ya know what I've been trying to bring back in fashion, Air Curtains, they can leave the door open all they want and the air curtains keep the hot out and cold in. Or for less money, IDK about America but here butchers always had a thick plastic curtain cut into strips hanging down, which helps a lot
I see them here in FL, along with warnings to not leave doors open, and HVAC alarm indicators that go off if the doors are left open. In fairness, this is FL, where there's so much humidity that you'd probably turn the evaporator into a giant ice cube in five minutes of opening the door ...
I'm in Wisconsin and we use the plastic curtains for our finished product freezer at work. Keeps the freezer from getting ice on the ceiling and dripping all over everything during defrosting.
Another way, though I've only seen it once- is to have two plastic half-doors on a hinge, much like the front gate door thing in saloons in old westerns.
A door alarm that goes off on a timer would be excellent for that location, since I've seen you place one at a different location for the same reason You have every right to be frustrated about going out to that location because your customer is completely oblivious and apparently likes spending money on overtime service calls, when they could simply follow your advice and let their employees know as well. We're all human and you're doing a great job.
I've worked in various industrial areas in a repair capacity - alarms get disabled and people go to ridiculous lengths to override safety equipment, alarms, and guards, rather than do a job safely and correctly. Sometimes you have to bend the application around the workers. Such as air curtains or plastic strip curtains or something. Though I frequently hear of staff replacement being the final solution.
@@fortfun46835 That's one evil idea ;) I like it! No alarms, buzzer etc. You left the door open, it naturally warmed up. Asking why? You leave your fridge open in your home? Might be pain in the ass for other guy to figure out why compressor won't start, though ;)
Venting your frustration about your work is healthy and shows you actually care about the work you do and as long as you are courteous to the customer bottling up that kind of emotion just leads to randomly lashing out at a later date.
Someone who gets it hoooooooray. Some people tell me to "chill". Not realizing that if i stopped venting id be way less chill. Mwahahaha. Emotional children.
Nice job. Anyone that says to suck it up has never worked on-call. Just because you are on call does not mean you want a call, lol. Everyone seems to think techs are superhuman that do not need food, sleep, and time off.
Chris, I've advised restaurants to use an industrial circulator fan to blow steam off hot foods for a minute or two before the speed racks are stored in the WIC. It seems to help quite a bit. Failing that, you may need to add plastic sheeting inside the doorway. Thanks for the video.
@@rustblade5021 not if it's being flash frozen. If so you use a cooler to drop the initial heat before putting in the freezer. But that's more industrial use not restaurant/commercial use.
@@DanO181919 I'd love one of those. I have worked in the same food production plant for 15 years now. We just have a cooler with an outside air fan to take it from the over 165°F just out of oven temperature to the just over 130°F point where time becomes critical. It then goes into a freezer to come down in temp the rest of the way. We call them a blast cooler and blast freezer, but other than the outside air fan (which was only put in the side of the cooler 7 or 8 years ago) they are really just walk in coolers/freezers. We are a pretty small company.
Employees are the #1 cause of malfunctioning equipment and cost an owner probably thousands a years in repairs and lost product. Once worked at a place where a cook left a door tied open and caused about $10,000 of spoiled product...but the manager was so terrible they did nothing to them....then 6 months later did it again for about the same value again.....still works there to this day.
Yes, I do domestic and yes some people do, when they cook dinner they would have it open for 15 minutes while getting crap in and out. All the eggs condensate. The cooking always tastes terrible, and they start eating out all the time. I've even seen shows on the idiot box where they leave the fridge open when making dinner. This week, 2 girls were sitting in the doorway of their house and telling me the ac is leaking a tiny bit, yep it supposed to do that with the door open, charged 180 bucks, and they didn't shut the door, they just accepted it would leak when the door is open all day.
@@Vykk_Draygo closing the door is like resetting the modem, nobody knows why they should do it, how it fixes it, and how technology hasn't evolved beyond needing to do it
If you've ever worked in a kitchen, you'll know why they do this - it's because the kitchen is hot and the managers wont turn down the kitchen A/C, or fix it when it breaks, so the cooks use the fridge to condition the kitchen.
Health dept rules. You can't let the food sit out to cool down. You have to drop the temperature down asap to reduce the chance of bacteria growing. Plus now you might gey covid on it.
