This tip comes from market refrigeration and controls technician Kevin Compass. Thanks, Kevin! A little tip when changing liquid cores: If you start pumping them down, begin bypassing discharge gas into the shell to warm it up, push out the remaining liquid, and bring the shell above the dew point so that it doesn't sweat […]

Belly band crankcase heater When I first started in the trade as an apprentice, we worked on many Trane heat pumps that used crankcase heaters. These crankcase heaters slid into the compressor sump on the big orange Tyler reciprocating compressors, like the one below. It was very common for these heaters to break off where […]

Swaging copper is one of the most common practices in our trade when it comes to brazing pipes. Yes, it sometimes makes more sense to slap on a coupling or street ell fitting, but most of the time, cutting your braze joints in half is much easier and faster during an install or repair.  So, […]