I used to have the best little vacuum pump. I love that thing. It was small and lightweight. Did not kill myself caring it along with everything else. It finally blew up on me one day I miss that thing.
In all my years of HVACR one unmistakable truth is, no one is more critical of a service tech than another service tech. There is sometimes more than one right way to do a job properly and I have to say that after watching a few of your videos, I like the way you do things. Nothing made me happier than when you cleaned out those leaves and washed the coil. So many techs would not have bothered cleaning out that debris and it is this attention to detail that sets you apart.
I was at a job yesterday and the guy told my customer he needed new equipment he couldn’t get the unit to run . He had wired the capacitor wrong and when I turned, the unit on the fan was running backwards I rewired the capacitor the right way, and the unit came on and is running fine. No need for new equipment ya baby
If a unit is out of warranty, I give my customer both options & let them decide how to spend their money: For this price, I can repair it. For this price, I can replace it. Which one do you want to do?
@@STho205 Yup nailed it on the head... Only been over 20 yrs running... Replaced the caps and had to repair a line that rubbed against another component. If my eyes don't know what a lemon looks like, they sure do now!
you don't know how often this thing has been repaired. I had one on a property that had to be repaired every 2 to 3 years for it's life. It chewed through capacitors regularly, overdrew power, loud as hell even when new, burned out a blower fan twice, the top fan once....and the coil lines also wiggled and rubbed on each other causing leaks that got brazed and refilled three times. Being a Pkg unit it is hard to replace with anything better as only a couple of companies make them...and then brand names get riveted on. Most Pkg units are crap built for old mobile homes, school portables and construction trailers To put in a competitive traditional unit a complete re-ducting gut job is needed to the house...as well as finding an air closet for the inside handler. This is why people keep patching it. The $6000 duct work atop a new $4000 unit. As to this job, He's awfully high as it is a 1 yr patch....but he was really trying to sell one of 2 or 3 new unit quotes (likely over $8000 each). The $2000 repair was to nudge him. However he didn't have the cash or will to drop another $10k on this aging house....so he got it repaired and agreed to the quote If someone tells you they'll pay $2000, few AC companies say ..ahhh kidding, it's just $500
@@joshcade918 if good multizone mini splits existed 40 to 25 years ago, then these underhouse bad duct units should have never been installed in old houses that didn't have ducts originally.
Tough place to braze. Had an old hand back in day tell me "Solder down and braze up". Took me a few time to get the hang of it, but way better . You get the hidden part done first, before eyes are watering from the brazing fumes.
Best tools in the business. Sure enjoy watching you. I almost try to climb through my screen to help sometimes lol😅. Especially on those self tapping screws mounting those capacitor straps 😂
Other than the compressor, evap & condenser coils and motors, I can't see the need to replace an entire unit just because it's 20 years old unless parts aren't available. I would have to budget $100/mo to cover the cost of two heat pump units for my home. Probably a little more to account for 15 years of inflation. In my previous home, I paid $3000 for a roof top heat pump. I never had it serviced. To maintain the 10 year warranty, I had to have it serviced 2x/yr (cooling & heating seasons). I didn't have it serviced. That saved me $50 x2 per year on service costs. It finally failed in its 11th year. Cost of repair $495. My current home with two heat pumps needed 2 motors and two capacitors over the 20 years we've been living in the homo. Annual service would not have prevented those failures. I keep the filters changed and the coils clean.
I've been running a 4 ton R22 unit without a dryer for 12 years. Worse, the people who installed the new condenser unit never evacuated the system. They just blew some nitrogen through it and charged it with R22. I expect failure any day, so I got one of those portable AC units, so I don't die waiting to get it replaced when it does go out. I noticed that it wasn't level, but decided that trying to level it after years of running the scroll compressor like that might mess it up, or crack the copper lines going into the brick wall. So I left it alone, remembering the saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'. Once the capacitor running the fan motor failed while I was cutting the grass. The motor got so hot that it boiled off the water when I first tried to hose it down. That was about 6 years ago, and the motor is still running. It was made in India. They made a good motor !
A voiceover explaining what you are doing, kind of gases being turned on and off, etc would give you a wider audience for your videos. You do a great job having the camera pointed at what you are doing.
