This was a fun one they originally called about a water leak and they said they thought the freezer wasn't working because of the water leak. The water leak had absolutely nothing to do with the freezer.
LAC VALVE PDF- https://www.parker.com/content/dam/Parker-com/Literature/Sporlan/Sporlan-pdf-files/Sporlan-pdf-090/90-30-Head-Pressure-Control--ORI--ORD--OROA--LAC.pdf
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12523 LIMONITE AVE.
440 - 184
MIRA LOMA, CA. 91752
00:00 SPONSOR CARD
03:07 COIL CLEANING TIME
04:51 AMAZING COIL CLEANING WAND
05:44 TAKE YOUR TIME AND DO IT RIGHT
07:41 LOTS OF ISSUES (BIG PICTURE)
08:46 UH OHH
12:25 FOUND THE PROBLEM
14:33 KEEP BUSY
15:50 RECOVERY TIME
17:41 TRAPPED LIQUID
18:18 REMOVING THE BAD VALVE
19:00 BRAZING TIME
23:42 VACUUM TIME
24:05 CHARGING TIME
26:55 LAC VALVE ANALISYS
32:34 CLOSING WORDS
LAC VALVE PDF- https://www.parker.com/content/dam/Parker-com/Literature/Sporlan/Sporlan-pdf-files/Sporlan-pdf-090/90-30-Head-Pressure-Control--ORI--ORD--OROA--LAC.pdf
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Please consider supporting my channel by
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Instagram https://www.instagram.com/hvacrvideos
For any inquiries please contact me at chris @hvacrvideos.com
Mailing Address
HVACR VIDEOS
12523 LIMONITE AVE.
440 - 184
MIRA LOMA, CA. 91752
00:00 SPONSOR CARD
03:07 COIL CLEANING TIME
04:51 AMAZING COIL CLEANING WAND
05:44 TAKE YOUR TIME AND DO IT RIGHT
07:41 LOTS OF ISSUES (BIG PICTURE)
08:46 UH OHH
12:25 FOUND THE PROBLEM
14:33 KEEP BUSY
15:50 RECOVERY TIME
17:41 TRAPPED LIQUID
18:18 REMOVING THE BAD VALVE
19:00 BRAZING TIME
23:42 VACUUM TIME
24:05 CHARGING TIME
26:55 LAC VALVE ANALISYS
32:34 CLOSING WORDS
This video is brought to you by Sporland Quality, integrity and tradition. A walk-in freezer that is not working. now. The walk-in freezer is right in here and they're saying that it's like 23 degrees.
Uh-oh This guy's like it sounds like it's bypassing or something. like it's an internal bypass. Um, sight glass looks like it might be flashing, but it's pretty beat up. but that suction Line's warm condenser fan motors are all running.
Let's look at the shape of the condenser. Let's come on over here. It could be that it's a dirty condenser and it's off on internal bypass. Oh yeah, look at that condenser is plugged.
That's not good. Well, let's go get some service gauges. So the freezer evaporators are running, but the temps are high 22 degrees. There's a little bit of frost on the coil I Think what's been happening and I'm going to put gauges on it and we'll verify it.
but I think that during the day it goes off on high pressure and they're lucky they don't ruin their game. Compressor doing that constantly. On off. They said this has been happening for a couple days, where to work and then it stops.
They called me out here actually today on a water leak and they said they thought the water leak was it and I was like no, that's not the problem. So all right, well let's go up top and put some gauges on this guy, right? So it's hard to tell. Sight glass doesn't seem to be flashing, but this compressor is making a sound like it's bypassing I can hear a hissing inside of it. The liquid injection is working.
This compressor is ridiculously high as far as our pressures go. Yeah, something's a little off, but it's not horrendous. So what we're gonna do Uh, but we've got oil in the compressor. Yeah, that is odd For sure we're gonna do is we're gonna shut this guy down.
