Service & Maintenance

Btu Buddy 71: Dry House Problem

February 16, 2009
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.
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Clean Boiler Waterside Heat Transfer Surfaces

February 2, 2009
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

January 19, 2009
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.
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Troubleshooting Challenge: An Uncomfortable Customer

January 5, 2009
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.”
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Btu Buddy 69: Flame Roll Out on Gas

December 22, 2008
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.
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Treating a Motor That 'Nuisance Trips'

December 8, 2008
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.
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Btu Buddy 68: Oil Burner Rumble

November 17, 2008
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.
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Troubleshooting Challenge: A Furnace With a Flashing Fault Code

November 3, 2008
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.
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Btu Buddy 67: Was the Charge Really Low?

October 20, 2008
The dispatcher sends Bob to a new customer for a routine system tune-up. The system is a 3-ton cooling unit with a capillary tube metering device. After checking the system, Bob determines that its low-side symptoms show a low charge. Btu Buddy, however, suggests that he consider other possible causes.
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Handling Central Air Conditioning Condenser Problems

October 6, 2008
If your central air conditioning condenser problem is that the compressor and condenser fan won’t run, this article lays out a series of troubleshooting steps to help you in identifying and correcting the problem. By the time you make all these checks, if the problem was electrical, you should find it.
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Selling Zoning is Easier Than You Might Think

This overview of the benefits of zoning includes tips for selling to consumers and businesses. Tom Jackson discusses options for new construction and retrofit, as well as some ways a residential contractor can get into the light commercial business with zoning products. Speaker: Tom Jackson, CEO, Jackson Systems
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