Starting Up New Systems in a Mobile Home Park
Hey guys! Today, I’m out here in a mobile home park where they’ve just installed new systems, and nobody has ever started them up. Right now, we have an Ecobee thermostat that is blank. But as I go through this job, I have to tell you what happened to me today. Stay tuned!
Earlier Today: Changing an Apartment Style Air Handler
Earlier today, a friend of mine and I were changing out an apartment-style air handler. Let’s just say we had some difficulties. We had the new air handler set in place and we were getting the electrical hooked up. We then started soldering in the line set so we could start a vacuum. There was a fire suppression sprinkler directly above us in this little closet where the air handler was located. Unfortunately, we got it too hot, and the sprinkler busted loose on us.
Damage Control: Turning off the Power and Dealing with Water
I knew that we had to turn off the power at the fire department closet, so I turned it off. But by the time I could get that water turned off and have it lose pressure, the hardwood floors (or rather, the fake hardwood floors) had been soaked. The glue was coming up, and we were sweeping and vacuuming water for hours. As a result, it looks like I may be replacing somebody’s floor sometime soon.
Back to the Mobile Home Park: Troubleshooting
Back at the mobile home park, I had to start troubleshooting the system since no one came to finish the job. I found that my thermostat wasn’t even hooked up! There was no provision for heat strips, so I had to get what I needed to hook everything up properly.
After taking care of that issue, we were able to give the occupants an estimate for installing heat strips. We were determined to get their air conditioning running, especially since it was a sweltering 91 degrees inside.
Continuing the Story from Earlier: Water in the Line Set
To continue with that story from what happened this morning, I was filming, but I was filming in fast forward. Disappointingly, the film didn’t really catch what happened, as it looked like we were working and suddenly stopped working and started sweeping.
When that incident happened, water got in my line set, and I had to change the oil in my vacuum pump a whopping 13 times just to get it below 700 microns.
Moving on to the Next Units in the Mobile Home Park
After getting the first unit up and running, I moved on to the next one. This time, I encountered issues with the wiring, which needed to be corrected. The thermostat also wouldn’t recognize that a “G” wire was connected so I had to replace it. Finally, I noticed that the rain hood on the unit was channeling water into the ductwork, which was another problem that needed to be addressed.
Once those issues were taken care of, I moved on to even more units in the park. In total, there were ten systems that needed to be started up, but these first two were the most urgent since people were already living there.
Conclusion: Wrapping Up the Work
Guys, thanks for watching the video! That was just two of the ten systems that need to be started up in this mobile home park. Those were dire needs because somebody was living there, and I’m happy to say that we were able to get their air conditioning up and running.
As a side note, I recently did an interview on HVAC Shop Talk, so if you’re interested in that, go check it out! Thanks for watching, and I’ll catch y’all on the next one.