I worked in a super fast paced environment, we never left the freezers or the fridges open. Never ever. You open the door, you move your shit inside, you close the door. It's that easy. I also worked in giant single lane entry exit blast freezers. You don't leave the door open for even a second longer then you have to. Workers generally don't care about the equipment, they are focused just on their food and getting it out the door. The really fucked up aspect of this, is that most facilities don't run 24 7. So, they actually have reasons to be in and out of the doors. Places with a 24 7 operation at least have some flexibility in operation. Jesus!
It's very common that the food delivery companys will prop the freezer and cooler doors open when restocking the Walk Ins and they usually take a full hour to an hour and a half when doing it. Also employees of the restaurant will also leave the doors propped open when cleaning the floor of the cooler out at the end of the night. I see it all the time.
I hear you talk about oversizing, as I work as a refrigeration engineer in the environmental chamber industry where pull down rates are king, but we also need steady state stability down to temperatures well below -60C
Also I use subcooling when charging a residential AC system with a TXV and superheat when charging a fixed orifice. Also I use my education when observing my low and high side pressure. Walk ins with liquid line recievers need to have a full column of liquid going to the TXV to work properly. I still check superheat on everything just because I think it's worth checking just to see what it is. It is worth it to check everything. Great video Chris!
You know hours progressive offers a. “good driver discount” then puts in a sort of monitor to track driving. You should offer a “good line cook discount” and instal a door timer. If you go to a emergency call and the door has been open for more than 5 min prior to a ice up charge then double. If they were behaved then offer them a small discount
Chris, thank you so much for your videos. And YES, I would be frustrated too. Nothing more annoying that when you are trying to accomplish something and someone is soooo oblivious that you may be inclined to think that they are sabotaging your job. Unfortunately, ignorance is a thing that you have to deal with in the trade. They don't know and they never will.
9:00 You mentioned that the fan one the first coil hasn’t been working for a while. I have to agree with you, throughout the beginning of the video. I could totally see the ceiling above each of the two fans. The one that continued to work had dirt above it. While the one that wasn’t working was nice and clean.
Damn, noticed those nice looking PC parts in the background. Enjoy the build :D P.s, the walk in cooler at my work place recently iced up from the bottom up. Your videos helped me figure out the problem and then install a time clock to assist with defrost (im a refrigeration apprentice that only installs commercial AC such as chillers, Daikin VRV systems, etc.)
looks like he might be building a beefier streaming/editing rig. a 1200w psu and 360 AIO with what looks like a threadripper cpu and extra case fans looks like a beast in the making. love to know the full story and parts list.
your temp controller air sensor is on the discharger side of the evaporator!! move it to the back of the coil and your box wont have large swings in temp and will hold a more accurate temp. love the video's awesome work! I have 15 years in this field and enjoy watching you deal with the same stuff I do everyday.
I agree I mount the ke2 stat the same way but drill a hole above it to route the sensor through the electrical compartment and out the back side so it is in the return air stream.
I've done a lot of work in IT & a frequent call I've had is with document scanners making lines on the scans. I'd explain to the customer that they need to open the lid & clean the glass on the scanner. They would state they already did that & they wanted me to come out to fix it. I'd go out & after verifying the issue I would clean the glass & then try another scan which almost always was perfect after a little window cleaner & a paper towel. I know your frustration, especially if they try to argue about the bill! As long as I'm getting paid I try to just focus on the dollar signs at that point & be happy I made easy money. If they're going to argue about the bill when I've done everything I can to help them before going onsite then they can be someone else's customer in the future because at that point for me it isn't worth the frustration. Thanks for the work you put into your videos, I don't work in HVAC but it's interesting to see good service work in another industry than my own!
YEah its an on going battle I will discuss this on my Livestream this evening on RU-vid 10/18/21 @ 5:PM (pacific) come over and check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V4Zo3F1p8KA.html
I get frustrated on a lot of after hours calls, but I have no issues with venting those frustrations. We service a large chain grocery store, and their employees are responsible for 90% of after hours calls. Leaving doors open,destroying walk in doors and frames, sitting boxes in front of self contained condenser coils...
Why not install a door switch with a TDR? That hot steaming food should go into some kind of semi enclosed,exhaust driven, air box to knock down the temp and humidity for 10 minutes prior to going into the cooler. Even a prop fan directed on the rack for a few minutes outside the box would help... In the future, if you know what your headed into, like the frozen coil, its not an emergency. Go out the next day.
