First, I want to give credit where credit is due. This post is made possible by the fantastic demonstration video by Neil Comparetto that I embedded below. Before you get bored and stop reading, I want to get the conclusion out in the air. Ice can form in a vacuum, but I still advise pulling a […]

The most common diagnosis with expansion valves is failed closed or restricted, resulting in underfeeding of the evaporator. The symptoms are low suction, normal subcooling, and high superheat when a TXV fails “shut,” but there are some other issues to watch for that can actually result in overfeeding the coil. Schrader in the Port The […]

My friend Ami Slavin requested that I write about this important topic in response to the horrifying videos showing up online of death and gore associated with compressors exploding. He pointed out that the “diesel effect” can be the cause, so let's explore what may be—and likely is—leading to these horrible incidents. In a diesel […]