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What's the general consensus around here about using a small resi-grade steam cleaner to clean evap coils? Is there a consensus?

I've never done it on an in-place coil, but the Boss seems to...

Yeah that sucks. My boss would take my pinky finger as repayment if I did something like that.

Have I mentioned lately how much I hate rental properties? Because I feel like getting some shirts made that say F*** YOUR MAINTENANCE GUY AND HIS STUPID OPINION.

Two breakers once upon a time fed two boxes--see the old box?--but they decided to take out about fifty feet of conduit and run both breakers through the same junction. At all times of the day their...

Where'd he get the license plates?

So this is something I haven't seen before...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u112/KSkrode/IMAG0258.jpg

Their electrician apparently forgot which disconnect went where, so he just winged it....

Even a hole saw or step drill would have been preferable to this, but it looks like he just hit it with a punch or maybe just a screwdriver.

I know sometimes a lot of these guys have to cut...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u112/KSkrode/IMAG0262.jpg

I don't know how well y'all can see this, but that is a fan rotor sticking through the panel of an AHU.

Now, if I'd found this on a...

For God's sake don't move to South Texas. I was in my second interview at a mall in Corpus Christi for a facilities maintenance supervisor position with a specialization in hvac/r for their various...

What did the tech do when the system "tested full"? Did he just slap the gauges on and call it good? At any rate, with all that rattling around it probably won't be "full" for very long.

If it's...

I started out in a machine shop assembling sensors and controls for drill collars and other expensive but really boring things for the oil field. We were always having mechanical trouble with the...

Ohm the fan to ground and find out. How does the compressor affect the fan operation?

Around here, al/cu coils go for about $2.50/lb. I got the old coil as partial payment. :whistle:

The thing is, the a/c guy is the same one who diagnosed the ruined coil in the first place. Not that it was hard to figure out, what with the huge holes in the coil and the smell of oil everywhere,...

Performance improved almost as soon as I took the panel off.

I put in a new filter box under the blower, and that was as much as they wanted to pay me for, so I called it then. I'm a little...

Water in the day, beer at night.

You know, for a day-to-day life that involves baking in a 130* attic and frying in the 108* sun for half the year, there sure are a lot of fat techs in Texas.

So, this is the old coil...

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u112/KSkrode/IMAG0242.jpg

"I had my a/c guy put in a new coil a few weeks ago, but now the apartment's not getting any air."

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u112/KSkrode/IMAG0241.jpg

:censored:

It was me. Sorry.

That is the new PS90 Flaming Caliper head from Goss. It makes diametric measurements so much easier by destroying whatever you're measuring with fire.

Seriously, the only dual-tips I've seen like...

All that Super Seal seems to do is cost too much and smell weird. I've never seen it actually stop a leak. Then again I've never seen it kill a compressor, at least not in any obvious way.

You might want to consider adding tertiary and quaternary filters, for added filtering power.

The usual rule-of-thumb is 400 square feet per 1 ton of cooling, but there are other factors. For your region and general temps it's about 1.5 tons for 600-1000 sqft. If the buildings are...

What size HVAC units are we talking about here? I had a similar problem with some new townhouses not long ago, where the downstairs would cool off just fine, while the upstairs roasted. It turned out...

Well, no, obviously. Just that there are other factors to consider before worrying about CFM in an apartment.

What made you focus on cfm for that problem? There are about a billion other things to check before even considering how much air you're moving.

I saw from your post history that you're using a Fieldpiece with an anemometer attachment. It turns out that attachment has a useful how-to page about how to roughly figure CFM:
...

That's what I would have done, but the resident wouldn't hear of it. She complained to the land lady and got herself a new air handler.

Are you asking how to figure it in general? Or are you asking how to get your specific anemometer to tell you the cfm?

I only ask because it sounds like you've never used an anemometer.

Um, it was a rhetorical question?

Things you can't see in this picture: a burned up ACE bandage stuffed behind the squirrel cage, W and Y jumped together with what appeared to be part of a paper clip, and half a Spiderman toy...

Oxy/acet all the way. I like being able to dial in the amount of heat I want.

Customer: "It gets hot whenever we turn on the A/C."

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u112/KSkrode/IMAG0097.jpg

Me: No ****.

:gah:

Sounds like an old man with blood circulation problems.

My Stanley 6-in-1, without a doubt. Phillips and flat, 1/4 and 5/16. I go through these things like a fat kid through cake, since the nut driver ends wear out pretty quickly when I use it as a drill...

I've never had any real luck with leak stop products. Some of them smell kind of good, but that's about it.

http://3putt.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/hank-hill.jpg

Hahaha, that's awful. I didn't mean to come off all preachy, because yeah, that sounds... ahem... sh*tty.

Yeah, that's a little ridiculous. I see what you mean. Still, though, that's not our job. We're not the morality police. If a situation is severe enough, then sure. I know how irritating it is to...

I'd honestly rather step in dog **** than let someone think I can't do proper PM.

Here's the story of how a very green tech can be a dangerous individual if left unsupervised.

I was changing out a suction line that had mysteriously developed several very sawzall-like gashes...

There's nothing quite like the smell of a contactor covered in burned fire ants. I'll have to dig out my old phone, but I have a set of pictures where you can barely see the contacts because of all...

Hey all, just thought I'd drop in and introduce myself. I just registered today, but have been silently gleaning information from these forums for years. :grin2: