Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 188. Compressor Secrets (I Wish I Knew When I Started My Refrigeration Career)

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Episode 188. Compressor Secrets (I Wish I Knew When I Started My Refrigeration Career) · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  A lot of people, and I used to think, man, I know compressors, I work, I change dozens to hundreds of compressors, scrolls, semis, all of it, until I realized and started working with the manufacturers and going to see and tearing down hundreds of compressors and looking inside them. And testing them, going out to the field.
• 0:01
  And that's when I started to learn. It's game changing stuff. The stuff that I talk about is stuff that's going to make your job quicker, faster, troubleshoot quicker. So you're home with your family, or you want to get a better job, or you want to make more money. Welcome to the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast.
• 0:02
  I'm your host, Trevor Matthews. As a former technician turned entrepreneur, my goal is to really help train you, educate you, and mentor you in the commercial refrigeration industry. Each week, I'm going to have top guests from technicians. To manufacturers, to experts around the world, to really help us grow and learn together by sharing their knowledge in commercial refrigeration, commercial HVAC.
• 0:03
  And not only on the technical side, but really the professional and the personal development side as well. I'm really excited that you're here. Now let's get a conversation going.
• 0:04
  Hey, welcome back to the Refrigeration Mentor podcast. This episode was a pre recorded webinar I did back in December. Had a large group of people there. We chatted about some compressor secrets, a few things that really I wish I would have known when I was four or five years in the industry to get a better handle on troubleshooting, understanding compressors.
• 0:05
  I think you will enjoy this. I did have some slides. I was going through some software. So some of it may be a little bit difficult to understand. Hopefully that you can get the gist of what we're going through and talking about, really excited to share some of this stuff with you now, let's get a conversation going, super excited that you guys are here.
• 0:06
  We're going to be diving into some compressor sequence. I want to talk to you, but some of the stuff that really, I know you, a lot of you know, but this is going deeper than we usually go in the field because we're out there as technicians crushing it. We're going in and fixing problems, putting fires out all the time.
• 0:07
  And a lot of times we don't get the opportunity to sit back and try to learn some stuff and a little bit deeper, a little bit better, get some more knowledge. And this is it. This is what I do day in, day out, talking about refrigeration, compressor, super rocket, CO2. And tonight we're going to dive into some compressor sequence that I really think that you really need to know.
• 0:08
  Some of the things I want to talk about first. Is that you got to get on these podcasts to go, got to go listen to them. I got a ton in my first 50 podcasts, talking about the six types of mechanical failure, you know, how to change valve plates, what to look for when there's issues with compressors. A lot of people, and I used to think, man, I know compressors.
• 0:09
  I work, I changed dozens to hundreds of compressors, scrolls, semis, all of it. Until I realized and started working with the manufacturers and going to see and tearing down hundreds of compressors and looking inside them and testing them, going out to the field. And that's when I started to learn, because I wasn't just like checking them out, fail, just pull it out, put it in, because that's what I used to do.
• 0:10
  It's burred out or failed windings, okay, just replace the compressor. Didn't dive in deeper. Sometimes I did, you know, I pull off a head and I take a look at it, but I didn't really know what I was looking at. And even after years of looking inside compressors heavily, there's still things that I've learned.
• 0:11
  And I'm still learning, honestly, there's people that send me pictures all the time and I'm like, I'm not a hundred percent sure. And I send it out to the manufacturer and they're like, no, it's hard to tell from these pictures. It could be this, maybe that. And there are times that you can't figure it out.
• 0:12
  Honestly, I've seen the top expert compressor people, gurus in the world to say like, I can't really figure it out. They're not a hundred percent sure exactly what caused this failure. And that happens sometimes. You know, you turn the breaker strip, you know, you check everything, you kind of do some ground.
• 0:13
  There's no another ground. You hit the break again. Bam. The compressor starts up, lock rotor trips off again. So this stuff does happen, but you got to dive a little bit deeper. Maybe your standard meter is just not going to, doesn't cut it. Maybe you need to go get a mega meter and take a look at that and you got to understand how to use your tools.
• 0:14
  This is the biggest thing I talk about time and time again. Learn how to use your tools, understand the tools that you're using. Electrical meter is one of the biggest ones that I believe a lot of us don't understand its capability. We know how to put it on bolts, amps, capacitance, whatever. But diving in on how to use the different meters and the different scales and, and mins and max and stuff, I really believe learning that stuff.
• 0:15
  I think we overestimate what we should know on these, these devices. Like we pick up our iPhone, we'll go, we'll pick it up and then we won't even read the manuals, 300 pages. Why would we do that? It's no different in our tools. We really need to invest some time in the tools. And I'm going to talk about some tools that I really believe that I wish I was using in the field when I was out there.
• 0:16
  It's game changing stuff because. The stuff that I talk about, the stuff that's going to make your job quicker, faster, troubleshoot quicker. So your home with your family, you know, or you want to get a better job, or you want to make more money. That is the big thing. And this is why I want to share some of this stuff with you is because I want you to advance.
• 0:17
  Do you want to get to that next level? You want to get that a foreman? You want to get to that service manager? Do you want to become that lead tech? This is the stuff and you've got to invest in yourself. And you all, there's all of you are here tonight to learn a little bit. This is fantastic. And I'm so happy that you're here to take the time to do this.
• 0:18
  Head to the Refrigeration Mentor YouTube channel. There's tons of videos there. Lots of, lots of different short ones on digital compressors on how to troubleshoot a semi hermetic, how to troubleshoot a scroll, but invest your time in learning. I see quite a few of you here hanging out. Daniel, what's up, brother?
• 0:19
  Craig, what's up? There's tons of you that taken my super market or my compressor masterclass. I got one coming up in January. You need to get into this stuff, dive into these courses and just really absorb it because at the end of the day, it's going to help change the way you troubleshoot it's either being more efficient, more effective.
