inrush of what we're putting them through. I would love to do it. So um, let's see. Del Mar says no Done in a lab? Um, let me see what else.

Uh, Okay, so let's get into, um, the load calculation. So here's my take on a load calculation. A good majority of people myself included does not properly know how to do a load calculation and how to, uh, figure out everything that you need to know to do a proper load calculation. Now I'm learning uh with the help of my friend Adam and with a bunch of research that I've been doing, I've been learning how load calculations are important.

Okay, I Trust load calculations. But here's something that you need to understand: You cannot do a load calculation and and fight me on this one. Okay, without making a bunch of guesses, you cannot do a load calculation without having and analyzing trending data on your existing system without doing a proper blower door test and a duck Blaster Test Okay, a load calculation is not the answer to everything. You need.

all those different tests and all that information to be able to verify and to be able to know if the load calculation is correct. Load calculations: I Do trust them. Okay, as far as fudge Factor do you add fudge factor to a load calculation? Let's say for instance, my house my house has an existing four ton system and it's I have some comfort complaints in my house but I'm actually downsizing my system to a two ton heat pump. okay, two tons I'm going all the way down to a two-ton system because I trusted the load calculation but to verify the load calculation and make sure that it was where you know it was giving me the correct data I went around and collected a lot of information on my home I measured all the windows I found out what types of Windows I had I went and I looked at the walls I looked at the stucco I looked at the uh, the the tile roof that I have on my house I looked at the insulation R values and the walls and in the attic I looked at the air leakage in the house I looked at all these different factors and then we ran a manual J on my house and then we analyzed everything and what most people don't know and that I have recently learned and I kind of had an idea but I recently learned a little bit more is most load calculations actually have a fudge Factor already built into them.

Okay, I think we all need to be a little bit more aggressive with our sizing. Now there's some other things that we need to consider when it comes to load calculations. Okay, number one: if you're doing a refrigeration load calculation on a walk-in cooler, you need to understand the environment that the walk-ins installed in. How often does the kitchen staff go in and out of the walk-in cooler? How often are they opening doors? Are they pushing carts full of hot food inside the? Box All of that needs to be taken into account when you're doing a load calculation.

The same thing that goes on a home: Do you have a grow up in your freaking bedroom? Like do you have grow lights in your bedroom? Do you have a terrarium with a bunch of reptiles in your bedroom? All of that stuff adds to a, uh, a load calculation. so you can't just assume that because you have a 1500 square foot home that you need this size of a unit. We don't that doesn't work. Okay.

Also, you can be in a track home with a bunch of cookie cutter homes and each home can have a different load based on the way the house was built and put together. Okay, new track homes they have. They are notorious for being horribly built and not properly air sealed. Okay, so load calculations are important and it's important that we trust them.

But it's also important that we input the right data to get an accurate load calculation that we ran right. You need to give the data to get the data and the data has to be accurate. Now, most companies don't have time. Well, they'll say they don't have time to do a load calculation.

The customer doesn't want to pay for a load calculation. I just need to throw a system in there that'll work okay. you can run into some problems there, right? So I had to make some decisions. For instance, at my house that I'm at right now I have an office that has a massive computer in it that I run these streams off of and edit my videos off of.

and I chose not to include that computer in my load calculation because if I remember right, that computer puts out something like 3000 BTUs of heat and I decided not to add that to my load calculation because if I did, then theoretically we could overcool this house. if I ever moved this computer out of here. Let's say that I decide to move my office somewhere else. Well, then if we size my system with that computer in mind, then theoretically we could over be oversizing my system, right? We could over cool and overheat the house, We could have short cycle run times and run into issues.

Now we need to be careful about that stuff and we have to make educated decisions. So more than likely I'm going to add some sort of supplementary cooling into my office. and I designed it as a normal home when I ran my load calculation that way I Know that if I ever moved out of this or if I move my office somewhere else, we don't have to do anything to the house beside sides turn off the supplementary cooling that I potentially will add to my house right? A friendly neighborhood maintenance man. thank you very much for that super chat I Really do appreciate it Paul Thank you very much for that super chat too.

Legality aside, if you have an R22 home system that's running low, can you add consumer propane or proper R290 to get it a little bit more time out of the system? No. I would never add r290 to a system that was not designed for it. Um, and I get that you said legality aside, but no I would never do it because there's too many things that can just be cause problems. Okay, so not even thinking about legal I'm just thinking about being a moral person and I morally cannot add r290 to an operating system.

Can it be done? I Mean you know a lot of people can figure things out, but should it be done? I Don't think so. Okay, just because. um, you know you heard someone on the internet that says he took his car to Max school and they got it filled with uh, propane and his air conditioner has been working perfect for 20 years. That's great.

That doesn't mean that it's right. Just because someone thinks that it works okay, doesn't mean that it's right or should be done. Okay, um, you know, legality aside or no. when you say legality aside, I mean forget about the legal system.

