The Lighter Side This month’s Lighter Side brought to you by:
1 WINNER
2
3
4
5 1 LEAKY GLAND Eddie in Queensland came across this gem while carrying out scheduled maintenance on a site he usually doesn’t attend. “Nothing a few cable ties, electrical box and corro won’t fix!” he says. According to the primary tech, the customer was not interested in doing the repair, hence the temporary fix. Graham says: Nothing like a bit of innovation, better than nothing!
2 STAND-UP JOB Daniel spotted this one on his morning coffee walk in Sydney. “Looks like the installer has never heard of roof brackets for sloped roofs before and has just turned a set of wall brackets inside out to mount this unit,” he says. “Propped up on pavers at the back to level it out!” Graham says: Whatever happened to pride in the quality of an installation?
4 DRIVEN TO DISTRACTION “Apprentice having a bad day?” wonders Nick, who snapped this on the Gold Coast. Graham says: Sometimes the biggest frustration in service work is finding a park close enough to the job, and a loaded-up service vehicle doesn’t always have great vision for reversing!
5 SHORT CUTS
3 MANIFOLD DUTIES “This liquid line solenoid is an incredibly stupid and pointless thing on the discharge line of a belt-drive,” says funny guy Frank. “It serves absolutely no purpose at all and will probably kill the compressor if it goes open circuit.” Graham says: A solenoid valve in the discharge line is unusual unless it is part of a “hot gas” defrost, in which case it would control a bypass line. It’s hard to tell from the single image. I assume the gauge lines have been fitted by whoever is servicing the unit and have not been left as a semi-permanent fixture?
“Found this split system in a hair salon,” says Nigel. “Needless to say, it wasn’t working particularly well.” He recommended to the tenant that they cut out the ceiling, remove the head unit and reinstall it correctly. The landlord refused, arguing it was in “working condition”. Graham says: There was once a construction camp with room air conditioners all installed upside down by the builder, but with a split system the licensed installer should know better. I wonder about condensate drainage.
Additional comments and observations provided by Graham Boyle, F.AIRAH, portfolio manager, heavy automotive and refrigeration at South Metropolitan TAFE. Please note that the comments are provided on the basis of the photos only and should be read with this in mind – not all issues or solutions are apparent from a 2D image.
HAVE YOU COME ACROSS SOMETHING SCARY, UGLY OR JUST PLAIN FUNNY? If your entry is deemed the monthly winner, a 700ml bottle of Jim Beam will be on its way to your door. Please include a postal address with your entry. Entrants must be 18 or over. Send your hi-res (>500KB) photos to Editor, Mark Vender at mark.vender@airah.org.au
30
|
HVAC&R Nation
|
www.airah.org.au/nation
|
October 2021
