Let's start with the basics. Water freezes at 32° Fahrenheit (0° Celsius) at sea level and at atmospheric pressure. When any surface is below that temperature, and the air around it contains moisture, ice/frost will form. In some situations, ice is to be expected, such as in refrigeration evaporators and exposed portions of the refrigeration […]

When I started in the field, I was a 17-year-old helper with one year of tech school under my belt. In other words, I knew nothing. As I've mentioned before, a few experienced techs took me under their wings at different stages, but the most influential was a guy named Dave Barefoot. For whatever reason, […]

In residential, most techs and installers size the suction (vapor) and liquid lines to the stubs on the equipment. In larger built-up systems, sizing the piping is rarely the responsibility of the technician. But what happens if we show up to a job where the lines cannot be (reasonably) replaced because the size is different? […]