What happens if you put R290 in a home system and an accident happens and someone gets hurt or possibly dies? I mean forget about the legal side of things. Could you live with that? Could you sleep like that knowing that someone potentially died because of something that you did I personally would not do that. I'm not a fan of retrofit refrigerants in general I Haven't had the greatest luck with them. There's certain retrofit refrigerants that I've had to use, but you know that's my two cents on the matter.

So hopefully I didn't let you down on that one. Okay, all right, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um, in my scenario, would a two-stage unit be a consideration for that? J.R Smith I went with a full inverter system Jr Uh so and I sized my system uh, accordingly. But yes, we have a full inverter system.

So a two-stage system to solve my problems? No, because then we could still potentially be overheating and over cooling. Um, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Uh, what am I missing here? Do I use a barometer to measure air flow? No. I did not use a velometer to measure airflow.

Uh, weather clog filters? No PM All right, reading through the chat right now: Why does a compressor randomly overheat and how do you get it out of thermal overload? Mac A compressor overheats when something about the operation of the compressor is not working correctly. If it goes off on thermal overload, that's an internal protection device built into the compressor that causes the compressor to stop operating so that way it can cool itself off and start back up. If you didn't have a thermal overload, then you'd potentially have a burnt winding in the compressor or or some sort of internal damage that caused that compressor to implode on itself. Basically okay, let's see what else we got going on in chat: Ammo99 on mineral is a compressor killer.

I Would argue that any alternative refrigerant used with mineral oil if it was designed for Polyoester oil is a compressor killer. Here's the interesting thing: Go to any one of the R22 alternative refrigerants. Okay, just insert whatever name you want here and in the installation instructions. In the fine print of the installation instructions, they typically say have some sort of wording in there that says works best with Polyoester Oil.

If the system has long line set, runs high pressure drop situations Um, dot dot dot dot all these different variables right or disclaimers then they say it works best with Polyoester Oil. that is code for it's meant and design for polyester oil. There's some manufacturers out there that add hydrocarbons to their refrigerants to try to get the mineral oil to move better with the refrigerant, but inevitably, they were designed for polyester oil. Okay, so I have used 407c I've had mixed results with it, but I've always used it with Polyoester oil I've never tried to add it to a system I made a mistake many years back where I trusted what a supply house said and I used an alternative refrigerant to R22 That said, it worked with mineral oil and it was nothing but a disaster it was.

uh and I learned a lot of lessons about trusting a supply house. Okay, uh. Vital Heating and Air can I explain my Service rates. Do I have a minimum two hour service visit on refrigeration or commercial visits plus a service call Fee How does the customer pay for Big Picture pricing? So the way that we operate forgetting about what my actual hourly rate is on a normal service call, we have a one hour minimum okay at our normal hourly rate and then we have a truck charge.

Okay, that we add to that and we charge travel time. Okay, so at a minimum the customer will pay for one hour plus a truck charge. Okay, so let's just say we walked in the door and turned on a switch and it took me 15 minutes to get there and I was on site for 15 minutes I charged them for one hour at my normal labor rate plus one truck charge and that would be what the customer would be charged. Okay, if it is an overtime service call, we have a two hour minimum.

We charge travel time, but we charge port to port so however long it takes me to get to the job site, that is my normal thing that I charge to travel home plus whatever time on site working on it. But if a customer calls me out to a call that's 15 minutes away and it's overtime, it's a Saturday I have to stop what I'm doing to go out to their job site I charge them a two hour minimum plus a truck charge for the 15 minutes to drive there, the 15 minutes to turn the switch on, and then the 15 minutes to drive home I charge them two hours for that. Okay, okay but we are a time of materials. We do not do any kind of flat rate stuff.

So if I go out there and I end up having to clean condenser coils and stuff however long it takes me to get there I charge them for that however long I'm on site I charge them for that and then however long it takes me to get home I charge them for that on overtime only if it's a regular time service call just during the normal business hours, then I only charge them travel time there and whatever time I'm on site and the moment that I get the invoice signed and I walk out the door my my billing stops. Okay, so that's how I operate. Not judging anybody that operates any differently. Um, have I seen the new Mission Impossible movie? No.

Jordan Um and and I will say that I won't see the Mission Impossible movie in the theaters. um I like the Mission Impossible movies but they're just not I'm just not into those in the theaters I like the Marvel movies in the theaters I've always liked those but I'm a big fan of watching stuff at home. I Will say that I thoroughly enjoyed the new Top Gun movie. I Was looking forward to that but I waited till I came out on video and I watched it at home.

So um, see what else we got going on in the chat? Uh, we should be able to tack on an a-hole tax as well. Yeah, you know there's times that you want to charge whatever. So um I'm reading through the chat right now. Uh, let's see.

