Bertlife Episode 8: #BERTLIFE Meets Jim Bergmann!

Bert and Jim grab lunch at Publix, where Bert conveniently “forgets” his wallet. They eat in Bert’s AC-less car, and Bert learns that you ARE supposed to change the cabin filters. There, they go over a lesson learned earlier in the day: water vapor is lighter than air! (Need proof? Think about why clouds are so high in the sky.)

Jim, Bert, and Bryan then team up for a call where there is water flowing out of the drain, but the condenser isn’t running. It’s a classic frozen evaporator coil case, dirty filters and all. Bert cleans the filters while Bryan and Jim talk about fancy HVAC physics indoors. The ice buildup is severe, and there are signs of low charge. A leak detection procedure with soap bubbles confirms that the system does indeed have a leak. After the leak is confirmed, the customer doesn’t even want the unit fixed. So, everyone turns their attention to the new installation on the property.

MeasureQuick develops a profile for the new system. Most of the readings appear to be within an ideal range. (The temperature split, airflow, and enthalpy changes are just shy.) The sensible heat ratio is also 0.72, which is pretty good for the humid climate. However, measureQuick shows a red flag indicating that there might be a liquid line restriction; the liquid line temperature and condenser pressure are a bit low. Jim suspects that the sensor is just out of range and picking up lower readings than usual. After restarting measureQuick and adjusting the out-of-range sensing tool, the readings stabilize, and the red flag goes away.