Heh looks like the only thing hold that unit together is the paint. :-)
After 30 years in the business on my own, one thing I learned is, if a major customer asks you to get it going "one more year", you do it. But after 10 years of keeping it going, how much more can you do?
Can't go into why this won't be changed out, or where it is, but get a laugh out of the pic and video. My first video on the net, so try and be gentle. I goofed on the audio when I said it was a 5 ton A/C chiller; the system is set up for 10 tons, 2 5'ers, but one is dead. ]
First a picture-
If you want to see a short video, go to-
http://uncutvideo.aol.com/videos/1e3...1cc84a?index=0
Experience is what you have an hour after you need it.
Heh looks like the only thing hold that unit together is the paint. :-)
When you do a job, Always make it easier for the next guy, because you may be the next guy working on it.
That's neat!
What's inside?
You'd think it would be a fast payback in electric and water bills if changed out to a nice air cooled 13 SEER!
I know the feeling, we have a couple of res. customers, that every year say, can I get one more year out of it, because I'm going to sell this year. That's been over ten years now.
Why exactly don't they want that changed out? Are they that strapped for dough? Must be some kind of government operation.
At what point do you refuse to work on equipment that is in this kind of shape?
I must tell you, that is one reason I'm glad I work where I am at. Because we are instructed to refuse to work on that sh*t. If it is a major customer, or a first time customer, we WILL keep it going "one more year" if it is possible to do so upon their request. But after that year, we simply tell them, nope we are not going to work on it anymore.
If they want to find someone who is willing to keep their old garbage working, fine, but that someone is NOT going to be us.
I have an older acme chiller the tower was replaced years ago and it was converted to a dx condensor. To give an idea of how long ago it was converted, the "new" condensor is belt driven. It runs great. I think that tower should obviosly be replaced the amount of water and energy wasted would have to make it worth it pretty quickly.
"It's always controls"
Acme???? You need to get a Wylie Coyote decal for that thing.
Aircraft Mechanical Accessories Technician. The Air Force changed the job title to Air Craft Environmental Systems Technician. But I've decided I'll always be a Mech Acc.
is that in such an area where no one goes at night? If so, you could arrange for a no cool call,so when you go up on the roof, you find that unit full of bullet holes if you know what I mean.
Baub, good job on the video! Any chance would could see one on the condenser? It looks like someone made sure to label any and all available items!
Duda....It Is time to put that thing put of it's misery, Kill It, Donate It to the museum....The whole system...Nice Video
Refrigeration...Finding the Wright Wrench to pound in the correct..Screw
Thanks for the kind words on the video. I will be going back next week to make some changes, and will take a video of the condensing unit.
To those who say "trash it, put a bullet in it, refuse to work on it, etc", get real. The owner is a NYSE listed company, and many of these decisions are made by upper management and bean counters who are working under totally different parameters. The difference between a capital expense vs. maintenance, for example.
As I posted initially, I can't get into reasons, but let's just say the building could look like this in a few months...
If the choices the owners made were a health or safety issue, I wouldn't be there. But both the boilers and the chiller get a complete inspection, every season. Low water controls, high and low limits, etc, are all tested.
So, when you have a quality customer, with about 20 commercial buildings in a 40 mile radius, do you throw out an attitude about one job? Maybe you do, but not me. Golden customers are hard to get, but easy to keep. You just do what they want.
Comments welcomed.
Experience is what you have an hour after you need it.
Cute little relic. 5 tons takes 2 compressors? What does the cold water feed? More than 1 air handler?
If its a good customer who pays then I would keep trying to fix it as long as I could. I definitely wouldn't get an attitude with them especially considering all the equipment it sounds like they have.
As I said on my first post, "I goofed on the audio when I said it was a 5 ton A/C chiller; the system is set up for 10 tons, 2 5'ers, but one is dead." I was trying to do the audio, the video and not fall of the roof, all at the same time!
The system is set up with two monoflow loops, with about 15 forced air convectors.
Experience is what you have an hour after you need it.
Did I hear you say (in the video) That it was 50 years old??? WOW!
You should get a YOUTUBE account. Then we could trade comments back and forth on our videos. Your video came out pretty good. Are you using a Kodak? Sometimes I use my Palm Treo, but my good videos are from my Kodak.
And we though THIS cooling tower needed replacing soon, as the catwalk is rotted out to where we are standing on the ground and some of the internal cross bracing has rusted loose as well, making it fun to climb up to the motors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0uPmxLQpY
You are the man, as far as leading HVAC-Talk into the video world. I will check into a Youtube account. Right now I'm using the software that came with the camera.
The video was done with the new Flip camera.
60 minutes of audio and video for a little over a Benjamin. Small enough to fit into your shirt pocket... just a bit larger than a deck of cards. Just google Flip.
Experience is what you have an hour after you need it.
I don't know if this helps but I had one something like that with the same type of customer who knew his building was up for renewal. So I ended up draining the whole thing and painting the basin and outside with tar. It worked for another season, as I can remember. But that was way over 20 years ago. Good luck.
"The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers it can bribe the public with the public's own money.
- Alexis de Toqueville, 1835