We're going to clean that condenser because there's definitely something going on there. You can also I I attempted to shut it down. let the pressure's in the compressor. Um, calm down and turn it back on.
but it's so hot. I'm afraid it's probably going off on overload too. So we're going to clean the condenser by cleaning the condenser. that's going to, uh, um, allow everything to cool down inside the compressor and everything and then and then we'll start it up after it's been off for a little while when cleaning these guys.
if you work on these Chirac racks or Cool Tech whoever makes it cool Tech I Believe makes it Chirac Just rebranded it but you want to put the compressor covers on because the water will drip off and hit all the pressure controls and everything. so it's always best you can leave the other covers off on the other side but always put them on right here. um is that way when you're hosing and everything so we're going to use uh Viper Venom Pack cleaner from Refrigeration Technologies This is a highly concentrated cleaner. Use their foam gun minimal amount.
that's going to be more than enough cleaner for this rack. I'm going to probably end up pouring some back in there. you don't add water or anything like that. So we're going to do a pre-rinse on the coil, get it cleaned off, then we'll apply the Clean Air clean it out, and then, uh, hopefully start it up and hopefully this thing calms down. The pre-rinse is one of the most important things when you're doing coil cleanings. Doesn't matter what brand cleaner you're using, you always want to get the coil nice and wet. That way it has a clean, you know, somewhat clean, lubricated surface. So that way the coil cleaner actually Glides across and actually can penetrate and the foam can make its way through and everything.
So I'm not just focusing. This is my condenser for the com for the walk-in freezer. but I'm not just focusing on that. We're cleaning the whole rack.
We're going to clean everything Okay, so we can eliminate future service calls. Obviously, being careful using the wand really helps when you're doing these things. So again, we're just rinsing and then we'll apply the cleaner in a few minutes. Now, a lot of these condensers too, are not in use anymore, but I don't remember which ones are so it's not going to take that long just to clean them all real quick.
Now this very well might take a couple passes I Think it's going to I've got the first coating a cleaner on there. It's been sitting there for about a minute I Want to get it off because you don't want to leave it on too long, but you can see it's coming through all the way through. pretty bad all the way down. So I'm going to do the first rinse.
We're going to get that rinsed out and then we'll probably apply another coating to see if we can get any more of that stuff off there. So after the first rinse, still pretty dirty up in there. so yeah, it's definitely going to take another one. I'm still rinsing the rest off.
so so you get up in here and it's looking a lot better A lot better. Still got a couple things I need to get off back there so I'm going to give it another little rinse real quick, but we're doing really good. but that compressor is still piping hot over there so we definitely need to let some water run over the compressor too so you just keeps Rising off of it. I'm pretty confident that thing's been going on and off on overload.
I'm never going to get this perfect. That thing is still steaming and I cooled it off. Um, but I cleaned out between the compressors. you know, just rinse those a bunch of leaves and stuff letting everything kind of drip dry.
I'm going to start putting the rack back together. um also too, you want to rinse everything down the roof further away. So I'm rinsing all the nastiness over there so that way it doesn't dry up and you know speed up the process of getting sucked back up. Unfortunately, with them being this close to these exhaust fans, you know this is going to be some grease in here too. Oh and see, it looks like I still got some foam in there I Need to get out. Gotta make sure you really, really get in here and get all this stuff out. Um, but yeah, it's looking a lot better in there. A lot better.
So I'm just in cleanup mode and getting ready to turn it back on. now. all right, when you're firing these back up, you want to do it slowly. one breaker at a time now.
I Turn the condenser fan motor Breakers And nothing came on because they're on pressure controls so you got to get the compressors running to get them to come on. So we're gonna go one at a time and just slowly turn them on. It's like those are not starting here. goes one another.
There we go, we are running as far as times go. Let's go ahead and set those nine nine. It's going to go into a defrost soon and that's fine because I think I still got a little bit of ice to get off that coil too. So all right, we're gonna watch this guy operate for a bit and uh, see what it does.
Compressor sounds a lot better. It doesn't sound like it's bypassing anymore. Um, we're gonna let it operate and see if this guy starts coming down to Temp Hopefully this compressor gets cooled off from that suction gas coming back and like I said, we're still going to check on the coil too. There was a little bit of frost on there.
We'll make sure that's all gone when we're done. All right. This Refrigeration rack has always had problems with the condenser getting dirty, but in my opinion the condensers are slightly undersized too. because we always have issues in the summertime with the walk-in freezer compressor.
We actually had to add this evaporative cooler that literally just blows on the rack to help pre-cool it. Very inefficient, but it does the trick. Um, came over here and uh, this guy, look at this belt and it's stuck in the motor pulley and I tried to turn it on and the motor doesn't move. So we've got a bad motor.
We need to get a new pulley on it. Uh, we need to drain this guy, clean it, get it running because as it's warming up, they really really need this. Well, that ain't happening. The bearings are seized on this guy.
I Had to put rust Buster on it to get it to break free. Definitely need a motor and a pulley, but this guy. when you try to spin it, the whole thing spins. So it's supposed to be spinning right there.
