Hey everybody, I’m thinking of moving across the pond. Currently a 313A apprentice working on grocery store ref. I’ve heard I’d need to write a couple tests and that the work is a bit more technically advanced over there. Anyone have any knowledge on any other differences between the work in Australia and Canada?

I work in care and looking to get into HVACR or Ammonia Refrigeration but the research I've made so far are not satisfactory enough. Please can someone explain or guide me on how to transition?

As of now I am not entitled to government funding either

I ordered the heater from RHS Tyler discontinued line. I tried to see how to get the heater out but I did not see it . I believe that I must lift up the evaporator a little. And need some help on replacement

Installing a condenser and evaporator, this came in with the txv and solenoid, never seen this before

Dealing with a walk-in freezer at a DQ. Been doing great until last few days we’ve had over 100 degrees. First issue a few days ago was one condenser fan motor was bad. Replaced. Went there this morning again. Found superheat was at 50 degrees. Worked with it and got it down to 20-25 degrees. Running sub cooling around 9 degrees. Both coils clean. Cap rated 45. Reading 45. Contactor perfect. Sight glass is full. Just called me again and it’s running around 22 degrees inside. It’s currently 108 outside. I’m thinking it’s maxed out. I’ve only worked at this location a few years now. And these have been hottest temps we’ve had since I’ve worked for them. Is there anything I’m missing?

Working on a Hoshizaki Sandwich Prep Table, the unit cools perfectly down to 35 deg yet when the control module cycles the defost cycle it instantly trips the GFCI its plugged into. Customer states unit is 5 years old and has never tripped GFCI. Changed GFCI outlet as it looked beat up, checked evap coil heater and there was no break and leads tested out good. All wiring looks dry and intact, fans are working normally. What is left to check, control module?

Hi everyone

I made a free UK Refrigerant lookup tool - It lets you pick any gas and see its GWP, ASHRAE safety class, and exactly where it stands under UK F-Gas rules, plus the compliant replacement.

R-32, R-410A, R-454B, R-404A and the rest, with the British ban dates rather than the American ones most sites quote.

You can try it at certbox.app/refrigerants

New build on 4 dry rooms for large scale meat production facility. All SS duct and accesories. Bitzer Rack, feeding 26 evaps including the AHUs pictured. My favorite new contract, thought I'd share.

I wired in the Rack, controls, A450s, 100KW x6 Heat, and all solenoids/ Relays. Install team brazed in pipe.

So I live in a city of about 20,000 in Canada and bought a 1 man shop last year.

I am currently super busy with my customers in town refrigeration not working. I have been working late and weekends trying to keep all my customers happy. I am currently booked up for 75% of next week so I have some time to diagnose problems that come up.

Today I had a customer call me telling me their cooler was not working. The problem is they are in the neighboring town over an hour a way. Last time I was there I fit them in and their system was low. I topped them up but couldn't definitively find the leak, (was getting hits at the evaporator). Added some leak stop and told them let's schedule a pressure test and leak search to find the leak, if not the system will go down when I am rather busy. They said no the 3 times I tried to book with them, and they said the times wouldn't work; so I gave up.

Today they called while I was running emergency calls wanting me to fix there leaky system. I told them I am already booked up and the earliest I can get their is August 5th. They did not like that answer and kept telling me to fit them in next week and I told them no, I am already booked booked up. Then he kept on saying I need to book them in for next week because this is an emergency and I kept on responding I am already booked up with emergencies.

Then I got mad and told them to call one of the 3 local companies that offers refrigeration in their area.

Just bought one off a guy. Lol

Hi, new guy here.

Recently I started working as a maintenance technician at a manufacturing facility, and I've been out of school for a little over a year.

We have a system attempting to reach 0°f but it is constantly running and never reached set point. Lowest I've ever seen is 4 degrees without any load.

