The suction line accumulator is designed to keep liquid refrigerant from entering the compressor while still allowing for oil return. The trouble is that if the oil return port/screen clogs, the accumulator can fill with oil and actually cause the compressor to fail. In addition to that, it can hold contaminated oil in a burnout. […]

If you went to school and learned the “gas laws” early on, you probably thought it seemed LAME. Then, later, things like mass flow rates, airflow conversions, and compression ratios seemed HARD. Well… It's because HVAC is hard if you don't understand the concepts behind the gas laws, even if you never learn to do […]

The first law of thermodynamics is an extension of the law of energy conservation. The latter states that energy can be neither created nor destroyed but converts from one form to another. Thermodynamics is the study of heat’s relationship with mechanical work, and it establishes heat as a form of energy that can be neither […]