So this thing's not worth putting bearings on. This thing's junker. All right. It's been running for a few minutes and something is happening here because my head pressure is starting to climb I Almost wonder if it's starting to pump down and the compressor sound is getting pretty loud I wonder if it's pumping down and it has like too much refrigerant? This guy in a defrost.
Now this guy's not in a defrost. So why is our suction pressure I mean our head pressure getting so high on this guy that the head pressure is climbing like that? That's not good. Condenser fan motor didn't shut off. Something is going on here. It's very interesting. It's been running for a few minutes. My evaporator pressure's not going too high. I Was wondering if maybe someone opened the door or something and the load went up.
No. But look at that head pressure climbing. That's very interesting, huh? It just satisfied. Very interesting.
What is going on here, huh? It's interesting that it's satisfied like that. Let's uh, let's go downstairs and have a look at the temp control. No, it did go into Defrost after all. That's weird.
the red lights on. so it was odd because the red light wasn't on a second ago. Maybe it wasn't I didn't see straight. So yeah, that makes sense.
but still, we're gonna let it run and defrost for a bit because there was a little bit of frost on that coil. So I'll actually increase the time, let it finish its cycle, and then we'll finish evaluating everything. I Think What? I'm gonna do to be honest with you because we always have problems with this rack and the size in my opinion, the size of the condenser. Um, I'm gonna probably talk to the customer about taking this this circuit out of the rack, putting a condensing unit over here.
We wouldn't have problems with it plugging up the condenser as much anymore if it was over here. Notice like this: AC this AC is not that dirty. You know the ACs don't get dirty because they're far enough away from the exhaust equipment and stuff. so if I take this guy, it wouldn't be hard to come out the side, run a line right over here, build a little mini rack right here with some 4x4s, and then place a condensed unit right here and then we can start pulling out the rest.
There's only walk-in freezer, walk-in cooler beer walking. I think one or two other compressors that are actually working in this rack. two of them at the end are not in use at all, right? We let this guy run in a defrost for a little while, melted off any of that Frost that was on there. What? I'm noticing now now that it's turned back on, we got all the frost melted I'm looking at my gauges 287 PSIG and climbing 288 to 87.8 It's about 77 degrees outside.
Okay, so rough rule of thumb is is that our head pressure our saturation temperature shouldn't be any more than 30 degrees over ambient. That's not always accurate. Okay, but that's rough. So this one right here I Don't know why that's flashing on there, but oh, I think I'm picking up a liquid line clamp because I'm hooked up elsewhere.
but my saturation temperature is getting too high 114 degrees. It shouldn't be that high. Okay, so if you use your rough rule of thumb, 78, 88 98 should be about 108. saturation Temp: Okay, but what we have going on here is the head pressure control valve is slightly bypassing and it shouldn't be because we're well above the bypass pressure. So the head pressure control valve is slightly bypassing and I'll take you over and show you. right now it's just slight, but it's enough. Okay, so if we look right here liquid line temp, that's the true liquid line temp going to the receiver. Okay, that is 110 degrees 100 and let's call it 111.
Okay, the discharge line temp right there is 191. And this right here should be equal to the liquid line temp. and the fact that it's lower indicates that it's bypassing at the head pressure control valve. So I've got three clamps on that head pressure control valve.
and liquid line temp and discharge 2 should be equal, and they're not. So we are slightly bypassing in that head pressure control valve. now. This equipment is really beat down and uh, I'm not going to change the head pressure control valve.
We are going into summer right now. If anything, I'm just going to pull the head pressure control valve out of the system. It's got contamination. probably because of the dirty condenser constantly running with high head pressure.
The oil in the system is probably junked, and uh, it's just slowly bypassing, so a mixture of the dirty condenser for a really long time makes the system overheat and then you get kind of carbon buildup in the system and usually it gets stuck in the head pressure control valve and look, we're climbing. Our head pressure is just climbing. and climbing. and climbing.
and uh, yeah, it. Those two numbers should be equal. So we've got to recover the gas out of this guy. Let me go ahead and shut it down.
All right here. System: G I'm gonna come over here. get this guy off, All right. So you can see my temperature clamps right here.
So um, basically discharge two and liquid should be equal and they weren't Okay, So this right here is bleeding through the valve and dumping into the liquid line and slightly bypassing the outlet of the condenser. It's slowly closing off the outlet, backing up the pressure, and they're trying to elevate the head pressure when it shouldn't So we've got to bypass this guy currently waiting for someone to bring me an empty recovery cylinder because mine were both full and while I'm doing that, I'm keeping busy. So I pre-made this flare using the Navac flaring tool and then I swaged this side. this goes on the top.
