We all see a lot of questions about dyes, leak stoppers, lubricants, inhibitors, and snake oil. All of those were designed to go into the refrigerant circuit and “improve” something. I just go back to what Ray Johnson always said. (Ray is one of my early heroes in the biz, and he taught me a […]

Jim Bergmann and I recorded a podcast for HVAC School that covered when and how to check the refrigerant circuit without connecting gauges. Listener Joe Reinhard listened several times and wrote up this summary of what he gained from the episode. I edited it lightly, but most of this is his work. Thank you so […]

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. They looked like the one in the picture below. It was very common for these […]