Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 342. Refrigeration Troubleshooting Stories with Andrew Freeburg

Transcript

Episode 342. Refrigeration Troubleshooting Stories with Andrew Freeburg · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  Trevor: Well, welcome to the Refrigeration Mentor Hub. This is our community meetup, hanging out with Andrew Freeberg and we're doing morning coffees with Andrew. Which is, which is always fun, right? Because we love coffees, we love early mornings, and we love diving into technical and personal development topics.
• 0:01
  And it's either, you know, you want to set those goals and get to that next level, or you just stay. Really the same place until you decide, let's set those goals. You know, because if you don't set them, who's gonna set them for, for you? And we're gonna dive into some of the stuff in the community. There's lots of good chats going on in the community.
• 0:02
  Because that, that's the process. I remember Andrew's first video is like, really hard on his videos, ? It's just like all of us, oh, I should have said this. I should have said that. And over time, like even the last one is like, it's almost streamlined, you know, and you gotta rewatch it.
• 0:03
  Usually 'cause I'll have it way back here maybe, and then I start pointing at things. Well, if the camera's here and I'm pointing here, it doesn't look like, so I. I try to have that camera in front, and then I actually will follow it now with my finger. So if I'm trying to show 'em exactly what it is, so it's just, it's just you know, you just rewatch it yourself and then you're gonna pick up things.
• 0:04
  Trevor: Yeah. And people, people take it as it is. We're gonna be always more critical of our videos that, that we make. But it, the, the first step is just starting, you know, and this is how you get better.
• 0:05
  'cause Andrew's like, oh man, I wish I would've got that video of that when I was solving this hard problem. But that doesn't always work that way, right? Because you still have a job to do and you're doing you know, you're helping the customer out. But there's lots of opportunity where you can make these little videos that you can share with team members, ?
• 0:06
  Andrew: Yeah, so I actually got a better. I guess camera on it. So it, it, the pic the pixel should be even more clear. That is one of the latest updates that I've got. For now I definitely wanna get a stand 'cause I'm always prop it or, or putting it on something to hold it. And then I'll grab it and move it with my hand.
• 0:07
  I was always intimidating. My voice sounded weird. Did I do it right or wrong? Criticizing, you know, myself like, ah, I should have did it this way. They're not gonna understand it that way. 'cause we're always trying to do it to help others. That's why I make these lots of these videos. This is, I, if I can help one person that that video.
• 0:08
  Because I know there's lots of people that hold their information close to their chest and that's fine. That's okay. But that's not what we do. You know, we want to as many people to know the information. We want them to be professional. We want them to go out there and learn new stuff and share it with us so we can continue to learn because this is a ever evolving industry.
• 0:09
  We gotta know so much. And then on top of that, we gotta deal with customers professionally. So, no, I, I. To put, I guess my 2 cents on that is, yeah, so my goal is to, if I could help, I'm going to I was able to help some actually community members on here. I, I went and went to Fresno and helped with the call down there, and that was fun.
• 0:10
  Because it is, it is it, it is something that does take time, but you can reduce that time by working together, you know? Yeah. And it is hard. Until you start working together, working as a team, learning, like when we started out 20 years ago, it wasn't like you could just jump on a community and start to learn or you go go on the internet.
• 0:11
  It's hard. You've never done it. What pedal do I push? Is it a standard or an automatic? You know, I remember learning on a stick shift and it was like, oh man. So, you know, I used to say, oh, this is hard, and then I stall out or whatever. But no, it's just, you practice at it and that's just like the refrigeration trade.
• 0:12
  I mean, that's, I have that goal too. And then if I find it beneficial for the community, I will, I always put her on the the community. It, I actually, what kinda, I had a situa, well, it was actually the I put a video on there. It was a it was the door antis sweatt heaters. And I didn't realize how, how so I, I've been training another technician and to me, I didn't even think about.
• 0:13
  It's just great. You could share that knowledge with other techs. Yeah. And so it was really neat to see how, how, I guess that knowledge he was gaining just by me being there and showing him how to, I mean, even just to take out the the little plastic clips around the frame so you can expose it and then putting it back together.
• 0:14
  And then getting them that confidence a lot quicker than if they would've struggled and 'cause a lot, there's lots of people out there saying, no, I like to see them struggle. Or you know, they give a go at it, but sometimes it's better to show them the right way the first time than letting them struggle.
