BMI HVAC - R

Fire season is coming! Make sure your ac works!

I dunno what’s going on this week… but I’ve seen the aftermath of some bad installs. 6 year old and 4 year old furnaces rusting and leaking. Just tighten the clamps!

“My hvac is only 4 years old, do I need a service?”
Yup! Get a proper professional to look at your high efficient hvac equipment every 2 years, minimum.

I was at one of these places to install a new ac and the other to add a duct to a new office space. I can’t help it, I have to look inside the furnace! Good thing…

“Gavin, do you love your job?”

I do love it! People are at home when they’re comfortable in their home. I do everything I can to make that happen.

“Do you love your job every day, though?”

….somedays aren’t as good… 😂

I found my first condenser rat nest!
Got a call saying the ac would come on, then go off randomly. Rodent chewed the high limit switch wire enough to make it short out randomly.
Cleaned it out, fixed the wire and we’re back kewling again!

I don’t make ac pads… I make ac foundations! Little bit of effort and 475lbs of rock, this ac won’t sink over time.
Took the top soil/sand out and put in compacting shale and some smaller stones for drainage, gently sloped away from the house and above grade. When I replace this ac in 15-20 years, I wanna say “wow, what a good job I did”
The gas meter is close by, so I had to run the copper and electrical away from it to meet code.

It’s hot out there!!
If your ac breaks, don’t get pressured into one quote! I’m not saying you have to call me, but you definitely should!

What you see here is a downflow furnace with the supply duct inside the concrete floor. The first pic is the “before” photo.

Had another company reach out to me as their newly installed hvac system wasn’t working very well and they wanted me to check it out. Sometimes you just need a second set of eyes!

Well… this time we made some changes. The duct work inside the floor was too small for the cfm of the big furnace. With a few calculations, a smaller furnace was deemed to be sufficient for the heating load.

Made a stand for the coil and furnace to sit on to help increase air flow and reduce static pressure. Ideally the ac coil is on the positive side of the air flow, so that’s what we did!
Built a custom duct transition on site to connect the return air to the furnace with a 4” filter.

Customer had a 16 year old heat pump and just made the switch from an electric furnace to propane, so we added a new heat pump, which should cut down on the propane costs. This heat pump should have no problem heating the house when its -10C outside.
(The ac coil had a refrigerant leak in it as well as being on the negative air pressure side)

This system is much quieter than the old system and just as comfortable! Another happy customer 👍

There used to be a 10 ton unit feeding 2 stores, one thermostat. 10 ton needs to be replaced, store owners want their own systems, can’t blame them.
Air handler on the lower floor, 5 ton unit on the roof. Cored a hole through the concrete. The business owner and I worked together on scheduling the more noisy work while customers weren’t in the store.
Protected the roof with styrofoam, the building owner was very appreciative.
Protected the copper lineset going up the wall to dissuade unfavourable actions of some individuals.
Lots of work, but it’s all finished. The business owner and building owner were an absolute dream to work with!

Living Kitchens coming through with an amazing return air box, to the exact measurements that I provided. 3/4” plywood, finished on both sides. Built in filter rack and door, and of course the BMI HVACR logo beautifully engraved in the front.

Turned the system on and it’s about as loud as a normal house fan. 2000 cfm doesn’t have to be loud!

Don’t worry, there’s duct work up in the ceiling space dispersing the air throughout the store.

I installed this ac 3 years ago. 3 years ago I pressure tested the lineset and new evaporator coil, all good. Pulled a great vacuum.

The next year, I got a call saying the ac wasn’t working. It was iced up, the duct work isn’t great, filter was dirty. Got it up and running again. Working great again. No big deal.

Got a call the next year at the end of the season, same story. Air flow still isn’t great, but the filters have been changed regularly. Checked the refrigerant charge again and it was low this time! Saw some oil residue on the compressor… uh oh.

Went back this year before the heat comes, took the refrigerant out and pressure tested the lineset and indoor coil, and condenser separately. Found a manufacturer leak at the compressor.

Manufacturer warranty for the compressor only, not the entire outdoor condenser and not labour. Checked out the compressor electrically and did a pump down test previous to taking out the charge. Compressor is fine.

Instead of waiting weeks for a compressor, I just fixed it. Took 5 minutes.

When the heat comes, I’ll go back and fine tune the refrigerant charge and it should be good now!

Sometimes new out of the box can have issues. I can fix that. 👍