Most of us believe that technical expertise is the most important factor in building a successful maintenance organization. However, we all know excellent technicians that fail in the service business. Why do they fail, or why do they fail to grow?

Bob has a buddy in the business. He recalls his long-time HVACR mentor and imagines him accompanying him as “Btu Buddy,” someone who reminds him to take time to stop and think before rushing to judgment, helping keep him on the right track.

With increasing energy costs and demand for more efficient cooling systems, the need for accurate superheat measurements has become more important. Unfortunately, some technicians have either forgotten what they were taught about superheat in school or think it’s too much trouble to perform.

Most refrigeration equipment breakdowns are repeat problems to some degree. The purpose of this article is to cover the higher percentage problems and repair procedures of TEVs in supermarket applications.

This article is the second installment of a two-part series. Part One provided some background on screw compressors, then discussed the various components and capacity control methods. Part Two discusses maintenance of the screw compressor.

Screw compressors can be either twin helical screws or a single screw design. They can be open drive, semi-hermetic, or hermetic in configuration. In addition, there are oil-flooded compressors and non-oil (dry) compressors.

Manufacturers purposely design condenser and evaporator coils to work together in order to provide the best possible cooling for an application. So why would anyone consider replacing one coil and not the other? Why would anyone be tempted to oversize or undersize one component when the other isn’t designed for that capacity?

One of the least expensive and most overlooked tests that can be provided during chiller preventive maintenance is oil testing.

Flame rectification is vital knowledge for gas heat troubleshooters. This article deals with flame rectification as it applies to direct spark ignition (DSI) modules.

This article is intended to give you a general overview of piping design considerations and to help you to determine when you might need to take extra measures during an installation.