• 0:15
  And is there a just adjusting sequence to these? So, great question Mark. That was awesome. So he put a shot of his net oil pressure, and it looks like it's less than five. So no wonder that was, that was tripped off. Mm-hmm. And then he shows a, I think I'm, I'm pretty sure this is a, this picture right here of the sensor going into the four cylinder compressor is, is after it's cleaned.
• 0:16
  Anything really, because that is, that's a, that if you don't have that or if it's damaged or cut or whatever it is not gonna read it at all. So I take that off and then I use the brake cleaner. With brake cleaner. It is a solvent. You have to make sure that it's completely dry when you put it back into service, whatever you use.
• 0:17
  But if this is not on, all of a sudden that sensor thinks it's zero, there's no, there's no pressure differential. You know, and we need that 30, 40, 50 PSID or three bar, ? Pressure differential across that across that sensor controller.
• 0:18
  Just like what Trevor said, mark did a great job here. It's hard to see the crank, but he has the the cursor, right? Yep. The cursor's right there with the little pressure transducer for his gauges. But yeah, that's what you do is you, is you check your oil pump pressure and then whatever that is, minus your crank case pressure, and that difference is gonna be your net oil pressure.
• 0:19
  Andrew: yep. So I've never seen it. Typically I've seen 'em where they're right around 40 45. That's pretty good. I've seen 'em where there's zero too, so it just depends on I guess the application, what's going on with that system. But the lowest I personally like to see on net oil pressure is 20.
• 0:20
  'cause in all most compressors at the end bell, which is on the suction side, you're gonna have multiple screens in there to protect that stator, where dirt, copper things can come back and really damage or cause a short in that compressor. Yeah, and this is all compressor management. You go to look at Bitzer and you're gonna look at carrier or Carle, sorry.
• 0:21
  Andrew: Yeah, I mean, you gotta check the source and the closest to it is, is where, where mark, mark. Is this Mark, mark hooked up too. I mean, it just eliminates what could be other issues if you just, if you check it like this. So, I mean, this is exactly how I check it.
• 0:22
  And then I had a unit that would just, and it was a R 22 low temp rack. I'm pretty sure it was still R 22. Doesn't matter. But what happened was is that I was checking everything, so it had a oil float on the side of the compressor, mm-hmm. And they have a screen, so it was just randomly would trip off an oil pressure.
• 0:23
  So it's just, it's super important to know that it's there. And if you don't know, that's where the struggle comes. And that's what, I guess what we're trying to eliminate is that unnecessary struggle to find a screen on a, on a core sense. Sensor, but it was a great learning moment. 'cause I never forgot it.
• 0:24
  And then when you check it on, let's say a bitzer compressor with like, we don't have a picture of that, but sometimes they have a plus and minus at the front of their compressor. Where plus is the pump pressure, minuses the crank. So you put your two gauges on there just to te test it easier. It's a little bit easier on those ones because the two the two access fittings are right at the front, you know, instead of having to go in down on the side, underneath the side of the compressor.
• 0:25
  It could be om fives or trax oils, or do you have a standard mechanical oil pot? So, so it all all depends on the type of system because that will, that will give you an idea, him an idea, Aiden, an idea of what other parts and components. 'cause he just knows these systems. If you're brand new, you probably have to go and look what a high oil system is versus a low, but usually it's the mechanical oil pots or electronic ones.
• 0:26
  It's, no, it's more known now, ? Over the last five, seven years. But when I was first starting out, you didn't, you didn't get that. You didn't have that as much. And then talking about oil oil lines leave oil separate. Oil filtered in manual isolation to OMB. Do not see a differential valve on this one.
• 0:27
  Andrew: Amazing. I was just, I wanted to comment on this 'cause you, I could see you were going down this path.
• 0:28
  There's so much information, golden information on there. Some, some information that, that you, you can look up like cases and, and if you're having a problem with just a certain case, if it, does it have a moan heater, does it not? You know, so you get to pull up the, instead of going out to the sales floor and, and going that route, you could just pull the PDF on it.
