Hall of shame.

[lana]

Hi there,

As you may know I am from IRAN.
The refrigeration industry has a huge market here but also there are too many problems due to lack of knowledge.

1- I have visited an AC system without receiver, without sight glass, without solenoid valve, without TEV, without filter. A small nozzle was installed which supposed to act as a pressure reducing device!!!??

2- I have been called to visit a blast freezer (-40°C) with double stage compressors. The piping was done like a water plumbing!! the sub-cooler was installed horizontally. System oil was trapped in the evaporator. There is another compressor as stand-by with the same evaporator and condenser. There was no check valve on the discharge lines. No oil equilization line for the compressors!!

I have lots of stories to tell but as you call it, it is a shame

[Temprite]

One of the worst I have heard was not discovered by me, but by someone I work with.

Approx 15 years ago.
He was called to a pub to check out the refrigeration system there mainly the system that serves the temprites.

Publican was complaining about the amount of gas that was going into the systems.

When he got there the problem was apparent. There was a large leak that the last mechanic couldnt find, and to compensate this there was a large refrigerant bottle connected to the low side of the system with a gauge hose and the hand valve cracked ever so slightly. He told me he would never have believed it unless he had seen it with his own eyes.

Guess What?
It was R12!!!!!!

[Ascott69]

Was it An irish pub in Brisbane?

[shanes696]

My mate went to a job recently where his company had taken over a service contract on A/C splits that'd been installed about 18 months previously but 2 had never worked from new. He found that the when the 2 problem units were installed the liquid lines had been crossed-over between them inside a ceiling void.

[slingblade]

I read somewhere that someone is looking for a minisplit engineer, i think the chap that did this may suit the position.

[Abe]

Been working on my first Foster Room last couple of days, have always been a Williams man, but this is first for Foster.

Ignore the date on my digital camera. Can never get round to setting it properly

[phil68]

I think I came across one today that beats these all into a ****ed hat. I got called to a cellar cooler that apparently hasn't worked properly since being installed by a local 'fridge engineer' a couple of weeks ago. Walked into the cellar to be confronted by, no, surely not, yep -the condensing unit was mounted on the wall next to the evap. with interconnecting pipework in 15 & 22mm copper water pipe. Not just that but the condenser itself was hard up against the wall so it was constantly tripping on HP

[Abe]

A picture would be great Phil

[angryk]

I read somewhere that someone is looking for a minisplit engineer, i think the chap that did this may suit the position.

Best picture ever.

[rpbuenaflor]

I have a flash back as well in my mind way back 1984, I got an experienced with a refrigerator. the user call me for his refrigerator serviced by a cowboy technician. His ref evaporator accidentally chip by a pointed sharp metal. The cowboy technician welded the evap used an epoxy glue. After a couple of days the customer call me, his Ref not working and the compressor tripping. When I removed the compressor to check the oil, my goshhh wath a milky coulor.. (Water and oil mixed). Adviced to the customer to replace the evaporator and flushing the system, replace the filterdrier. The customer said they rather buy new Refrigerator. GOOD idea..

rudi

[rbartlett]

the epoxy glue you speak of (usually a kawasaki green)is a well tried and tested method of repairing plate evaparators in domestic fridges. so personally I wouldn't call him a cowboy for that.

maybe he should have vacuumed it out for a month before re-charging it but hey that costs and the owner probably didn't want to pay .....

cheers

richard

[phil68]

These involve me as a green 18 yr. old & working for an environmental test chamber company (who shall remain nameless). I'd had only rudimentary training in the workings of a fridge system from a service engineer working for the same company (didn't go to college for City & Guilds until the age of 22). And I was sent out to service cascade refrigeration.
The first was when I was trying to charge the 2nd stage of a system with R13. I noticed that the charging cylinder was getting hot. I shut the cylinder off & told my mentor about it later in the day. After he'd calmed down he expalined that I'd been trying to charge the sysyem via the compressor discharge service valve & was lucky to be still alive.
The second was when I was doing routine maintenance on another chamber & noticed that the liquid-line sight glass was bubbling. Must be low on gas thought I, so I started to fill with R502. The sight glass didn't clear, so I kept filling. Bearing in mind this was a bench-top chamber ten minutes passed before there was an almighty sound of escaping gas & the whole lab filled with oil vapour. My mentor later told me it had a blocked drier.
Number three was when I was checking 3 phase, phase to phase with a meter borrowed from my mentor. Except that I had forgotten to switch the meter to VAC from ohms. The flash almost blinded me & I had to hand the meter back with the ends of the test prongs blown clean off

[chillin out]

Hi Phil,

You are one lucky sod..

