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 […]

Technicians have to make flare fittings in the field every day. Most of the time, the application is for mini-split/ductless installs. However, you may encounter certain situations where flared fittings are more practical than a braze joint. Regardless of the reason, flared connections are notorious in our trade for being popular leak areas. Either the flare […]

Every year. We watch it EVERY YEAR, and it still gets to me again and again. Call me a sucker, but especially living a blue-collar life working in the trades, It's a Wonderful Life describes the way many of us live. Even more so, it captures the way we can start to feel about our […]