• 0:29
  Andrew: y Yeah. So I guess the story comes in here. I, I was working on a grocery store and my cases were just sweating all over the place. So I'm like, man, maybe the mulian heaters have burnt out.
• 0:30
  Here they're really low amperage. Heaters, but that's what they're called is mulian heaters, and they're inside and there's bunk, like usually where the tags are at to tell the cost of the product. But yeah, those, those are what Mulian heaters are and that, so anyways, the example was my whole store was basically sweating.
• 0:31
  So I'm like, perfect. So now I know that's working right? So now I have to think about why is my case sweating? Well, if you have high humidity in the store, your cases could potentially sweat. So I had really high humidity in the store and that's why all my cases were sweating. So then my first thing is where's, what about the hvac?
• 0:32
  But the big thing is, is I, nobody really talked about humidity. They said okay, cases are designed for 75 and 55. The humidity of whatever the temperature's, 25 and 55. But, nobody really dove in that, that's important. ? And that is a, so, so important as a refrigeration technician.
• 0:33
  And that's, and the only way you're gonna know that is pulling the PDF on that. Case or whatever you're working on, but is to pull that and read what they have manuals. I know, I, when I first started, I was like, I don't need a manual. I'll figure this out, and then you get stuck. But if I took five minutes to read that manual, I would've been, you know, an hours ahead.
• 0:34
  And then I see the people in the, in the courses say, say it's the supermarket course, and I see the guys who actually read it and write out all their tips on how to set it up, how to troubleshoot it. They've learned, ? Even if they've read it once before in the past. 'cause I have people, oh, well, you know, it's, I've read this manual before, but they're like, well, I've read it again and I, I learned this from it.
• 0:35
  And that's why we always stress on getting into p and ID is getting into the schedules, getting into the the case manuals and then talking about it with people. Because you may read it one way, but it actually could mean a different way when you talk to someone and you're like, oh man, that does make sense if you explain it that way, you know, just like you explain the, the MULIAN heaters.
• 0:36
  And that's because we're wash or we're flooding back and refrigerant takes over, I guess. And then you, you lose your oil, your net oil pressure. So I was losing it. And then I, so I started re I read through that Calvin two manual. There's a little tiny one paragraph that says supermarket mode. So I'm thinking, well, it's on the supermarket.
• 0:37
  I'd read the manuals and not understand it and then read it again. Still not understand. Sometimes you gotta read it four or five times and then sometimes you gotta write it down. That's why I do the stuff in the, the courses, like the CO2 course I do. I get the guys to read something and then write it down because it's, you learn it differently than if you don't write it down.
• 0:38
  Keep doing that, you know, 'cause you're gonna learn a bit more. And let, let's just get a little bit back into this where a Aiden's still help helping out Mark. He talks about checking the, the oil separator pressure, the pressure drop across the separator, which is really, really important to understand your oil at, at the, at the very minimum is checking that. And, and when we're in a training program, when I do a training program, you know, you've been in them many times, is I want those, the technician to go out and do exactly what Mark just did right here is go and actually put your gauges on and check the pressure differential customer.
• 0:39
  So this is, this is, you might not see these all the time. And then what did, did Mark do? He actually went out and actually went and checked the pressure differential. We can see here 180 2 PSI, 180 2 0.9 PSI and 180 4 0.3 PSI across that separator. What's that look like to you, Andrew? Does that look good or is that bad or what?
• 0:40
  So we went out and did it, and now, now Aiden knows that, okay, well it's not the separator that's running into this oil issue. Now we know it, it could be something else along the way because that's losing that net oil pressure. And then you're going off on your oil failure control. And the big thing is, is if you have zero, that's really bad as well.
• 0:41
  This is why try, and Andrew does this all the time too. So you need to have all these lead lead generating questions to get answers to because you won't really know how to properly help troubleshoot. 'cause we've done a lot of troubleshooting in a day. Unless you have actual answers and not just like, it's good.
• 0:42
  If not, you're just gonna be spitting out numbers. And if you don't have guidance like, like Aiden's doing here, you don't know if that's, that is good or if that is bad. So it's great that I, I love this stuff. I mean, Aiden is perfect. Right on. I love Mark bringing it to attention here because guess what? I guarantee you it's not just Mark running into these issues.
