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Jamie Hall
Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,280
in A-C, Heat Pumps & Refrigeration
Recently went to trouble shoot the air conditioners at one of the places my daughter works. Installed last fall, but not used until this spring. None of them (12 of them, individual units) was working...

None of them had any refrigerant charge. How's that again? Further sleuthing found... every single one had a pipe joint which hadn't been soldered. Same joint on every single unit.

So much for robotic assembly, eh wot?

Soldered up and recharged. Fingers crossed for tomorrow morning...
Br. Jamie, osb
Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England

Comments

  • Alan (California Radiant) Forbes
    Alan (California Radiant) Forbes Member Posts: 4,002
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    Good CSI! I'll bet you're a hero with your daughter and her co-workers.
    8.33 lbs./gal. x 60 min./hr. x 20°ΔT = 10,000 BTU's/hour

    Two btu per sq ft for degree difference for a slab
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,625
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    Ha! What'd the mfgr say? I'm assuming they're going to cover it completely. Let us know if they step up—I'm always much more interested in how the mfgrs respond to these kind of things than if it ever happens.
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,280
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    Wholesaler picked up the tab for the service -- they're going to argue with the manufacturer.
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • GBart
    GBart Member Posts: 746
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    who installed it?
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,625
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    Give the wholesaler an attaboy. That's the kind of place I like to shop at.
    Jean-David Beyer
  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Member Posts: 23,280
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    GBart said:

    who installed it?

    Not me. Nor anyone we know...
    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
    GBart
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,519
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    And the manufacturer will say, "all our units are factory tested, we have NEVER had that problem before"

    ****.
    I would fight them for an extended warranty with the units being open all winter
    GroundUpIronman
  • newagedawn
    newagedawn Member Posts: 586
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    curious as to what brand
    "The bitter taste of a poor install lasts far longer than the JOY of the lowest price"
  • the_donut
    the_donut Member Posts: 374
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    I’d want new dryers too from manufacturer.
    ChrisJ
  • nicholas bonham-carter
    nicholas bonham-carter Member Posts: 8,576
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    Most condensing units come precharged with Freon, so how did an unsoldered joint not blow out well before it was even picked up by the installer, or even during installation?—NBC
  • GBart
    GBart Member Posts: 746
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    When I was a Carrier rep we had a rooftop arrive with a section of pipe missing, talking like a 1 1/4" suction line, factory claimed there was no way, someone must've stole the copper during shipment, unit arrived shrink wrapped and the missing section wasn't cut out.

    We had other oddities too, they use the same control for commercial equip it's just programmed to be a chiller or AH or RTU etc with different decals for the low volt connections and they'd arrive with the wrong programming, it happens but any factory can take serial numbers and find out when they were made and track issues and solve them.
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,625
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    I've had more than one unit come out broken in a way that could never have run, & once or twice a year we'll get a unit with counter-rotating compressors. Check rotation on all motors.
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,671
    edited May 2018
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    I agree with donut. Every filter drier should've been changed. Without a doubt.


    That also wasn't the best for the oil...
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,519
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    @GBart

    Had that same issue with a Carrier Chiller. It was air cooled and needed a new main board. Carrier demanded model serial etc said the board had to be specifically programmed for that chiller and that is why shipment of the board was delayed.

    The board showed up ---programmed for a water cooled chiller
  • ratio
    ratio Member Posts: 3,625
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    EBEBRATT-Ed said:

    ...The board showed up ---programmed for a water cooled chiller

    Awesome! Did they tell you what option to change to set it to air-cooled?

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Member Posts: 15,519
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    @ratio

    It was quite a few years ago. I think we figured out the changes on our own reading the manual. The only reason I remember is that Carrier made such a big deal about getting the right board and then they sent it programmed wrong
    ratio
  • unclejohn
    unclejohn Member Posts: 1,833
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    Goodman had a run of evap coils that had the process tube pinched but not soldered. My neighbor got one of em. His cousin installed it but was to busy to come back and fix it.
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 15,671
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    > @unclejohn said:
    > Goodman had a run of evap coils that had the process tube pinched but not soldered. My neighbor got one of em. His cousin installed it but was to busy to come back and fix it.

    I thought process tubes were only used on tiny things like fridges, dehumidifiers etc?
    Single pipe quasi-vapor system. Typical operating pressure 0.14 - 0.43 oz. EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Control for Residential Steam boilers. Rectorseal Steamaster water treatment
  • RomanP
    RomanP Member Posts: 102
    edited May 2018
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    The sad part is, term “quality” ceased to exist these days in many aspects of our trades. Had an extended run when nibco cxc fittings wouldn’t go over the pipe without extensive rimming and deburring!! ( each stupid 1/2” cxc fitting literally took couple of mins!!!!!!!!!) Did a couple of big, commercial bathroom groups over in River Edge, NJ( about 11 WCs plus urinals and other fixtures). When we installed Sloan sensor activated flush valves, over 70% of them were spraying water out from between the head and the body!!!! Had to disassemble and put them all together again... new faucets, strainers, everything is so messed up these days.

    Unlike when I started in the trade, your finish/trim installation was a one shot type of deal.

    Here’s one case... there is an adult day care center, used to be one story building built/renovated in 2001. In 2012, second floor was built right over it. It also has a bunch of bathroom groups and other stuff. About 85% of the new floor faucets have been replaced already!!! Pressure assisted toilets that were installed per drawings are all replaced with gravity type!!! In a matter of 3 years of operation. Now, here’s the kicker. The plumbing fixtures( including 15-20 pressure assisted toilets) that were installed in 2001 are still working fine LOL. Same use, same water quality, same conditions on both floors!

    Most of manufacturers took a nose dive in quality/pride department. I do find myself scratching my head as to how much should we charge these days when a job that took you half a day, now takes you 8 hrs :(
  • RomanP
    RomanP Member Posts: 102
    edited May 2018
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    It seems “ Assembled in Mexico, using Chinese materials” is the way of the future :smiley:

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