It`s YOUR life and health so take it upon yourself to get proper information and training.

Im not saying you are dumb, but there is a lot to learn. Everyone (marco included) learns something new every day.

Think about the job in hand before you pick up any tools or meters (if you have any that are not blown apart LOL).

Do not learn by your mistakes , learn before the event happens.

Chillin

[rpbuenaflor]

Rechard,
The cowboy tech I mentioned used all purposed epoxy glue a grey colour one. I experienced for the situation when my one of McQuay 650 Tons centrifugal chiller r134a evaporator tube leaks in the middle east, Kuwait. After we replaced 12 tubes, and vacuumed it almost 2 weeks 24 hours a day. We used/ consummed 350 litters of vacuum oil. What a nightmare in my part but added to my job acheivement.

rudi

[rbartlett]

Rechard,
The cowboy tech I mentioned used all purposed epoxy glue a grey colour one. I experienced for the situation when my one of McQuay 650 Tons centrifugal chiller r134a evaporator tube leaks in the middle east, Kuwait. After we replaced 12 tubes, and vacuumed it almost 2 weeks 24 hours a day. We used/ consummed 350 litters of vacuum oil. What a nightmare in my part but added to my job acheivement.

rudi

ah i see a little clearer now the grey stuff is just a epoxy 'metal' and as such not fridge rated. however using glue on a fridge system sounds strange but they said that about using glue in the manufacturer of cars at first..

cheers

richard

[Peter_1]

... however using glue on a fridge system sounds strange but they said that about using glue in the manufacturer of cars at first..

An Airbus is mostly glued, I've seen in my beginning yeras very good aluminium evaporators (tubes and fins) on transport cooling where the bends were glued in the pipes.

[Tycho]

An Airbus is mostly glued, I've seen in my beginning yeras very good aluminium evaporators (tubes and fins) on transport cooling where the bends were glued in the pipes.

About six years ago we built a Horisontal platefreezer for ***** and ammonia,the aluminum plates where built up from three plates glued together, and the end pieces were glued on too.

The plates held a pressure test of 30 bar without any problems.

We "borrowed" one of our customers plants and installed the freezer for trials.

I cant remember what kind of glue we used, but it was certified for use with *****, ammonia and refrigeration oil.

However.... it started melting when it came in contect with a *****/oil mixture... and it turned very brittle when it came in contact with an ammonia/oil mix

I had a sample that had been submerged in ammonia/oil for a week, put it in a vise, the two pieces separated from an ever so slight tap from a ball-pane hammer

[william_wye]

Sent a qualified frigee to find a leak on a supermarket multi rack. Found out the next day he had ordered 10 jugs of R404 and hadput 12 jugs 404 in the previous day. Walked into the supermarket and found him walking around with a halide leak detector.

[4 evr learnin]

Having explained to my customer that the most likely reason for the fridge not running was, a shortage of refrigerant, I proceeded to look for a leak ! some 30 seconds later my customer came rushing back in to the sound of me pissing myself laughing. I found that the suction service port on the small can, still had the rubber plug in it or rather, used to. The give away sign was the oil up the wall and ceiling, leading from the port. What really astounded me was when she explained the unit had been running satisfactorily for years. And only faulted due to being located in the sun and turned off at night , pressure temprature relationships go figure !

[HallsEngineer]

Those pics are genius why dont we all install our units like that?????

[wingman]

Those pics are genius why dont we all install our units like that?????

Well we would be out of work real soon


Besides that it looks more like an artwork than a decent install.

[nike123]

Those pics are genius why dont we all install our units like that?????

Because your customers pays about ten times more than his.