• 0:20
  We're helping teach other people, all these different social media platforms, head out to them. Learn about them. I'm always on them all the time. It's really to share, share knowledge with you. So let's just dive right into it. One of the most important things that's overlooked is performance chart. And if any of you been in any of my free talks, any of my programs, I talk about performance chart.
• 0:21
  This here is when you understand these charts. It's a game changer for you. And some of you have probably seen this for the first time. And some of you are like, ah, I've looked at them before, but I don't really know what the value of them is. But on the side there, where I got 1 to 8, all those things can be troubleshooted through this operation envelope, this performance chart, sorry.
• 0:22
  It also can be an operation envelope. And the biggest thing is for you to understand how to troubleshoot a system with just the information you get from the compressors. And I'm going to talk about these six or seven different checkpoints you need to get every, every time. And if you're getting these every time, I promise you, if you get these and you don't really understand what's going on, but you give it to another senior technician, someone who's more like more of an expert or maybe a guru, they probably can pinpoint the area.
• 0:23
  Of that issue. They probably can't tell you exactly where it is, but they can say, go look at this just from the pressures and the temperatures and the electric, understanding that stuff. And we need to invest the time to do this. And those of you, I see a bunch of you on here, Keith, what's up, brother? I see a bunch, Matthew, I see a bunch of you that I know for sure this is what you do.
• 0:24
  But you gotta do it consistently, getting this information. So how does this chart work? How does it work, right? Because Bitzer has these charts, Carlisle has these charts, Tecumseh has these charts, it doesn't matter the compressor you're working on. To me, it doesn't matter. They work similar, but they're different.
• 0:25
  The designs are a little bit different. Capacities are a little bit different. Maybe the valve plates are different. The, there's just different internals potentially, but to me it doesn't matter. Compressors, they're compressing gas. That's what they're doing. They're taking a low pressure vapor compressing into a high pressure vapor above the ambient so they, we can condense it until we get into CO2 compressors where you're above the, the critical point, then you're not condensing.
• 0:26
  All the other compressors, we've taken that low pressure to a high pressure. It's no different. You're still doing the same thing with CO2. It's important to understand these different things. Down below on the bottom here, let me just get my Cursor out here down below on a bottom is really how we understand this chart.
• 0:27
  You get capacity. This is BTU per hours. It's a kilowatts. Um, if you're using, um, uh, standard units and your power, your amps, your mass flow, what you need to understand is how it works on the top. Here's your S S T. So your evaporating temperatures, this is a Fahrenheit and PSI. So anyone who's using Byron Celsius.
• 0:28
  You will have to convert it. And I think that's one of the biggest things that you need to understand as well. We're coming into a global refrigeration community, and you may want to work in a different part of the world. I went and worked in different parts of the world and they use different units.
• 0:29
  You need to understand these units to make yourself better, make yourself more valuable, because then you can understand when you get a, when you get a manual and it comes from say Dan Foss and it has bar Celsius and Calvin in it. You get a better understanding it. Or if you want to come to North America and work, you want to understand PSI.
• 0:30
  You want to understand Fahrenheit and do those conversions. So then you are more valuable when you get here, prepare yourself. Cause I, I help people travel across the world to get, get jobs in different locations. They got to do the work. But I can teach them what they need to know when they get there.
• 0:31
  And that's the biggest thing. Like if you go to Australia, the wiring colors different than here in North America. So you want to understand that before you get there, the different power wires or neutral wires or different colors. So different things like that, you got to understand. And that's why these charts and the, sorry, the units you want to understand.
• 0:32
  So along the top is your evaporating temperature. Along the side is your condensing temperature and pressure. The top here, the, the bold one, that is actually the temperature, 110 Fahrenheit, and this is 48 PSI. So really, you have your gauge on your discharge of that compressor, and it's running at, say, 248.
• 0:33
  PSI. That's 110 Fahrenheit. That's that SST of, of that, that is what, if you just say you're on a little five ton condensing unit or, or two watt condensing unit, that, that's what it's going to be running at. So you put it on your discharge. You're going to be running at this. That's what your condenser, your condenser is, is running.
• 0:34
  It's one, one 10, two 40. So just think of that. You got your gauges on and that's what it's looking at. Now let's look at the evaporator. So now we got our gauge on our suction. We got it on our suction line and just say we're running at 24 PSI or zero degrees Fahrenheit. So your gauge is actually on this compressor and that's what, uh, that, that's what it's at.
• 0:35
  Okay. So that's what your evaporator coming on. There's really should be no pressure drop in your suction line. So when you put your gauge at your, the outlet of your evaporator and an inlet of your compressor, depending on how long the run and how big it is, but realistically there should be no pressure drop.
• 0:36
  And I've seen situations. Where there's a 10 to 12 PSI pressure drop the technicians like or is the contractors like, oh, I'm having oil issues all the time. I keep putting oil in it. Well, that could be a problem when you get a 12 PSI pressure drop in your suction line. Too big suction line is no good.
• 0:37
  Too small suction line is no good. So we take a look at this. If this is running normally designed normally, this compressor right now, this is the conditions. And what I used to be taught and told was like, you know, you just take, uh, the amps, uh, or the LRA on the side of the compressor divided by five or six.
• 0:38
  And that's what your compressor should be running at. This is not true. You go into the compressor that you're working on specific model number compression, not just any, I can't just say I'm a four cylinder Bitzer. And this is what it should be. They're all different. They have different motor sizes in the Bitzer, different capacity for those compressors, different volts.
• 0:39
  All this stuff is going to change it up. So you need to really understand that those conditions that specific compressors run at, at that specific time. Because I've seen it where I had gauges on the roof, and I had gauges in a walk in box, not like the cool tools we have today. They're all, you could have.