The bottom of the meter is a bar graph representation of the numbers (the 4 blocks on the left side are the Negative side - the 3 blocks on the right are the Positive side) - and it has 3 different views 1) the 10 second average of the change in pressure per minute; left side blocks are filled would be decreasing; right side blocks filled would be increasing; and no blocks filled means no change. 2) the non averaged real time change. 3) graphical view of the measurement - all blocks on is no vacuum - all blocks off is lowest possible vacuum. These 3 views are selected in rotation with the "next" button. Fieldpiece is a great little tool. Love your videos
Idk if anybody else has mentioned it but I appreciate the fact that your always changing/improving your work bags etc , I’ve been disliking my Victor tote & been looking for an alternative , ima give what your using a try. Awesome videos , I enjoy watching on my lunch break sometimes 🔥
You could see that rad covered in dried grass so a third of cooling compromised taking off the covers and doing it properly is another job adding to bill ,service seems to have been ignored on this old installation,hence it's cost them more to run then if service had been done.
Now they have at least 2 degrees less cooling capacity. I just hate those replacements but they are necessary for jobs just like this. The cost of R22 would not have made sense to use. Great work as usual.
For what he charged to repair that unit, he should have put R22 instead of R438a. If I'm not mistaken, the repair quote was $2000 ! Way overcharged for that repair, in my opinion !
@@justincrafton6105 Not sure if it is in my area... A new neighbor thought they got a wonderful deal on an entire replacement of their HVAC system, ductwork and all, for 20k. Their current system was functioning too... But apparently they decided to shop around and replace everything anyway after moving in. Fascinating, isn't it.
I had a very, very small stress fracture on a compressor’s piping in a condenser split system on a roof that I just couldn’t pin point and had to use dye like a goober and then drape a bunch of drop cloths over it like a really hot Indian sweat lodge to make it dark enough to see the dye. Lost so much water that day I had to deal with leg cramps at night.
I realize that the leaking areas need to be cleaned, but are there particles getting into the pipes? If so, do they need to be cleaned out? If so, how does this happen?
We used to buy these Rayovac pool heaters now Rheem bought them out, is there a good units to mice don't get in there and show all the wiring up but they just need to be cleaned every season, diesel gas heaters for swimming pools not the heat pumps.
Great job and video as well. What was the last part you installed like you inserted a cylinder in a pipe. Why install it if it wasnt there originally? Thanks for sharing with the world
Whats your subcool (TEV system)? Whats the point of having a four port manifold if your purging refrigerant? Where is your scale? Also installing a biflow drier per most units should be on mixed gas side in heating mode. You now will run her starved on gas in the highest compression ratio mode of that unit. Last please wrap the TEV with a wet rag.
I’m not an HVAC guy but I assume labor was about 2 or so hours total for about $300, parts of $50 or so and the rest Freon cost. Freon had to be completely refilled and Freon is never cheap.
@@CarlosTorres-tf6il Bullshit. There should be a labor rate per hour and looks like this guy's rate was over $400.00 an hour. R22 replacement refrigerant costs about $30.00 a pound so at most $300.00 for that system. Total ripoff. Ignorance on the homeowners part for agreeing to that price.
You do know that you can put some lab grade alcohol in your charging line as you add coolant and it will aid in preventing icing inside a line that has been open to the air and had to be resealed? I've seen that done many times in south Mississippi. It must be pure alcohol, the purest. It prevents the drier from clogging with ice.
I say anything below 1000 microns is good. I was taught 500 in school but when I replaced some trane compressors they would say anything below 1000 is good 🤷♂️
Maybe someone knows yesterday on a 7 year ago Lennox had to have the air handler blower motor replaced. The new motor spools up or starts low then goes to full speed. Is this now normal on new motors.
To everybody complaining about the money, nobody made the customer agree to the repair. He could have shopped it out, got three different estimates, and still went with this guy. Maybe that's the going rate in his area, yes it seems a little pricey, yes I'm not sure I would have put the money into it, but at the end of the day it's not my money. So everybody is simply relaxed and enjoy the work.
Why would you not change the schrader valves while the system was empty? Those tools are for a fully charged systems. You made it harder than you needed to. And yes that old system will still outlast a brand new one.
After 40 years as an HVAC owner and tech, the biggest killer of any heat pump is Green Slime, when moisture gets into the unit and mixes with the compressor oil due to a refrigerant leak when during low pressure it will allow the sucking in moist air into the unit. This unit will probably die this summer or during next winter. You should have condemned this unit, Next time using a torch near the expansion valve use a wet rag to keep it cool, it does not take too much heat to damage it. You did use a bi-flow filter this was correct. Were you able to check the air filter?
