Installation, Maintenance & Service Practices

Evaporator coil leaks are a fact of life in the industry. (We could have a long and lively discussion about how evap coils aren’t made like they used to be, but that’s for another day.) When you have an evaporator leak on a system, you’ll have two choices to fix the problem: replace the coil […]

I know I’m not the only one who has sometimes felt a little bad doing heat maintenance. I remember many a day when my lead technician and I (as an apprentice) would crawl into an attic, clean the flame sensor, and then play FarmVille on our phones for 15 minutes before crawling down, giving the […]

When replacing a furnace or air handler for a customer, there is nothing worse than starting up the equipment and having it sound like the latest SpaceX rocket taking off. You insert your static pressure probes into the duct, and your stomach drops as you read the numbers.  You realize the new high-end system you’ve […]

The photo above is of a real condenser coil we cleaned. The outer fins looked OK, but dirt and lint were packed deep inside. We also had sky-high head pressure and condensing temperature; those are telltale signs of an impacted condenser. That situation illustrates that a coil can sometimes look OK at first glance but […]

The photo above is from a video one of my techs took of proper condenser cleaning. I must say, he did a GREAT job of cleaning the coil, and he was very careful with the top. However, I STILL would have liked to see him pull the condenser top completely during a full maintenance procedure. […]

Spring and fall are the seasons where all service technicians get turned into janitors. Some techs see this as a chore and don’t particularly enjoy the routines of checklist maintenance. However, it is important to remember that the “shoulder seasons” provide an opportunity for us to perform vital maintenance on systems in order to keep […]

“Haven’t you heard?! Air conditioning is a fundamental human right! If you don’t support my right to have air conditioning 24/7, then you’re an awful human being!” Okay, that impression of an entitled customer is a bit of an exaggeration, but it is true that customers have high expectations for service workers.  But can we […]

When we install systems, we should have three main goals in mind: maximizing longevity, efficiency, and capacity. We want our units to work as long as possible, use the lowest amount of energy, and move the greatest amount of BTUs possible with a proper mix of sensible and latent heat transfer. Unfortunately, some installation practices […]

I’ve seen a lot of guys recently who reach for the motor puller tool first thing when attempting to remove a blower motor from a wheel/fan blade. Motor puller tools are an awesome backup tool when needed, but using a motor puller tool shouldn’t be the go-to method of removing a motor. The main issue […]