• 0:40
  Bluetooth. So by the time I walked down to the walk in box, something else was happening on the condensing unit. And I was getting weird readings down here because I had to walk 200 feet across the roof, down the ladder, and then back into the walk in box, another a hundred feet this way. And you guys know what I'm talking about.
• 0:41
  This is why Bluetooth tools are very, very important to make it your life easier, because you can see what's going on. Now people say, well, Trevor, they're not accurate all the time and this, that, whatever, buy better ones then. Go get another set and match it up. That's all I have to tell you. You know, cause they're getting better and better.
• 0:42
  Heel piece, yellow jacket, whoever, uh, you buy. It doesn't matter to me. Just match it up and make sure it works. Make sure your tools are working. So at this, these conditions right now, this compressor, this is my capacity. It'll do 71, 000 BTUs. Okay, so when I used to look at, you look at the model number of a Bitzer, you look at a model number of a Copeland or Carlyle.
• 0:43
  In those model numbers, a lot of time, we'll have the capacity at nominal conditions. And really what that means is the standard set by association. These are standard condition, all the manufacturers. So medium temp, low temp, high temp, 65 degree return gas, which doesn't really make sense when you're doing low temp applications.
• 0:44
  And this compressor will run at 32. 3 amps in these conditions. So right there, if you did your amps, you did your suction and you did your discharge, you got that information, plus what your voltage and your amps are. I can tell you right now, If that compressor or that system is running, uh, correctly? Well, definitely the compressor, if it's running efficiently.
• 0:45
  Now, it depends on how many evaporators. If it's on a rack, if it's not on a rack, just a standard condensing unit, that system will be running fine because if you add a frozen up evaporator, those conditions wouldn't be like that. Right Now, if you had a frozen up evaporator, do you think your suction will go up or down?
• 0:46
  We know when that evaporator is frozen up, that fan is spinning, you're getting no airflow across that coil. So nothing's boiling off. So we don't have anything boiling off. What's going to happen to the pressure? That pressure is going to start to drop. You're going to get low, low. So now we're going to start dropping down this way, just like this.
• 0:47
  The problem with that though, now we've got liquid coming back. Washing out the oil and causing, causing a failure. I got a great video, one I did with Dorin, if you guys don't know Dorin compressors. Go check out, I got two great videos done with Giacomo Pisano, this guy's an expert. And he shows one at his testing lab, where they're actually putting liquid, continuously flooding back the compressor.
• 0:48
  And he has two gauges on it, and the gauge, you watch the gauge, as the liquid refrigerant starts to make its back, wash out the oil, dropping the liquid pressure, drops right down, and you see the gauges drop off. The first time I've ever really seen that, I worked at Copeland for many years, I haven't seen a video like that.
• 0:49
  Actually, got the gauges on, on the oil pot, on the, on the crank, and then you watch it. Just like where you would have your Syntronic, your, your CoreSense, Protection, your PIN, your Danfoss, whatever oil failure control you're using, it doesn't even matter to me, but you're putting a gauge on, and all of a sudden, every time it starts to flow back, you see the pressure just drop right off.
• 0:50
  So you can tell by not only looking at the sight glass But looking at the pressures of that compressor to see if you're flooding back. Cool, cool stuff. It's really cool stuff. So this, this is why it's so important. And the other thing I wanted to show you, but this compressor might be running at 32 amps in those conditions and that is totally fine.
• 0:51
  But when we run all the way down here at minus 40 and 80 we'll say, we're only running at 19 amps. That compressor is still running 100 percent fine. Now, you could think, well, why would I get, go and take a look at this and spend 10 minutes to go on my phone to look this stuff up because it makes a difference.
• 0:52
  It verifies to you that, you know, that compressor is running, that's running in its spec. And then if there's something else going on at this system, that's when you've got to figure out what is causing that because the compressor is running fine. Maybe it's a fan, loose fan motor and it turns on and it turns off, but you've got to think again.
• 0:53
  If all of a sudden that evaporator fan is on, then it's off. On and it's off. We're not boiling off that refrigerator again, which will cause the pressure to change. No different in your condenser fan motor if you're running in with a, Bad condenser fan motor. All of a sudden it, it stops for some reason, cause you got a loose connection and it turns on a short cycle or something.
• 0:54
  You're going to see that pressure change. All of a sudden it's really hot outside and all of a sudden the fan shuts off. You're going to see that pressure start to rise and then it kicks back on. You see the pressure drop. So you'd be going, what's going on? So it's not going to stay in that one condition.
• 0:55
  So it's our job as detectives to figure this stuff out. That's why these documents are really cool. And it's easy to find them. It's so easy to find them. And you spend a little bit of time. You can go into the Bitzer software. And you can find all their information in there. They just update it. Actually this week, I just noticed tonight before the training.
• 0:56
  I just went in and they just updated it. I'm going to show you. It's super cool. As well as, Copland has been continually evolving Copland Mobile. It's ten times better than even when I was working at Copland. And you need to get inside here to, to do this. And some of you may be saying, well, there's a lot more going on here.
• 0:57
  What else can I know from these charts? Well, think about stuff that you don't think of usually. And one of that's mass flow. A lot of us, I didn't, when I was in the field, I didn't really think about mass flow. What's mass flow? Why does that matter? Why do I care? Well, it does really matter. Because if you're not getting the right amount of mass flow, maybe you're not getting the right amount of return gas coming back to cool that compressor.
• 0:58
  And if we look here, right at this end, if we go across here, look at this, at that first conditions I told you, compressor's running fine, we'll say in those conditions, for, uh, 248 PSI, 110, PSI, we're running at 1, 024 pounds an hour. That's what that compressor can do in those conditions. We're getting 71, 000 BTUs.
