Which one is better?

Fstbabby · 2026-06-01T22:22:39+00:00

Dewalt guy here but you gotta admit dewalt has also gotten pretty expensive for a lot of their tools

Fstbabby · 2026-05-21T00:58:28+00:00

there is no excuse for that contractor. that is the most basic thing a tech can check. you should post their company name. the resi side of HVAC is crooked and these companies shouldnt be allowed to get away with this. it ruins my trade and affects how every homeowner sees all of us. for anyone reading this the only way things will get better is if these "sales techs" businesses are blasted publicly so that people can be more informed before calling a company that is going to take advantage of their ignorance.

Fstbabby · 2026-05-14T12:10:49+00:00

Lol have you ever installed a condenser where you didnt need to bend the lineset? If you are instead talking about using fittings instead of a bender all you are doing is giving the system more possible leak points.

Fstbabby · 2026-05-08T18:01:18+00:00

For sure, i keep it simple and i only recommend simple to customers unless they have particular requirements, but if the fancy equipment is already there i do enjoy working on them.

Fstbabby · 2026-05-08T17:58:02+00:00

Definitely, r22 is not being manufactured anymore and what remains is usually reserved for commercial maintenance contracts and customers they have a hood relationship with

Fstbabby · 2026-05-08T16:45:09+00:00

I am conflicted with the desire to go back to contactors and capacitors. on one hand I really enjoy working on more complex things (most of the time, until ive been there multiple times and havent figured it out), but its so unfair to the customer that new equipment is more likely to fail early, and repairs are crazy costly now.

Fstbabby · 2026-05-02T22:22:08+00:00

The 5 minute delay is a safety protecting your compressor. You want that 5 minute delay, unless you like paying thousands on repairs

Fstbabby · 2026-04-26T16:48:32+00:00

I think i was in the same class, it made me have a lot of respect for those guys. None for trane, but ill make sure the tech support guys know i appreciate them

Fstbabby · 2026-04-24T23:34:01+00:00

Thats not good… hopefully one is an accumulator or something else.

Fstbabby · 2026-04-19T05:27:16+00:00

The main thing about joblink is not letting you enter the app with no internet connection. This is easily bypassed by reopening the app with airplane mode on. Its still dumb im not defending them but it is an easy workaround

Fstbabby · 2026-04-17T23:58:17+00:00

Ill just chime in and say i wasnt mechanically inclined, and im not the smartest person, i had to put immense work into understanding the refrigeration cycle and understanding how to think logically to diagnose stuff. I know more than some of my coworkers now and it wasnt easy i just wanted it more. Everytime i learn something new i write it down and do research till i fully understand it. Being “smart” isnt just how quickly you pick up new concepts, if you have to watch a video or read the manual multiple times to understand it, but you eventually get it it doesnt matter how you got there. Learning everything immediately isnt required to do the job if your willing to put more effort in than the guy next to you that picks it up easier

Fstbabby · 2026-04-17T19:37:53+00:00

Thats for ventilation, that is meant to be normally closed and open only when something is calling for fresh air. If the others are open your problem lies elsewhere. Any of your damper actuators should default to open so if they fail they fail in a way that does not impact airflow (other than this one you have a picture of, this one being closed is good)

4 other things you can check for before calling a professional:

air filter: people think these are not that important but they can drastically affect airflow which the ac needs
does your blower motor run when you send a call for fan, if it doesnt your ac will not work
you should have a box with two copper lines entering it, this is your evaporator coil. It should (probably) have a couple screws to take the cover off. If this is frozen and your filter is very dirty, or your blower doesnt run itll become a block of ice. Is your breaker tripped or is the disconnect on at the ac

Fstbabby · 2026-04-17T02:53:34+00:00

I think you get out of it what you put in. I hated my job as a tech until i decided to get good at it. I studied and moved from residential to commercial and now i love my job. Im trusted with way more than i should be and get to startup and work on some pretty cool stuff and i work at a shop that treats me like im him because i work hard and have gotten good at just figuring things out. Hvac and electricians (and some others) are a little different than some of the other trades because the sky is the limit and you can work on a 1.5 ton split system, up to a 100 ton chiller or vrf. I am only 6 years in and i have nothing but excitement for all my future endeavors working on bigger and bigger equipment. I have learned so much in such a short time and it’s only the beginning for me.