[star882]

The second was when I was doing routine maintenance on another chamber & noticed that the liquid-line sight glass was bubbling. Must be low on gas thought I, so I started to fill with R502. The sight glass didn't clear, so I kept filling. Bearing in mind this was a bench-top chamber ten minutes passed before there was an almighty sound of escaping gas & the whole lab filled with oil vapour. My mentor later told me it had a blocked drier.

One thing: watch both gauges while charging.

[andre_fridge]

hey guys got one that tops the list
one of our esteemed competitors in town decides to fit a new 5hp semi copeland unit but phones the supplier complaining that the sight glass is leaking oil, so the supplier thinks that its a fault with the unit and supplies a 2nd one, this one too springs aleak at the sight glass.
supplier thinks that this is just too much off a coincdence and comes to town to check it out, he has alook at the installation and it looks ok, but true as nuts the sight glass is leaking oil!!!!!!!!!
so he asks the guy what gas you charging and he points to a cylinder of helium and says 404 why????

[Toolman]

[Andy T]

One of are engineers switched off the condenser fans and left the comps running on a large pack so that he could build up the pressure in the condenser to check for a leak while stood on the liquid receiver. And listening for leaks the pressure relief valve pooped R404A missing him by inches. When it was reported to the Refrigeration Manager he failed to question why the HP control never cut the comps first. I think refrigeration Managers have a responsibility to question any risks by staff and equipment.All I find now is the same engineer now is sent on jobs when he can't find the fault blames the comp failed.I am then sent to change the comp to find the comp ok and the condencer blocked with dust or what ever simple fault it is.Leaving me to cover his ass or dob him in.I have now left.....

[US Iceman]

Here is short story told to me a long time ago by the Copeland manager for the local parts supply back home.

A long time refrigeration contractor came in and asked for a new hermetic compressor. The manager looked up the correct part, picked out the compressor and a new set of driers.

The contractor took the parts and went back to the job site. Three or four hours later my friend got a phone call from the contractor.

This is the conversation that took place.....

The &^%$%& compressor is not working right!

OK, what is the problem?

The compressor runs, but is not doing anything.

Is the suction valve open (a Rotolock valve)?

Yes!! But the suction pressure is not decreasing. Why did you give me a bad compressor???? This is costing me money and the customer is going to call you because you gave him a bad compressor. What are you going to do???

Nothing, but I'll tell you what to check.

OK, what should I do?

Take the suction valve off of the compressor and call me back.

Much cursing and shouting now happens and the contractor slams down the phone.

An hour later the phone rings again.

OK smart A*S, I took the valve off now what?

Look inside the threaded connection on the valve. What do you see?

End of conversation.........


OK guys are you ready for the answer?

You are going to love this.




A red plastic plug was still in the Rotolock valve body.

I love happy endings.

[jamcool]

Have a short one ,walk-in-cooler has a leak (this is the company i work for) they send a guy out to it the guy finds the leak fixes the leak,he "blows out the unit" with some refrigerant while on the roof he decides to charge unit up,he looks around and about 4 other condensing units are on the roof,he looks on the name plate of 2 it says 404a so he figures this cooler must use 404a charges up unit blows high side gauge on manifold set ,turns unit off and tells boss that I would sort it the next day.
Next day I get sent to unit, have to recover 404a gas,look on name plate unit uses R22,have to do the whole works get unit up and running and to end it all the boss gives the guy a pat on the back because he responded to the initial call in less than 20 minutes

[thebigcheese]

Here is short story told to me a long time ago by the Copeland manager for the local parts supply back home.

A long time refrigeration contractor came in and asked for a new hermetic compressor. The manager looked up the correct part, picked out the compressor and a new set of driers.

The contractor took the parts and went back to the job site. Three or four hours later my friend got a phone call from the contractor.

This is the conversation that took place.....

The &^%$%& compressor is not working right!

OK, what is the problem?

The compressor runs, but is not doing anything.

Is the suction valve open (a Rotolock valve)?

Yes!! But the suction pressure is not decreasing. Why did you give me a bad compressor???? This is costing me money and the customer is going to call you because you gave him a bad compressor. What are you going to do???

Nothing, but I'll tell you what to check.

OK, what should I do?