• 0:59
  That's a huge amount of capacity. We got mass flow happening. So we know that, that oil is getting carried through if it's piped properly. We know that that cooling is coming back to cool that, that compressor. But as we start to drop that pressure, we start to run lower different conditions. We start to drop it off.
• 1:00
  We close the suction surface out just to check and we watch it start to pump down. But we don't pump it all the way down. We just let it run at 4 psi. Look at the mass flow coming back now. We only got 378 pounds an hour movement through that compressor. Now we don't have enough cooling, and why don't we have enough cooling?
• 1:01
  Well, on these charts on Copeland, what they do is they put colors on there and say, rate up here, blue area restriction, low soup, breeded, or demand cooling. So a lot of you that do a lot of low temp, you said, man, I worked on lots of R 22. I remember those demand cooling. And then all of a sudden I got 404 systems.
• 1:02
  You don't need demand cooling anymore. Well, R22 ran a lot hotter and now you're starting to see with these new HFOs, they run a lot hotter too and HFO blends 448, 449. I know lots of you've done retrofits for those and you're starting to add demand cooling back because now we're reaching the envelope of those compressors.
• 1:03
  So this means like. If I'm doing this compressor, but I designed it for this condition right here, I don't need really demand cooling. But if I was the manufacturer, the engineer, the designer, or a contractor who's doing a retrofit, and I know that, man, there's a potential that we could run down into this zone here, I'd be getting that stuff.
• 1:04
  I would be getting and putting demand cooling on there because you're going to have failures. And I've seen this time and time again. Someone reached out to me. Why do these compressors keep failing? Well, do you have the demand cooling set up? Do you have liquid injection set up? Are refrigerant injecting?
• 1:05
  Depending on the manufacturer will depend on what type of technology they're using, but they're running outside. This needs that cooling. So we need to cool that compressor down more because that pressure ratio, compressor ratio is getting outside the zone. So, so important. And think about that mass flow as it starts, as that suction, uh, pressure drops off that, that refrigerants dense and it, it just decreases and you're going to see lots of issues that oil is not going to move and that's where you can get oil logging issues in your system.
• 1:06
  It's not moving properly. And really, you know, oil is one of the hardest things that, you know, for me, it was still, it still is honestly, even though I talk about a day in and day out, I'm out in the field working with manufacturers and technicians that I learned as much as I can to share with all of you.
• 1:07
  It's one of those things that you really need to get a good grasp on. And I see a time and time again, people, you know, they shy away from the things that are hurt. Oils hurt, electrical wiring diagrams are hurt, you know, and they don't, do we don't spend the time. I used to do it. I wasn't good at electrical for years because I didn't spend the time looking at them.
• 1:08
  I'd look at the man, the electrical diagram, man, this looks like a spaghetti drawing. Uh, let's just get my meter and start putting it all over the place to try to figure out what's going on. And that, that comes back to, right here, now my amps are 32 amps, but if I dropped all the way down to 4 PSI, my amps are only going to be running at 23 amps.
• 1:09
  I'm not moving. I'm not moving as much gas through that compressor. Lots of, lots of things that you need to think about getting those, that information. And I actually had a call today from someone asking me about compressor keeps overheating, keeps tripping off, overheating. They got liquid injection.
• 1:10
  Yeah, we got liquid injection on it. Well, what's the sub cooling at the liquid injection valve? Is it the right DTC valve? Are you getting the right amount of sub cooling at that valve? Is it injecting when it should be? Where is the temperature probe for that? Is it insulated? Is it thermal in the head?
• 1:11
  The, all this information too, the compressor manufacturers provide it to you. You just got to get up and take a few minutes and read it. These are the things that we talk about in the Compressor Master Class, Advanced Service Classes. We dive into that stuff and I can show you a lot quicker. Because when you put the work in your job gets so much easier, so much easier.
• 1:12
  There's a lot more on it, but I kind of want to just give you a, uh, show you what it looks like on the Bitzer software. So just go into Google and write Bitzer software. This refrigerant here is the R454C. So it's a newer refrigerant that's out. You guys start seeing, you probably won't see it in your wholesalers yet.
• 1:13
  But this is low GWP refrigerants below 200. I think this one is, I can't remember if this one's 148 GWP off the top of my head. But this is what an operation envelope looks like. This is one of the better ones. You need to understand how it works. And once again, it's like, why, why do I need to know this stuff?
• 1:14
  Well, when I'm running right here, this red dot, eh, I'm inside the zone. I am good. That compressor is running fine. But if I start running over here, In this zone, I need some additional cooling. That could be head cooling fan, could be refrigerant ejection, it could be a water jacket, you know, or water cooled heads, all depends where you're at in the world.
• 1:15
  And then if you're up here, additional cooling plus suction superheat gas needs to be less than 35 degrees Fahrenheit. So if you're not checking this stuff, And a compressor is failing. This could be the reason why this is why these checks are so, so important. The superheat check, it's different for different compressor manufacturers.
• 1:16
  It's different for different refrigerants for the same compressor manufacturer. Like, well, I've always learned, you know, Kobler says, you know, they want recommended a recommendation of 20 degrees superheat after compress on a rack and it's, you know, whatever it is. But if you're on a chiller, And you get your plate is only two feet away and that chiller is running at eight degrees Supri, nine degrees Supri, you're not going to pick up 11 degrees Supri down to that compressor.
• 1:17
  So okay, 13, 14 is okay. You look at what Bitzer says and their HFC synthetics, they're like, they like 15 degrees if you can recommend a 50. But if you ran a 12, that's fine as long as you check your oil temperature and you check your discharge temperature because they do something called discharge Supri check.
• 1:18
  Cool. Copeland didn't do that. They just say, check your discharge temperature. And I, that's a minimum check, but in the Bitzer one, if you read any of their manuals, they're going to talk about if you run that condensing pressure, lower temperature, really low, you could start to form droplets of refrigerants inside the compressor.
