Hack-free HVAC

Hack-free HVAC HVAC technician with hobbies including DIY electronics, solar, automotive, & outside-the-box projects

04/11/2026

Tracking my HVAC power consumption on and off grid for the month of March, 2026 🌞⚡👍

I have a Kilowatt meter on the disconnect of each of my three heat pumps so I can track the monthly consumption. One of my outdoor units operates almost completely off of my backyard solar/battery system.
My heat pump water heater also runs off of the backyard solar/battery system.









04/09/2026

I built another Mist-Blaster fan out of a Carrier "EcoBlue" axial fan assembly.
This time I added some simple electronics to operate it with a standard 120VAC power plug ⚡👍
Full video here --> https://youtu.be/hBss2UbNtjg

04/09/2026

I built another portable water mist cooler out of an old Carrier "EcoBlue" axial fan motor. This time I added a simple internal voltage doubler circuit to power it off of a standard 120VAC power cord ⚡👍

04/08/2026

Glendale, AZ store sells extremely used HVAC equipment 😆

04/04/2026

FLASHBACK:
Goodman "Desert Series" heat pumps in the early 2000's were well known in the Arizona desert to be the noisiest POS ever made! 😆😆😆 Compressor

03/23/2026

This had to be far exceeding 100 PSI at the shower head!
It stung on the bar skin. Not as extreme as a literal pressure washer however it had that general sensation. We could barely stand in the water. This was nuts.
My guess is that whatever they use to regulate the boosted pressure (14th floor here) be it a VFD using transducer pressure for feedback or an inline regulator on the discharge side of the pump, is messed up! 😬😆

03/17/2026

Another stuck check valve. This time on a unit that never operated in cooling before until now.
When I was attempting to read my hot gas temp before and across "Check Valve A", I was momentarily puzzled on how my compressor discharge gas temperature was dropping from 140 degrees down to just above ambient at the coil manifold assembly entering the outdoor coil! WTF???
Turns out it was a stuck check valve and a with the very low flow through the compressor, some liquid was being carried through and was flashing off quickly to drop the hot gas down to near ambient just a few feet away form the compressor! How often do you see that?
While doing my revering under pressure trick with some tapping on the check valves, it returned to normal. However, I did not notice the instant it did due to the fieldpiece suction probe locking up and only displaying the low pressure I encountered when it was restricting.
I had to restart my fieldpiece probes and app to clear that up.
https://youtu.be/XotoTxl17BQ?si=CsFUtlTaK25DnSZd

03/08/2026

2015 Jeep Cherokee Blower Motor woes [Part 2]
When my daughter installed the junkyard blower motor assembly, it did not work. But it seems that she just bound up the fan when she used my small impact driver to run the screws in.
While it was out I hooked up this cheap Amazon scope to see if the control signal was communication or just simple PWM signal.
Looks to be PWM.
See Part 1 for the junkyard blower motor assembly we acquired to swap in here.

03/08/2026

2015 Jeep Cherokee A/C Blower motor woes [Part 1]
The daughter and I go to the awesome local junkyard in Glendale, AZ to find a complete blower motor assembly that includes the speed controller module (Motor "Resistor" by part name, but it is actually solid state for PWM speed control)
See part 2 for me checking out if the speed control input was communication or simple PWM

02/20/2026

Using a cheap Amazon pocket scope to troubleshoot Ductless mini-split communication issues 👍

This is from a few years ago when I was using a $30 Amazon pocket scope to view the communication on the ductless mini-split lines to determine which board was not initiating or responding to data.
In this case, the Daikin sends a burst of full voltage (60 Hz line sine wave) and then the two boards begin to communicate.
The IDU was not working. So I replaced that board.
This was another test after startup with the new board.

Most ductless units are likely similar.
It isn't an accurate image of the data, as you would see on a good oscilloscope, but it is good enough to get by.

02/16/2026

Compressor air-mail delivery!
[Classic 2015 video]

02/15/2026

CLASSIC 2011 video of us using special AIR MAIL DELIVERY to remove 6 abandoned compressors and a condensing unit from a commercial rooftop.

Note: We knew the business owner here and didn't plan on removing this junk. We were there to replace a condensing fan motor in another unit on a weekend visit.

See the entire original video here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vdrReYEO4o

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