When you walk up to a piece of equipment, you want to follow a process to ensure that you accomplish five things: #1 – You diagnose the fault correctly. #2 – If possible, you find the “why” of the failure. #3 – Find any other problems or potential problems with the system that can cause […]

When I started in the trade, the idea of flowing nitrogen while brazing was nothing more than the punchline of a joke. Like pulling a vacuum with a micron gauge or proper recovery, it was a wink-and-nod proposition rather than a real practice. I've had to unlearn many bad habits since those early days, and […]

In Florida, there are not many gas furnaces—at least not as many as up north. Sometimes, we can look like real dummies compared to techs who work on them every day. One thing to know about 80% gas furnaces with cased evaporator coils is that you can often check the evaporator coil by removing the […]

   This podcast features a lively discussion on expansion valves, particularly thermostatic expansion valves (TXVs or TEVs), with a panel of expert guests – Corey Cruz (a market refrigeration tech), Matthew Taylor (head of refrigeration service at Kalos), and Joe Shearer (with Precision Air Conditioning). The conversation kicks off by busting some common myths […]

Eric Mele and Joe Shearer join Bryan to discuss the challenging issue of diagnosing and rectifying non-condensibles in the circuit. Non-condensibles are gases that don't condense, including nitrogen. These are NOT moisture or contaminants, and they can be tricky to diagnose; the pressure readings will likely be normal, but the charge will actually be quite […]