• 0:43
  And goal setting is so, so important for me. Over my, my life. I've set goals and sometimes I forget about them and then all of a sudden I accomplish 'em. And sometimes the ones that I really focus on and push really hard it may take a lot longer or a lot shorter time to get to, but if you, as long as you have those goals you want, they may change over time.
• 0:44
  So I was kind of running wild so to speak. I didn't know where I was headed, what I wanted really to do. I knew I had a job to do but I did, I took, I didn't really spend the time to do that. Now that I'm older I realize how important goals are and not just, you know, long-term goals or short-term goals.
• 0:45
  And so it kind of gets, it could get overwhelming. It does get overwhelming. Let's get real. I mean, yeah, no one knows really what you're going through. So it's just having a guidance on your goals. Is super important and having 'em is really the, the first step is having what's important to you. So again, I do short term and long term short.
• 0:46
  If it is anything, maybe it's not so, but goals to me, I think are important just 'cause it gives me a guidance of what I can do to improve myself. As far as, as far as professionalism goes I'm always. Pushing myself to be better to go to know the next thing. So for me, I'm, I'm doing as much as I can.
• 0:47
  Trevor: Yeah, I love that. And, and that's one of the big things too. So if you're I was listening to a Robert Green podcast today with diaries of A CEO, Steven I can't remember his last name, but I read a, a book from Robert Green called Mastery. And Mastery talks about our apprenticeship, ?
• 0:48
  And then then my thirties come and then my forties come. ? And so sometimes I look back, it's like, well, I could have did a lot more. It was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun. But then I think like, well, I did set some goals and I did accomplish a lot of goals, but I, because I set those goals.
• 0:49
  So then I'm like, well, I want to get a blue seal. That was something in Alberta. So I got a, a business a business it's kind of like a, a certificate that I got a business background and a red seal, and then I'm like, well, what else can I do? Then I got a gas fitter's license and, you know, all setting these little, little micro goals.
• 0:50
  So my goal was like. Can I get on with Copeland and can I start learning from those experts? And that's what I did. And I set that goal 'cause, and I, and I didn't think I was gonna get the, that role at the time. Nine, well, how many years ago was that? 12. 11 years ago. You know, 2014. And then it was the same thing, like I set a, set a goal.
• 0:51
  Taking some mentor courses and coaching courses and people teaching me about business and teaching me about setting habits. And one of them you could start today. 'cause I have a lot of people that come into the course, we're technicians, you know, I used to not eat lunch, ? I've just plowed through like, if I do this job and I'll skip, skip lunch and then I'm done a little bit earlier, 30 minutes earlier.
• 0:52
  You know? I want to eat something healthy instead of eating burgers or just drinking coffee or, or, or whatever. ? We gotta take care of ourselves. And I think that health goals are so, so important. So I was at the gym at five o'clock this morning. ? I got up at, at five two and was, because my kids woke me up ear earlier, but they still got up before the alarm and, and head to the gym.
• 0:53
  Andrew: Yeah, I, I agree. It is, you just gotta, gotta set some goals and then that, that gives you a guideline of what you, what you want in your life, what you wanna accomplish. If not, you're just like, well, yeah, I like a house. Well, what are, what are how you, how are you gonna get there? That's, that's the important part.
• 0:54
  That's the start of, of making sure you got a right path for health reasons but also discipline of making sure you are getting it ready in the mor or before you go to bed. And this just helps, helps you complete goals.
• 0:55
  So for say a professional goal. You're in refrigeration, now you're in, say you're in supermarket refrigerated because this is what we talk about in commercial refrigeration. Set a goal and don't make it too difficult at first. 'cause it could be, it can be overwhelming and you're not gonna do it, but it could be in the next, over the next month, I'm going to read just one technical manual, whatever that equipment you're working on.
• 0:56
  And just do this. And over 12 months is gonna go by anyway. You know what? Either you're learning it you know, you're spending some times on goals or not. The time's still gonna go by. So if you set yourself up with goals, just like Andrew does, just like I do it's going to, it's, it'll be a little bit easier.
• 0:57
  And if you're listening to this on, on the, the podcast or into the community, give a shout out to someone. You know, say, say you're doing a great job. Like if you have someone, a technician you're working with, and an apprentice, a journeyman, a service manager, even dispatch, and they're doing a great job, say thank you for the work that you do.