What AC diagnostic readings actually tell you

Well, I had someone look at it last year. Yeah, who looked at it matters. A tune-up checklist from a big box company and a real diagnostic are two very different things. So, when one of our guys shows up at your house, here's what they're actually doing. Not a 10-point marketing checklist, they're doing a real diagnostic. We're measuring supply and return air temperatures, static pressure in your duct system, refrigerant pressures on both sides. We're checking the amp draw on your compressor and your blower motor, your capacitor health, your contactor condition, your coil cleanliness inside and out. We're not trying to find something to sell you. We're trying to understand what your system is actually doing. Sometimes, everything checks out fine. Sometimes, we find something that you need to know about. Here's where we're different from a lot of companies. If we find something, we'll give you both numbers, what it cost to repair it, and what it would cost to put that money toward something new. And then, we let you decide. >> Your home. >> [singing] [music]

this is a filter dryer these are typically found on most systems nowadays they're actually used for removing different debris or even moisture from your system people call them filter dry or filters or dryers they're all the same they are found in your system or outside the system and depending on that depends on what we have to do if we need to replace it typical reason for replacing this is anytime you open up the system it can also get clogged up and need to be replaced the actual price of replacing this can be anywhere from 200 and up depending on where it is in the system and why we're replacing it and that's what I tell people about this part

we've got a small breake in the insulation on this wire and it's probably no big deal but I do want to make sure there's no bare wires in here so we don't cause a short so I'm going to cut this fitting off and crimp a new end on there that's back behind this that way there's no bare wire showing

this is a service valve we use this as an access port to hook up our gauges to know what pressure the system is running out so we can do different checks this one's actually a king valve and it actually shuts off and and opens up by this little valve right here if anything fails on that that's usually where your fell is it'll leak and need to be replaced periodically these typically do not go out typical pricing for that Schrader core if it goes out is about a hundred dollars if the valve itself goes out we'd have to actually quote that out that's what I tell people about this part

15 minute diagnostic test. So, what you do is you turn your thermostat down maybe 5 to 10° below what you normally set it to, go outside, and just listen. Listen for anything unusual. If you hear loud clinging or banging noise or really weird humming, those are signs that there might be something wrong that even though it's working right now, that you might want to jot down and maybe have a technician come out and inspect. This is a callback to why an A check is so important. We check a lot of that stuff. >> I'm rose. >> [singing] [music]

this is low pressure switch we use these on units to protect the unit for if you have a low charge sometimes you'll have a high pressure and a low pressure just depending on the manufacturer this is actually an aftermarket one these typically last the life of the unit they're pretty simple to change most of the time typical costs on this is anywhere from 200 and up depending on the manufacturer and that's what I have to say about this part foreign

Hey y'all, it's Stephen here. I'm the service manager. So, I'm the one who signs off when a repair turns into a replacement conversation. I want to tell you about the three situations where I flat out will not let that conversation happen, even if you're ready to sign. One, your system's under 8 years old with an easily fixable fault, a capacitor, a motor, a contactor. I see these tickets every single day, and that system's got good years left. Replacing your equipment would be like lighting your money on fire. We fix it and we go home. Number two, your real problem is an airflow problem wearing the disguise of an equipment issue. And my techs get called out for the AC's not keeping up all the time. And half the time, the equipment's innocent. The ducts are leaking or choked, and a shiny new system on bad ducts, that's going to disappoint you exactly like the old one did. So, we fix the actual problem, and it's usually a fraction of the cost. And number three, the repair is small and the system is healthy. If $500 could buy you three more good years, I'll tell you that. Hand you the honest timeline, and you can plan the replacement on your schedule, not in a panic during a heat wave, which I promise you is when everybody else does it. So, why am I telling you this? Cuz you've probably met the other kind of tech, the one who turns every service call into a sales pitch. That's not how you last 40 years in Oklahoma. Replacement conversation happens when the math says so, not before. And when it does, you'll already know we weren't just selling you something. Love y'all. God bless.

