June 9, 2025 • 30 mins
Join the Refrigeration Mentor Hub here
Learn more about Refrigeration Mentor Customized Technical Training Programs at www.refrigerationmentor.com/courses
In this conversation, we’re taking a behind-the-scenes look at tech support with Andrew Merritts from Pro Chiller. Andrew shares some awesome tips for technicians based on common tech support calls he receives on everything from checking glycol concentration, valve troubleshooting, and maintaining superheat and subcooling levels. We also discuss best practices for chiller operation and how to best communicate with and leverage remote support for better troubleshooting in the field.
In this episode, we cover:
-Technical support insights and processes
-Common technical support scenarios
-Glycol systems
-Advanced troubleshooting techniques
-Andrew’s most challenging support calls
-Tips for better technical support calls
-Chiller tech support tips
Helpful Links & Resources:
Episode 269. An Inside Look at Tech Support with Premnath Kangatharan of Danfoss
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Welcome to the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast. So glad you're here, always diving in, sharing, learning. As always, I want to thank you the listeners for taking the time to listen to these podcasts. We're, we're over 300 episodes now, which is amazing, and it's from great guests.
(00:01):
And I think technical support is a, a really. Key element for manufacturers all around the world and having good technical support who can help you walk through an issue step by step to solve a problem is amazing. A lot of the things is though, is there is a process to it, and this is what we're gonna dive into tonight with Andrew just walking through his pro process, how he helps troubleshoot with technicians to support them.
Ah, awesome. Yeah, I know the, the group down there, there's a lot of knowledge at that company, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of the equipment that is in the field today working with different contractors all over North America.
I had love to find out what's your process? So you take tech calls all the time and there's a different range of skills that you're gonna get. You're gonna get new people that haven't worked really much on chillers before, and then you get some, some people that are really experienced. What is your strategy when a technician calls you up and they're looking for support?
Yeah. And so in that case, 'cause a lot of the, a lot of the system that you have on these chillers, are they, are they critical charge or there's a specific amount of weight?
It depends on the equipment, but mostly I would tell them to charge if we have it, if it's too old or R 22, we're not gonna have that information. Just tell 'em charge until you're super And sub cooling are good. Yeah. And getting the super heat range and.
Oh yeah. And people are like, I don't have a effect owner. I'm like, well, Harbor Freight sometimes has 'em. Sometimes Napa,
You're, you're gonna wanna be at least 20 below Fahrenheit for those locations. Yeah. I do believe there was a, a brewery up in Saskatchewan. They had to run a minus 50 degree concentration. So it's 50 50 water to glycol.
Not just throwing any water in, into mix with the glycol. 'cause that could cause issues with the plates. Right.
What are some other calls that you, you take from from technicians and how do you, , best support them?
Yeah. Yeah. And that's a good point. What about checklists? I'm sure like that's something that's really important on a lot of your systems. 'cause this is something that when I was doing tech support with technicians, one of the things I was, I did a lot, I. And I mean, a lot was read out of the manual, like actually outta the manual, go into the troubleshooting area, and I would pull up a certain section and write out a manual.
So depending on what it's doing, like the high valve percentage, we'd wanna do a leak check just to make sure the system's solid. And then if you determine it's a. A valve issued, then you gotta troubleshoot the valve. And I must say that Ming, the pins to the case, has caught a lot of those valves being shorted.
Pressure kept going off on oil failure and tech kept coming out and saying it's fine. That oil pressure would line up and everything else. And finally through playing phone tag and receiving reports and everything, I finally was able to get him on the phone while he was there. And I had him check the net oil pressure one more time and we're like, I don't get it.
I've, I've heard of those before and I didn't catch one myself in the field, but I've definitely heard talk with technicians about that as well. Any, any other ones?
It sounds like it's moving. But it's not moving. What I mean? Exactly. And when it's a 50, when it's closed or open, that's a lot easier to tell when it's fif than when it's 50%. Yeah. That's, that's a, that's a good, good find. And then realistically, you gotta cut that, , you gotta cut it out or remove it from the system, get a new one in, and then test it to make sure, one of the things is too, is the same with a compressor.
I'm like, that's, that's way too low. So I'm not trying to adjust the TXV. And the TXV was bad.
So yeah. So you can, like Copeland recommends 20, Carlisle MX recommends 20 at the compressor. Bitzer, I think it's 15 or 20, but you can't, , certain systems you can get lower, like like it's not, not a, a problem.
Pike before it comes back. But in chillers, you're going right two feet away, there's your compressor. So if that valve ever opened up too much, it was taking a drink. That compressor
Yeah, yeah. No, I've been, I do that all the time. Like even tonight I was I was on a community meetup and they asked me a question on he I think it's a hench valve, so it's a, a level control in a receiver and a vertical receiver where it goes down and it, it's a level of control and it floats up and down.
