What type of service call outs are you getting at the moment?

[back2space]

With the very low temperatures were having in the UK at present what type of call outs are you getting and whats the usual cause of systems not working? undersized? Systems being turned off rather than being allowed to run constantly?

Do you find that its the larger systems that are the issue or find many split systems not able to keep up.

My system is performing fine at -4C outside plenty of heat and maintaining 22C inside nicely... with very few defrost cycles.

[monkey spanners]

Well yesterday i had a call from a customer claiming the compressor i had fitted was now throwing the rcd trip out.
When i got there it turned out to be a collection of mice in the condenser causing some of the blades to snap off the fan, it then run out of ballance and took out the motor.
I used one of the blades to shovel the little blighters out of the condenser.
Three hour round trip to get a new motor and blade, return and fit.

Most of the calls are wash related this time of year on DX milk tanks, frozen pipes, burnt out wash pumps etc.

[Greengrocer]

Heat pumps not being able to get room temps up high enough.
This is mainly on a Monday morning after the systems have been off all over the weekend and the room temps have decayed to near ambient temperatures. Many small splits with wireless remotes only have a 24hr timer so cannot be programmed for earlier Monday morning start up times. In this cold weather we have been advising clients to leave their systems running 24/7. If required they can drop the set point to 16/17c over night & raise it back to 20/21c first thing in the morning. Either way once the room is up to temp keeping it there is not normally a problem. Depending on the system make other options are sometimes possible e.g. fit a wired remote controller with 7 programming &/or setback facility.
Operating a modern high efficiency inverter heat pump 24/7 is still cheaper than all the staff bringing in 2kW electric fan heaters!! :).

We also get the usual "I'm cold " calls from receptionists that insist on dressing for summer when it's winter. Went to a site this week - reception heat pump working fine (controller set for 30c as usual), entrance door curtain heater working fine, room temp 20-21c, receptionist wearing a short sleeved see through blouse and short skirt (very tasty).

You should have seen the look she gave me when I told her to put a jumper & trousers on!! Christ I'm sounding like my mother.

[back2space]

Heat pumps not being able to get room temps up high enough.
This is mainly on a Monday morning after the systems have been off all over the weekend and the room temps have decayed to near ambient temperatures. Many small splits with wireless remotes only have a 24hr timer so cannot be programmed for earlier Monday morning start up times. In this cold weather we have been advising clients to leave their systems running 24/7. If required they can drop the set point to 16/17c over night & raise it back to 20/21c first thing in the morning. Either way once the room is up to temp keeping it there is not normally a problem. Depending on the system make other options are sometimes possible e.g. fit a wired remote controller with 7 programming &/or setback facility.
Operating a modern high efficiency inverter heat pump 24/7 is still cheaper than all the staff bringing in 2kW electric fan heaters!! :).

We also get the usual "I'm cold " calls from receptionists that insist on dressing for summer when it's winter. Went to a site this week - reception heat pump working fine (controller set for 30c as usual), entrance door curtain heater working fine, room temp 20-21c, receptionist wearing a short sleeved see through blouse and short skirt (very tasty).

You should have seen the look she gave me when I told her to put a jumper & trousers on!! Christ I'm sounding like my mother.


I hope you didnt drool all over the desk.

The controller set to 30C does my head in, its not going to warm up any quicker.

In our secure area at work we have one of these panels as back up if the main system breaks down, in winter on nights we use it as a nice top up, the girls always put it to 30C, so I made the controller so that the actual temps were max 23C but the controller still gave the illusion that it was set to 30C if need be but it really was heating to 23C!!!

Just had in interesting convo with thermatech about fan speeds in this cold weather, and leaving them on low allows better pressures and pushes the air off temps up.

[Greengrocer]

I hope you didnt drool all over the desk.

The controller set to 30C does my head in, its not going to warm up any quicker.

In our secure area at work we have one of these panels as back up if the main system breaks down, in winter on nights we use it as a nice top up, the girls always put it to 30C, so I made the controller so that the actual temps were max 23C but the controller still gave the illusion that it was set to 30C if need be but it really was heating to 23C!!!

Just had in interesting convo with thermatech about fan speeds in this cold weather, and leaving them on low allows better pressures and pushes the air off temps up.

We’ve recently had the exact opposite of this problem on a 2-pipe Daikin VRVII system. One end of an open plan office was overheating. As far as we can tell it’s because the EEV’s in the fan coil units (ducted) cannot completely close when the space temp is satisfied. Elsewhere on the floor other rooms are still calling for heat so the satisfied fan coils continue to deliver around 28c temp air to the space. We recorded room temps 3-4c above the set point.
Apparently this is similar on many VRV/VRF systems. The EEV’s are limited to a 10-12% closed position – I assume for oil return issues. After speaking with Daikin we programmed the fan coil units to turn off their fans when the space temp was satisfied. The EEV’s are still limited to 10-12% closed but at least the excess heat is not delivered to the space. The only snag with this set up is that fresh air (delivered to the back of the FCU’s from a separate AHU) is not delivered to the space while the FCU unit fan is off. Not ideal but the space temps are now controlling to better tolerances.

[back2space]

We’ve recently had the exact opposite of this problem on a 2-pipe Daikin VRVII system. One end of an open plan office was overheating. As far as we can tell it’s because the EEV’s in the fan coil units (ducted) cannot completely close when the space temp is satisfied. Elsewhere on the floor other rooms are still calling for heat so the satisfied fan coils continue to deliver around 28c temp air to the space. We recorded room temps 3-4c above the set point.
Apparently this is similar on many VRV/VRF systems. The EEV’s are limited to a 10-12% closed position – I assume for oil return issues. After speaking with Daikin we programmed the fan coil units to turn off their fans when the space temp was satisfied. The EEV’s are still limited to 10-12% closed but at least the excess heat is not delivered to the space. The only snag with this set up is that fresh air (delivered to the back of the FCU’s from a separate AHU) is not delivered to the space while the FCU unit fan is off. Not ideal but the space temps are now controlling to better tolerances.

Same probs with my multi split unit, bedroom only needs set point of 18C so once satisfied unit turns off but due to EEV remaining open slightly warm air starts to blow off the coil because the fan says that the coil is over 28C so it blows this air to clear heat from the coil. Only way to resolve is to turn the unit off.

If this unit is left on that heat is sent to a room thats not needed it whilst other rooms struggle to get upto temp because not as much refrigerant circulating the system as if it was turned off I think the EEVs close down more but remain open only slightly.