I got a liquid line drier. This is actually a bi-flow liquid line drier, something you're going to see on most heat pumps that allows the refrigerant to flow both ways. So, they have two purposes. They filter out the refrigerant, but not only that, they're actually pulling moisture that they will find in the refrigerant. Moisture is a killer in a system. Any kind of moisture that is in these systems, especially with the oils that they use, they can actually form acid, and that's going to end up eating away at your compressor. It can do other things, but most time we see compressor failures because of that. This is a very simple part to put on every new install. Like I said, it's going to save that compressor. That's the whole point. Your pros. >> [singing]

so this unit designs for a 10° subcool and we're right at 9.4 we're right there our cool temperatures above freezing our our condenser pressure is not too high not crazy too high we're looking good the super heat's not crazy high so I was reading 11 amps on my compressor and right at 1 amp on my condenser fan motor and the rating for the compressor is 15 so it's good and the rating on the kop fan motor is 1.4 which is good

Hey y'all, it's Stephen here. You know, I spend all day talking to our techs while they're on their calls, so consider this list they'd hand you themselves if it wasn't a little awkward. Five things that can make your visit faster, cheaper, and better, starting today. One, tell us everything the system did. The noise it made Tuesday, breaker that tripped, the smell that showed up once. You're not bothering us. You're handing us the diagnosis. Weird details can solve calls. Number two, clear a path to the equipment before we arrive. Attic access, closet, the outdoor unit. 10 minutes of moving boxes on your schedule beats paying for it on ours. Number three, if the system is froze up, shut it off and let it thaw before the appointment. We can't test anything through a block of ice, and thawed on arrival saves you real time on the clock. Number four, dogs. We love them. Put them up anyway, for their sake and for ours. Number five, ask questions. Ask what failed. Ask what they checked. Ask what to watch for. A tech who can't explain it plainly didn't finish the job. Mine know that's the standard. None of that cost you a dime, and every bit of it gets you a better visit. Love y'all. God bless.

a voltmeter it's a diagnostic tool for text to uh determine a myriad of issues so it can do anything from tell you if you've got incoming voltage into your unit or tell you what component is bad on the system

This is a point of view of a spring AC maintenance. We started inside by checking the air handler, cleaning the drain line, and making sure the evaporator coil looked good. Now here, we pulled apart the condenser and gave it a full wash. Dirt build-up restricts airflow, and airflow is key to keeping your system healthy. We did notice the compressor was starting a little hard at 115 amps, so we installed a hard start kit and brought that down to 80 amps, which reduces strain every time it kicks on. Uh we checked the capacitors, verified refrigerant levels, inspected the blower wheel, and everything is running the way it should. Just solid preventative maintenance before the Oklahoma heat rolls in this springtime. Your [music] [singing] home.

Don't buy the upgrade. It solves someone else's problem or a solution that sounds like a fix-all because homes are built different. Your comfort needs are different. They're different from your neighbors. They're different from your friends, your family, whomever. Make sure that the problem you're trying to solve is solving your specific problem. And so, what you want to do is you want to do a full kind of diagnostic on your house and take stock of your complaints that you have on the system and whenever you're talking to an HVAC team, ask for full diagnostic and not just a product recommendation. You want to have a solution that fits your needs and your wants and you want to make sure that it's catered to your comfort cuz at the end of the day, your comfort is specific to you.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you that's going to cause a giant issue I'm not going to tell you it's going to cause a fire but any the more wiring connections you have in a system especially on your High Line side something I would recommend to take out cuz we could I could cut 2 in off of this carflex here to pull the extra wire I would have needed to get that up under the lug safe and sound so we'll address that with the homeowner that would be a good preventative fix we've been in the Home Comfort game since 88 OKC share this with a friend who's in need of some serious home service help

first thing before working on any unit you want to make sure you don't have power to that unit if there's power to the unit you run all kinds of risk of any kind of injury so it's always good to pull that power out on most units on the outside here it's just a simple disconnect or on an inside unit you can actually turn off the breaker or unplug the furnace

A lot of times we have intermittent prompt and something will do something just intermittently. If you can catch that on footage and send it to us, that's always a big help to let us know kind of what we need to look for and stuff like that because intermittent problems. We've had lots of times where we show up to the house and everything's running fine and there's no initial indication of what's going wrong. Um, and then we're called back out about a week later because now it did it again. So knowing why it did it, what you did, what changes you made, did you change something on the thermostat, did you do this, do this? Definitely will help us to make sure that if it's an intermittent problem, we can further diagnose it on things like that.

