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This video is brought to you by Beckett HVAC seat pump Solutions you can trust Learn more at beckettus.com forward Slash Industrial All of us have gone to a house Serviced a unit thought something was Wrong with that unit and tested to find Out what was wrong A lot of times you'll Find out that the static pressure is too High and is causing low air flow I mean I don't know what percentage of units Have low air flow but it's a significant Chunk it's probably 30 to 50 percent of All units there's probably a study out There that says that it's 99 but it's a Lot of them so checking for low air flow When you see certain things maybe you See a very low superheat maybe you see a Low suction pressure as a TXV tries to Throttle back to control super heat You might suspect hey there's an airflow Problem you can always check static Pressure really quick to get that rough Idea because not all of us carry around Means to measure CFM should you probably Yes but in the real world we don't all Have that stuff but carrying a manometer Is pretty easy to carry And there's non-wireless models out There still that are very affordable so Having that is like that flashing red Lights okay we got a problem this is a Very high static pressure We need to do something about it okay so
What can you do What can you really do as a technician Out there you're gonna walk up to the Homeowner and say hey you have a high Static pressure it's causing some Inefficiencies we're going to remodel Your duct system and it's going to cost You five thousand dollars and they're Gonna say well good day to you sir thank You for dropping by so it's still Working just not as well yeah but you Really need to bye bye bye bye Okay That's gonna happen sometimes remodeling To ductwork is the appropriate response There's nothing else you can do about it But I want to discuss with you guys Certain things you can do that might Just be enough of a fix to either get You by or to solve the problem entirely So that's what we're going to talk about In this segment we're going to talk About simple ways to correct some static Pressure issues that are causing low air Flow or maybe a strain on that ECM Blower maybe that ECM blower is not Going to feel good it's going to be sick Not to go to the hospital like all the Other ecms X13s in particular that really don't Like anything bad to happen to them They're very uh temperamental they're Little Divas x13s are divas I have the sticker made x13s or Divas
We'll put them on our cars and no one Will know what we're talking about So let's talk about this instead okay The first thing you can do When you want to treat static pressure Bring it down try something that's going To be easier than most things is take a Look at those grills The grills that are used can be very Restrictive a lot of the time so I'm Going to show you a very very common Grill That's actually very very restrictive Compared to some of its aluminum Counterparts so let's take a look at This two-way diffuser it's a very common Out there I'm over here on Amazon just to give you Guys an example of what I'm talking About of course many of us don't buy Anything from Amazon as far as supplies But this is a good example of the grills That I'm talking about now these grills This type can be very restrictive we can Go to the expanded data on the grills And find out all the information on them I'm not going to do that today we've Actually had podcasts about that in the Past where we talk about different types Of grills this is just a stamped steel Two-way diffuser very very very easy to Imagine because I think all of us have Seen those Just have the fins they're fixed they go
In One Direction on one side and One Direction on the other side it comes in A variety of sizes I don't know what the Maximum size is this one on Amazon is 14 By 10. that's pretty large in my world Most of the time we used four by eights Four by tens four by twelves six by tens That area we spent most of our time There these can be very very restrictive Now if you look for an alternative There's aluminum grilles out there that Are going to cost more I can go ahead I Could see one on the screen up here so I'm going to bring it up Now this Grille right here is an Aluminum I believe the model numbers we Used to use I don't know what brand this Is on Amazon But the ones we used to use were R1 VM That might be the return filter grills I'm not positive but They are aluminum they have variable Fins this one has let's see one two Three four five six seven eight nine ten Eleven fins it looks like I probably Miscounted that you can turn them either Way and then there's a master damper in The back you could open or shut These are a lot less restrictive That's something you can look for right Off the bat and then the return Grill They can be especially restrictive For some reason I stuck with Amazon I Don't know why I wasn't planning to come
To Amazon it just happened this way I Think it was the image search now it was Taken to Amazon so there's a full screen Here of the same style stamped return Air filter grills they're stamped Non-filter grills as well If you look on the screen here or if You're listening to me the same two-way Diffusers you saw as supplies this is Basically that very same stamp still Grill except all of the fins are facing In One Direction the fans can come in Various angles there's 33 degree there's 45 degree and each one of those are Going to have a different airflow rating As far as how restrictive they are now If we look on the screen here you'll see On the bottom there's a 20 by 20 Aluminum return filter grille it says Easy airflow same thing these more Expensive aluminum grilles will let a Lot more air pass through less Restricted may just improve the system Enough to get you out of a bind may make A significant difference It's just one thing you can do to Improve the situation and it's something That's not that invasive and not that Expensive to say hey let's switch out These grills Let's see if that does any good I know It'll improve things let's see if we can Get a little bit more efficiency out of This machine where your machine will be