Nice job Curtis I guess you must put a little more MO 99 in as a replacement for r 22 to compensate for the capacity loss or put the factory amount in first of the mo99 to get the system running then add the amounts of extra mo99 as needed until the pressures and temps read like it did when it had r 22 in it and sweats back properly. While monitering the high and low side pressures. Also I hope mo99 is not one of the refrigerants bieng phazed out I know 407 c is and honestly if the custumer wanted to pay extra you could have dumped out the mineral oil and replaced it with poe 32 and put 407 c in it but the again what refrigerant would have made a good replacement for that unless mo 99 can work with poe oil. They just made it too complicated when the switch to 410 a happened when they should have just switched to 407c and instructed hvac techs to dump out the mineral oil and replace with poe and flushed out the linesets and evap coil then vacaum for 40 minutes to remove the residual flush solutions and replace the receiver dryer or filter I see you replace often on the linesets just like when the switch on cars happened in 1994 from r 12 to 134 a and Curtis the instructions on cars were dump out all old mineral oil flush linesets out flush the condenser and evap using nitrogen or compressed air and flush solution until it comes out clear the add Ester oil to compressor and new reciever dryer. Then hook up vacaum out system for 40 minutes then let sit for 20 minutes to make sure it held the vacaum the charge up with r 134 a and those same concepts should have been applied to residential hvac not all this extra mumbo jumbo and use this refrigerant that refrigerant it's about what works. And converting should have been done 15 years ago. Not like what's happening now anyway good job as usaul
@@HVACGUY thanks Curtis as I am considering maybe studying for hvac and taking the tests just so I can do my own stuff in my condo community. But first I need to finish getting this lyme desease out of my body which could take several months as it had went after my eyesight which is now really starting to come back but also ended up rupturing my ear drum which is still healing and caused a lot of swelling and inflammation in my feet and all over my body. I just wish more techs were like you and took the time to do just do what the custumer needs and wants without pushing constantly new systems on them. As they can't always afford them right away.
@@hilljack6765 you were lucky did you use an ester oil charge or a, pag oil charge. But if you converted you should have disconnected the lines removed the compressor dumped compressor oil out and either filled with pag 100 or ester oil. Then flushed out the line sets condenser and evaporator and used pressurized air from a compressor to blow until clear. And that's do to possible sludge and debris. That's why you do it that way on a old scholl car the new style car condensers you cannot flush out but they are only around 100 dollars. Maybe it's just me but I don't like cutting corners
@@hilljack6765 I know that but you still have to dump out the mineral oil from the compressor and disconnect the lines then do a, system flush then vac for 40 minutes then you can do the charge otherwise it's acid city.
The customer had the option of getting more bids based on what this gentleman estimated. This is what he accepted. Could he have gotten it cheaper? Maybe, maybe not. You pay for quality. In Arizona, it would have been expensive.
Hope that lasts a while for them, sure isnt what id want with a system that old but old stuff was made better so, he may get a lot out of it. Curtis gets paid either way so 😁
I watch a lot of your videos, yesterday you said it was a 2,000 dollar repair. I'm just trying to figure how you justify that price. Parts and misselanius expendables your cost giving a wide margin for error 400 dollars. 60 percent mark up total 640 dollars service call 175 dollars? 4 hours labor?? Doesn't seem to add up.
Cause when you run a business you have more thing to pay for. You got van maintenance, gas oil tires, you got insurance for your business and your self. There a lot you don’t understand until you run a business and understand why we charge what we charge.
All I know is I was a service Manajer in a Ford dealership for 50 years. If we made 40 % on parts and 150 dollars per hour on labor we were living large!!! And people call dealerships crooks!!! I was in the wrong profession!
@@chuckmayerchak3071 you sit in ac all day and we’re suit, not much to do selling a car. We work hard in heat and way more then you think. Most people can’t last doing our job
3 hours labor at 150/hr is 450. 50 in parts. 200 for freon at most. 50 trip charge. 750 to 1000. you must be a pretty good salesman. I have run a carpentry and a handyman business for the last 10 years and this seems like a rip to me. I know we need to make money but we don't have to make it all on one job.
14:40 "I didn't want that to get in the dirt" (Gived it a quick puff of air instead of flushing the line out with the bottle) 15:00 Proceeds to connect line to vacuum pump 15:15 "Great! Got dirt in it" )Turns vacuum pump on, alliwing dirt to be drawn through the vacuum pump) Wonders why his vacuum pump is worn out...
Looked like a bi flow dryer, so why would it only work in cooling mode? I like the fix, for some reason I thought you would cut out and put new pipe in. I guess the nitrogen keeps it from going in the pipe.
Some times an old evaporator will begin leaking after you pull the system into a vacuum. The coil has been at positive pressures for years and the copper turns can’t take the contraction that the vacuum creates. Make sure the customer understands this can happen when making the decision to repair or replace!