Okay, right there, it's going to go like that and then I pre-made this one which is going to go on the bottom but I don't know how tall to make this one yet. Now we're going to go back in with Uh Parker spoiling catch-all and see all. okay now I'm using flare and a male female on the sight glass so that way they just couple together it'll be super easy. Um, and I'm just about done.
I've sanded everything up again. I'm just trying to stay as busy as possible I've got plenty of pipe so that way I can bypass the head pressure control valve and again, I'm not normally into bypassing them, but I'm still going to talk them into taking this compressor out of this rack so there's no point in replacing the valve. We're just going to recover the charge, bypass the valve because it's currently May 18th and it's like 90 degrees this weekend. 100 degrees this weekend and it's going to be that way for the rest of the summer. So the head pressure control valve is not really going to come into play, but even if it was, we will probably have a new condensing unit before we get that far, but we have to get them operational so that's where we're at right now. All right! I got my tank so to make the process easier I use the compressor to pump all the refrigerant into the receiver and the condenser and while it was pumping down, I opened this guy up so it's already dumped a pound and some change. the compressor shut down so now we can go ahead and hit start on this guy using large diameter hoses into there large diameter hoses to the gauges and then just quarter inch hoses right there. now if I have to, I'll put the recovery cylinder in water if I need to but we'll see I don't know how hard this is going to be.
Remember too. we don't need to go back in with as much gas. there's a winter charge in the existing unit because it has a head pressure control valve. We're going to use new gas and we'll just clear the sight glass and then be done with it so we'll get it going here.
We're going good. so far, we're at about seven pounds now. it's been about two minutes since I turned off the camera so we're kicking butt, but this is what we're watching: The output pressure: 350 PSI The Machine's gonna like shut down I Like what is it 500 PSI or something I can't remember so we just want to watch it as it's climbing making sure it doesn't get too high. But so far we're doing good.
Uh, eight pounds so we're kicking butt. It's starting to climb so I uh went ahead and put the bucket or put the refrigerant cylinder in the bucket. We're just running a water hose. We'll just let it run for a few minutes.
You know they make sub coolers and stuff I really don't need those. This will do just fine when you use the sub coolers. One of the things is is that it goes on the output between the output and the tank and it traps refrigerant. There's always refrigerant trapped in that hose right there.
so I prefer not to uh, you know, have extra hoses right there if I need to because there's always going to be left over refrigerant in it. So water simply does the trick. Just flowing water across it will already start dropping. it's already dropping so we'll be good to go.
We are just about done with the recovery. Um, we've got a lot of Trapped liquid in the receivers. I Originally pulled out about 16 pounds. I think the full charge is like 18, but uh, we're frosting up at the bottom of the receiver. so I'm going to take the torch to it real quick and just heat it up to try to boil off any refrigerant. It's just kind of Trapped in there. so while it's recovering, just heating it up, warming it up. be careful because that's the pressure relief device that I'm right next to so we don't want to overheat that we're just trying to boil out the refrigerant that's stuck in that.
All right, we've got this guy all done. I Ended up having to pull this 90 off because there was a big hole in it underneath this guy. so we need to basically just go from this into that and then this I will pinch off. I'm not going to destroy all this just in case the you know.
For some strange reason, they have me put a head pressure control valve back into this. So I need to braise this up right here and then make a connection from here to there. All right, we're all done up here now. Um, I've got someone else here helping me now.
so we're going to put the dryer in. so we've got the dryer facing the right direction see how one time accidentally would put the dryer face in the wrong direction, but we just need to turn it a little bit. but we'll be able to turn it once we get it all brazed in. so we got to braise this one.
I pre-made that piece and then down below we'll get those braised in and then we can pull an evacuation and we are currently, uh, purging the system with nitrogen. So that way, uh, you know we prevent any more carbon buildup from causing more problems. I'm already worried about the TXV over here. so what I ended up doing was isolating the low side and we're actually just going in through the high side and then coming out the receiver.
So all right, so you can see up here all that we're doing. Discharge is coming in and I'm leaving that stub there just in case we ever have to add the head pressure control valve back in so it comes up, goes over, goes into the condenser, then comes out of the condenser. This is the liquid drain now out of the condenser, down all the way down here and then comes up right here into the receiver and then comes out, goes through the liquid dryer runs downstairs, so we're just currently brazing that guy in so it shouldn't be a problem and then we'll tighten up the flares and then we've got a nice clean condenser now, so hopefully that'll get us through. You know what I mean Burn? All right.
