Articles by Bill Johnson

Btu Buddy 91: Underground Refrigerant Leak - Part 2

October 18, 2010
Bob’s service call yesterday involved a leaking underground refrigerant piping system. Bob replaced the refrigerant lines, leak tested the lines, and left them yesterday afternoon under 150 psig of pressure. He has now returned to the job the next day to see if the pressure held and to check for moisture in the system.
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Btu Buddy 90: Underground Refrigerant Leak

September 20, 2010
Bob was called to a job that had a no cooling complaint. This was a new customer and Bob wanted it to be a good experience for the customer. It was a small stand-alone store building with a 3-ton cooling only unit. Bob determined this was a low charge problem. He installed his gauges and discovered the unit did not have any refrigerant in it.
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Btu Buddy 89: Condenser Under Water

August 23, 2010
The dispatcher called Bob and sent him to a job that really sounded like a problem. There had been a hard rain and a customer had a condensing unit that had been under water that morning due to high water from a creek behind his house. The owners were on a fixed income and wanted to get the repair at the best possible price.
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Btu Buddy 88: Follow-Up on a Dirty Water Cooled Condenser

July 19, 2010
Bob has been on a job at a convention center with a 100-ton water cooled condenser. The owners are anxious for Bob to get the a/c back on, but Bob said the tubes must be cleaned before the unit will run. He has called the shop and asked for a helper and a tube cleaning machine to help him get the unit running as fast as possible.
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Btu Buddy 87: Dirty Water Cooled Condenser

June 21, 2010
The dispatcher calls Bob with an urgent service call from the city’s convention center. A convention is going on and the air conditioner is off, and it re-starts but only runs a short time and shuts off again. The maintenance man said he had to reset the high pressure control to get it started. Btu Buddy assists in troubleshooting the system.
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Btu Buddy 86: Flooded Compressor Discussion

May 24, 2010
Bob and Btu Buddy get together for breakfast to discuss their last service call, which concerned a compressor that had liquid refrigerant flooding back to it. Bob had asked a couple of questions while they were leaving the job. Btu Buddy then proceeds to answer Bob’s questions.
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Btu Buddy 85: Superheat Problem With Three Coils

April 19, 2010
This job is a three-story office building with an air handler on each floor with a refrigerant coil in each air handler. A 75-ton condensing unit serves the three 25-ton air coils. This is an old system that has still been doing a good job. The complaint is that the second floor unit is not holding the conditions that the thermostat is set for.
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Btu Buddy 84: Condensing Furnace Problems

March 22, 2010
The day started with a call from the dispatcher who described a gas heat customer who had no heat. When Bob arrived, the first thing he noticed was that the furnace was cold. It had not been operating. At first, Bob thought that the thermostat was defective. Btu Buddy then arrived to clear up his confusion.
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Btu Buddy 83: Electric Heat Questions and Answers

February 22, 2010
Bob and Btu Buddy have gotten together for coffee to discuss the previous service call and some of the questions about electric heating that came up. Btu Buddy said that they would talk about them one at a time, and probably other questions would come up.
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Btu Buddy 82: Electric Heat Furnace Confusion

January 18, 2010
A call has come in from a new customer that the system in a small office building is not heating properly. Bob finds the building has an electric heat furnace and, when he removes the panel, he is amazed at how many wires and terminals there are and starts to become confused. Btu Buddy arrives to assist him.
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