Oh yeah. And that, that's a, there's a whole nother learning curve there because with a two Ls, for an example, there's leak mitigation. Now you gotta have extra leak detectors and , depending on where it's at, different control strategies. Have you been involved in any of those newer systems that you guys are applying with yet?
So then. I've had multiple conversations with, with the chemical manufacturers and they showed charts like Honeywells or Chemours, and they're like, here's a chart. You lose 50% of charge on the high side or low side, and you do this five times and , you lose about 3% efficiency or 2% efficiency as long as you charge it back up with liquid.
A lot of our, a lot of the chillers have strainers and the end user might not check them. Start there. And that also gives you a sample of glycol you can check on your ref reflectometer. That that's an essential tool for the toolbox you just carry with you. That's gonna take care of a lot of other things.
(00:22):
So that's like a personal check for me to go, Hey, go check that valve. Make sure we're good. Some of the strainers are a Y strainer type, so it kind of kicks off the outlet of the pump. Or the pump will go up and 90 over, and then you got your strainer. That one you actually have to close the valve.
And between a 20 and 30, say, sorry, 30 and 35%. Ratio 30, 30, 70, 35, 60 ratio water to glycol, right?
Yep. So okay, so you said so you said 90, so I'm assuming that's the temperature of it. What, and the sub cooling would be, I'd have to, we'll have to look that up. So you need the pressures and temperatures. So it would be nine, nine degrees did you say, or 90,
That gas, that, that condenser is just fully loaded. Lot of load on that compressor. Then in the middle of the winter, there's no load. That c condenser's nice and cool, that's the system's running. So it's gonna be different in those times of year. Okay, so now they check the sub cooling, they check the superheat that that's looking.
But on your larger ones, you'll have like v coils, like V condensers. Those ones there. , You gotta, sometimes you gotta get up, you gotta take a look at it. , What's, what's your strategy on them for cleaning those? I don't know if you've cleaned them before, but what's your process if someone needs to go and clean the v coils?
Yeah. Yeah. Totally makes sense. I love that. I love that stuff, man. This is there, there's so many good tips already that you're given the gold nuggets for sure. On, on servicing these, these units. Any final thoughts for technicians out there? Who, who are working in the field if they're gonna call technicals working?
That's a good one. If you need anything over like 0.2, it's getting long in the tooth. Same for the fan contactors. Yeah. It's pretty much, if you're gonna call it a tech support, at least be gauged up and ready to provide.
So, because that's when it, when it runs into issues. I got a CPC transduced, a temperature probe. I got a Microthermal and I got Danfoss and they're all, what I mean? It's, you guys keep it pretty, pretty similar across all your brands, which I really, really like. And Andrew, I wanna thank you for taking the time to share some of your knowledge with us.
Absolutely. I don't mind pulling up the history on Elliot and we can go through it. Tell you exactly what was happening when,
Welcome to the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast. So glad you're here, always diving in, sharing, learning. As always, I want to thank you the listeners for taking the time to listen to these podcasts. We're, we're over 300 episodes now, which is amazing, and it's from great guests.
(00:01):
And I think technical support is a, a really. Key element for manufacturers all around the world and having good technical support who can help you walk through an issue step by step to solve a problem is amazing. A lot of the things is though, is there is a process to it, and this is what we're gonna dive into tonight with Andrew just walking through his pro process, how he helps troubleshoot with technicians to support them.
Ah, awesome. Yeah, I know the, the group down there, there's a lot of knowledge at that company, and I'm sure you've seen a lot of the equipment that is in the field today working with different contractors all over North America.
I had love to find out what's your process? So you take tech calls all the time and there's a different range of skills that you're gonna get. You're gonna get new people that haven't worked really much on chillers before, and then you get some, some people that are really experienced. What is your strategy when a technician calls you up and they're looking for support?
Yeah. And so in that case, 'cause a lot of the, a lot of the system that you have on these chillers, are they, are they critical charge or there's a specific amount of weight?
It depends on the equipment, but mostly I would tell them to charge if we have it, if it's too old or R 22, we're not gonna have that information. Just tell 'em charge until you're super And sub cooling are good. Yeah. And getting the super heat range and.
Oh yeah. And people are like, I don't have a effect owner. I'm like, well, Harbor Freight sometimes has 'em. Sometimes Napa,
You're, you're gonna wanna be at least 20 below Fahrenheit for those locations. Yeah. I do believe there was a, a brewery up in Saskatchewan. They had to run a minus 50 degree concentration. So it's 50 50 water to glycol.
Not just throwing any water in, into mix with the glycol. 'cause that could cause issues with the plates. Right.
What are some other calls that you, you take from from technicians and how do you, , best support them?
Yeah. Yeah. And that's a good point. What about checklists? I'm sure like that's something that's really important on a lot of your systems. 'cause this is something that when I was doing tech support with technicians, one of the things I was, I did a lot, I. And I mean, a lot was read out of the manual, like actually outta the manual, go into the troubleshooting area, and I would pull up a certain section and write out a manual.