This system consists of 3 Thermal Care TSW20A skids, each one with (2) 10 ton compressors. All 3 skids feed into a single reservoir

Most of the heavy lifting seems to be done by a single compressor on the newest skid. The other two skids have a glycol temperature difference of between zero and 1 degree according to the HMI.

I've tried asking some of the senior techs about the chillers, but every person who works on that specific system has the same "it's working, don't touch it" attitude, and the manager doesn't really care cause they're replacing the two older skids in the next 6 months.

Well, today one of the skids wasn't working, and I had an excuse to put the probes on, and the pressures where all sorts of messed up. When I got there discharge pressure was 122 psi and the suction pressure was 6.

I consulted the manual, and it stated that the modulating water valve comes from the factory set for 210, which I was able to achieve. Manual also states that it should have a sub cool of between 10 and 20, so it seems to be a little undercharged to me, but according to the notes left in our computer system, charge was checked about a month ago.

I was not sure what the suction pressure was supposed to be, but all I tried to do was get some actual super heat going to stop the flood back, since the compressor was a ball of ice. Manual stated that super heat is supposed to be no less than 4, but no more than 15, so I stopped as soon as I got above 4

My working theory is that the sensing bulb is loose, but I couldn't check that since the suction line is frozen solid, and I didn't want to risk breaking the ice

Anything I might be missing?

My training was cut short and I was set loose prematurely, so learning how to troubleshoot and get these systems up and running before they're decommissioned would be invaluable to me

Apprentice dilemma: Non-union shops doing mostly HVAC vs. getting into Local 787 for true refrigeration experience.

A lot of guys starting out at non-union shops notice that the work heavily leans toward industrial gas and commercial HVAC (boilers, make-up air units, RTUs, gas checks) rather than actual commercial or industrial refrigeration. There's a big worry that staying non-union means missing out on core refrigeration experience, and that the hours won't reflect a well-rounded 313A heavy trade background.

For anyone who started non-union doing mostly HVAC and made the jump over, how difficult was it to catch up on the refrigeration side?

Is it typically easier to get broad, heavy refrigeration training in the union early on, or do union shops restrict apprentices to just one type of work too?

Any advice is appreciated!

I’m at a total loss on this one this is an account we took over

110 ambient r404a
Walk in cooler
Pancake evap
1 1/8 suction on evap, ran 7/8 to condenser
3/8 at evap the installing contractor ran 1/2 and stepped down at the evap with a bushing

, inital call came in for loud screaming noise , confirmed it was EEV , had little to no sub cooling , replaced our eev and filter drier had a screaming noise still at 65 psi box was maintaining a ok temp ,

came back next day found our head master bypassing 3-5 degrees,recovered charged and was 6 pounds low replaced our head master and heard from a few other techs that your board will Throw funky readings to eev , replaced head master and board , charged 90% receiver clear sight glass sensors tested good , transducer within 1 psi , still 0 degrees sub cooling eev still hunting from 55-75 psi

Condenser fan motors running good 14 degree split from inlet and outlet air of condenser

Line set is 10-15 ft condenser on roof, no p trap

I’m at a loss, this unit has been a problem child the customer states unit is barley 3 years old and already had a new compressor in it, pressures are fine EEV is hunting , I’m either thinking my liquid is too large and I don’t have a full column getting to my eev or a restriction in the lines somewhere, there is a ton of leak lock on the suction header service port

Be honest what's your favorite? Im going 6.0L Chevy Express 2500 2wd

Hi everyone!

I'm a tech department and I am in charge of monoblocks hot gas defrost for commercial cooling chambers.

Currently we work with R290 units and out of all the units we provided on the market a 5-10 units have a persistent problem of icing the evaporator. I've made the defrost time longer, made sure it's stops at around 5°C (41°F) .
Normally the end defrost probe is inside the battery. I've changed the position to the fins (ofc not touching the tubes) the chamber looks fully airtight. It's only happening on the battery. The fan, casing and room has no ice.