Take the suction valve off of the compressor and call me back.

Much cursing and shouting now happens and the contractor slams down the phone.

An hour later the phone rings again.

OK smart A*S, I took the valve off now what?

Look inside the threaded connection on the valve. What do you see?

End of conversation.........


OK guys are you ready for the answer?

You are going to love this.




A red plastic plug was still in the Rotolock valve body.

I love happy endings.

i done that before but luckily enough i found it out for myself

[NoNickName]

I was once sent in Austria firstflightinthemorning to respond to an SOS by a fussy installer who was shouting in the phone to my boss that we were building ****ty chillers.
This one chiller was going LP, so probably it was losing refrigerant or already lost all of it. Infact the LP gauge was zero.

You guessed it.

He forgot the suction line rotalock closed.

[The MG Pony]

I may be new student but I know how to do quality work. Sadly it seems most don't, this one plant I just salvaged the guy hacked up an old gauge hose to attach the LP switch and used a cheap T to set it up in the system the best part? Finger tight!, I thought nothing was in there as it was so loose, so start taking it off and WOSH! tightened it up right fast!.

[Andy T]

I think we should start a hall of fame, this thread is starting to give the wrong impression.

[S_Line]

Lots of Details but no pictures :~( I will provide a few great pics

Hall Of Shame here we come

[Tiger 05]

Two for me
Walked onto a site it was a building with several tennancies over 100 all individually being cooled by Blaico water cooled units located in the ceiling. We had just taken over the contract the managing agent had gone through and asked the tennants if they had any probs with the a/c only one person was happy. To cut a long story short I ended up seeing every problem even some I didn't know exsisted.

Second walk into a building in town again we had just taken it over 15 stories. Best supply temp I could get was 16*c then the motors would trip out on overload went back over twenty years of records found every year that the bearings for the three motors had been changed every year (open drive).After much discussion with my boss they call in the big guns every one scratching their heads I'm in a corner with an engineer who had come out of retirement to look at the system when he turns to me and says that shell and tube is piped the wrong way.

[Rangerdoc]

My worst ever was ten years ago on a rooftop in Lebanon, Missouri, USA. This remote freezer was on the rooftop. Wire dangling... wire nuts everywhere. Every type of tape and wire you can imagine was holding this thing together.
The clincher was: they converted from R-12 to r-405 or some blend, I can't remember. To deal with the excessively high head pressures due to the new refrigerant, they simply added another condenser and laid it on a wooden pallet next to the unit. The motor capacitors were just hanging out in the open air.
I told the property owner that this was a disaster waiting to happen and took pictures to cover my a$$.



Long story short, the capacitor blew, the oil caught fire and dripped on the pallet. It caught on fire and ruptured a refrigerant line. The high pressure oil made a great blow torch and nearly burned the building down.

[giddy]

I saw a spilt system tied to a building 20 floors up in taiwan last year.

[Toolman]

Australian EPA has finally organized licenses for all qualified fridgys . This should get rid of some cowboys.

The pic below is the best one have seen . A picture speaks a thousand words .

[taz24]

I went to a job once where the owner had got hold of a cold room and built it himself. He then conected the pipe joints together with softsolder. When he got intouch with me he could not understand why it would not work.

taz.

[renny_no1]

Australian EPA has finally organized licenses for all qualified fridgys . This should get rid of some cowboys.

The pic below is the best one have seen . A picture speaks a thousand words .

Toolman
At least the pallet is level!

[greref]

Hey fellows got myself a little prob.
Was asked to quote for the installation of a ducted air conditioning system...customer has the unit,both the air handler and condensing units are YORK... They were never installed but has been sitting in his bond for the past 6 years..
unfortunately the label with the specks on the condensing unit is unreadable, but air handler model number is LIEU36QAA.
Could anyone say whats the Btu.

[frank]

Most equipment has some reference to the duty in the label.