So depending on what it's doing, like the high valve percentage, we'd wanna do a leak check just to make sure the system's solid. And then if you determine it's a. A valve issued, then you gotta troubleshoot the valve. And I must say that Ming, the pins to the case, has caught a lot of those valves being shorted.
Pressure kept going off on oil failure and tech kept coming out and saying it's fine. That oil pressure would line up and everything else. And finally through playing phone tag and receiving reports and everything, I finally was able to get him on the phone while he was there. And I had him check the net oil pressure one more time and we're like, I don't get it.
I've, I've heard of those before and I didn't catch one myself in the field, but I've definitely heard talk with technicians about that as well. Any, any other ones?
It sounds like it's moving. But it's not moving. What I mean? Exactly. And when it's a 50, when it's closed or open, that's a lot easier to tell when it's fif than when it's 50%. Yeah. That's, that's a, that's a good, good find. And then realistically, you gotta cut that, , you gotta cut it out or remove it from the system, get a new one in, and then test it to make sure, one of the things is too, is the same with a compressor.
I'm like, that's, that's way too low. So I'm not trying to adjust the TXV. And the TXV was bad.
So yeah. So you can, like Copeland recommends 20, Carlisle MX recommends 20 at the compressor. Bitzer, I think it's 15 or 20, but you can't, , certain systems you can get lower, like like it's not, not a, a problem.
Pike before it comes back. But in chillers, you're going right two feet away, there's your compressor. So if that valve ever opened up too much, it was taking a drink. That compressor
Yeah, yeah. No, I've been, I do that all the time. Like even tonight I was I was on a community meetup and they asked me a question on he I think it's a hench valve, so it's a, a level control in a receiver and a vertical receiver where it goes down and it, it's a level of control and it floats up and down.
Oh yeah. And that, that's a, there's a whole nother learning curve there because with a two Ls, for an example, there's leak mitigation. Now you gotta have extra leak detectors and , depending on where it's at, different control strategies. Have you been involved in any of those newer systems that you guys are applying with yet?
So then. I've had multiple conversations with, with the chemical manufacturers and they showed charts like Honeywells or Chemours, and they're like, here's a chart. You lose 50% of charge on the high side or low side, and you do this five times and , you lose about 3% efficiency or 2% efficiency as long as you charge it back up with liquid.
A lot of our, a lot of the chillers have strainers and the end user might not check them. Start there. And that also gives you a sample of glycol you can check on your ref reflectometer. That that's an essential tool for the toolbox you just carry with you. That's gonna take care of a lot of other things.
(00:22):
So that's like a personal check for me to go, Hey, go check that valve. Make sure we're good. Some of the strainers are a Y strainer type, so it kind of kicks off the outlet of the pump. Or the pump will go up and 90 over, and then you got your strainer. That one you actually have to close the valve.
And between a 20 and 30, say, sorry, 30 and 35%. Ratio 30, 30, 70, 35, 60 ratio water to glycol, right?
Yep. So okay, so you said so you said 90, so I'm assuming that's the temperature of it. What, and the sub cooling would be, I'd have to, we'll have to look that up. So you need the pressures and temperatures. So it would be nine, nine degrees did you say, or 90,
That gas, that, that condenser is just fully loaded. Lot of load on that compressor. Then in the middle of the winter, there's no load. That c condenser's nice and cool, that's the system's running. So it's gonna be different in those times of year. Okay, so now they check the sub cooling, they check the superheat that that's looking.
But on your larger ones, you'll have like v coils, like V condensers. Those ones there. , You gotta, sometimes you gotta get up, you gotta take a look at it. , What's, what's your strategy on them for cleaning those? I don't know if you've cleaned them before, but what's your process if someone needs to go and clean the v coils?
Yeah. Yeah. Totally makes sense. I love that. I love that stuff, man. This is there, there's so many good tips already that you're given the gold nuggets for sure. On, on servicing these, these units. Any final thoughts for technicians out there? Who, who are working in the field if they're gonna call technicals working?
That's a good one. If you need anything over like 0.2, it's getting long in the tooth. Same for the fan contactors. Yeah. It's pretty much, if you're gonna call it a tech support, at least be gauged up and ready to provide.
So, because that's when it, when it runs into issues. I got a CPC transduced, a temperature probe. I got a Microthermal and I got Danfoss and they're all, what I mean? It's, you guys keep it pretty, pretty similar across all your brands, which I really, really like. And Andrew, I wanna thank you for taking the time to share some of your knowledge with us.
Absolutely. I don't mind pulling up the history on Elliot and we can go through it. Tell you exactly what was happening when,
Popular Podcasts
United States of Kennedy
United States of Kennedy is a podcast about our cultural fascination with the Kennedy dynasty. Every week, hosts Lyra Smith and George Civeris go into one aspect of the Kennedy story.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com