HVAC rookie says they charge port to port always. That's good on straight time too I want I I Really would like to charge port to port and honestly what I'd like to do is I'd like to make Sunday's double time I really would? Uh, right now we just charge overtime for Saturday Sunday and anything after 4 P.M in the afternoon. So our normal business hours are 6 a.m to 4 P.M and then anything after 4 pm is overtime rates or you know, whatever it may be I'm reading through here uh I will say on a on a side note I was just getting ready for this stream and it's probably going to be horrible, but I'm absolutely excited for it. They're making uh, kind of a part two to Justified with Timothy Olyphant uh and I Really like the Justified show justifies about a U.S Marshal in Backwoods Kentucky and just all the craziness that goes on.

I've watched that series three times. My wife absolutely hates it. I Love it. It's just super simple.

It's like watching a western. You don't even really need to think, you can just turn it on and relax. but I just saw like a thing and I'm sure it's going to be stupid and whatever. but they're making a 10 years later Justified You know, part two or whatever.

but it's not going to be called Justified it's going to be called something different so, but it's going to be Timothy Olyphant or Raylen Givens character. So I'm super stoked about that. Uh, carrier Linux are good men. um I mean it is what it is.

uh I would probably say if you're giving me those two, I'd probably choose between carrier or Linux but I mean Goodman works if you install it right? So Ghostbusters Afterlife was another good movie Ghostbusters Afterlife was probably one of the better sequels I've seen in a very very long time. They tied that movie together so well. Um, honestly I think Ghostbusters Afterlife was just as good as the very first. Ghostbusters They did such a good job of tying in the characters they did an amazing job of saying goodbye to.

Harold Ramis uh in Ghostbusters Uh, Afterlife they it was just such a great movie. I Really really enjoyed that Paul Rudd did a great job in that movie. It was a great way to segue the Ghostbuster series. I Know they're making another one right now and I'm looking forward to that one too.

It's going to be in New York uh they're talking about The Old Firehouse I'm hoping it's going to be awesome so you guys are striking a nerve with my movie stuff. Um, all right. have I worked on train Odysseys oh man I think I might have worked on one a couple times, but not very much so. um any OT calls get uh, time and a half Sundays are double time will? That's awesome but I'd like to get into that Adam Again, thanks for that Super Chat Man, you don't have to keep doing that.

Um, there are only a few good HVAC groups on Facebook you know that's a that's a that's a valid point. Um, two of the groups that I'm very solid and very comfortable. And there's a few actually. But two that I can name right off the bat is the HVAC School group and the HVAC overtime Facebook group.

Both of those are great. You know, whatever. I'm a moderator, you know, run the overtime group. I'm not a moderator in that school group.

but School group is just a good, solid group. Lots of great information. All right. heat.

Readiness Let's talk about this guys. It is insanely hot outside and I can't stress this enough. By the moment you start to feel the symptoms of a heat stroke, it's absolutely too late. Okay, and a heat stroke is not something to laugh about or joke about.

You can die from them. Okay, period. And you can have permanent disfiguration. and you know permanent damage.

Heat stroke is the it's a stroke. Okay, no joke, it's not good. Be very, very careful. Okay, make sure you're taking care of your bodies.

Brandon Priests thank you very much for that. Super Chat Man and Paul S Uh Rohrbaugh. thank you very much for that. Super Chat Hopefully I didn't butcher your name.

Uh, let's see Brandon says he missed last week. but um, how often do I get to have times where I just get them running because you have a million calls and no time to do it. And what do I charge to put out that fire I charge the same rates no matter what? All right. So we have I call that triage mode or putting out fires.

Okay, it happens all the time. Where right now? What I've been doing is I have one technician that pretty much does kind of like maintenance work and does installs of reaching coolers and things like that. And so if I get a call for a restaurant that has three air conditioners down and I know this particular restaurant doesn't do routine maintenance and stuff. Oftentimes I will not give the customer a choice and I will send my guy out there the maintenance guy and he'll go and just clean condensers, change filters, change belts so that way myself or another technician can go behind him and troubleshoot a day or two later.

especially when these customers don't do maintenance. And if the customer has a problem with that, they can call someone else because that's how we're doing things right now. I don't have time to send a service technician out there with the craziness that we have going on for him to spend six hours on the roof just hosing things off and doing that kind of stuff. That's just not I I have much better use for the service technician's time to be troubleshooting, diagnosing, and repairing things rather than cleaning things.

So that's my triage mode. Okay, and yes, there is times like today. Today was a massive triage thing and I'll definitely get into that here in a minute. Let's get to this next comment: Uh, because your grandparents live in Oceanfront house since 1960 where buyers tear them down and build Mcmansions don't want a new system for the house to be demolished in two and a half years, we'll just use Window ACS Paul Um, so legality aside, forget about the legalness.

it's the safety of your grandparents. And it's not so much about legal. but putting R290 or propane in a system that was designed for our 22 is dangerous. Okay I realize some people will say they've done it and it works fine.

but what if it doesn't and that's your grandparents home, so don't do that. Okay, yeah, Window shakers. Mini Splits Portable air conditioners. or I mean you know, find a company that's willing to sell you some R22 I mean you know I I get R22 I Still buy it to this day I Don't know what everybody's saying that they can't buy.