It is not going to be perfect because there was still refrigerant boiling out of that receiver. I Think there's a little bit of oil in there too. but we went in and hooked up three vacuum hoses, suction, discharge, and liquid. I Used a tee and a blink off plate on my true glue hose to do that.
so we're currently at 2400 microns. We're gonna let it run for a little bit, start cleaning up our messes, and hopefully it'll be there soon, right? Um I Don't know what I was talking about earlier. I'm not going to put new gas in here I'm reusing the old gas so we're dumping in the old gas through the high side right now. the lake, the breakers off, liquid line, solenoid valves, price. It's probably slowly leaking by somewhere, but the low side's closed right now because we're just dumping in through the high side and the breakers off and the solenoid valves closed. so we've got about eight pounds in there. I Think that's probably about enough to start it up and then we can finish charging. And all that we're going to do because the head pressure control valve is bypassed is just clear the sight glass.
so let's go over here. turn this guy on. G should be getting ready to turn on here in just a second. So it's got a digital thermostat downstairs, so the digital stat takes a second to turn on and there we go.
Looks like it just turned on so it should kick in via the low pressure control here in just a second and then we'll finish charging on the low side once it's up and running. okay, now we are running. Compressor still has good oil in it so we're just gonna let it run for a few minutes. The evaporator fan motor should not be running at the moment so we got to give them a few minutes and then they should turn on and then we should start seeing some real refrigerant flow through the system.
So I Really appreciate how easy it is to see those sight glasses. So this one right now is flashing Borland Seat sight glass. So uh, it's flashing at the moment. We're going to give it a few minutes, just make sure the evaporative fan motors are running and then we'll start clearing the sight glass, adding refrigerant.
All right. We are looking good so far. still running cold, cold suction. coming back feels like DTC valve is not flowing right now.
Um, sight glass is just intermittently flashing and then going clear. Right now it's clear I'm not going to add any more gas, we're just going to let it kind of stabilize out. Make sure everything's good. I Have someone going downstairs to make sure the evaporative fan motors are running at the moment so everything is good.
Sight glass has been clear for a while. Box is coming down in temp. inside here looks good. Everything's repairable if we need to.
So uh, that's pretty much it. I'm gonna put the cover back on. We clean the rack. all right.
So yeah, about seven degrees. That's nice. They have water leaks on top. that's why that's there I Got up there and figured that out has nothing to do with this stuff.
You got roof leaks all right? Well, they're good for now. We're going to talk to them about replacing the condensing unit and that is it for today. All right. here is our failed Head Pressure Control valve.
Okay, I Went ahead and took a bandsaw and just cut the ends off to make it more manageable so I can hold it. Okay, Now this head pressure control valve is a really simple, but a lot of people misunderstand how they work. Okay, I have a couple different styles. This is an Lac valve. Okay, that is the style of head pressure control valve. There's a couple other ones. Uh, but this is the simplest of. Design This is a standard one.
This has a 210 PSI bypass pressure. so if the system pressure gets below, the head pressure gets below 210. PSI This valve starts to bypass to try to regulate the head pressure to maintain a pressure differential across the expansion valve. Okay, here's another style, but still just an Lac valve.
This one has a dual Uh element in the top so it has two different pressures. I Believe it's a hundred something PSI and 70 something. PSI If you cut the power head or the if you clip the tip on the power head assembly right here that just has a gas charge in it, then it becomes the secondary one. Okay, but this is a special style now.
I Have a cutaway right Here of the basic operation of the valve. If you look at it, you have a power head assembly that has a gas charge in the top and it's got. typically. in the case of the failed one that we had, it has 180 PSI of pressure in the top pushing down on a pin.
You can see the pin right there and it's opposing the system pressure. So you have a spring right here and then you have the system pressure pushing on the bottom of that seat and then you have the power head pressure opposing that. Okay, now in the case of our valve, we're going to open it up right now now. I've already opened this and I already know what's going on inside the valve.
Okay, if we open up the bottom, you'll see this is just a bigger version of the Cutaway I just showed you. Okay, it's not really that difficult. it's not rocket science. Okay, inside here you have a pin right just like the pin that you see right in here.
Okay, that pin that rides and pushes on the seat right here. all right now. One thing I'm going to tell you is that this pin when I pull it out, it's binding up. You can't hear it, but I can feel it's rough.