@@peterking1134 Normally heat pumps use 2 TXVs, one at the evap and one at the condenser, giving you a line that is always liquid which you can install the filter/dryer in. This unit, however, uses a single TXV that meters in both directions. This means for one direction (cool, in this case) the filer/dryer is going to be on the wrong side of the TXV and thus is going to see a mix of liquid and vapor instead of just liquid.
It's only highway robbery when you don't know what you do and you're charging people and exorbitant amount for doing crappy work if you're trained and perfect at what you do or at least close you're charging for your knowledge not the hours
You have to take into consideration that unit used r22. R22 runs at 150 to 200 a pound. Depends on how many pounds he has to replace. That is most of the cost of the repair. I think atleast 1400 of the bill is for the r22. Or they could have went with newer models to have a cheaper refrigerant in uses.
$2,000 - easy, $450 of R22 marked up to $900, because he has to buy it, and keep it on his truck and eat any losses. 2 service calls, run capacitor, 4-5 hours of time, materials fees for things like solder, zip ties, screws, gas, etc. And, enough profit to pay for the truck, insurance, health, dental, income, sales and medicare/SS taxes if he's self-employed, and the cost of a potential callback, and then savings for retirement because no pension or 401k. The fastest way to go broke as a contractor is to charge too little for a job. This guy knows how to run a profitable business.
I used to have the best little vacuum pump. I love that thing. It was small and lightweight. Did not kill myself caring it along with everything else. It finally blew up on me one day I miss that thing.
In all my years of HVACR one unmistakable truth is, no one is more critical of a service tech than another service tech. There is sometimes more than one right way to do a job properly and I have to say that after watching a few of your videos, I like the way you do things. Nothing made me happier than when you cleaned out those leaves and washed the coil. So many techs would not have bothered cleaning out that debris and it is this attention to detail that sets you apart.
Way to go the extra mile, the mark of a good technician 👍🏼
@@alandahlstrom7213 the job being done is no better than the person doing that job, no matter what fanciful company they call out to fix the problem
I was at a job yesterday and the guy told my customer he needed new equipment he couldn’t get the unit to run . He had wired the capacitor wrong and when I turned, the unit on the fan was running backwards I rewired the capacitor the right way, and the unit came on and is running fine. No need for new equipment ya baby
No parts required!
Probably did it on purpose so he could sell a new unit.
@@1985230ce yeah right I wouldn’t doubt it
If a unit is out of warranty, I give my customer both options & let them decide how to spend their money:
For this price, I can repair it.
For this price, I can replace it.
Which one do you want to do?
Nice repair Curtis, this will keep it running for a few more years 👍 Au
Hope so
Glad to see that you were able to patch that up and get it running again.
Everybody’s different but I always bend a couple of inches on my solder when I’m going around the bottom of a fitting. I’ve just always done that.
I'm so happy that you did this for the customer.
Nice work Curtis. Another one brought back.
Thanks
I have had mutiple Rheem units lasting over 35 years. They were built like tanks back in the day.
Not this one. This model is a lemon.
@@STho205 Yup nailed it on the head... Only been over 20 yrs running... Replaced the caps and had to repair a line that rubbed against another component. If my eyes don't know what a lemon looks like, they sure do now!
you don't know how often this thing has been repaired. I had one on a property that had to be repaired every 2 to 3 years for it's life. It chewed through capacitors regularly, overdrew power, loud as hell even when new, burned out a blower fan twice, the top fan once....and the coil lines also wiggled and rubbed on each other causing leaks that got brazed and refilled three times.
Being a Pkg unit it is hard to replace with anything better as only a couple of companies make them...and then brand names get riveted on. Most Pkg units are crap built for old mobile homes, school portables and construction trailers
To put in a competitive traditional unit a complete re-ducting gut job is needed to the house...as well as finding an air closet for the inside handler. This is why people keep patching it. The $6000 duct work atop a new $4000 unit.
As to this job, He's awfully high as it is a 1 yr patch....but he was really trying to sell one of 2 or 3 new unit quotes (likely over $8000 each). The $2000 repair was to nudge him. However he didn't have the cash or will to drop another $10k on this aging house....so he got it repaired and agreed to the quote
If someone tells you they'll pay $2000, few AC companies say ..ahhh kidding, it's just $500
@@joshcade918 if good multizone mini splits existed 40 to 25 years ago, then these underhouse bad duct units should have never been installed in old houses that didn't have ducts originally.
@@STho205 its still crooked way to manipulate
I didn't think that was going to happen. I guess it is still cheaper than a new install, if it holds up for a while. Nice work
Thanks
Great job keeping that running Curtis!