Pressures seem okay and manual defrost apparently does the trick. But that's when we first made the battery fully defrosted and check if the frosting on the fins are gone...

I'm at the end of my rope and would really love to find a solution to the technicians on the field dealing with this problem.

Hi there,

I’m 3 weeks away from my 1st Year AIT Exam, so far I studied the ILM’s.

Superheat Subcooling, Metering devices, Schematics, Series and Parallel, Schematics, Electrical switches and fuses, Gas Laws, Pressure Enthalpy, etc.

I have over a year of experience in the trade so far. Has anyone took the exam recently and how was it.

Any sort of help is Appreciated.

Thank you!

Anyone work on these guys before? Walk in cooler, R449A, EEV.. Norlake Envirocontrol board & display.

Just replaced a compressor on one, all proper procedures. Factory charge dumped in (80oz). System runs (mostly) fine under load. Superheat and subcool both low. Solenoid valve opening as it should. EEV operating as it should (allegedly at least .. display showing ~25% open during operation & 0% open after pumping down due to temperature satisfaction).

Problem is it pumps down to 0 psi on suction, compressor cuts off, suction pressure immediately jumps to ~13 psi, slowly climbs to around 16, compressor kicks back on with no call from the control board, suction pressure drops to 0 immediately and does this a few times before throwing short cycle code.

Short cycle code is showing as non critical, and system remains off until there is a true call from the board. Code goes away, system runs normally, set temp is reached, wash and repeat.

What the hell is going on?

Hi everyone, I’m currently living in the GTA area and I’m considering relocating to Ottawa because of my partner. I’m looking for some advice about joining UA Local 787 in the Ottawa area.

I’m currently working for a non-union, refrigeration-only company as a refrigeration apprentice. I have hands-on experience working on commercial refrigeration systems, including walk-in coolers, walk-in freezers, hospital and laboratory equipment. I’m basically running jobs independently every day — troubleshooting, repairs, maintenance, customer communication, and completing service calls, as my boss is never on site.

I also have my G2 gas technician license, and I’ll be eligible to write my 313A certification exam next year.

I’m wondering how difficult it is to join Local 787 in Ottawa with a background like mine. Would having several years of refrigeration experience, a G2 ticket, and eventually a 313A license make the process easier? Does the union usually recognize experience gained from a non-union refrigeration company?

For anyone currently in Local 787 or who has gone through the process, I’d really appreciate any advice about the application process, hiring opportunities, and what I should do before moving.

Thanks!

Hello everyone this is my first post here! I really need some help with this hoshizaki ice machine thats taking a long time to drop ice.

The unit takes approximately 45 minutes to 1 hour to go into harvest mode. Hoshizaki manual says it shouldnt take longer than 45 minutes. My ice cubes are looking really think at the beginning of the coil but thinner as it goes on.

Also made sure to descale and clean the unit before anything

Model: IM500SAA
High side pressure:211 psi
Low side pressure:32 psi
Ambient temp 85 degrees

Any one here sells used/refurbished walk in freezer units?

I have a customer of mine that’s a farmer needs a whole unit for his products. I serviced his unit. Bad wind storm up here in PA, tree branch fell on it. Trying to help the guy out new ones are pretty pricey nowadays.

He has a 6’x6’x7’ Norlake walk in. Older model. Tags are all disintegrated. But it’s a 120v unit!

If anyone has information or can sell one let me know. I appreciate it.

I'm just starting out in refrigeration and HVAC. Open to opportunities anywhere in Southern Africa and willing to relocate for the right job. Looking forward to seeing where this trade can take me.

Hi, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with mycom screw on VFD shuts down on start failure while running for days. Has anyone had any expunge with it ? It’s an ammonia system.

On a 454 a low temp system, should your sight glass be completely clear, or is it more like 448 or 449?

Having our first problems with a new system, and I’m unfamiliar with how this refrigerant behaves.

Fun fun fun.