R22 Yeah, the prices have gone up, but it is what it is, you know? So all right, let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um, right on fur. Uh, it's very awesome. Thanks for coming in here, man, that's really cool.

What do I think of hydration packs? I mean whatever floats your boat? dude. whatever works for you. So when it's this hot outside, we need to take care of our bodies. So today I went out to a service call where at 8 45 in the morning it was 102 degrees.

Once I got onto the roof I knew it was going to be 115 to 118 degree day I didn't plan on spending very much time there. it was one of those things where I sent the maintenance guy out there too. but I had to go help him because this is out in the desert, they're susceptible to sandstorms. So I spent the first three hours of my day pulling all the filters out of the units because they were impacted with sand, cleaning condensers, checking belts, and just triaging everything.

All right. I was exhausted I had to take more breaks than you can imagine going downstairs. By the time I left, the temperature in the sun had climbed to 118. in the shade, it was 108 degrees.

Okay, but we all know that I'm standing on that roof. that 118 degrees is reflecting. it's bouncing off the roof. My feet have blisters I'm standing up there working in it.

My body was just broken I have what I call Jelly Brain which is a symptom of working out in the heat too much where I Just like my brain, sometimes the words don't come out right. It's probably the beginning signs of some sort of a heat exhaustion. Okay, so I was making sure that I I had an ice chest with me I was hydrating I was going downstairs taking breaks I was eating food I know it's so hard and I'm the worst person at doing it. but eating food when it's hot, it just sucks.

but you need the nutrients okay I am very careful and I'd encourage all of you guys out there too. Don't Drink soda. Soda is the worst thing for your body I Know you hate water I know you hate the taste of water I know you hate the taste. You know and you just love a soda and a soda feels so thirst quenching.

How many sodas does it take to equal one bottle of water? By the time you drink three sodas and you still feel thirsty and you still feel like you need a fourth, you could drink two to three bottles of water and that will suffice right? because soda doesn't give you the hydration, your body's working to absorb all the sugar and to break down the water and it's just bad for you. Okay I watched one of those uh, short form contents of a very popular person on Tick Tock and he was posting about how you know his secret to having cold water and or to having a cold drink and staying hydrated. and he takes a soda can and he rolls it on in in ice water and it's instantly cold and he can drink it right out of a 12 pack. That's the worst advice you can give to anybody.

Don't Drink soda. Okay I'm telling you this from experience. it's horrible for you. Okay, so here's my plan and I'm not perfect.

Okay I typically drink three to four Waters to one Gatorade and Gatorade's not the best thing for you too. Okay, but I drink three to four Waters to one Gatorade okay and then three to four more Waters and then if I feel the need for another Gatorade most of the time I don't Okay most most of the time I just continue on with water right and then eating and taking breaks and that's what I was doing today. So I think all together today. Uh, in my time I drank eight to ten Waters maybe 12 I don't know and I think I had one Gatorade with lunch or something like that.

Okay, but you got to be careful about all the different sugars and stuff. and I get it. Everybody says you know they the the Gatorades are good for you but they're full of sugar. Okay, they really are.

Um, there's uh, things out there like liquid IV and different things. Those are supposed to be great. My wife swears by them. I've never had a liquid IV I should probably try it.

Um, they're just full of a bunch of nutrients and different things that can help you. Um, but we got to be careful and we got to make sure that we're being safe. Don't let your service company pressure you into working on the roof when it's too hot. Don't let um, you know you know your body and you need to protect yourself.

right? Your job will replace you. If you die on the roof today, they will be sad about it. More than likely they will take a little grieving time, but they will replace you. They will find a new service technician.

Your family can't replace you. Okay, you need to go home at the end of the day, so take it easy. Don't overheat yourself. Don't kill yourself for a job.

Okay I'm a business owner and I'm telling you this at the same time. I'm you know. Talking to my dad today and we were getting ready because my dad and I worked together and I was telling them I Go I Don't want people out in the sun I Don't want people on the roof past 11 12 o'clock I Don't want people spending X number of time on the roof or calling them constantly. Hey, have you taken a break? Are you okay? We're reminding them: don't overwork yourself to just get some stupid contactor changed or to get a condenser fan motor cleaned I Realize there's 40 people in that dining room and they're all really, really hot.

but they're not as hot as you on the roof. Okay, so take care of your body and don't let someone pressure you into hurting yourself and working outside, so make sure you guys are being safe. Let's see what else we got going on in this chat right now. What advice do I have for apprentices that are discouraged and slow? Learners in the field? Okay, so as an apprentice, you need to understand something.