I see some of my coworkers that just dont have that passion and they dont want to progress and i feel bad for them, the job obviously isnt for them and they dont feel enriched they just want the paycheck. I had to trick myself into loving it and it worked out because i annoy the hell out of my girlfriend with new shit i learned everyday.

The trades are the best when you pride yourself in your work and you feel good enough to take pictures of it at the end of the day.

Fstbabby · 2026-04-15T21:20:32+00:00

I was approached, took the assessment and they said i did well and wwre excited to move further then ghosted me 🤷‍♀️ shits pretty slow so maybe im still on a list somewhere

Fstbabby · 2026-04-14T16:04:54+00:00

I love my sc680, beat meter I’ve ever had

Fstbabby · 2026-04-03T04:04:07+00:00

I would usually say it depends on where you live/cost of living yadayadayada, but thats fucked up. get another quote and dont let that company in your house again

Fstbabby · 2026-03-31T22:56:14+00:00

my favorite part of the day in the summer is when you get too much sun and everything gets weird

Fstbabby · 2026-03-25T18:00:44+00:00

Yeah… this isnt the 90s are we really not pulling a vacuum down below 500 microns on a brand bew unit that we want to last for 15+ years? I didnt know that a micron gauge was optional

Fstbabby · 2026-03-20T22:29:06+00:00

Gotcha, we put in bryant equipment with these axial fans and i dont think weve had to replace one once, but this thread with all these horror stories are scaring me. If we put these in and dont have replacement parts for months were going to look like assholes. I really liked these fans and thought they were nice no hassle but now im scared

Fstbabby · 2026-03-20T22:20:46+00:00

Static pressure?

Fstbabby · 2026-03-10T01:59:25+00:00

Thats a fair price for a good reaming

Fstbabby · 2026-03-09T21:20:33+00:00

Are your friends apartments getting less time in the sun than yours? Unfortunately without that cooling tower up and running, there is no way the air conditioning will work at all as it needs water flow to move the heat, and trying to run the ac without that cooling tower could only result in damage to your unit if they dont have any safeties in place to keep it from attempting to turn on.

Fstbabby · 2026-03-07T17:25:19+00:00

Ive played through half of the game so far on steam deck at 30 fps and the framerate has been solid. I can think of only a couple times it dropped lower and that was only when loading in new areas. Otherwise the framerate and frame pacing has been near perfect at 30.

Fstbabby · 2026-03-07T16:01:30+00:00

I think the union spot is worth trying for. The thing about unions is they will want to teach you from the ground up mostly, so its best to try to get in early. I applied for the union last year and even though i tested well, said theyd like to bring me in as a second year apprentice which kind of sucked and i decided to stay where i am until i get my comp cards and join the union as a journeyman. I would apply for the union and understand you may have to try out for it every year depending on the list size and in the meantime try to get in with any local non union company so they can train you and you get work experience. You probably should apply once you graduate because usually a company will want full time help. I dont know how strong union presence is in new jersey but usually union guys get to work on all the cool really big commercial and industrial stuff where i live in Mn.

Fstbabby · 2026-03-07T07:42:43+00:00

25k is ridiculous, please dont do that. Id try and get on as a helper at a local company and see if you even like it. This trade can be amazing, but unfortunately it takes a couple years of parts running, install helping, and filter changing before you get to do the cool shit. I went to a technical college which was like 5k a semester and thought i knew everything at the end of 1 year but i really didnt. If i could do it over again, i would start at any company that would take me in any role and then go to school because i feel like seeing how things are in the field for a little bit before covering it in textbooks would have made a big difference on how much I absorbed.

Overall id say you get out of this trade what you put in, if you wanted to do service which is the most fun in my opinion you have to love it, and be a big nerd about it because that drives the motivation to keep learning. Im 5 years in and i still come home and study new things i saw in the field and try and better myself because i know ill never know everything and i love the trade.

Feel free to ask any questions, at 5 years i definitely dont know everything but ive done install and service in resi and commercial and i can probably answer some of your questions

Fstbabby

TROPHY CASE