I’m a new maintenance tech for my family owned restaurant chain in Oklahoma . Your videos are super helpful they are like my new favorite TV show. I’m gonna support you through a purchase in your shop or donation very soon. Keep up the great work.
Yes I could but that could lead to other issues , I will discuss this on my Livestream this evening on RU-vid 10/18/21 @ 5:PM (pacific) come over and check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V4Zo3F1p8KA.html
Plastic curtains seem like they would be dirty/nasty, dust/dirt also falling off of them, if walking in and out the with trays of uncovered food ? The Air Curtain sounds more sanitary, probably much more economical than the cost of extra service calls and energy usage of an open door?
I will discuss this on my Livestream this evening on RU-vid 10/18/21 @ 5:PM (pacific) come over and check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V4Zo3F1p8KA.html
I need this video forever, i need it to share with the warehouse I'm in. Even with the door flaps leaving the doors open causes it to ice and overheat inside
We always have a ton of problems with air defrost and these two speed motors, I just hotwire the fans to high speed all the time on new installs just to avoid the future service call.
Can't you install an alarm on the door? If it's open more than 1 min, it's yell insults to everybody around. Or maybe shout how much it's gonna cost to fix a frozen AC.
Most new construction i work on has this, but set at 10 mins or so. Its real easy to implement because even the old freezers have door switches,usually to turn off the fans when you open the door. But kitchens are crazy
I got my refrigeration licenses 25 years ago but went in a different direction. had friends go into it and make a lot of money. the road not taken....LOL
Hey Chris do yourself a favor, don't be surprised to find the walk in box door open, be surprised to find it closed. Great vid. PS load calculations are part science part voodoo🦇🙂
It appears that the location needs a heat pump type system that heats the coil with refrigerant to defrost. Put a switch on the door and some type of recording device to record when the door is open.
I get what you're saying about being frustrated because I know how it is. I was a auto/jet engine tech for over 40 years. I dealt with the public like you do and I got frustrated like you do. For years, I held back my frustration but there came a time when enough was enough. The public does not see the big picture nor do they care. So, I decided to weed out those people who would not head my warnings about their auto's/ jets. I told some of my customers that they need not darken my door way again and so I never saw them again. Understand, I had more work than I could do anyway so a few less people didn't bother me. In fact, I felt much better when those people were gone and I could fully concentrate on the people who actually cared. You may or may not find your point of no return but if you do you will find the work you do goes more smoothly than you could have ever imagined. Good luck to you in the future and never take that frustration home with you, that is a big mistake, trust me. Sorry for all the waffling but it had to be said.
I used to work at a grocery store and there was a walk in freezer with dual coils, four fans each. They would leave the door open for hours on end and the ice was so bad there were actually icicles dripping from the coil all the way down to the shelf below it. It still somehow managed to maintain temp though because it was always down to temp when I came in at night.
I will discuss this on my Livestream this evening on RU-vid 10/18/21 @ 5:PM (pacific) come over and check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-V4Zo3F1p8KA.html
In this situation I wonder if a slightly less cold evaporator near the area they bring the hot food to could be set up just to rapidly dehumidify the air before it reaches the colder coils, seems like the moisture from the hot food may be more of a problem than the heat from the food.
Another Great Video on the newer systems. I'm always careful with box temps as it relates to food safety. Health inspectors don't give a hoot about frozen coils. Just a thought.
I like to use a higher differential, like leave the setpoint at 34-35 and set the dif to 5-6 for more off cycle defrost. We've also had a couple of those Russel motors just stop with proper voltage going to them. And just cycling power will make them reset and start to run again. Bout to just replace them with an old school more, there only a few months old.
At the company we working at we always disconnect the low speed because we’ve noticed all these new low speed fans coils gives us problems with the icing up part
19:53 Seems a dumb question.. but why adjust (purposefully lie to) the thermostat and tell it that the temp is lower than it actually is- rather than adjust the defrost cycles to occur at higher temps? The door being constantly left open will cause the average room temp to increase anyway, of course.
I really like your videos. I noticed you said in this video that the EVAP motor was under warranty but not your labor and that you installed the equipment. Do you handle the warranty situation different when the customer buys the equipment?