Your apprenticeship is a time for you to learn, but it's also a time for your company to get used to you and see if it's going to work out. If you're a slow learner, you got to figure something out. You got to start doing footwork on your own. Um, you know, if if you're not picking it up, then maybe there's something else you can do within the industry to slowly learn, right? I want you to take your time and I want you to learn properly.

and I realize some people learn differently than others, but you also have to learn that a business has to make money. Okay, And for a business to make money. Typically, as an apprentice, most companies don't make money off of an apprentice. Okay, they might break even or something, but they're not making money.

But that's a body That's a body that they're paying insurance for. That's a body that they're putting in a service vehicle. That's a body that they're supplying some sort of tools and uniforms to, right? So you have to be able to make your company money. So figure something out.

Do extra research, learn on your own time. ask questions when it's a pro Appropriate to ask questions, take pictures when you can on the rooftop, and research that equipment and start asking other people. Something to understand is as an apprentice it's okay, right that you don't quite learn properly from one single person. You can ask other people too, but you have to do some of your own footwork, so hopefully that answers your question for you.

Um, see what else we got going on here? Do I eat lunch at the restaurants while I'm servicing their equipment? No. I don't. Kaden okay uh many many years ago. Uh, my young, my oldest daughter.

She used to be super excited about going out to a hamburger place that I service and uh, that was her favorite restaurant. and what I would find is is that the restaurants always offer me food and then I would eat food and then when I went home I never wanted to go out to eat because I ate fast food or restaurant food all day long. So I stopped accepting food from my restaurants and I started bringing my lunch or buying my lunch and saving restaurant food for when I go out with my family so that way I can enjoy it and I'm not burned out. I'm a person that gets burned out on certain foods all the time.

so I always try to do that. all right. let's see what else we got going on in the chat. Um what am I missing? Ah, let's see.

sorry if I go off on rants all the time. Don't eat ice from restaurants? Why? uh, you know what? I'm a I eat ice from restaurants. Ignorance is bliss I go to Subway and I get ice. Um, you know, whatever.

that stuff doesn't bother me. that crap that's in the ice. it's the same stuff you're breathing. Yeah, it looks gross.

I mean I'm sure there's going to be some ice machines that I'm gonna say yeah, I'm not gonna eat the ice out of that. but like I said, ignorance is bliss if if the covers shut on the ice machine and I don't see any big indicators like slime hanging from the ice trough or something. Yeah, I'm just gonna get it and move on. So um, see what else we got going on in here.

All right, reading through the chat right now. Okay so Justin had a great question so Justin emailed me and he said hey, he's working on a particular piece of equipment. It's a uh I don't I think I can't remember if it was an air conditioner or a chiller but that it doesn't matter. Okay, so he had a question and he said look, here's the deal.

It's a liquid line dryer and he needs to replace it. but the liquid line dryer is a 5 8 inch dryer so it comes out of the condenser as a 5 8 dryer. Then it stubs down to half inch and he wants to know if he can put in a half inch dryer. Is that going to be a problem? Yes, you can put a half inch dryer, half inch line size.

Okay, here's something that you need to understand: Dryers are sized based off of their um, their, uh, they're based off of their desiccant that's inside of them and the amount of refrigerant that can flow through them and clean the refrigerant properly. Okay, so in that situation, the manufacturer made a decision to go from 5 8, then stub it down with a bushing to half inch in that situation. Yeah, if you wanted to, you can put a half inch dryer on there. It's not going to make a huge difference.

Be cautious about going from 5 8 to quarter inch. Okay, but I Want to talk about that first and foremost. Make sure if you guys are interested. Sporland has these Tech bulletins.

You don't have to have the actual paper bulletin, but it has lots of information about their dryers. This is Bulletin 40-10 It goes all into sizing filter dryers and the proper flow through the filter dryers, the capacity, and the different things. Okay, I air on the side of oversizing dryers. As far as the desiccant goes, Okay, what you're going to find is most manufacturers out there they actually put smaller dryers than what Sporland recommends on there.

Uh, what I mean by that is if you go on the side of a spoiling box right here. they have lines or they have sizing information and it says basically this is a 16 cubic inch dryer and it says for R22 This right here in refrigeration is good for one and a half to three. Um, what is that? Tons of of refrigerant? Okay, or three tons as in the size of the system. So the 16 cubic inch is good for up to a three ton refrigeration system Okay, or on an air conditioning system with R22 it's good for up to five tons.

Okay, but what you're actually going to find is some manufacturers might have an eight cubic inch dryer on there or a five cubic inch dryer on there as long as they can get the proper velocity through the dryer. As a brand new piece of equipment, they're not planning on having cleanup done to it because in theory the system should be clean from the manufacturer. That's not always true, but in theory. Okay, so what you'll find is oftentimes on the Uh repair side of things, we tend to want to put in bigger dryers.