Tough place to braze. Had an old hand back in day tell me "Solder down and braze up". Took me a few time to get the hang of it, but way better . You get the hidden part done first, before eyes are watering from the brazing fumes.
Best tools in the business. Sure enjoy watching you. I almost try to climb through my screen to help sometimes lol😅. Especially on those self tapping screws mounting those capacitor straps 😂
me too. I had to jump forward a couple of minutes during that. I couldn't look, it was too painful.
Other than the compressor, evap & condenser coils and motors, I can't see the need to replace an entire unit just because it's 20 years old unless parts aren't available. I would have to budget $100/mo to cover the cost of two heat pump units for my home. Probably a little more to account for 15 years of inflation. In my previous home, I paid $3000 for a roof top heat pump. I never had it serviced. To maintain the 10 year warranty, I had to have it serviced 2x/yr (cooling & heating seasons). I didn't have it serviced. That saved me $50 x2 per year on service costs. It finally failed in its 11th year. Cost of repair $495. My current home with two heat pumps needed 2 motors and two capacitors over the 20 years we've been living in the homo. Annual service would not have prevented those failures. I keep the filters changed and the coils clean.
20 years old and Still no rust man the Paint is really Quality 👌
Good video ! Rheem units - nothing better !!! curtis - anything under 299 is ok on old r-22 systems remember head was 30 over in those days.
I gotta say that you really keep your tools & equipment well organized!
As a residential roofer over 33 yrs , yes the price exactly right. When we disturb or move these old units causing damage to the lines.
Nice save on an old unit Curtis.👍👍🇨🇦
Thanks 👍
New units cost less than 1/2 on energy cost to run
I have no idea why I like this channel but I do !
I've been running a 4 ton R22 unit without a dryer for 12 years. Worse, the people who installed the new condenser unit never evacuated the system. They just blew some nitrogen through it and charged it with R22. I expect failure any day, so I got one of those portable AC units, so I don't die waiting to get it replaced when it does go out. I noticed that it wasn't level, but decided that trying to level it after years of running the scroll compressor like that might mess it up, or crack the copper lines going into the brick wall. So I left it alone, remembering the saying, 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it'.
Once the capacitor running the fan motor failed while I was cutting the grass. The motor got so hot that it boiled off the water when I first tried to hose it down. That was about 6 years ago, and the motor is still running. It was made in India. They made a good motor !
They most likely sweeped it with R-22 instead of pulling a vacuum.
A voiceover explaining what you are doing, kind of gases being turned on and off, etc would give you a wider audience for your videos. You do a great job having the camera pointed at what you are doing.
This isn't supposed to be a tutorial. You do a great job at bitching about content you're not paying for.
Great job on the fix!!
Thanks 👍
The bottom of the meter is a bar graph representation of the numbers (the 4 blocks on the left side are the Negative side - the 3 blocks on the right are the Positive side) - and it has 3 different views 1) the 10 second average of the change in pressure per minute; left side blocks are filled would be decreasing; right side blocks filled would be increasing; and no blocks filled means no change. 2) the non averaged real time change. 3) graphical view of the measurement - all blocks on is no vacuum - all blocks off is lowest possible vacuum. These 3 views are selected in rotation with the "next" button. Fieldpiece is a great little tool. Love your videos
Tech tip for the hoses appion makes a plastic threaded piece that will keep it clean.
Idk if anybody else has mentioned it but I appreciate the fact that your always changing/improving your work bags etc , I’ve been disliking my Victor tote & been looking for an alternative , ima give what your using a try.
Awesome videos , I enjoy watching on my lunch break sometimes 🔥
Sweating in a drier that close to the TXV can be detrimental. Applying heat sink gel, or wrapping the TXV with a wet rag just makes sense.
Yeah crazy how much heat he got and brazing like that next to txv 🤣
Brush on and heat sodder gel get where you can not see!
You could see that rad covered in dried grass so a third of cooling compromised taking off the covers and doing it properly is another job adding to bill ,service seems to have been ignored on this old installation,hence it's cost them more to run then if service had been done.
Man that thing was dirty!!!😅
Very funny everybody has an opinion you doing the right job keep giving it an option
Now they have at least 2 degrees less cooling capacity. I just hate those replacements but they are necessary for jobs just like this. The cost of R22 would not have made sense to use. Great work as usual.
For what he charged to repair that unit, he should have put R22 instead of R438a. If I'm not mistaken, the repair quote was $2000 ! Way overcharged for that repair, in my opinion !
