There is More to Check
HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs
Bryan Orr
4.9 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 8 November 2016
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this episode, Bryan goes back over the basics and stresses the importance of diagnosing the whole system.
I'll cut to the chase: inspection is NOT overrated. Inspections help you become more familiar with HVAC systems and can help you catch on to minor issues before they spiral out of control. Check air filters, check the charge, check the evaporator coil... does the inspection checklist ever end?
Whether you see crunchy brown contactors or oil on the lines, none of those issues are too small to warrant investigation and repair. Those may not seem worth the hassle, but a leak or low charge can negatively impact the A/C function over time, leaving you with unhappy customers. Checking everything may seem a little over-the-top, but it really is in your customers' best interest. The same goes for mundane procedures like cleaning out drains.
We also have our controversial practice of the day: you don't NEED to remove a slant coil for cleaning all the time. Cleaning it in place is A-okay.
Some of the system procedures I'll discuss include:
- Checking the charge completely
- Superheat and subcool
- Checking the evaporator coil
- Inspecting the filter
- Looking for wire rubouts
- Checking the drain line and drain pan
- Checking capacitors and contactors
And much more...
As always, if you have an iPhone, subscribe HERE, and if you have an Android phone, subscribe HERE.
Check out our handy calculators HERE.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This episode of the HVAC School Podcast is brought to you by HVAC-HAC-HAC-HACS. |
| 0:07.0 | HACS.com. |
| 0:12.0 | HVAC H-HACS.com. |
| 0:13.1 | HACS reminds you, don't be a hack. |
| 0:16.9 | No really, don't be a hack. |
| 0:18.0 | Don't, don't do it. Help me welcome the man who thinks a slang psychrometer makes him look like a cowboy |
| 0:30.6 | so he always shouts yee-ah while using it. Brian Orr. |
| 0:37.0 | Hey this is Brian with the HVEC School Podcast. |
| 0:40.0 | Thanks for listening in on this election day, or at least if you're listening on the day that this is being published. |
| 0:46.0 | It's election day 2016, and there's nothing I'd rather do than be distracted by not thinking about the election. |
| 0:53.0 | So anyway, today I'm going to talk to you about diagnosing the entire system, |
| 0:58.0 | which when I first posted I did a little tech tip about this. |
| 1:02.0 | I got a lot of good feedback and then I got a lot of people saying, |
| 1:04.8 | oh, this is the most simple thing in the whole world. Why would you teach anyone this kind of thing, whatever? |
| 1:08.8 | And I get that this is sort of 101 stuff. It's basics, but it's also basics that I happen to know a lot of very experienced technicians do not practice. |
| 1:20.0 | So with that being the case, let's go into it. |
| 1:24.0 | To start with one of the first things that we check in a air conditioning situation, both in commercial and residential, |
| 1:30.0 | are air filters. And this should be pretty much universal universal if you're working on a piece of equipment |
| 1:35.6 | whether you're doing maintenance and it's kind of a no-da at that point or whether you're doing a diagnostic call or whether you're replacing a part |
| 1:42.1 | say you're replacing a compressor or a |
| 1:44.6 | defrost board even, you need to be checking the air filter. Granted it's often the |
| 1:50.4 | customer's responsibility to replace it, but if you leave a system with a clogged |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Bryan Orr, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Bryan Orr and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.