I will discuss this on my livestream this evening 4/2/22 @ 5PM pacific on RU-vid come over and check it out ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-qB78v5Ovpnk.html
would it make sense to sell walk through strip doors or curtains for these clients? It wouldn't fix the open door issue but may reduce the impacts a little.
Good idea but bringing in hot food is a bad idea. He should charge them to oversize it again since it was not intended to be used to put hot food in to begin with. I am sure anyone with a half of a brain has been taught you don't put hot food in a fridge. I used to be the corporate service tech for 21 of the 29 Ryan's Family Steakhouses in FL and we had some stores where the cooks kept the Blodgett ovens on 500 degrees till closing time then hose them out with water and had lot of maintenance issues. We had curtains on some walk-ins because of doors left open on higher volume stores. What helped in my case was to implement PM maintenance training for all employees and if not done, this would directly impact managers bonuses.
That problem there is not enough defrost. Plus going and checking all the fancy parameters that were checked, now you are spending customer’s money by doing all those checks. A good tech should be able to tell if everything is fine
On second thought you'd likely need an extra relay in there to isolate the solenoid from the high fan speed during defrost but wouldn't be too hard to figure out.
why not use a hot shot steamer? I used them on vending machines when they ice up to clean the coils and dirt off them. the one I used was made by brisel. Less water and gets the ice quicker off.
I'd make it very clear to the managers or to corporate when a call is for something like this so they understand it's their staff causing the problem. At the same time, if you can talk to the cooks who are the ones most likely to be doing this and let them know why it's a big deal in terms they'll understand and care about. In this case, that the hot food they are bringing in to the cooler might stay in the bacterial danger zone far longer than it should or worse, bring up the temp in the box and let other food spoil and they wouldn't know until somebody got sick. When I worked at a big box store I was in charge of the foods dept when they expanded to cold and frozen foods. There was a checklist of scheduled maintenance that I and my staff followed. The next person who took that position didn't. One day, months later, an assistant manager comes to me and says the walk-in fridge was running warm and did I have any suggestions. I didn't even have to look. I got a bucket of warm water, a soft scrub brush, and a ladder. There was a layer of dust like a quarter inch of felt over the entire back of the evaporator. I cleaned that while they stood in there shivering (I had my coat on). It fixed the issue. I told them they could get the lazy dept manager to do the freezer since it likely needed it as well or they could put in a service call and pay several hundred dollars to have it done.
Hey buddy so I’m in a very odd situation where I’m a new tech I have about a year of actual experience, despite that I am diagnosing units, replacing compressors, txv’s, etc. (this is residential by the way) my question to you is does your quality of tools immediately show change in quality of work? I just have your average set of proset gauges and I’ve been thinking about either buying a set of sman’s or the field piece set that connects to your phone. Would you say either of these are a good call as far as improving my quality of work and decreasing my time that I’m actually in the clients home
Plastic strip curtains on the doors. A much simpler solution than trying to educate. If they need these doors open often, then give them this solution. Door curtains are like essential in Florida coolers and freezers because they work.
Are the lights in the box on a door switch? If so, there are simple and tiny "forgotten lights" devices you can just wire into the leg from the switch and set to 3 minutes...
Someone needs to get the doors from the starship enterprise.🤔 Seems problematic on your side!(restaurants) 🥃🥃🍺🍺🍺🍿🎯 Stay safe. Retired (werk'n)keyboard super tech. Wear your safety glasses!
I once had a walkin cooler that had electric defrost, the coil had like 2 inches of ice, completely frozen. I set the defrost for like 2 hours while i did other things. When i came back to check the ice fell off in one big 20 LB chunk. There was about 10 wine bottle below that broke. i thought i would have one unhappy customer. But they were very nice about it. i call my boss i just ate the time. I filled out the invoice and wrote no charge. Returned the next day and replaced defrost terminaltion. We charged for that.
QUESTION!!!!!!! Looking at wiring diagram [@ 7:51] , When TSAT not calling for cooling "Open", Both Red wire "Low Speed" and Black wire "High Speed" on Evap fan are getting power!!! How does that work!?
Not a shot as HVACR, but I like how California cries about water shortages and droughts - not understanding oceans of water are required to de-ice coils because they can't figure out how to close a door.
Do plastic curtains help with this issue? They can walk through without opening the door each time and yet still have some control about cool air loss. Just a thought.