This definitely gives you the womp-womp. This is a liquid line and that is a liquid line dryer, that little cylinder that you see there. And as you could probably tell by the diameter that's there, it's a kinked line. And a kinked line in your refrigerant system is going to cause refrigerant to start changing phase well before it should because it's acting as a metering device. One, if refrigerant is flowing, it's not flowing properly. Two, your system's probably not too long for this world if the system continues to run with with a kinked refrigerant line like that on either the liquid or the the suction line, either one. If the line is kinked, give us a call, give someone a call because your system probably isn't running well. Or if it is running, you're living on borrowed time and it's probably going to die soon. Your >> [singing] >> pros.

We want to make sure we catch everything if we can. What I'm actually going to do is this spade right here is not doing too hot. Can't get it to stay on things. So, I'm actually going to replace this. So, this spade right here whenever I try to push it on it just slides on and off. That's a risk for not making good contact and it can cause actually electrical issues with that.

what you really want to do anytime you change out a capacitor is you want to check some things so any kind of compressor if a capacitor is going out there's a good chance that that compressor or that fan has a underlining problem internally so things like that could actually cause it to overload which would kill a switch inside and so one thing you do is go out there and check make sure if that compressor is hot um that would be a good indication of why that capacitor went out just because you replace capacitor doesn't mean that's the only problem and that's one reasons why as a professional we want to check those things to make sure you don't just replace a capacitor and go on down the road because you can run into that problem so we've been in the Home Comfort game since 88 here in OKC share this with a friend who's in need of some serious homecomfort help

Green flags, a diagnostic should take anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes. There's a lot of components. There's a lot of measuring that needs to be done. There's a lot of steps and processes that we have to follow to make sure that one we're we're doing our due diligence to make sure at the end of the day you don't have to call us back. The technicians that watch the videos they may say, you know, 15 minutes tops. I was like, well, I am also taking consideration a conversation with the homeowner. Cuz at the end of the day if we're not having a conversation with you and really figuring out like what your problems, your needs, and your wants are then we're not doing a very good job figuring out if you're really happy with the the system. If we find what that problem is within 15 minutes and within that conversation maybe we had that conversation on the way on the way there. Awesome. >> Your >> [singing] >> bros. >> [music]

I don't know if you can see the shape of this disconnect right here this thing has been held on by some zip ties which are broken I'm not going to stick my hand in there and pull that out just for safety's sake that's got a high potential to lead to shocking myself or causing further issues to the homeowners but now see if we can locate the breaker for this thing it's an older home so hopefully they're labeled and if not we'll just have to warn the home owners that we're going to have to trip a few Breakers to to find out what's going here there's not many to choose from in there so we'll get it right on one out of three tries I believe hey third time a charm we're going to go label that as air conditioning now we can really dive a little closer into this disconnect

the customer said the system's been cool and fine um until it went down but it could always be cool and better cuz man we're low on refrigerant so I've got a really low subcooling and a very high superheat which indicates low refrigerant pressures and need to add some gas to it so we'll get this system up and cooling nicely and they should be good to go hopefully for the rest of the summer all of our refrigerant is stored in here and so I want to flip it upside down and I've got it on my scales right now and as I add refriger to the system my scales will weigh it and then I'll know how much takes cuz you know it could be one lb low it could be 8 lb low so I need to be able to accurately measure what I'm doing it's definitely not a cheap expense to gas up a system but um definitely one that needs to be done once I get the refrigerant pressures where they need to be the home is going to be cooling so much better and dehumidifying properly

Most manufacturers will tell you you don't need the hard start kit, but in my opinion, it just does cause less wear and tear on your compressor, which is something that we definitely want to look at in anything we can have less wear on something that's such critical. We like to think that that's a pretty good part to have. So, these are great to add to your unit if you don't have them. Not all units can have them. Obviously, your high efficiencies are not going to be able to have them, but on anything that's a standard AC or a standard heat pump, I would highly suggest it. When you're looking at replacing this or even adding a new one, you're looking at about $340 for the cost. Your >> [singing and music] >> pros.