My guess with this one is 36000btu's

[andre_fridge]

Ok so this one probably beats the lot, got called out to have a look at a job that was done at the local brewery, and getting there we had a look around, got told that they had just replaced a compressor in the main chiller and I decided to have a look, OMG this beats all of what was done!!!!!!!!!
the semi was replaced with a sealed unit, but they "forgot" to bolt it down, the electrical box was stripped off the semi and "wired" to fit the sealed unit, but kinda left dangling in the air without the cover on, the "cowboy" didn't have a tube bender with him, so he gave the discharge pipe a really funky looking loop to the condenser inlet, but forgot to "move" his expertly wired harness, the connector block that he had fitted to "join" the wiring touched and melted away, exposing the wiring and you could well imagine POOF!!!!!!
he's kinda upset about loosing 10kg's of R22, but then again we had so much flooding down here who the hell cares about global warming!!!!!!

OH well looks like I got a really great job coming up when he refuses to come back, customer says that he will continue calling this monkey back till he fixes the job correctly!!!

I WILL be taking photo's to share with you all!!!
customer wants to remain anon though hahahahaha

[taz24]

I'll own up to one job I did many, many moons ago when we still used to blow condensers clean with 502 I was a young lad repairing an ice cream van that had a fractured capilary line. I reffited the capilary tube into the suction where it had snaped off, purged the system of air and charged it up till it frosted back. The I let out a little bit of gas to stop the liquid flooding the comp. For some reason though it would not work. It took very little gas and frosted back very easily. I had to have help to put it right.

Cheers taz.

[Abe]

Ok so this one probably beats the lot, got called out to have a look at a job that was done at the local brewery, and getting there we had a look around, got told that they had just replaced a compressor in the main chiller and I decided to have a look, OMG this beats all of what was done!!!!!!!!!
the semi was replaced with a sealed unit, but they "forgot" to bolt it down, the electrical box was stripped off the semi and "wired" to fit the sealed unit, but kinda left dangling in the air without the cover on, the "cowboy" didn't have a tube bender with him, so he gave the discharge pipe a really funky looking loop to the condenser inlet, but forgot to "move" his expertly wired harness, the connector block that he had fitted to "join" the wiring touched and melted away, exposing the wiring and you could well imagine POOF!!!!!!
he's kinda upset about loosing 10kg's of R22, but then again we had so much flooding down here who the hell cares about global warming!!!!!!

OH well looks like I got a really great job coming up when he refuses to come back, customer says that he will continue calling this monkey back till he fixes the job correctly!!!

I WILL be taking photo's to share with you all!!!
customer wants to remain anon though hahahahaha

Waiting for your pics Andre

[arcticmonkey]

A friend of my dads took a picture of small unit on a farm in se england.this unit comprised of a 12.5hp compressor,a 1/2 inch filter drier, a nice and tidy condensor and an R22 EMPTY GAS CYLINDER AS A RECIEVER.someone had even drilled the holes and soldered the pipes into it.I will get the photo coz it looks the biz and i wish i was that inventive.

[arcticmonkey]

if anyone would like to pressure test a system with oxygen i would like to see pictures of the outcomee.hehe.

[taz24]

I know someone who in the 70s blew a condeser clean with propane and then blew the shop windows out when he lit his leak lamp.


Cheers taz.

[Tony Weston]

This is true.
Got called out to a dairy (NZ corner shop) to look at an upright milk cabinet that wasnt working. The fridge was full of milk bottles, so I put my guages on and saw it had no gas in the system at all.
I added a bit of gas, and it leaked straight away. I asked the shop owner to empty the fridge as I suspect there was a broken pipe in the evap. We emptied the fridge, and saw the evap was missing !!! I asked the owner where the evap was, and he said "Oh do you mean this fan, I have taken it out to get more milk inside !!!!
I left him with a call out fee, and a totaly unrepairable fridge,he had left it running, and there wasn't an LP switch fitted.
I just love New Zealand shop owners.

[Leo1967]

well,they say the mother of idiots is always pregnant.......A friend of mine who works for Daikin after having told an installer he had to pressure test at 38 bars the VRV system,received a call from the installer:
-Hi,remember you told me about the pressure at 38 bars?
-yes
-well,i filled the system but how do you make water go at 38 bars??

This idiot flooded everything,pipes and internal units,can you imagine the damage??? lol

[taz24]

The same guy whilst carrying a unit across the joists of an attic fell through the joists and was only saved by his large girth.

Cheers taz.