@@justincrafton6105 Not sure if it is in my area... A new neighbor thought they got a wonderful deal on an entire replacement of their HVAC system, ductwork and all, for 20k. Their current system was functioning too... But apparently they decided to shop around and replace everything anyway after moving in. Fascinating, isn't it.
curtis please wear gloves you know what they say neglected infected disconnected LOVE YOUR VIDEOS
What?
great job
Thanks
Great job under this situation just want to know could you not find any other location to place the dryer and the discharged line
Good video Mr Curtis
Thanks
I had a very, very small stress fracture on a compressor’s piping in a condenser split system on a roof that I just couldn’t pin point and had to use dye like a goober and then drape a bunch of drop cloths over it like a really hot Indian sweat lodge to make it dark enough to see the dye. Lost so much water that day I had to deal with leg cramps at night.
Sometimes it is nice to bring the old unit back to life. They r built like tanks.
0:58 I guessed a jbweld fix. Of course I could be wrong 😂
That is very sweet nitro regulator.. Good job in a very tough spots.
Enjoyed watching!
I did like the video. Nice work man.
Your knowledge is impressive
I realize that the leaking areas need to be cleaned, but are there particles getting into the pipes? If so, do they need to be cleaned out? If so, how does this happen?
My I suggest a shop vac for cleaning up all the debris and not catching anything on fire when you are brazing
Why didn't you use a two-way filter made for a heat pump?
He did
I liked your video, you may want to double check your acetylene regulator pressure. In the red ain't good.
Who makes the carry case for your oxy acetelyne tanks and hoses? It looks like some type of canvas tote.
do you wear shaded glasses for brazing? should i as someone new in the field
Yes, nothing super dark, the darkness of regular sunglasses does the trick
We used to buy these Rayovac pool heaters now Rheem bought them out, is there a good units to mice don't get in there and show all the wiring up but they just need to be cleaned every season, diesel gas heaters for swimming pools not the heat pumps.
Just worked on the same unit but had an audibly leaking evap. Customer wants to replace it…
Another Great repair under
your belt and bucks in your pockets.
Repair made by the GEORGIA EXPERT OF HVAC.
Positive pressure when sanding. That hole was big enough for debris to enter the system.
He set up his nitrogen purge before he started sanding.
@@markbeiser Don't confuse the expert. I wonder if he even watched the whole video.
So that unit come from the factory without a filter dryer?
Yes
Great job and video as well. What was the last part you installed like you inserted a cylinder in a pipe. Why install it if it wasnt there originally?
Thanks for sharing with the world
I know automobile air conditioning is it the same where you have to vacuum purge the unit to get any contaminants out ?
Nice 😊 work 😊
what tool bag model is that for the torches?
Whats your subcool (TEV system)? Whats the point of having a four port manifold if your purging refrigerant? Where is your scale? Also installing a biflow drier per most units should be on mixed gas side in heating mode. You now will run her starved on gas in the highest compression ratio mode of that unit. Last please wrap the TEV with a wet rag.
Why is the dryer pointing the wrong direction in cooling mode? I see you installed a bidirectional dryer.
He charged for his time, experience, overhead, parts and labor. $2000? In New York, this would have been $5000+. Keep up the good work, brother 👍🏼
Is he replacing that with R 22 or bluon ?
Great video good job I'd like to know what you did after that head pressure was going up
Can someone please explain why this repair cost $2,000 ?
I’m not an HVAC guy but I assume labor was about 2 or so hours total for about $300, parts of $50 or so and the rest Freon cost. Freon had to be completely refilled and Freon is never cheap.
Finding a leak, welding a leak, vacum and charging the unit. These repairs are not cheap. 2000 is a fair price.
I'm in los angeles California area.
Most companies will just try to sell you new equipment for $20,000.00 dollars
@@CarlosTorres-tf6il Bullshit. There should be a labor rate per hour and looks like this guy's rate was over $400.00 an hour. R22 replacement refrigerant costs about $30.00 a pound so at most $300.00 for that system. Total ripoff. Ignorance on the homeowners part for agreeing to that price.
@@robertwittenburg614330 a pound for refrigerant really... R22 has been discontinued its in short supply
Flux around the tubing should have pulled that solder in.
many from the last video were thinking you should charge $19.95! They have no clue what is involved.
Good job my friend! What camera do you use , video quality very good.
GoPro 12
You might of burned that TXV. I hope you didn't though.
I recommend using Viper Wet Rags.
It’ll live a few more years ! What was your torch tip ?
You do know that you can put some lab grade alcohol in your charging line as you add coolant and it will aid in preventing icing inside a line that has been open to the air and had to be resealed? I've seen that done many times in south Mississippi. It must be pure alcohol, the purest. It prevents the drier from clogging with ice.
What kind of alcohol?