That's why I air on the side of oversizing dryers. So typically I use 16 cubic inch for the most part on most of the equipment that I work on, but always pay attention to their sizing charts. And again in that bulletin 40-10 it has great information on sizing. Now it's not just about tonnage, you have to pay attention to the velocity of the refrigerant that needs to move through there, the flow.

and again, this Sporland Tech bullets in 40-10 is a great way and it goes through all the information. Spoiling does a great job of having those Tech Bulletins: They actually have a bunch of different Tech bulletins here. Um I Like to have the paper ones you got them on sight glasses seals Distributors this is 20-10 Uh expansion valves 10-10 head pressure control valves uh 90-30 and there's a couple different ones. There's Oroa valves Ori valves.

There's a bunch of different ones so they have lots of great information. You can just look these up, just look up Sporlin. Tech Bulletins: Uh, filter dryers and it'll come up. You know you can find all that information, but pay attention to that.

Okay, because that's really good. But yes, in your situation, you're going from a 5 8 inch line and it's already stubbing out half inch. You can put a half inch all the way through dryer on there. You're just going to have to use a bushing to go up to the 5 8 line though.

Um, so when it comes to the Sporland dryers, HH is a is meant for uh, system cleanups after a burnout, the HH is actually in. So this is going to get into semantics. Okay, so HH I always thought it meant high acid. It actually doesn't the HH core in a Sporland dryer.

So this is a standard desiccant core. Okay, this is the inside of one of those. This is a cutaway of one. Okay, this is not an HH core.

Neither is this. The HH core actually has special cleaning Powers inside of it that are meant to clean up wax wax residue from system burnout. So In theory, if you have acid in the system, that acid starts to float around, hold on foreign, that acid starts to float around, and it starts to eat away at the wax coating on these windings. This is the compressor windings.

Okay, and that wax can actually flow through the system and clog up a lot of stuff. So the HH core is actually meant for high wax removal. It's meant to remove that wax coating from the system. It's a finer, uh cleanup ability and basically okay.

So technically it's not for acid again. for the good majority of my career, probably up until the last two years, I used to call them high acid dryers. They're technically not for acid. The standard core desiccant core in a spoil and dryer is perfect for acid.

and it has acid cleanup capabilities. So this is perfect for acid. but the HH core helps to clean up the aftermath of the acid. Okay, and again, there's lots of information in that Tech document 40-10 that explains that and it's great information.

Okay, all right, let's see what else we got going on the chat. Um, let's see what else Uh, reading through the chat. would I recommend putting a dryer indoor or outdoor. That just depends on the region that you're in.

I'm in Southern California We don't have a lot of moisture in the areas that I work in, so I'll put them outside as long as they're just not getting beat down by the Sun and there's nothing wrong with that. But if you're in an environment that has a lot of moisture, a lot of rain, and different things like that, then when you braise the dryer in and you burn the paint a little bit, the moisture in the air will start to rust out that dryer. and then you'll get situations where the dryer can start to leak refrigerant because it's all rusted out. In that situation, it'd be a good idea to install it inside.

Um, see what else we got going on in the chat? I Want the one with the flag on the sleeve you're talking about? The shirts Go to Hvacrvideos.com I Only have so many of those shirts. uh, left. We're not doing any more big orders of the shirts, we're just focusing on the hats because they're just. it's a pain in the butt with the shirts and they're not selling.

um, and same thing with the sweaters like we're gonna. We're gonna find out some ways to clear out those sweaters too, so let's see you can put the right size piston in. but it seems super wrong. Oh okay, uh.

reading through the chat, you're wrong. Oh thank you very much there. Eddie if you guys are interested. Um I Got a bunch of different hats available on the website.

This is my standard hat right here. This is what: I wear every day Flex Fit Curved bill black under bill Um Flex Fit back It's a breathable material. Then we have a flat bill hat that is actually a flex fit but it's a snapback. but it's still a flex fit.

Uh, this is not so much as the breathable material as the normal hat, but it is the flat bill and the black underbill. And then we also have a dad hat for the people that have really small heads. I'm talking like super small heads. um and uh and like that relaxed fit hat Again, black underbell.

not the breathable material but it's a clasp on the back. Those are all available on my website Hvacrvideos.com Let's see what else we got going on in the chat. reading through the chat right now, what am I missing? Okay, cool. Um so Justin Hopefully that answers your question about the dryers.

Let's see what else I got on my list Tom Asks about another source for cell deck media pads because Tom has noticed and he had one customer that they replaced the cell deck media pads I'm assuming on their makeup or unit and the smell coming out of the cell deck pads was just horrendous and the customer was complaining. Um, Tom I don't have a solution for you? Okay I Run into this also where I Just replace cell deck media on a makeup air unit and it's like this burning smell inside the building and it's just from the glues and the cardboard paper material that the cell deck media is made out of. If you guys don't know, cell deck media is an evaporative cooling media that you run water and air over and it evaporates the water and you get cooling from that right evaporative cooling. but you add latent load to the building humidity to the building.

Okay, but the cell deck has just this horrendous smell and he says he's washed it I've done it too. You try to wash it as much as possible. Um, it's just you got to let it just kind of work its way out. But I mean swamp cooler material does the same stuff.