• 1:19
  And there's a calculation for it. And it's important to understand this stuff. And so being inside this here is very, very important. And then understanding, okay, am I, do I have motor one or motor two? Okay. Motor one, I could be over here, totally fine. Motor two, then, you know, if I'm running in this and I have a motor, uh, motor two on this side, you're in trouble.
• 1:20
  So how do you tell that? Well, you go and look in the specs and it's going to tell you what motor it is. But these are some of the things that you need to check. Diving in a little bit deeper on this stuff is going to help you getting into the software. But Trevor, I'm out there servicing and putting fires out every day.
• 1:21
  You're just making excuses if you're not diving in to do this, honestly. Because I did it. I know, I did it. But getting into this stuff, it's going to show you like another great one. Here is maximum operating current. What's that? What's maximum operating current. And Colburn calls it maximum continuous current.
• 1:22
  Well, that's the point when their internals are going to trip on that compressor on this specific compressor. It's going to be different for another one. And if you're setting up a drive, you're going to be using that. So these are just little things that will help you out. Honestly, let's take a little quick video here.
• 1:23
  I want to see if any of you one of you heard, uh,
• 1:24
  You guys hear that before
• 1:25
  compressor shuts off I'm gonna play it one more time
• 1:26
  So that there the compressor was shut off the back pressure Off the discharge, pass through the disc, because there's two different designs in the scroll. You got a plate design or a disc design, and you got a spring design. And inside the scroll head, you also have another discharge check valve. And what's happening is that when that compressor stops, all of a sudden the discharge pushes the bag in and she starts to spin backwards.
• 1:27
  So if you ever hear that, that's what it's doing. Is it a problem? Well, the first could last for years. The problem is going to be is your customer is going to be annoyed as hell and is going to want you to replace it because it's annoying. Let's dive into operation envelopes a little bit more. Okay. It's super important to understand this.
• 1:28
  This is all coming from your gauges. You put your gauges on your suction and your discharge. And this is where your pressure ratios, your compression ratios all start to come into play. I train all the time, I talk about compression ratio, but like what's the value? What do I need to know? This is what you need to know.
• 1:29
  In the different positions that you're running, especially if it's outside this envelope, I just kind of showed you two different envelopes. This one here is, I think this compressor is a 513A maybe, uh, or 515B refrigerant, doesn't even matter. And this one here is, I think this compressor is a 515B refrigerant, doesn't even matter.
• 1:30
  But here, here's the operation envelope. Okay, if we run here, here, here, here, here, here, we're outside this envelope. Okay, and this is where the damage starts. Is it going to fail instantly? No. But this is the causes that this is what starts to starts the end for those compressors. So if we're running at A, right here, that compression ratio gets really low.
• 1:31
  And I didn't know this, and I think it's, you know, if you get below, Say 60, 70 PSI difference, you know, as that, say that piston pushes up to push up that discharge valve, that read, and then it pulls down and then pushes up. When that pressure ratio and that compression ratio gets smaller and smaller and smaller, they don't go up and down as easy as they, they usually do.
• 1:32
  And what they happen, they start to flap and you can even hear this and they're flapping like this flap, flap, flap, flap, flap. And what that leads to is broken valves. So you come there and you pull off the head and you're like, Oh, I got broken valves. Well, what, what caused it? You know, and that's something you got to think about.
• 1:33
  What, why was, why could it be? A lot of the times, don't get me wrong. You got to put new plate in. You may have to put a new compressor in before you can start troubleshooting. Sometimes. That exact thing doesn't happen while you're there. I know I've been there. We, you need to do as much investigation as possible and run that system through every scenario while you're there, before you sign off on that paperwork, especially if you put a new compressor, well, we start to run up here.
• 1:34
  So here we've got lower, uh, evaporator. So we're starting to drop down and then we drop down our condenser. So it's just, it works the same way. Here's my evaporator down below here, my TO, and then this is my condensing. Evaporator condensing. We get up to B. This is where we're working on a higher evaporator.
• 1:35
  This is a higher mass flow. This is where low temp compressors will be due very poorly. Because I don't know if any of you noticed on that performance chart, but that compressor only went up to like 24 psi, zero degrees Fahrenheit. So now think about this compressor. This compressor's maximum 24 psi and zero degrees Fahrenheit.
• 1:36
  So what happens after a defrost? What happens when you start up that system and that walk in box is 75 degrees? 25 degrees Celsius, whatever, there's going to be a massive amount of mass flow. And that's what, that's what we were, I was showing you in that performance chart, cause that was the limit, that thousand 24 pounds per hour, that compressor that I was showing that was going, that's the amount of mass flow.
• 1:37
  But when we get into this maximum evaporator pressure on this side, right here, when we start to get that higher there, that's when, you know, I compressed doing a lot of work. And that's where you start to get more force on the bearings and the internals. And that's where you start to, you'll see, even see signs of it inside there.
• 1:38
  He got a lot of things happening. The temperature's going up and this is why you can't take a low temp compressor and just put it into a high temp application. So now let's take a look at C it's important to understand what this is. Now we got really high condensing and we got really high evaporating.
• 1:39
  Like this is. Massive amount of motor load on the compressor. So you put your gauges on now, or all you come there and the compressor's tripped off and you're like, why is this compressor tripped off? It's not starting. We don't know what's going on. You got to wait till it cools down and then you let it cool down.
• 1:40
  And so after it cools down, you can start it up. And then when it starts to back up, all of a sudden you see the gauges were really high suction. Really high discharge. Well, what could it be? Well, it could be a few things. It could be overcharged. Maybe the condenser is dirty. Maybe, uh, you got a massive amount of load in that walk in box.