@@1985230ce 99% Isopropyl Alcohol just fill your hose on the low side and fit back onto your gauges. Open the line and fill with coolant.
I say anything below 1000 microns is good. I was taught 500 in school but when I replaced some trane compressors they would say anything below 1000 is good 🤷♂️
Maybe someone knows yesterday on a 7 year ago Lennox had to have the air handler blower motor replaced. The new motor spools up or starts low then goes to full speed. Is this now normal on new motors.
To everybody complaining about the money, nobody made the customer agree to the repair. He could have shopped it out, got three different estimates, and still went with this guy. Maybe that's the going rate in his area, yes it seems a little pricey, yes I'm not sure I would have put the money into it, but at the end of the day it's not my money. So everybody is simply relaxed and enjoy the work.
There was a alcohol could be added yrs ago when a dryer was impossible dont know about today legal w new refrigerants
Why would you not change the schrader valves while the system was empty? Those tools are for a fully charged systems. You made it harder than you needed to. And yes that old system will still outlast a brand new one.
no superheat or subcooling?
16:50 WHERE IS YOUR CORDLESS SHOP VAC?
I never understood why people don't maintain their outside units
After 40 years as an HVAC owner and tech, the biggest killer of any heat pump is Green Slime, when moisture gets into the unit and mixes with the compressor oil due to a refrigerant leak when during low pressure it will allow the sucking in moist air into the unit. This unit will probably die this summer or during next winter. You should have condemned this unit, Next time using a torch near the expansion valve use a wet rag to keep it cool, it does not take too much heat to damage it. You did use a bi-flow filter this was correct. Were you able to check the air filter?
Nice job Curtis I guess you must put a little more MO 99 in as a replacement for r 22 to compensate for the capacity loss or put the factory amount in first of the mo99 to get the system running then add the amounts of extra mo99 as needed until the pressures and temps read like it did when it had r 22 in it and sweats back properly. While monitering the high and low side pressures.
Also I hope mo99 is not one of the refrigerants bieng phazed out I know 407 c is and honestly if the custumer wanted to pay extra you could have dumped out the mineral oil and replaced it with poe 32 and put 407 c in it but the again what refrigerant would have made a good replacement for that unless mo 99 can work with poe oil. They just made it too complicated when the switch to 410 a happened when they should have just switched to 407c and instructed hvac techs to dump out the mineral oil and replace with poe and flushed out the linesets and evap coil then vacaum for 40 minutes to remove the residual flush solutions and replace the receiver dryer or filter I see you replace often on the linesets just like when the switch on cars happened in 1994 from r 12 to 134 a and Curtis the instructions on cars were dump out all old mineral oil flush linesets out flush the condenser and evap using nitrogen or compressed air and flush solution until it comes out clear the add Ester oil to compressor and new reciever dryer. Then hook up vacaum out system for 40 minutes then let sit for 20 minutes to make sure it held the vacaum the charge up with r 134 a and those same concepts should have been applied to residential hvac not all this extra mumbo jumbo and use this refrigerant that refrigerant it's about what works. And converting should have been done 15 years ago.
Not like what's happening now anyway good job as usaul
It almost always takes a little more than factory charge. That’s just a starting point.
@@HVACGUY thanks Curtis as I am considering maybe studying for hvac and taking the tests just so I can do my own stuff in my condo community. But first I need to finish getting this lyme desease out of my body which could take several months as it had went after my eyesight which is now really starting to come back but also ended up rupturing my ear drum which is still healing and caused a lot of swelling and inflammation in my feet and all over my body. I just wish more techs were like you and took the time to do just do what the custumer needs and wants without pushing constantly new systems on them. As they can't always afford them right away.
@@hilljack6765 you were lucky did you use an ester oil charge or a, pag oil charge. But if you converted you should have disconnected the lines removed the compressor dumped compressor oil out and either filled with pag 100 or ester oil.
Then flushed out the line sets condenser and evaporator and used pressurized air from a compressor to blow until clear. And that's do to possible sludge and debris. That's why you do it that way on a old scholl car the new style car condensers you cannot flush out but they are only around 100 dollars. Maybe it's just me but I don't like cutting corners
@@hilljack6765 I know that but you still have to dump out the mineral oil from the compressor and disconnect the lines then do a, system flush then vac for 40 minutes then you can do the charge otherwise it's acid city.
The customer had the option of getting more bids based on what this gentleman estimated. This is what he accepted. Could he have gotten it cheaper? Maybe, maybe not. You pay for quality. In Arizona, it would have been expensive.
Hope that lasts a while for them, sure isnt what id want with a system that old but old stuff was made better so, he may get a lot out of it. Curtis gets paid either way so 😁
15:13 - Oooh! _That_ doesn’t sound good!!