It's just made out of this paper cardboard material and it's all glued together. You're probably just. it's just. Vocs is all you're getting.

like just volatile organic compounds, right? It's just the glues and different things that you're smelling. Same thing. like that new car smell that everybody likes or the new house smell that's actually just Vocs that you're smelling. Um, see what else we got going on in the chat.

Uh, reading through the chat if the purpose of a TXV is to maintain superheat, why charge via sub cooling? Okay, Mr Green Here's the deal. So um, on refrigeration equipment, we charge via sight glass. Okay, but there's some disclaimers: If you have a head pressure control valve in the system during a flooded charge situation, you need extra refrigerant. Okay, but when we charge via a sight glass, we typically have extra refrigerant stored in the receiver and that refrigerant can be used if the system's expansion valve opens and closes.

Okay, so let me grab an expansion valve. Foreign. So we have an expansion valve right here. I Have a cutaway.

I've done these cutaways myself with just a band saw. Just takes time. You have a sensing bulb when the sensing bulb opens and closes. this expansion valve based off of the system load, it looks at the suction line temperature and it determines a little bit warm it might open.

It might close depending on the load on the system, right? So when you have a receiver, that's a vessel that allows that refrigerant to be stored in that vessel and you can have extra refrigerant when that expansion valve needs it. because if you have an expansion valve that's wide open, it's going to require more refrigerant than a valve that's slightly closed down. So why do we charge by sub Cooling, then on some air conditioning systems? Okay, most air conditioning systems, unless it's a built up system, does not have a liquid line receiver a storage vessel for that extra refrigerant. So we actually rely on a slightly oversized condenser to store that extra refrigerant.

Okay, so when we don't have a sight glass on an air conditioning system and we want to know how much extra refrigerant we have stored in the condenser, what we actually do is we measure the sub cooling. So that's why if you notice that if you go out in the middle of the summer and you charge an air conditioning system, oftentimes it will require less sub cooling or it'll It'll basically because you're going to use more refrigerant in the summertime when the expansion valves open. Okay, you'll measure lower sub cooling versus when you go out in the winter time you'll measure higher subcoin. Okay, um, and you it can vary different times.

But basically the reason why we're charging by subcoin is is to make sure that we have enough refrigerant for all ambient conditions cold or hot. So basically you'll charge it sometimes for a higher sub cooling number. And that's why you have to use the manufacturer's sub cooling charts. Okay, but let's be clear.

on a refrigeration system that has an expansion valve and a receiver, you do not charge via subcooling. Okay, you charge by clearing the sight glass and adding winter charge if necessary. Okay, Sub Cooling is not something that we use to charge on refrigeration systems that have receivers. And if people are telling you that, then you need to start questioning their motives as to why they're telling you that and where they got that information.

I'm not saying that there's not a manufacturer out there that says to charge a refrigeration by sub cooling a refrigeration system, but you're typically going to see that on air conditioner systems. Okay, another thing that you'll notice is if you're charging an air conditioning system and that requires a certain sub cooling number, that sub cooling number is going to be dynamic. It's going to change depending on the load conditions and the ambient conditions. Okay, the required sub cooling number.

Um, With that being said, if you add a sight glass to the system, what you will typically notice is as you're adding refrigerant, get to the point that the sight glass is cleared, but you will notice that the sub cooling chart still calls for more refrigerant again because it's backing up that refrigerant into the condenser for a time when it might need more refrigerant at a different time. Okay, if that makes sense for you. Uh, Alex Thank you very much for that super chat I Really do appreciate that. Uh, that's really cool man.

very very nice. He says he works as a train can a train technician in Canada and uh, he likes the video so that's really cool. Do I Take Ecotec stickers off the equipment Free Funky. Um, no.

Ecotec's one of the competitors in my area I Don't We don't really cross paths very much. Um, and I'm not a huge fan of taking other people's stickers off the equipment. I mean I don't care if there's a sticker on there Most customers that I have, they aren't allowed to call certain people I work for big National chains and corporate accounts and uh, they're only supposed to call certain vendors for certain locations. So I'm not too intimidated if I see someone else's sticker.

Um, let's see why do I charge with superheat? You will charge with Target superheat when you have a fixed orifice metering device. Okay, so uh, again, not on refrigeration systems, but on fixed orifice metering devices. On air conditioning systems, you're going to use a Target superheat chart and it's basically going to be based off of the outside conditions, the indoor conditions, and it's going to come up with a Target superheat number of which you're charging the system, but it's only on fixed orifice metering devices. Um, see what else we got going on in the chat? Uh, reading through the chat.

Okay, cool. Um, reading through the chat already answered the sell that question instead of telling. Oh, so this is another question. So I mentioned something in my recent video where someone said uh, because I mentioned in the video that I'm always going to do my best to do the footwork for another uh trade.

