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Troubleshooting Challenge: A Furnace That’s Not Heating the Whole House
In this troubleshooting situation, we have a customer who is complaining about one of the bedrooms in their home, specifically that the gas furnace doesn’t warm the room properly. When you arrive, you find that the bedroom in question is the furthest from the furnace, and that the duct system is an extended plenum system.
by Jim Johnson
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Btu Buddy 79: Lunchtime Lesson on Dew Point
Their last service call is continued as Bob and Btu Buddy meet for lunch at the restaurant where the call occurred to discuss dew point. The duct through the dining room was dripping because the duct surface temperature was below the dew point temperature of the room and moisture formed on the duct surface.
by Bill Johnson
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An Ounce of Prevention Can Be Worth $1 Million
We probably heard it many times growing up, the old adage that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. When it comes to your customer’s HVAC system, preventive maintenance not only increases the life of the system, improves energy efficiency, and reduces pollutants, but it also saves homeowners money.
by Dale Green
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Btu Buddy 78: Sweating Duct
Bob gets a call from the dispatcher that a new customer, a restaurant, has some ductwork in the dining room that has been sweating during the lunch hour for the last several days and dripping on the customers. It is about lunchtime so Bob goes to the restaurant to check it out. Btu Buddy helps in solving the problem.
by Bill Johnson
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Btu Buddy 77: Starved Evaporator, TXV
This service call is for a routine checkup on an old 7½-ton unit using R-22. The call is going well until the owner mentions to Bob that the unit has actually never cooled well. Bob then proceeds to do a complete check of the system with Btu Buddy’s assistance.
by Bill Johnson
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Higher Amps: For Better or for Worse?
A critical element of motor servicing technique is being able to determine whether or not a replacement motor that is not an exact duplicate of the original is suitable for the application. As a technician, you must consider a number of factors, but this article focuses on one of the more important issues: nameplate amps.
by Neil Simon
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Btu Buddy 76: Condenser Fan Motor Problems
Bob receives a call from the dispatcher telling him about a restaurant that is having difficulties. When he gets on the roof at the restaurant he notices that the unit's fan motor is turning, but seems to be very slow. As he approaches the condensing unit, the fan stops. With Btu Buddy's help, Bob diagnoses the problem.
by Bill Johnson
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Btu Buddy 75: Water-Cooled Chiller With Low Charge
Bob gets a call to go to an office building where its water-cooled chiller is not cooling the building. Bob finds that the suction pressure is a little low and the head pressure is about right but the unit is not cooling the water down to the 45°F design setting. Btu Buddy helps him in going step by step to solve the problem.
by Bill Johnson
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Troubleshooting a Refrigeration Control System
When you’re troubleshooting a refrigeration control system, keep in mind that no matter how complicated the schematic might look on paper, the control system is actually only trying to provide a few simple outcomes.
by Mike Taitano
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Btu Buddy 74: Freezing Evaporator
Warmer spring weather is here and Bob is beginning to get calls about units that are not cooling. He has just received a call from an old customer who said that her unit cools fine during the morning and daytime, but at night, it stops cooling. Bob investigates, and with Btu Buddy's help, finds the coil is dirty.
by Bill Johnson
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Troubleshooting Challenge: A Comfort Cooling System That’s Not Gettin’ Down
This time around we have a customer who has called to say that it’s warmer than it should be in their home. When you arrive you find a nine-year-old package unit, and you determine in a short time that, electrically, everything is as it should be, which means that what you have is a unit that is running, but is not cooling enough.
by Jim Johnson
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Btu Buddy 73: A Second Opinion
The customer had called another contractor and was not pleased with the results, so Bob’s company was called. The other technician said he could not get the compressor to start. With Btu Buddy’s help, Bob checks all the components that have to do with starting the compressor. He finds that the start relay needs to be replaced.
by Bill Johnson
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Cleaning and Remediation of Insulated Ductwork
If duct cleaning is necessary, it is important that the cleaning professionals be familiar with both the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (NAIMA) and National Air Duct Cleaning Association (NADCA) guidelines. Today’s air duct insulations are designed to withstand the rigors of cleaning.
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Btu Buddy 72: Lunchtime Discussion on Humidifiers
Bob and Btu Buddy sit down for a lunch discussion about humidifiers and Bob asks: “Aren’t all humidifiers about the same?” Btu Buddy responds, “They are all the same in that they add moisture to the air. Different homes have different types of heating systems.” He then discusses the ways water is evaporated in various humidifiers.
by Bill Johnson
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Btu Buddy 71: Dry House Problem
Bob receives a call from a customer who says her house is so dry that the wood is shrinking. Bob finds that the humidity level in the home is extremely low. Btu Buddy explains why this is happening in this older home and guides Bob in providing a solution.
by Bill Johnson
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Clean Boiler Waterside Heat Transfer Surfaces
Even on small boilers,
the prevention of scale formation can produce substantial energy savings. Scale
deposits occur when calcium, magnesium, and silica, commonly found in most
water supplies, react to form a continuous layer of material on the waterside
of the boiler heat exchange tubes.
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Btu Buddy 70: Smoking Gas Package Unit
Bob gets a call about a new customer who has complained about their gas package unit smoking and smelling bad. In checking the unit, Btu Buddy suggests that Bob take off the vent cover and see if there could be a blockage at the fan outlet. Bob removes the cover and finds that the fan wheel is all torn up.
by Bill Johnson
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Troubleshooting Challenge: An Uncomfortable Customer
This month’s troubleshooting situation centers around a very
recently installed heating and cooling system, and a customer who has called to
complain that certain rooms in the house “just don’t seem to be getting enough
air.”
by Jim Johnson
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Btu Buddy 69: Flame Roll Out on Gas
Bob is called to a customer’s house because of a no heat complaint. The house is heated and cooled with a self-contained package unit. Bob finds holes in the heat exchanger and changes it out. But he is called back later because the unit has shut off again. Btu Buddy assists as Bob investigates further.
by Bill Johnson
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Treating a Motor That ‘Nuisance Trips’
How often do you encounter this problem in the field? The motor
in question continually nuisance trips. You look at the motor and the application:
the motor appears to be running properly; the driven load is working properly;
and yet the motor seems to keep overheating and tripping.
by Neil Simon
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Btu Buddy 68: Oil Burner Rumble
The dispatcher calls Bob to go to a new customer who is complaining about a rumbling noise that her furnace is making when it shuts down. The customer’s furnace uses fuel oil. Bob knows that there is an after-burn going on but he doesn’t know why. Btu Buddy explains how to fix it.
by Bill Johnson
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Troubleshooting Challenge: A Furnace With a Flashing Fault Code
In this month’s troubleshooting situation, we find ourselves dealing with a condensing furnace, and the customer has called to say that “there’s no heat at all.” It’s a relatively small unit, rated at only 40,000 Btu, but it is equipped with an LED readout system that flashes a fault code in the event of a breakdown.
by Jim Johnson
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