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We had a great response for vacuum pump day on Tuesday, October 25th! For those of you that showed up you know that the pancakes were awesome! If you didn’t make it, we’re sorry you missed out, but stay tuned… we might be having another one sooner than you might think!

Special to Jody Long from NuCalgon for changing oil in all the vacuum pumps and helping us promote this awesome event.

Check out the pictures below. They are also on our Facebook page if you want to tag them.

Join us for a pancake breakfast on Tuesday the 25th while we have the oil changed in your vacuum pump. All for free and only at Winair. See the picture below for more details. Please RSVP to Martha so we can make sure to have you a pancake on the griddle!

Reprinted from The Air Conditioning / Heating / Refrigeration NEWS. July 11, 2011

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appears to be aggressively auditing the refrigerant record keeping of HVACR contractors in the South.

The NEWS has been receiving reports of the effort in Texas, Arkansas, and Mississippi, although it is unclear as to how many contractors are being audited.

One distributor from that region did say that he has received “numerous calls” in recent weeks from contractors who have been visited by the EPA. Another distributor from that region said contractor customers have told him they are being audited by the EPA and need to produce records of their refrigerant recovery/reclaim activities.

There were also indications that some distributors have also been visited and counter sales people were asked about the supply house reclaim program.

When contacted by The NEWS, the EPA would only say that it “cannot discuss ongoing cases, but continues to perform inspections, respond to tips, and take enforcement action as resources allow.”

The recent record keeping audits by the EPA are the most significant actions by the federal agency within the HVACR industry since 2004 when the EPA moved against the Dominick’s supermarket chain for illegal venting of HCFC-22. That resulted in an $85,000 fine and the shuttering of three stores and major overhaul of three others.

But the most recent actions are focused on contractors rather than an end user and deal with record keeping rather than venting.

It is unclear if the EPA will eventually issue a formal statement regarding the ongoing audits as it did with the Dominick’s case. The fine and resolution in the supermarket sector led to the EPA and the Food Marketing Institute proactively launching the GreenChill initiative, which encourages environmental and efficiency improvements within stores and accords recognition for those efforts.

Like the issue of venting, the record keeping falls under Section 608 of the Clean Air Act.

According to a portion of record keeping requirements:

“Technicians servicing appliances that contain 50 or more pounds of refrigerant must provide the owner with an invoice that indicates the amount of refrigerant added to the appliance. Technicians must also keep a copy of their proof of certification at their place of business.

“Owners or operators of appliances that contain 50 or more pounds of refrigerant must keep servicing records documenting the date and type of service, as well as the quantity of refrigerant added.”

Publication date: 07/11/2011

The following information is taken from Tech Talk TT-15 dated May 2005, which was written by Dave Fetters and edited by Keith Page. The information is still valuable today and worth repeating. This and other archive issues of Tech Talk contain useful and easy-to-understand technical knowledge, and can be found on the Hart & Cooley web site.

Each year during the summer season, we receive calls about moisture forming on the faces of our T-bar diffusers or on adjacent T-bars and dripping into the space below. In the industry this is commonly called “sweating.” Moisture that drips into an occupied space is annoying, and will eventually cause rust to form on steel diffuser faces and adjacent T-bars. Sweating occurs more in southern states that border the coasts or in parts of the country that experience high humidity levels as a regular occurrence. Business activities that rely on people coming and going, like fast-food restaurants, seem to be the most susceptible. The doors are regularly opened, allowing the hot, humid outside air to sneak in. This begs for the air-conditioning system to run longer and colder, trying to maintain a reasonable inside temperature. Sweating occurs on diffusers when warm, moist room air contacts the cold diffuser face through aspiration (drawn by suction) and the supply air temperature is at or below the dew point temperature. Dew point is the temperature at which condensation (moisture formation) begins to take place. Most of us have walked outdoors on a warm and humid summer day carrying a cold drink. It doesn’t take long before the outside of the glass becomes wet. Moisture is condensing from the air onto the colder surface of the glass. The same thing is happening at the ceiling diffuser. Moisture can also form on the cold back panel of a T-bar diffuser if the temperature in the ceiling space is hot and humid. This moisture often runs down to the T-bar edges and drips from there. This can be minimized or prevented by using our insulated-backed models, such as the FPD3-R6. In an HVAC system, the occurrence of sweating on a diffuser or T-bar is the symptom of a system problem. Removing a rusty, dripping diffuser and replacing it with an aluminum model will not make the problem go away. The aluminum diffuser will sweat; it just won’t rust. The problem is that the supply air temperature is lower than it should be for the current conditions of temperature and humidity. Banks and similar public buildings are other examples of spaces where sweating occurs because of the high volume of walk- n traffic and the number of times the door opens, letting in hot, humid outside air. What can be done to minimize sweating in an existing system? One of the keys is to decrease the temperature difference between the room air and the supply air. Doing this while still meeting the load requirements demands an increase in CFM on the appliance. If the air- conditioning unit is cycling, switch to constant running. Look for restricted return airflow because of undersized returns or dirty filters. Are the coils clean? If the unit is shut down at night, consider running at partial load to prevent high humidity and room temperatures at start-up in the morning. Is there excess outside air mixing with the return air? We don’t claim to be experts in system troubleshooting and problem solving; therefore, we recommend seeking guidance from a qualified HVAC contractor to solve a sweating problem. We address the issue because the sweating displays itself first on our diffusers, giving a false impression that the diffuser is at fault, when in reality any piece of metal (or plastic!!) put in place there will sweat.