Making Progress on Air Conditioning

Thursday 17 May 2007
0900

I am officially signed out on R&R leave, but I am stuck here due to a sandstorm. I am calling every hour or so to see if traffic is moving, but so far no luck. Since I have no idea when I’ll be able to leave, I’ll catch up a little and make a blog entry.

We are finally in the middle of the HVAC repair and maintenance project that I have worked on since November. The contract was awarded and we started work recently. It is making a huge difference in the function of the machines, and I know it will be instrumental in keeping them running once it gets hot. (It’s only been about 110 degrees F this last week or so – it doesn’t get *really* hot until July and August). :-)

We are having an HVAC contractor do a complete repair of each machine to fix whatever is wrong with it (coils, compressors, blower motors, bearings, belts, switches, contactors, relays, timers, whatever). When I got here last October it was already starting to cool down (the hottest temperature I recorded back then was 105 degrees F), but HVAC maintenance was still a constant headache. The machines just haven’t been taken care of properly, and that is critical to keeping them running, especially in this harsh environment. I quickly came to the conclusion that we needed a major effort to get them running right, and this project is the result.

Keeping the filters and coils clean is the single most important thing you can do here too keep air conditioning units running properly. There are lots of things that can go wrong, but clogged filters and dirty coils drastically reduce the efficiency and make the whole machine work harder, leading to more breakdowns. It's simple to do - somebody just has to do it.

Here are some photographs of what we are doing:


HVAC Filter
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


Evaporator Coils Before Cleaning
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


Evaporator Coils After Cleaning
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


Swapping a Compressor
http://www.flickr.com/photos/58512268@N00/501761911/


Installing New Compressor
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


CSM Coin - Obverse
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


CSM Coin - Reverse
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.


Well, still no bus to the airport. I’ll just have to be patient. I’m glad I built in some extra time to make sure I make it to my daughter’s high school graduation!

Mood: Antsy
Music: Billy Idol – Cradle of Love