In this situation we have a customer who has called for service on their gas furnace, and the description of the problem is “no heat at all.” The customer also reports that this is the first time they’ve had to call for service on their 10-year-old unit.

As an industry, whether an HVACR contracting firm is doing service and maintenance or installations, employees need to go to the jobsite to perform their work. Because installers and service technicians have to be on the road for their job, some going to several jobsites in a day, they need vehicles to drive.

Bob and Tim have arrived back at the apartment building where they have been working for several days inspecting and making necessary repairs to the building’s split-system heat pumps. Bob said, “Check the list for another unit that seemed to have a problem and let’s take a closer look at it.”

I simply don’t know of any way to reduce chiller maintenance (recommended scheduled maintenance), below industry standards and manufacturer recommendations, without reducing the system’s long-term efficiency and working life.

Megohmmeters (meggers) are electrical meters used to check the resistance and condition of the motor windings and the condition of the refrigeration and oil environment around the motor windings. A megger is nothing but a giant ohmmeter that creates a very large dc voltage (usually 500 volts dc) from its internal battery.

Tim and Bob have been sent on a service call to a new customer’s house. The homeowner has an unusual complaint. She said that she thinks she has a furnace problem because there is mold in her house. They don’t know what this can be all about.

Bob and Tim have arrived at a home where the owner is complaining that the heat pump is not heating properly. It has been getting cold in the home during the late night and early morning hours. It’s really cold outside, about 10°F at night and 25° during the day.

While the chiller is typically the most visible part of the system, other key components include chilled and condenser water pumps, cooling towers, heat exchangers, etc. This article focuses on maintaining these components “beyond the flange,” which are found in most typical building comfort cooling applications.

Watkins Heating and Cooling of Springboro, Ohio, announced a two-year commitment to provide free furnace and air conditioner maintenance to Hope House Rescue Mission, a homeless shelter in neighboring Middletown, Ohio.

This is the first of a three-part series covering the importance of liquid subcooling in a refrigeration or air conditioning system.