Refrigerant Overcharge

nH3man

Yes sir, thats all I was saying. Your 100 % correct on your theory and I have been behind numerous techs that wrongfully diagnosed a dirty coil and shoved a couple of pounds of refrigerant in which only increased the problem at hand. On the positive side I can say that this experience has been enjoyable and I look forward to more threads like it. You all seem very knowledgable and challenges always keep the mind sharp.

hvaclover

On domestic refrigs the frost back method was a factory prescribed method
when I was a rookie. But then they came out with field chargers like dail-a-charge. We didn't have scales accurate enough for the critical charged cap tube system's so the frost back was a great way to know if you hadenough charge.

Charge just a little at at time with the refrig empty and as soon as the frost line showed it self out side the cabinet uou would stop. You let the box run over night and trimmed the charge back a little at a time 'til the frost line disappeared.

If I ever did a resi refer comp replacement I would do it the same way. Even 134A is ok to charge by frost line.

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Not Stupid, Just slow

hvaclover

As a person in business for over 35 years I can honestly say that when ever or have differences of opinion with any body it usually lasts for pages, and I always come a way from the thread either understanding a concept much better or learn something I had no idea of previously

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Not Stupid, Just slow

beenthere

I still charge/check charge on those little resi(and some commercial ones) refers like that. When I have to work on one.

And you can see where I specified I was talking about A/C in one of my earlier post. That was because of those refers.

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How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

nH3man

Well, as a 26 year old with a third of the years you have in I can so this. I was taught that if you think your right argue. If you dont how will you ever know your wrong. Another lesson is dont learn by repetition, know the theory.

DuMass

Not to hijack, but I will also occasionally charge a window unit by frost line and evap temp in a pinch.
Although I rarely work on them, these things are usually on their last legs anyway and since you can often buy a new one for under a hundred bucks at WallyWorld or HD, they are not worth putting a lot of effort into.

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"My, what a beautiful lawn you have... for me to poop on!"

[Triumph the insult comic]

beenthere

I remind those customers. that they can probably but 2 new window shakers. For what it will cost them for me to put in just a few ounces of refrigerant.

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How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

RoBoTeq

Oh, I agree. I've reverted to many old school ways of charging when I didn't have the proper tools on hand. This happens to me more often then one would think because I am not in the field with my own tools any longer, so I have to work with what the tech du jour has on hand.

Vacuum pump? We don't need no stinking vacuum pumps. I clearly recall the instructions saying to purge (diminimus, of course) the lines for 15 seconds for 25' of line and 2 seconds for every 10 foot of line thereafter.

RoBoTeq

I think most of that is because beenthere and I look at things from different points of view and expressing ourselves in different ways. 90% of the time it turns out we are thinking the same thing but saying it in different ways.

We have also had some opinion conversations in which I too have learned quite a bit, even though I wind up keeping my opinion. One that comes to mind is the value and benefits of variable speed blowers.

I won't keep up an argument unless I feel there is a possibility that I might learn something.

RoBoTeq

It's good to know that young people with this attitude are replacing we old timers. Nothing irks me more then to hear someone my age bracket complain that the newbies in our industry are just a bunch of lazy punks. From what I have seen, there are more younger techs wanting and willing to know "why" they do what they do then there are older techs having any clue as to why they do the things they have been taught to do.

This thread is a prime example of an older tech who has only seen a particular issue after other issues have been resolved. So, I was only seeing the issue from one viewpoint and not understanding what others were talking about. Sort of like me looking a woman with a dog face not understanding why the guy standing behind her looking at her smoking hot butt is saying how great looking she is.

RoBoTeq

Not a hijack at all. This fits right in with the conversation and supports where my thought pattern was coming from.

RoBoTeq

6,000 Btu window units for $99 at Lowe's two years ago. I bought three of them for the upstairs of the old farmhouse I was living in while I worked on the attic system. Darned things worked great and were not really that noisy at all.

beenthere

Ya. I can't believe some people actually think I can fix it for less then 99 bucks.

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How many times must one fix something before it is fixed?

nH3man

Thats funny! You know honestly I lucked out and have had the opportunity to work with some of the best men out there in refrigeration. I mainly work on ammonia refrigerated equipment and large tonnage freon systems. You know the 2 guys that have helped me the most, I honestly have almost ended up fighting on several occassions due to not seeing eye to eye on issues. Its this reason that both men are my best friends and it was the challenge that enabled me to become a mechanical contractor by the age of 26. More than once I was wrong about situations and before Ill give up on a theory it will need to be explained in great detail why Im wrong.

josuevos

Overcharged....doubt it. Clogged evap...duh!