Healthier for longer and the small Investment in grills will be offset by The life of the unit and how efficient It runs probably more so by the life of The unit than the efficiency because I Think it'll probably take a while for The efficiency to Earn back the money you spend on the Grills At least the aluminum ones are Attractive and they won't rust So now let's talk about filters filters Are a way that you can do very little And improve the static pressure greatly So very popular nowadays to have these Super filters I have them on the screen Over here again I chose Amazon just Because we're on a roll with Amazon you Can see that there's filtrate 20 by 30 By one furnace filters Merv 12 so a high Murf very high Merv rating meaning They're going to be restrictive Now before we dive into this real deep Let me say something about this You can use a very high mirror filter And be just fine but you just have to Size the filter appropriately for the System sometimes that means a blow up For the filter like a sheet metal blow Up for the filter sometimes that means Splitting it into two filters if you Size a system for the pressure drop Across those filters you size that duct Then you can use the filters and they'll
Be very successful for you I think one Of the main issues is that we'll have Units that we set maybe you have like a Builder who built a kajillion houses in A neighborhood they slapped in a bunch Of 20 by 20 grills filter grills they Put the filters in they put little spun Fiberglass filters just the cheapest Ones you can get rock Stoppers if you Will And the homeowner buys the house they Move in they say I'm going to improve This I'm going to take it upon myself And I'm going to get this high Efficiency filter go to the Sam's Club Go to your Costco go in there and buy Your three pack of filters that cost Like 40 bucks it's insane it really is Insane Take them home and then you'll the System you'll hear it whistling a little Bit it's going around that filter but What is not known to that homeowner is They put a major restriction in the System where it was not designed If the system was redesigned with that Filter in mind there would probably be Two 20 by 20 filter grilles with those Two filters in it instead of one they'd Probably double the amount of filter Space doesn't mean that that's exact but That's probably a provision that would Be made if you're trying to stick with a Certain size you'd probably double it
Just so the pressure drop would not Affect the system airflow so as a Technician when you go into these places And you see a low air flow and it may Not solve the problem completely but if The homeowner has you know brought in This allergen filter and you guys know The names you see the pleats they're Real tight pleats And these things are not all the same so You might use one that has a certain Pressure drop and another one have a Less resistance to airflow But typically when you see those thick Pleats you know that you might have Something that's very restrictive Especially when there's probably spline Fiberglass in there to start with And you can test that real easy you can You could take it out put a lot of Us Carry filters in our vans and trucks You can put the fiberglass filter in There or your basic filter you carry and See if it improves the situation you can Measure the CFM output you can measure The static pressure and then compare to The Chart it's a really easy way to Solve the problem And to see if there is a problem to Solve so maybe you go in there in a Static pressures 0.8 Really high And you need to get that thing down so It'll perform correctly and you take the
Filters out and this is perfectly viable To say because I've seen this happen and It goes down to 0.5 And you're in the ballpark with a Regular filter And the guy says well I like my high Efficiency filters like all right let's Design a media filter to go with the Unit Or maybe we'll double the amount of Filter grills you have add another Filter Grill won't be too bad that means The ductwork can support the airflow Then you can split the ductwork and wire It into the two filter grilles you will Need to add another duct you can just Split it apart because the duct works Good it's just a filter that's the Problem Otherwise you can add another return Duct easier said than done I know but It's just a way to solve a problem Without having to rip everything apart In a real severe manner plus your Customer is going to think if you can Solve that problem for them and not cost Them an arm and a leg It is getting close to Christmas a lot Of us have children a lot of these Children are tapping us dry from the Stuff that they want and we as big old Just quaking Americans are like we've Got to get the children everything man Got to give them everything let's get an
Xbox 57 or Playstation 17 or I don't Know where we're at I don't know where We're at with that stuff iPhone 14. Heard that on the radio today So just a couple quick fixes we can put To good use I hope