• 1:41
  Someone just put a bunch of hot food, 90 degrees, 100 degrees inside, inside this walk in box. Why, why did they do that? What, what's causing it? But what we need to know and what we need to understand is that when we see that What is the next step? So we need to go and take an assessment of that site. Why we got so much load?
• 1:42
  Why is our condensing so high? Why is our suction so high? Once again, there's a massive amount of mass flow and with this high condensing, there's a massive amount of heat on top of that. So it's going to run into, you're going to run into some issues there. Now, if we take a look, uh, D. D is really high condensing temp.
• 1:43
  So I showed you in that last performance chart, 110 was the maximum. But what happens outside is running. It's 140 out on the roof. You got that sun beating down on the roof and there's no panels on this condensing unit and that sun, that heat is just banging in there. Well, now we're running maximum.
• 1:44
  That's when you guys go out there and you're sliding out, just like I did slide it up some sprinklers and you're like this, You've got your own brand new adiabatic cooling system. You know, you've got your own misting system. You've got to figure out what, what is causing that. Is the condenser too fouled up?
• 1:45
  Is the fans not working? But all this, you can see this just from your gauges and your, your, your meter. But coming back to the operation envelope and each one is different. That's the biggest, I want to get this so you understand that this is just one. They're going to be different. And over time, you're going to get a better understanding of it.
• 1:46
  Plugging it into the different softwares, plug it in, into, uh, to Copeland. Then we get over to E. Like now this is the minimum evaporator temperature. This is what I talked about earlier. As that suction starts to drop off, we got a minimum amount of mass flow. So now this is where the compressor can start to overheat.
• 1:47
  You would think, well, we start to drop off. The suction goes down and you look at the performance chart. Oh, it's getting colder, but we're actually, we're not pulling back that gas. We need. And as that mass flow, you know, starts to drop off that suction gas density starts to increase. And that's where you can run into those overheating issues.
• 1:48
  And this could be from many things. It could be, uh, plug TXV for an example, it could be, um, plug filter dryer, could be lots of different cheap pipe, inefficient, the wrong size pipe. It's kind of like if you ever have a system. And it's running off, uh, uh, say a low pressure control. And when it goes to pump down, it just runs and runs and runs and runs and runs.
• 1:49
  It's like, it's never going to shut it off. Well, is that suction line the right sides? How far is that solenoid from that TX valve? Why does it keep running? Why doesn't it just pump down? Is the valves inside the compressor shot? And that's why I can't pump down and it just keeps running and running and running.
• 1:50
  These are some of the things that you want to check. And this is where you get into the performance chart. You go on a Cobra mobile, you go into the bits of software, you go to to Carlyle software, you go to the Tecumseh software, whoever software it is. You go in there and you take a look and you plot this stuff.
• 1:51
  And you're like, well, Trevor, I don't have time with that. I got 10 calls. Well, when do you have time to come back to fix that job? That's my question to you. If you don't have time to do it while you're there. Okay. When do you have time to go back and refix the problems that you left there? This is the big thing.
• 1:52
  Fix the problem. Try to figure out the first time you're there that brings more value to your company. And then the last one F is the thermal limit, right? This is where you got, um, really low evaporator load, very high condensing. And this is where you start to run into, well, where you'll need additional cooling.
• 1:53
  This is where the demand cooling, uh, liquid injection, refrigerant injection really happened. That's when this has happened when you're running in this zone. So you seen that other one, it was up there. It was kind of purplish, I think. And then even higher, it said you need a minimum of a super heat plus additional cooling, head cooling fans, water jackets, whatever it is, that's when you're in that zone.
• 1:54
  So if you don't have that stuff and you're looking at your gauges, And you know, your, your suction is lower than when you, it should be. And your condensing is really high. Well, this could be a sign that you, you want to go check that and verify, do I need this extra stuff? These are some of the things that I really believe that will help you out getting in inside some of this stuff and learning it.
• 1:55
  Uh, and it takes time. Like I've been trained by so many gurus and it's still, I'm still learning this guys, honestly, but I'm putting the work in. Talk refrigeration. Day in, day out, it's nine o'clock here and you guys are with me. So I know you guys want to get to the next level. You want to learn one or two things and start to apply it to more.
• 1:56
  And I know half of you that are here, you can go and apply some of this stuff tomorrow. They're going to be working on a compressor. Uh, it doesn't matter if it's on an ice machine, on a air handling unit, makeup air, whatever you're working on. I know you can start applying this stuff, but what you need to do, you need to get the proper checks.
• 1:57
  You need to get your suction, you need to get your discharge pressures, you need to get your suction temperature and your discharge temperature. Your suction temperature should be four to six inches from the valve. If you're on a Bitzer, they want it four. If you're on a Koblen, it's six. To me, it doesn't matter.
• 1:58
  You just need to take it. You need to know what refrigerant you're running at. You need to get the volts and amps and compare that to what it should be running at. Is it 230? Is it 380? Is it 480? Is it 575? Is it 600? Doesn't matter to me. Shouldn't matter to you. You should just have an understanding. Well, my volts are higher.
• 1:59
  My amps are lower. My volts are lower. My amps are higher. That's where, when you're looking at those performance charts, that would be like, well, this is interesting. My amps are lower than my performance chart. Well, what are my volts? And this is why you need to get that information. Cause when you have all that information at that time, it is running.
• 2:00
  It's going to give you a good view of what's happening to that compressor. So that's just a little bit of what's going on. I want to make sure I don't know if you guys have my compressor guide yet, but you should have it free compressor guide. Some of you have it. I know already, but I'm going to put the link in the chat.
• 2:01
  This is free. This is a 17 page with dozens of videos. Click on the link and download it for free. Like you can see, there's a video here talking about overeating. We're going to, it dives into the six mechanical failures. These are the things that you need to know, and I need you to share this with other people.