Is this the $2000 repair quoted from last video?
A portable shop-vac would be handy... and a bud light girl to keep you cool in that hot weather.😁
I watch a lot of your videos, yesterday you said it was a 2,000 dollar repair. I'm just trying to figure how you justify that price. Parts and misselanius expendables your cost giving a wide margin for error 400 dollars. 60 percent mark up total 640 dollars service call 175 dollars? 4 hours labor?? Doesn't seem to add up.
Cause when you run a business you have more thing to pay for. You got van maintenance, gas oil tires, you got insurance for your business and your self. There a lot you don’t understand until you run a business and understand why we charge what we charge.
If he did that job for 1000 or less. He ain’t make any money.
All I know is I was a service Manajer in a Ford dealership for 50 years. If we made 40 % on parts and 150 dollars per hour on labor we were living large!!! And people call dealerships crooks!!! I was in the wrong profession!
@@chuckmayerchak3071 you sit in ac all day and we’re suit, not much to do selling a car. We work hard in heat and way more then you think. Most people can’t last doing our job
3 hours labor at 150/hr is 450. 50 in parts. 200 for freon at most. 50 trip charge. 750 to 1000. you must be a pretty good salesman. I have run a carpentry and a handyman business for the last 10 years and this seems like a rip to me. I know we need to make money but we don't have to make it all on one job.
14:40 "I didn't want that to get in the dirt"
(Gived it a quick puff of air instead of flushing the line out with the bottle)
15:00 Proceeds to connect line to vacuum pump
15:15 "Great! Got dirt in it" )Turns vacuum pump on, alliwing dirt to be drawn through the vacuum pump)
Wonders why his vacuum pump is worn out...
Looked like a bi flow dryer, so why would it only work in cooling mode? I like the fix, for some reason I thought you would cut out and put new pipe in. I guess the nitrogen keeps it from going in the pipe.
How much of the $2k was profit?
Some times an old evaporator will begin leaking after you pull the system into a vacuum. The coil has been at positive pressures for years and the copper turns can’t take the contraction that the vacuum creates. Make sure the customer understands this can happen when making the decision to repair or replace!
NEVER quote what you are charging people on these kind of channels that should be common knowledge by now!
Why not? Unless you are ashamed of the amount you are gouging people for!
Curtis, that's a bi-directiional drier. Sorry, I had to say it.
So which filler rod do you use BCuP or BAg alloy and why.
You guys complaining about the repair. This refrigerant costs more than gold these days.
Why did you not use a bi directional filter?
I did
Looked like it had a bidirectional arrow on the dryer.
@@HVACGUY that’s not what I heard in your comments ?
@@peterking1134 Normally heat pumps use 2 TXVs, one at the evap and one at the condenser, giving you a line that is always liquid which you can install the filter/dryer in. This unit, however, uses a single TXV that meters in both directions. This means for one direction (cool, in this case) the filer/dryer is going to be on the wrong side of the TXV and thus is going to see a mix of liquid and vapor instead of just liquid.
Just remember that he is not setting the price his company is!!
It would have been nice if the debris had been cleaned out.
I believe R22 is over a hundred dollars a pound.
Was that the 2000 dollar zip tye
I never make negative comments but this $2000 repair gives new meaning to the old phase Highway Robbery.
It's only highway robbery when you don't know what you do and you're charging people and exorbitant amount for doing crappy work if you're trained and perfect at what you do or at least close you're charging for your knowledge not the hours
he qouted a fix and a replacement. this is what they went with. customers choice here, no highway robbery.
You have to take into consideration that unit used r22. R22 runs at 150 to 200 a pound. Depends on how many pounds he has to replace. That is most of the cost of the repair. I think atleast 1400 of the bill is for the r22. Or they could have went with newer models to have a cheaper refrigerant in uses.
Why would it cost 2000 to braise this.
@@hoktang1 He used r438a, not r22. That's more like $20/lb.
He should have clean all the pine needles out
man you need to use a number 2# tip and 7/11 on your oxg and cet
What is his torch tip?
$2,000 - easy, $450 of R22 marked up to $900, because he has to buy it, and keep it on his truck and eat any losses. 2 service calls, run capacitor, 4-5 hours of time, materials fees for things like solder, zip ties, screws, gas, etc. And, enough profit to pay for the truck, insurance, health, dental, income, sales and medicare/SS taxes if he's self-employed, and the cost of a potential callback, and then savings for retirement because no pension or 401k. The fastest way to go broke as a contractor is to charge too little for a job. This guy knows how to run a profitable business.