So basically if I find if I go to a restaurant and I find out that they need a new circuit breaker. Okay, what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take pictures. Uh, I'm gonna I don't allow my my employees to open up circuit breaker panels. Okay, that's just not it.

We tell them to get an electrician now I Being the owner can take the liability I will open up a circuit breaker panel I will look I will measure voltage I will make sure the bus bars aren't burnt. but this is all just for information. I'm not changing circuit breakers I'm not replacing bus bars I'm leaving that up to the electrician. But whenever possible I do the footwork to try to help the electrician.

So that way you know they know what they're walking into. I'll take pictures of the type, the style, the model number of the breaker, the model number of the panel, and I'll give that information and have the manager send it to the electrician and say they need a new breaker. Another thing that I will do with managers if I diagnose a bad breaker I will tell the manager do not let the electrician come and tell you that there's nothing wrong with the breaker I diagnosed it for a reason. It's bad.

It needs to be replaced. Okay I will be very thorough about that. same thing with water leaks. Okay when a plumber.

uh you know when when we go out and we find out that the water leak that the manager called us about actually isn't our problem I will identify the leak. Okay, not just say it's not from my AC I will go and I will find the leak as best as possible I will take pictures of it I will Mark the leak take a piece of plastic you know and flag it or something. Show the manager to the best of my ability So that way nobody can come behind me and say oh no, it's the HVAC guy's problem because it's really easy to get caught into a like a little battle where the plumber comes out and he says call the HVAC guy, then I go out and I go. it's not my problem, call the plumber and then the manager is just stuck in the middle with two people.

So do the footwork. If if I'm called out there and I find out it's not my problem, I'm gonna show the manager I'm going identify it am I ripping the customer off because I'm spending more time verifying that it's not my problem and identifying the league for the next guy. No, because and this is the way I treat it. if a plumber did that for me I'm still going to diagnose it I'm not going to go in there and assume that the HVAC technician did this.

Now when it comes to a circuit breaker, yes, it needs to be replaced for a specific reason. Okay, but um, I expect that an electrician's gonna re-diagnose something and I don't take offense to that, you know? But I tell the manager the electrician needs to replace that brake rate. You don't let them tell you it's not bad. It has to be replaced, you know.

So I'm probably contradicting myself there. Um I actually just had that this last weekend where I went out on a service call for a walk-in cooler not working and I found that it had a bad circuit breaker. it was in a tripped position when I got there and it wouldn't reset, would not reset for the life of me. and then finally I opened up the panel I looked at it.

there's nothing wrong with it I got it to reset and I told the manager do not shut it off. call the electrician I didn't find any reason for it to be tripped I tested everything to ground before I reset it couldn't find any reason. told him get an electrician to replace it, you know? um Melvin had a great question so he was watching my video and I mentioned something in my recent video that I knew my customer very well because I've been servicing their particular location for over 20 years and he said if I've been servicing that restaurant for 20 years I found plugged up returns and he said well, why am I not making sure that the customer does routine maintenance so he's basically and I'm asking you guys am I doing the customer a disservice by not forcing them to do routine maintenance? Okay, basically he's saying because I've serviced him for 20 years. Why is the restaurant that dirty? The restaurant's that dirty Because the customer doesn't want to do routine maintenance.

It's their money. It's not mine. Okay, I'm just the guy fixing things I can't force them to do normal routine maintenance. Does it suck? Yeah, Is there times that I'll not make them a priority because they call me out thinking it's an emergency and it's like dude, I I'm too busy to come out there and clean things? yeah I'll do that sometimes.

Okay, but if the customer doesn't want me to do routine maintenance, you know I'd love to be able to say I'm not going to service you because you don't do maintenance, but that's not going to fly. Okay, almost every chain restaurant out there almost everyone has either eliminated their maintenance programs or they've reduced it down to the amount that you know. quarterly maintenances. Which in Southern California a restaurant that only does quarterly maintenances, it's better than no maintenance.

but it's not enough. Okay, and it just causes problems. Um, let's see what else customer does what customer wants that's 100 correct. Um, reading through the chat, Uh, seeing what I'm missing doesn't look like I'm missing am I still driving the same van? Um I think yeah I think I'm in the van that I made the most recent video about I'm getting ready to get out of that van and I'm actually going to pass that down to someone else and probably I We have two vans on order I don't know if we're ever gonna get them because we ordered them like eight months ago and they're still not here yet.

But um, you know, yeah, when we get a new van, I'll probably even as much as I don't want to I'll probably be changing over into the new event. Uh, how did I manage to start my service company so young? I didn't start my service company I'm second generation. My dad started this company 30 years ago and uh, we partnered and I'm running the company now. My dad still has his foot in the door, but he's got two feet out if that makes sense.

I mean he's basically done. He doesn't work in the field anymore. it comes into the office two three days a week and um, you know he's ready to retire. So I did not start this company I have basically taken it over and continued to run it.

Uh, how hot does it usually get in my Southern California region? So the interesting thing that a lot of people don't know is that Southern C