• 2:02
  I need you to go out there tomorrow and share the stuff you learned tonight. How are we going to get a better industry if we're not all training other people and helping other people get, get better? I don't want to get those calls at two o'clock in the morning. So I know you don't want to get those calls at two o'clock in the morning.
• 2:03
  You're willing to do it and put the work in for sure. Teach them to be able to fish. And a lot of the people that I'm meeting, I've had hundreds of thousands of people coming through my compressor program, supermarket programs. They're loving it, but the thing is, is that they are helping others grow.
• 2:04
  They're taking this knowledge and they're sharing it with other people. And that's what I need you to do. You're coming to spend the time here to learn. Do me a favor and share the knowledge you hear with me that you learned from me with other people. Get onto the podcast. When you learn something, you see something, share that with someone else because this is how we're going to get our industry better.
• 2:05
  We want more people to be more knowledgeable in our industry. And like I said, this is a free 17 page guide, tons of different videos, easy clickable links. I got some programs coming up in the new year, and I'm telling you, the people that come through it's, these programs are for you. So you come in, you ask Q and A, we're spending some time to learn on the things you need to learn.
• 2:06
  If it's on scroll, semi aromatic, we dive into how to property inspect them. We pull them apart. Like, I have compressors here that we take apart, we take a look inside, and I help you get a better understanding on how they work. If you know people who need it, because I used to think, honestly, I told you earlier, that I used to think I knew compressors until I started working at the manufacturer.
• 2:07
  And then all of a sudden my mind was blown because Kobla has over 30 compressors, Bitzer has a dozen compressors, Danfoss has another dozen or two compressors, same with Tecumseh. And then Kobler has 2 cylinders, 3 cylinders, 4 cylinders, 6 cylinders, 8 cylinder compressors. They all work differently. And this is what we dive, uh, dive into in this master class.
• 2:08
  And we talk about service, and we talk about how to property troubleshoot. And each week you can send me questions. Right. And each week we're going to learn different topics and it's for free guys to make you better and to grow. So I got a good question. How much experience in the field should someone have before taking the supermarket class?
• 2:09
  Okay. So that's a great question. I get this question all the time. You need to have some experience because like these are courses that are supposed to be hands off. We do, I do virtual courses. Why I can do virtual course, I can train anybody around the world, but what they need to have the experience for this question, they need to know how to use a meter.
• 2:10
  They need to know how to use gauges. They need to know how to, what superheat means. If I talk about glide, at least I heard glide before. And if for in my courses, I want the people that come in to go out and apply some of the stuff. So how much experience me, I had people that are only six months in the industry.
• 2:11
  They took what they could away. They learned a lot, but that would be definitely my compressor course. Getting into the supermarket course, or especially the CO2 if you're, you're, you know, you're only six months in. It's going to be going to be a steep learning curve. Um, so thanks for that great question, but the compressor mastermind, and this is how I lay out my courses to like, I got a supermarket course and a CO2 coming up, but I really, if you're new to the industry, you're like two, three, four years in, start with a compressor course, go onto the supermarket and then into the CO2 course.
• 2:12
  And that's, that's the way if you're in supermarket and I'm all refrigeration. You know, I have lots of people I want to do, you know, they want me to do, uh, chiller stuff, HVAC stuff, VRF, you know, I can talk about it. I know it, but my, my love is refrigeration. This is what I do, especially supermarket refrigeration.
• 2:13
  That's what I'm passionate about. And I'm going to train you top on this compressor master class. I'm there for you. I'm going to teach you to stuff a hundred percent. I would recommend start with the compressor master class. And this is the one, I think this is probably one of my best courses. Because when you leave this course, you're all going to work on compressor where some people come to the supermarket course, and they're just an HVAC for 10 years, and they want to move to the supermarket, they'll learn a lot.
• 2:14
  And they'll get a lot out of it, but for sure, they're going to learn more about compressors because right now, hundreds to thousands of compressors being replaced everywhere, people are pulling them out. They're pulling some of them from your company right now, out on call, the deem and the compressor fail, but what are they doing?
• 2:15
  The compressors fail. Are they doing it efficiently? If it's on a rack, are they unwiring it right now? Are they taking it apart? Are they locking it out? Are they prepping it for tomorrow's replacement? No, half of them aren't. Good technicians are. Those technicians that want to make more money, they know what they're doing.
• 2:16
  They're there right now, they know this compressor failed, they're pulling all the electrics off right now, they're unhooking the wire, they're isolating it, and that compressor's ready to go tomorrow when they get that new compressor to come in, or maybe even tonight. And this is what we talk about to make you guys more efficient and effective.
• 2:17
  Two guys there twiddling around one on the phone. What, uh, one just sitting there watching the other guy do the work. No, get in there and do the work. You want to make more money. That's what you do. You bring more value. And that's why you're here tonight. You want to bring more value to other people. Now I've, I've many people who came to my program has emailed me, switched to a compressor course, super micro work.
• 2:18
  They say, Trevor, I got a pay raise because of this. You know what? I just saved a 6, 000 compressor because someone said it was the compressor was failing, it was actually a contactor or a valve plate. So I'll put the links in, uh, in the chat too for the supermarket course, if you guys are interested in that.
• 2:19
  That one's coming up too. And once again, it's another course that is a game changing course. It's all about you. Inside these courses though, you got to put the work in. Honestly, it's not me. I could give you all the answers and how to do it, but unless you do it, that's where you learn. That's how I learned.
• 2:20
  I'm a hands on learner. I'm also a visual learner now and an audio learner, and so are all of you. You might say you're one better than the other, but you do it all. You're watching right now, so you're a visual learner. When you're out in the field and you're adjusting your TX valve or you're checking your compressor, you're a hands on learner at that point.
