A leaking chiller forced an automotive manufacturing plant’s HVACR engineer to decide between a costly production shutdown or using a can of refrigeration system sealant to eliminate the leak. Deciding on the sealant quickly put a lid on the engine factory’s repair fees.

The dispatcher calls Bob about servicing an old oil furnace. The customer is old and is adamant that he doesn’t want a new furnace, so Bob does not try to get him to upgrade to a new model. He tells the customer that he will see that he gets the most out of the old furnace that he can.

Air conditioning system commissioning and startup is the process of inspecting a new air conditioning installation, and verifying that the new system is running properly and efficiently. This article describes the commissioning procedure.

Bob and Btu Buddy get together for lunch and talk about why high head pressure seems to drive up the power consumption of a compressor. Bob remarks that the problem “doesn’t seem to happen in the cooling season, only in the heating season. What is the difference and why is this happening?”

Dealing with a user’s complaint of a noisy motor can be a frustrating experience. After all, the perception of noise is extremely subjective (just ask the parents of teenagers). Not only does the range of human hearing differ considerably among people, but it also varies by specific frequency.

Bob is called to a new customer’s home with a 5-ton heat pump that is experiencing power bills that are considerably higher than the same months last year. Btu Buddy assists Bob in diagnosing the problem.

In this column, Jim Johnson of Technical Training Associates presents a specific HVACR equipment problem and invites readers to submit their diagnosis. From those who submit the correct answer by the deadline, there will be a prize drawing. Here is a furnace problem.

The dispatcher calls and tells Bob that yet another person is describing an unusual smell when the furnace runs for a long period of time. Bob talks to the homeowner, checks out the furnace, and finds that it is backdrafting slightly. With the help of Btu Buddy, he tracks down the draft problem.

The information provided here on assorted water heater problems assumes that the water heater was properly installed and was operating correctly before any problems developed. This is just a general guide to the most common water heating problems.

Btu Buddy and Bob meet for lunch and Bob has a question about the last service call. The job involved replacing the single-wall flue pipe with double-wall pipe. “You said that we had some unfinished business about the service call yesterday, yet you said that the call was complete. What did you mean?”