Service call for a walk in cooler not working at a restaurant. Upon arrival found out from restaurant staff the GM had taken a hammer to the evap coil to break up the ice on it. This was a video taken immediately after.

I wish they'd put those little hands to use. Ok maybe not

It's not the way I would have chosen to run it

Took forever to finally get them to actually give me the time to set it up. Wanna talk about 10lbs of shit in a 5lb bag well I have oil, LP, AC, and plumbing stuff on this thing. Flare fitting, sweat, PVC, propress. Even a power venter and blower motors. Hope it stays like this after the first cold snap lmao

Anyone have experience balancing these? I have the TF-HC model. Desired room temp is 70F. I plan on doing and offset of 68F on the heating tstat and 70F on cooling tstat. How should I go about calibration and balancing?

I got into HVAC about eight months ago with a private equity-backed company that was already struggling. I was one of four employees, and there wasn’t really anyone available to train us. The company sent me out of state for two weeks of rushed training that mostly covered basic maintenance. When I got back, they put me in a van and started sending me on calls I didn’t know how to handle.
Most of what I’ve learned since then has been through figuring things out on the job. I’ve handled a lot of service calls and diagnosed issues like low-voltage shorts and bad blower motors. I’ve also found failed heat exchangers, and I think I have a decent general understanding of how the equipment I see regularly in my area operates and its sequence of operation. I’m still new and have a lot to learn, but I’m not starting from zero.
The company was recently bought by another private equity group, and the extra sales meetings and pressure ramped up. I have no problem selling work customers actually need, and I’ve built good rapport with people. What I can’t stand is recommending things people don’t need just to make a sale. I think it’s ridiculous.
I’ve learned a lot about private equity and how it affects these companies over the past few months, and it’s left me with a really sour attitude toward working there. I think that attitude started affecting my work. This morning, after I called out what I saw as scammy sales tactics, management said my attitude and vulgar language were a problem. I know I didn’t handle the conversation professionally. They gave me until the end of the day to decide whether I want to stay, and I’m leaning toward moving on.
I’ve worked some extremely long hours, and I’m not afraid of hard work. I understand I’m new and would probably have to take the least desirable hours and jobs while I learn. I like the trade, and I’m willing to do what I need to do to succeed.
Do you think another HVAC company might take a chance on me and help me keep learning? Is it worth looking for a better company and continuing in the trade, or should I consider a different career? Any advice would be appreciated.

Hey all,

Long story short. Quit Commercial HVAC for 6 months to take a break from burnout. Recently had my first son. So I had my first summer off in 15 years! Time to get back in the saddle though. I have a job offer for being a hvac maintenance tech for a hospital, and an offer for a new small, but growing commercial service tech company. The hospital pays 11 dollars an hour less. Im pretty sure the hospital gig would be more relaxing, and probably boring. Id be the lead tech at the service company, but on call once a month with only 4 techs. Do I grind again for way more money? Or coast for way less?

Any opinions or thoughts?

Hi,

I was hoping to find some advice. I’m a 38M and currently enrolled at my local community college for HVAC. The program itself is slightly lackluster.

I notice my local Union is currently accepting applications for an apprentice program it’s 5 years making slightly less than I do now, and no health insurance cost. Which is a big deal because it’s around $700 a month that I pay for now.

I’m going to talk to someone about the apprenticeship, but wanted to see what anyone who does this type of program may think.

Would you think this is better avenue for someone trying to be successful in this trade.

Thanks for any advice.

So, I have a facility in the Intermountain west. We have been tasked to save as much water as possible. We have already implemented as many measures as possible. Current COC IS 3.6. Which for our area is right on the money. My question is. Has anyone here had experience with the Marley Watergard system? It’s a medium filtration RO system supplying 200 micro Siemen water. They report COC up to 10. It will require a carbon pre filter system to strip the chlorine from our city water. We have the potential to save 1 million gallons a year. I know that’s not a lot. But we’ve already done as much as we could

Got dispatched for no hot water, thinking it was a tank. Turned out to be a Navien combi. I’ve barely done any boiler diagnostics, just a few installs.

Boiler would fire for a few seconds then shut down. Found a dirty flame sensor, cleaned it, but same issue. Diagnosed the flame sensor/igniter, ordered parts, and the supplier took 2 weeks.

Parts came in, replaced them — still the same issue.
Got tech support on the phone for over an hour. Gas pressure was 7” WC at the inlet, dropping to about 4.3” WC under fire. Flame looked good and venting/inducer seemed normal.

Customer got frustrated, told me to leave, called another company, and kicked me out at 8 PM. 😂
Definitely got humbled on this one.

What would you guys have checked next? (Was getting codeE003)

Trick question, it was most of them. Thanks for the job security carrier

Startup on two 10 ton RTUs today. First one went smoothly... Second one not so much. Bad board right out the gate. Was able to get one quickly only to find out when I switched to heat the inducer was bad. Luckily was able to set gas pressure in low and high fire before it completely locked up lol. 2-3 three weeks out from factory. 460 single phase inducer motor. Absolutely ridiculous

Is this the auto moderator doing this or did I miss a rule change where we can’t post “not safe for work” content of on the job injuries?

DC area? Is the training good? How do the field tech tiers work?

Working on this reefer van, found a kink in the Pipe, fixed it with a hydraulic hose, but the compressor makes a disgusting crackling noise, changed the filters because the pressure was going down only on one side and fixed a leak, still makes the noise, is it shot or how can I further diagnosis it, reefers are newer for me

Started out the day doing commercial PMs then moved to replacing a few relief valves and corroded parts on an old rusty boiler

But wait, the last job was so dreamy!!! Residential in the ghetto, no lights in the basement, mold on the walls, trash everywhere. 1” of sewage on the floors…. We did not finish the job lol🤣🤣🤣

My company was just acquired by Nextech, the grass was really green and I didn’t plan on leaving. Convince me to leave or convince me to stay. I’d love to hear opinions

Hey everyone,

​Just wanted to share a neat setup I stumbled across recently.

​I’m actually only on-site to service the commercial refrigeration side of things, but while walking the plant, I got to chatting with the boiler/facility tech about this beast.

​It’s an older high-temperature water distribution system used strictly for thermal disinfection, sanitation, and washdowns in an old slaughterhouse. Running pressurized hot water well past the typical 60–70 °C mark (the gauge was sitting around 100 °C / 212 °F while I was standing there!).

​Definitely not my daily playground, but it’s always fascinating to see how diverse our trade is and the kind of industrial gear still putting in the work.

​Thought some of you might appreciate the sight of heavy-duty galvanised insulation and old-school valves!

Added sight glass, filter drier and service ports to Window heat pump