Tech Tips

Imagine a small IT room packed with servers, monitors, and humans. CO₂ levels easily spike to over 3000 PPM since the room lacks fresh air ventilation. Two overworked mini-split units churn away, cooling the space and unknowingly creating the perfect acidic environment. Fast forward a few months, and those shiny coils now resemble something pulled […]

This is a basic overview of the refrigeration circuit and how it works. It isn't a COMPLETE description by any means, but it is designed to assist a new technician or HVAC/R apprentice in understanding the fundamentals. First, let's address some areas of possible confusion:  1. The word “condenser” can mean two different things. Many […]

When I first started in the trade, we used to run into shielded control wires on the Carrier Comfort Zone 1 zoning systems and also on a Carrier VVT system I used to maintain at a bank. I knew it had something to do with electrical “noise” and that communicating systems often called for it, […]

I’ve been designing a system for a home here in Dallas and noticed a couple of interesting (and disturbing!) things about the equipment’s advertised capacity vs. the actual capacity at design conditions.  Equipment is rated at AHRI conditions (95 degrees outside and 80-degree dry bulb, 67-degree wet bulb inside). These conditions make equipment performance LOOK […]

Valve core removal tools were originally developed to remove damaged valve cores without the need to pump the system down. This technology was a major leap forward in work efficiency, as pumping down a system can be a tedious and time-consuming task.   Eventually, technicians discovered that removing valve cores led to faster evacuation, recovery, and […]

I wanted to offer some practical advice from Bryan’s last podcast, “White Shirt Techs- Manifesto.” The link can be found here. In this episode, Bryan strongly (and rightfully) critiques sales tactics that are divorced from technical skills and meaningful benefits for homeowners.  As a one man HVAC company, I wanted to offer a suggestion for […]

Fundamentally, three-phase, alternating current (AC) motors are about as simple as a motor gets. The power company produces three phases by spinning magnets. Then, on the other end, we produce electromagnets that spin the motor according to the same 60 cycles per second frequency (60hz). All three phases are 120 degrees out of phase from […]

When the quiz or the teacher asks what “latent” heat is, there is generally some reference to it being hidden heat, which is what the word “latent” means. We then learn that it is heat energy transferred that results in a change of state rather than a temperature change. Later on, we hear a lot […]

I teamed up with Ty Branaman to design an intuitive way for techs to solve some of the “what should it be?” questions in the HVAC field.  The topic for this sheet is subcooling. Subcooling is a measurement of the temperature DECREASE of a liquid below its saturation (mixed liquid/vapor) temperature at a given pressure. […]