My HVAC journey began when I arrived to US and started working as a helper for an HVAC company in Philly mainly doing ductwork installation. Long hours, lots of R8 insulation and a sawzall - three things that describe my start to the trade. A start or an experience I'm grateful I have received. Trying to learn a different side of the trade I have been looking for more and more knowledge working for other companies, first as a service technician and then as an installer. Eventually after obtaining an EPA license and studying I am now an HVAC business owner since 2018. By creating this RU-vid channel I would like to share some HVAC content and best practices by providing a quality job to the community. Also I would like to show that trades can create a great career opportunity for anybody who doesn't mind getting their hands dirty and there is a saying - "dirty hands bring clean money". I am excited to get feedback, advice and any criticism along the way.
3:20 - you’re not putting much tension on the cables which is good, but you’re scraping it against the edge of the aluminum which is a quick way to shred the shielding. Keep a shop towel with you and you can place it in between the cables and condenser and not have to worry about it. Can also use it to protect your hands when removing the fan and dealing with other sharp edges, but I see you’re wearing gloves. Could be a nice alternative to gloves when it’s really hot out. Just a thought. Nice video, thank you for sharing!
The unit wasn't going on high pressure. I agree that condenser is very dirty but there is no way it will get to 600psi to trip that sensor just because of dirt. That sensor designed for any major issues like restriction in refrigeration circuit for example that might cause extremely high pressure but definitely not to go off on dirty condensers.
Thanks for the comment! Room temperature was 88 degrees, once the temperature drops inside superheat will go down as well and I would be more worried about subcooling since it is a TXV, still lucky to have it around 10 on the system that old. Now recovery tank, I showed it on purpose cause I knew someone's going to ask about it. Logically, what did I do wrong? Added R22 refrigerant to R22 system? About 80% of companies in my area use water bottle to recover refrigerant but when you see someone uses recovered refrigerant to refill same R22 then it's a violation....smh:) I started a business in order to be in the remaining 20% and at least I recover, when there is a burnout then it gets reclaimed.
@@hvacculture I also am shocked when I see people make videos with recovery to a water bucket. I am not the EPA, but it's well known that the rule is that you may only recharge with recovered refrigerant to the same owner. I am more surprised that it's so common, and everybody knows about it and nobody says anything, which makes it kind of stupid.
@@realSamAndrew yes you can do it if it is the same owner but it just doesn’t make any sense, people in the class were laughing when we heard it for the first time years ago. I am more surprised why there is no enforcement to prevent thousands of pounds of R22 vented to the atmosphere every single day. That is a huge problem compared to recover and refill properly. That’s my personal opinion.
I have the same exact thermostat as the old one you replaced. I love it and it has been rock solid, unlike most of the new ones which fail all the time. But it does for me the same thing as your customers. It drops the indoor temp a few degrees and then it stops calling before the set point is reached. I called Honeywell tech support and they said there is no documentation on any design feature that produces that behavior. I still believe that there MUST be some hidden feature that makes it "rest" after so much time or after a number of degrees from the room temp to set temp. On mine, it shuts off, but after a short delay it will resume if the set point has not been reached, or you can manually force it by waiting a minute or so and then lowering the setting down about 5 degees. It's not a permanent stop. And also i believe the lowest setting for cooling is either 60, 62, or 65. Since this model was offered with a discount from the power company at the time, I have to suspect there is an energy saver type programming in the circuit board that they don't disclose.
Thanks for your comment. Yes, same issue and I wonder if that is how it was designed in the first place? But they didn't complain until now so that is strange that it was working fine before. When new one was installed, there was an advanced setup mode where you can choose up to how many compressor cycles it can do in an hour (by default it is 3, I changed it to 4 just in case). What if there is something that shuts it off when it runs unusually longer, when temperature sensor starts to fail and doesn't read proper temperature...?
It kind of sucks that tech support told you wrong and you're the one who has to eat it, even the overnight shipping because they didn't have it in stock. How does the the unit get power?
Yeah, well like I said from now on I will be getting pilot assembly and gas valve to avoid surprises like that. Unit gets its power from small dc voltage generated by thermocouple. That was checked while on the phone with tech support and I was reading around 24-26 millivolts. I believe they said it should be more than 16.
Thanks! It could be ok but I didn't want to risk new control board. So I just checked previous maintenance visit checklist from that client and at that time when I measured resistance of ignitor it was 58.5 ohms and during service call - 84.4. I think it was on its way out anyway.
I was told by several experts that it's my capacitor needs to be replaced cause the fan wouldn't turn on, unit just hummms. Well I replaced it and fan still won't turn on. Any advice I'm no experts.
When your unit humms you can easily determine if it’s capacitor or a fan. While it’s making a noise I am assuming that fan blade isn’t moving, get a long screwdriver and try to spin the blade manually. If you see it is increasing in speed and start to run normally then it’s a capacitor issue. If the blade wont move or hard to spin then your motor bearings failed and you need new motor. Hope my answer helps. Good luck!
Hello. I have a similar condenser issue. I replaced the fan motor and it worked at first and then it would stop. I replaced the disconnect and it still will not spin again. The capacitor is only 7 yrs old and looks to be ok. Any thoughts?
@@TheLastPirate1973 in the past I’ve had so many capacitors that looked like they’re brand new but they were completely discharged when I checked them. I would start with figuring this thing first, or just get new capacitor and swap it out. It costs much less than a multimeter:)
@@hvacculture thank you for the fast replies. That is my next step. After replacing the motor and the disconnect, it’s my last possible solution. Thanks again for your advice
Telling the customer about the coil condition should not have been necessary. Cleaning it should’ve been a part of your service call routine if the coil condition warranted cleaning. That’s full customer service…
Thanks for your point Eban. However our diagnostic service call fee does not cover any repairs/cleanings. The customer requested a diagnostic in order to know what exactly is going on with their system and I believe they should be aware of its condition but it’s their choice to proceed /postpone with our recommendations and we just keep a record of their decision.
