The thermodynamic behavior of ammonia is very different from halogen refrigerants. When a refrigeration pump turns on, the ammonia temperature rapidly changes from 100°F to -70° or below. So components used in ammonia-based systems must be able to withstand these changes without failure.
Refrigeration systems that contain polyolester (POE) oil present technicians with concerns that aren’t normally found with systems that use mineral-based or alkylbenzene oils. Refrigeration technicians need to be aware of these issues while servicing and installing POE systems, to prevent system problems from developing.
If the goal of the vapor-compression cycle is to convert the refrigerant to the state necessary to be a useful heat transfer medium (the evaporation stage), the other three stages can be looked upon as a means to an end. However, they perform no useful function other than preparing the refrigerant in its journey of transformation into something useful. Or do they?
Sometimes the major motivator in making the switch to new technologies can be the incentive dollars dangled by utility companies and other sources promoting energy efficiencies. In May of 2005, Peter Condakes Co.’s fruit division in Chelsea, Mass., installed a new refrigeration control system that was 70 percent paid for by local utility National Grid.
A coalition of South Carolina HVAC contractors saw their efforts to limit the sale of HVAC equipment to licensed contractors via House Bill 4595 shot down by Gov. Mark Sanford in May 2006. Its defeat, however, was not due to a lack of persistence and diligence.
By putting smart diagnostics in high-end unitary products, contractors can make sure systems are installed or diagnosed correctly, reducing callbacks that eat into their profits. They can also make guarantees with a low, or at least reasonable, level of risk.
Mel Kleiman, a motivational speaker and authority on employee hiring and retention, says contractors need to take the time to know how to hire and retain the best employees available, not just ones who can, as he put it, “fog a mirror.”
It’s hard for people to understand each other when they come from different backgrounds due to when they were born. But the generation gap doesn’t have to be so hard to bridge if people understand how lifestyles can be molded by the era in which a person is born.
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