It's not gliding smoothly inside of here. Okay, it's it's it's binding up and every once in a while it actually gets stuck. So that's one of our problems. And if we look at this pin, there's actually you can see where on it there's damage on it, where it's been riding on the inside and then also there's damage inside here.
Okay, and it's very, very rough. It's not flowing smoothly in there. Okay, the next thing is the power head assembly that has the gas charge in it. Okay, this should have a 180 PSI of pressure inside of it.
and it it's it's it doesn't have 180. PSI I I can move it too easily with my fingers. Something's going on there. So I believe that between the pin right here that is binding up inside of here and this power head assembly right here, I think that is our problem. I Did not find any contamination as in metal particles stuck inside the valve. I very carefully took it apart and usually you'll find like a little piece of metal when they're stuck bypassing and this kind of makes sense because What? I Don't know if it came across in the video but what I noticed was this thing went intermittently start to bypass and it wouldn't bypass right away. Once the system got stabilized and the pressure started to build, up, that's when it would bypass. so it wasn't like there was a piece of metal stuck on the seat that just was allowing it to always bypass.
This was a slow process and it was just ever so slightly bypassing. Okay, now if you look up inside of here, there is what you can see like some metal contamination up in there. that's actually just from me cutting it with a bandsaw before I cut it with a band saw I Opened this thing up and I was actually very surprised. There was nothing in there, just Refrigeration oil.
So I think that this valve failed due to the high system pressures because that condenser always gets plugged up. The customer doesn't do enough routine maintenance. They do routine maintenance, but not enough. and we're constantly having to clean that condenser because of the placement of the rack next to the exhaust fans.
And that's what caused our problem with this guy. Okay, so a Faleen not a completely failed, but a failing power head assembly and a damaged Uh Rod right here and internals of the valve are very rough. Something's going on inside of there. Something's gumming it up, not allowing it to move freely.
There's just something going on inside of there. Okay, so that's it on this guy. I Always encourage you guys when you have failed. Parts take them apart, you know I took this valve out a specific way I cut it out as much as I could and then just unsweet the bottom connection.
so that way I could take it apart and analyze what caused this valve to fail. A lot of people think these things are the worst invention ever. There's really nothing difficult about the way that a head pressure control valve works. I mean look at it, look at the internals.
It's It's really not a big deal. You've got a seat right here. I Mean it is not a difficult valve, it's it's just a basic valve. nothing too crazy.
They can start out where you think they're going to be easy. I Thought you know what? just I've done it so many times I Thought it was just going to be a dirty condenser once. I clean the condenser I Thought everything was going to be good, but as you guys saw, it wasn't okay. Now I'm not a fan of bypassing the head pressure control valve, but in this situation because I'm going to be replacing the condensing unit I Didn't see the point in installing a new valve.
it's May 20th. we're not going to have those low ambient conditions uh for another couple months. So in the meantime I had to get the system operational. It was the easiest way simply recover the gas out of there bypass the valve. but I didn't bypass it in a way that I couldn't reinstall the valve in case the customer wants to. you know I could easily just put that valve back in if that's the decision they want to make. I Don't think they're going to go that route because they're very okay. Typically with me pulling condensing units out of the rack and relocated them, you know, doing individual condensing units.
It's just one of those things that this customer has to deal with this a lot. They have a lot of these restaurants across the U.S They run into this problem quite a bit so they understand. Okay, so when I'm going through here, um, you know I'm very careful about how I'm working on these systems. always paying attention.
It's really important that you're always paying attention and that you give the system time to stabilize out. This problem had I just cleaned the condenser and turned it on. It was like boom it's coming down to Temp Okay, we're good to go. but as I watched it for a while and I let it run longer and longer.
that's when I started to notice that it was slightly bypassing the head pressure control valve. Okay, and it's really important to understand the operation of the valve because had I not understood the operation I'd have been like why is the head pressure getting so high you know I was able to just get in there with some temperature clamps and be like boom boom boom Hey, this valve is bypassing. It's not supposed to be okay. There's really nothing too crazy about the operation of these valves.
I'm going to put a link in the show notes to the tech document from Spoilin on how these valves operate. It's really not a difficult process and you guys saw my cutaway. They're really not that hard, it's just an Lac valve. Okay, so there'll be a link in the show notes of the video: Uh, check it out and uh, that's pretty much it.
I Really appreciate you guys making it to the end. Thanks for coming along. Hopefully you guys got something from this video. Maybe how not to do something? I don't know, You know, Whatever you guys get from these, it's kind of crazy.
