A well-designed medium temperature refrigeration system will maintain both a proper case temperature and relative humidity (rh). The preservation of food depends not only on the temperature, but also on the relative humidity within a case.
Contractors do not like to hear the word “callback.” They cost money and degrade a customer’s respect for and opinion of the service contractor. So how can a technician reduce the number of times he must revisit a repair?
While troubleshooting or installing refrigeration systems using a thermostatic expansion valve, it is a relatively common task to measure the superheat value of the refrigerant leaving the evaporator. However, there is a major consideration when using this measurement to analyze the operation of a system.
In many aspects the first part of a job is like detective work — not only does a technician need to identify the problem but he also must determine its root cause. A good initial step is to visually inspect the entire system.
Properly sizing and installing the suction line of a refrigeration system is very important to its overall operation. What happens when they aren’t installed properly and how can you avoid this?
Many refrigeration systems are installed using an outdoor air-cooled condenser. When these systems are installed in a climate where the outdoor temperature drops below 60°F, some means of preventing the condensing pressure from dropping too low must be incorporated into its design.
Replacing a compressor is neither simple for a technician nor inexpensive for the customer. Before replacing a compressor, a technician needs to ensure that it is truly defective. Unfortunately, sometimes good compressors get replaced as a result of a misdiagnosed problem.
When a refrigeration system fails, many times the cause can easily be diagnosed. However there are occasions when the cause cannot easily be determined - either the true cause is unclear or the technician is unsure of a problem. How do you work through these jobs? One method used by some techs is to “read and record.”
Actually, frost on the suction line only indicates that at the location where the frost is present, the suction line piping is below the dew point temperature of the surrounding ambient air and at or below 32°F. That’s it. It is neither an indication of a properly operating system nor a system defect.