I was fresh out of school, working as an apprentice at my first real HVAC job, and I was listening in on a shop conversation between a few techs. They were talking about finding so many overcharged systems. One of the techs turns to me and says, “I had a unit yesterday that was so […]

I live in Central Florida, and while it can get pretty hot in the summer, we also tend to get afternoon thunderstorms that come and go in a flash. I have been connecting gauges, checking charges, and even pulling vacuums in the rain (even under umbrellas or cardboard boxes) for most of my career. Only […]

If you are new to the trade, I'd like to welcome you. Like many skilled trades, the HVAC/R trade has many opportunities and can help you make a good living. We need those of you who are young and new to the trade, and we are grateful to have you. But as a word of […]

In this podcast, Jeremy Smith joins us to discuss demand cooling in low-temperature applications that use R-22 refrigerant. R-22 is NOT an ideal low-temperature refrigerant because it leads to high compression ratios. The discharge gas also gets really hot and can burn up the oil in the system. (The head of the compressor is even […]

Today, Jeremy Smith joins us to discuss low-ambient conditions and controls, condenser flooding, and headmaster valves. He has also given us a companion article on those subjects, which you can read below. Download the podcast directly HERE. As always, if you have an iPhone, subscribe HERE, and if you have an Android phone, subscribe HERE. […]

Jeremy Smith goes over floating suction and floating head refrigeration strategies. He also talks a bit more about low-ambient equipment operation. Floating suction controls developed when we started using low-pressure controls on rack refrigeration. As the electronics advanced, we developed controls that could control temperature, which impacts pressure as well. Nowadays, controls can cross data […]