I'm still blown away that you guys watch these videos. That's really neat. Let me know in the comments: I'm curious in the comments of this video. how long have you been watching my channel? I'm I'm really curious.
uh and you know I'd also like to know like how did you find my channel? Was it a recommendation did you just stumble on it from YouTube Let me know in the comments I'd really appreciate it. Okay, if you guys are interested in supporting the channel, supporting these videos and helping me to continue this, you know, uh, thing that I have going on. the easiest way to support this channel is simply just watch the videos from beginning to end. That's the easiest way. Okay, there's a couple other ways too. if you want to support the channel monetarily. There's links in the show notes for: PayPal Patreon and YouTube channel memberships. Those are all ways that you guys can donate to the channel.
Another really easy way to help support the channel is by going to my website Hvacrvideos.com We have merchandise available on the website. This hat is one of them. We also have some new Styles I had I got flat bill hats I've got dad relax fit dad hats on the back. There's t-shirts, sweatshirts, beanies, all kinds of cool stuff.
So that's Hvacrvideos.com Also, if you guys are interested in purchasing any tools, check out Truetechtools.com I have an affiliate code set up with them if you use my affiliate code or my offer code. Big picture. One word at checkout. there's a little spot for it.
You get an eight percent discount on whatever you're ordering. I Should say it. There's a few things that my discount code doesn't apply to. Okay, there's a few items, but on majority of the items on their website, you get an eight percent discount.
and when you do use my offer code I get a small commission from that purchase. Okay, so that's another great way to help support the channel. I Really, really appreciate y'all Thank you so very much! And remember, leave me some feedback down in the comments and we will catch you on the next one.
I know exactly what you mean Vern ๐
Great show and all you do. Thanks Chris. Are you in Nepean ?
I swear these titles keep getting more and more creative ๐๐
Close to three years I think. I'm an electrical technician at a can plant. I think I found your channel looking for videos on cleaning condenser coils. Are you in Kanata ?
Hi Chris. I've been a subscriber for almost three years now. I live over here in the Northeast (Connecticut). I just typed hvac into the search bar on YouTube and that's how I found your channel. I love how methodical you are with your processes. You explain what your doing in a way that seems it works well for newer techs and veterans as well. I worked for a refrigeration company right out of school. And since that semester was basically shot because of things going on with the school (my entire class missed out on that semester). I was overwhelmed by the scope of the equipment. I only lasted almost two years with them. They fired me because I couldn't get it. Since watching you, I've learned more than school and all the time in the field. I wish I could've worked for someone like you! Thank You for sharing your "little bit of knowledge" with us๐๐
The explanation at the end, with the cutout was on point!!!
Thanks Chris! Been watching you for 3 1/2 years or so now. I do the same job (including hot side, unfortunately) for a chain in Colorado. Lot of similar equipment, though most of it is circa โ94-โ95. Helps me immensely. We have 40+ locations and only 3 of us in-house to keep everything running. I sneak in a factory training when I can, but only about 30% of our job is refrigeration, hvac, and hoods. Grills, fryers, and ancillary prep equipment take up a LOT of my time. Your videos have helped my process and I changed the way I do quite a few things.
Great video and content. I recently found you when YouTube recommended you. I specialize in Marine systems and it's good to keep up with other sides of the trade.
I start watching your videos back when you posted the video about the "late night call freezer call". And i found your channel, when i searched on refrigeration compressors change.
Watching for about 2 years . Looked up hvac videos when I got back into cold side after 30 plus years just doing hot side. Did cold side late 80s early 90s.
Where do you get the cutaway valve. Caan that be purchased somewhere?
I deal with Specific systems units 15 ton circuits at work and them have king valves operater simular to that bypass valve. They also have bypass valves operate on evap low pressure and adjustable had to put new kits in about 5 of them, operate on a low setpoint range. Had a issue with 2 compressers sounded like they were bypassing because of the noise but ended up being the TXV's the pins were getting hanging in the valve mushroom from the driving pressures and get stuck. Watching your video's is isprational, insightful really enjoy them keep up the great work.
Been watching before you went on the overtime show. You're the reason I went into the trade for 2 years.
I found you by pure coincidence about 2 years back, but your methods and methology keep me around, I have no clue about hvac but like to watch and guess along and sometimes I actually guess correctly from your findings.
I think you could have changed the power head and it would have worked. However if I'm going to evacuate the system, I'm going to change the txv or bypass (which I don't fool with much at all) I started watching your channel in 2008. ๐ Service area Orleans??