• 2:21
  And then when I make, when I get you to read the manuals and you go and get that free guide that I talked to you about and you start reading this stuff, now you're a visual, uh, now you're you're a visual learner. Andy, well, I, if you're a first year apprentice and you, you've been doing some supermarket stuff, get into that compressor program.
• 2:22
  Uh, honestly, it's going to help you. It's going to help you. It, um, the whole purpose of these courses is to shave years off your troubleshooting time. That's what, that's what I struggled with six, seven years in the industry. And my troubleshooting was taking too long. But what I did over the last five, six, seven years, I'm an expert now.
• 2:23
  Honestly, I'm an expert at compressors, supermarkets, CO2. I know the stuff because I spent the last seven years day in, day out. And right now, look, I'm talking to you about it. It's to just to let you know that I want to share the knowledge I have to shave the years off that I didn't have the opportunity to, because I know guys right now they're going from fourth year to seven or eight years, two years to a journeyman, understand.
• 2:24
  But once again, it's up to you when you get in this courses, it's up to you to put the work in. You got to do the quizzes. You got to do the exam. I'm your guide to help you become a better technician out there. And that's it. That's it. I want to help you be the best person at your company, best person in the industry, better than me, better than me for sure.
• 2:25
  And then the CO2 one, if you're in a supermarket right now, CO2 is coming. I build my whole business around CO2 refrigeration. You may not be working on it yet, but if you're in a supermarket in the chat box, click on that link and check it out. CO2 is my favorite topic. It's so fun. I love it. I'm being trained by manufacturers from all around the world.
• 2:26
  I flew it to Germany. I flew it to UK. I'm here all across Canada, in the U. S. at different sites with different manufacturers. So I can train you guys. So I can help you become the best out there. Not being afraid of it. Being able to go there, be confident at two o'clock in the morning, working on a CO2. So I've never been here before, meaning like, okay, I know where to start and then where to finish.
• 2:27
  And that's it. And this is what I do. This is what I'm bringing to the table as well. People get into the next level in their career. And I know a lot of you, that's what you want and that's what we're going to do. That's what Refrigeration Mentor is all about. Lastly, what I got here is a little quiz from tonight.
• 2:28
  Let me get this link here. So any of you that are left here who want to just. Take a stab at the quiz and we'll throw that in chat too. Take a look, you can click on it. Simple quiz for you guys, for sure. But it's something to make you think. And this is what it's all about. This is what these trainings are all about.
• 2:29
  Getting you to think a little bit differently. It was, it was, it was cool. I had this technician say like, I've been doing this for 15 years, Trevor. And after the program, I was just pigeonholed for the last few years. I was just doing the same thing. Everything felt the same. But after coming to the course, man, it's like, oh man, I'm seeing all these different things all of a sudden, the things I knew about, but it's just over the last five years, it just got, it was, it just got so the same and I'll just come back to perspective because you might be out there doing supermarket work right now, but what are you doing above and beyond what you need to do?
• 2:30
  Are you teaching your or showing your company like we can get you digital compressor? We're talking to the end user on how to, how to, how to properly talk to an end user about an oil change. That oil change is going to be 7, 000. You don't just say, Oh, you need an oil change, 7, 000. You talk to them, right?
• 2:31
  You're going to sell them on it. The value of doing an oil change, well, your heat exchangers are going to work a little bit better. This oil change is going to reduce the amount of energy it's going to cost to run this rack as proven, especially with really bad oil. It's proven that it does. Or it's like, listen, your rack is short cycling.
• 2:32
  Maybe, maybe the engineer was, the engineering was a problem. They just ran it for years and now four or five compressors fail and they just keep paying for compressor replacements. And then all of a sudden you can say like, listen, let's try this. Compressor failed anyway. Well, let's not put, let's put a digital on there or let's put a drive on there.
• 2:33
  Whatever it is. And this is how you bring value to a company. And this is how you make more money. This is how you bring value or you, maybe it's not money you're looking for. Maybe it's, you're looking for. I want to move up. I want to be the service manager. I want to be the lead tech, or I want to be home with my family more.
• 2:34
  And how you be home with your family more is you fix the job the first time at the most efficient scale. That's it because jobs take time. If you have to change a 6D compressor, I've done it many times. It takes time, but how effective are you? Are you preparing everything the night before? Do you got the compressor in your van that night?
• 2:35
  Do you get it in the morning? Do you have the compressor already off the rack? Like I said earlier in that example. You schedule it where you don't need two guys for three days. You schedule one guy for a full day and another guy for a half a day. You come up with this stuff. You start building this stuff for your company.
• 2:36
  I'm going to be like, but Gary's crushing it. Like he's writing out this, the service tech is he's saving us a bunch of money. Now, all of a sudden my gross margin is huge. These are what they're tracking. This is what companies are tracking. And when your gross margin starts to get better and better, Hands down, they're going to be like, what is he doing?
• 2:37
  How do we get more technicians to do what Greg's doing? It's just the way it is. See it time and time again. I'm seeing technicians come through the program, getting raises, getting new jobs, but they're putting the work in. I know you guys can too. That's it for me tonight. Hope you had a good time and we'll see you at the next one.
• 2:38
  I want to thank you so much for hanging out with me and the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast. If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a comment. Let me know what were your key highlights. What you took away from myself or my guests, as well as if you have not subscribed yet, head over to Apple podcasts or Spotify and subscribe.
• 2:39
  And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Let your friends know that there are people who care, who want to share the refrigeration information to help them get to the next level in their career. If you have not been to the refrigeration mentor website@refrigerationmentor.com, go check it out.
• 2:40
  There's a ton more guest podcasts I've been on as well as the event page. Check out the events page because there's a lot more free trainings as well as paid training to really help you grow your knowledge base. Super excited. Can't wait to see it. The next refrigeration enter podcast, let's get a conversation going.