I've been a subscriber for around 2 maybe 2 1/2 years. Been a supporting member for I think almost 2, found Ted Cooks channel then YouTube recommended your's. Don't do HVAC work though I did do residential refrigerators and ice machines so I have an understanding of how it all works.
I have been watching your channal sence the start u poped up on my home page and sence thin iv watched all ur videos love them. Please keep them coming
Probably 2+ years not shure orginaly just because I wanted to know how to properly work/diag on car r134 ac stuff as there's so much bad info out there… The big one is what causes high pressers and why you should not just use the low presser only guage. With cars its almost always some dummy contaminated the system but still useful advice on here that applies. And it really helped me recently on my older ev as It is more similar to commercial/household systems with effectively a vfd and electronic valves/sensors. I fell like if i was interested in this as a career would have a hell of a head start after watching theses videos.
YouTube just recommended me one of your videos one day. I have nothing to do with HVAC but I still find your videos really interesting. Probably been watching for a couple of years now. I still remember, first video I saw was in a carpark late at night and you were working on some sort of mezzanine and you were cleaning some condensers and worried about water running off down to the ground floor where people would walk. Luckily it was late at night. You also fixed 3 or so blowers with really loose belts. Been hooked ever since.
Great job Chris!
๐บ๐ธโ๏ธ๐๐ช could you just cut the capillary tube on powerhead to bypass valve ? Thanks for sharing been watching since 2019
I've been watching for a couple of years. Started watching when I was trying to find a career change then realized I'm toooo dang old for that but I kept on watching because it's so great to see someone doing the job right and who looks at the "big picture". I do IT work and it's so rare to have people be able to see the big picture in this field too.
Okay I have a question since you already have other coils in that unit that are not being used couldn't you just add an unused coil in series with the current oil that is being used to increase its capacity
For those that dont know LAC stands for Low Ambient Control. I've added head pressure controls like this to split system type of equipment ( non refrigeration style ). It really is the one of the best ways to operate a system in low ambient situations. Its better than fan cycling, fan speed and at least on par with fully digital scrolls. I feel its just as safe as comps that modulate speed….which can have their own set of issues….mainly the reduced speed….can create oil return issues and its reliant on controls and sensors to make it operate. This type of "dumb" control requires no wiring, no sensors. Is it 100% bulletproof….no…but nothing ever is. Service area Nepean??
I graduated in March 2017. I had been working with companies with bad work cultures. They did want to help new techs. Anyway i knew what i didn't know. I would go home and study when i could. 3 years later 2020 hit. I talking to friend from school catching up. He told me they have way more guys on YouTube helping out. During school we were really into Jim pitinato. So During the flu i thought this would be a great time to really hone my skills better. I found you and other. I really loved your teaching style. I have watched all of you videos 2X and tell everyone that will listen to watch your videos because you really helped me grow as a technician.
Excellent troubleshooting skills. That customer is very lucky to have you maintain their equipment. You are a specialist in your field.
Dumb question, why is the condenser piped for liquid output from the top, thus being a parallel flow exchanger, rather than the opposite, a counter flow heat exchanger which in theory should be more efficient? Oil retention to flow back to the compressor?
3 years found you on yt
Thanks for another great video Chris! Iโve learned so much from you about this trade, which is going to be my future career. Keep up the great work.๐๐ป
Funnily enough I learned how to open up and clean our windows ac units from you. Closest thing to what you do. Service area Ottawa??
Been watching since about a year ago when I got reccomended one of your videos. I found it really interesting and just went down the rabbit hole of binging all of them xD
I've learnt more than I ever though I would from these, thank you for keeping this up!
No 80's synthwave for the brazing montage?
Stumbled in a few years ago.
Curious why you didnโt just cut the capillary on the valve since you wished to change the condenser out at a later date?
Your videos were a driving force for me getting into this trade. I've been watching before I even signed up for school. I was looking into what I wanted to do as a career, and that's how I came up on your videos about 3 years ago. I just got another raise, so please keep making videos. I'd love some more ice machine videos because I'm still not too confident about them. Are you in Barrhaven ?
I've been watching for a couple of years, but I don't remember how I came upon it. I'm not an HVAC guy, but used to work around refrigeration units a lot. Back then I didn't understand how they worked (and why they kept failing). I just like to know how things work, and generally how to diagnose mechanical/electrical problems.
Thanks for eStudio.
Man that unit dirttttyy
bonjour de France ๐ซ๐ท Service area Barrhaven??
๐๐๐๐ Nice video
First!
Good Sunday Sunday morning