Just recently worked on a WIF with a similar set up, 1.5 years old. A company installed it and never changed the refrigerant on the board. Had to do a ton of de icing, the line set was around 120' and still flooding back. Nice video. It had 448 in it but the board from factory is set up with 404.
Nice thorough video, I am starting to see a lot more of the Russels. Darn good time to jump in the market. The need for new equipment far exceeds brand loyalty. Good video.
Yeah they’re fun as they’re pretty much new to what we are used to but i’d be careful & check to be sure they didn’t install it incorrectly or in no time you’ll end up going back to have to find out why it’s freezing up If i can find the pics of both valves i had to reinstall I’ll send them your way
Best part about them is as long as you have all operating properly it’s the smart board that’s able to give you superheat & the fact that you can open & close the valve via the board Have fun man
In my area, Health Dept. would ding those bare copper drain lines in cooler. They don't want any exposed copper in boxes including liquid lines. Also can not install them tight to wall, require standoff clamps so lines can be cleaned on backside. Galvanized clamps against copper ?
If you had a choice would you go with a conventional system or this system shown? I like basic stuff and don't want problem or as few problems as possible in the future with equipment.
I do like these systems. Made it pretty easy. Installed a few heat craft ones at H.e.b. Curbside stores. only issue was the stepper motor on the exv were installed backwards from factory on a few.
I am definitely curious how well that control board will hold up in the evaporator, especially as it has a tiny battery on it (just past the upper left corner of the display). I am surprised they didn't put a shield of some kind over the nasty high voltage/power supply part of the board.
I’ve only had one issue with those controllers. We installed a walk in cooler/freezer combo box and supposedly the right sized equipment was supplied by the same company as its a standard in this franchises (Imperial brown I believe). After a day of runtime and product coming down to temp, the cooler box would overcool and freeze the product. Freezer did not have any issues (it’s meant to freeze, it can run longer obv) The system cooled the box so quickly that the box would be at temperature and continue to drop before the min compressor run time (4 minutes) would be up. I was able to lower min compressor run time to 2 minutes but the problem continued. I even tried adjusting the differential which helped, but didn’t solve the issue completely. That was on OT at 9:30pm and they closed at 10. Another tech was sent back, but not sure how the issues was solved. I would venture a guess to say that the equipment was oversized for the box even though it was all supplied by the same manufacturer. Imperial brown
Worked on a couple of those EEV’s certain companies have installed backwards, they’ll work okay for sometime then come to a point in which they fail & constantly feed refrigerant causing big freeze ups, keep an eye out Rick, be safe brother
Finally the covers of service valve and electrical parts on the evaporator unit can be opened from the front but not the side? The side open design is so bad
I'm used to HeatCraft too but I do like some features of that Russell. That's display looks so easy to read and work. I always ask if I can handle the wiring because sparky usually makes more work for me. I try to believe it's just ignorance of how that system works and not recklessness
When you read the manuals you overcome most problems installing & troubleshooting! Thanks again for the videos! 🍺🍺🍺🥃🥃🎳⛳ Stay safe. Retired (werk'n)keyboard super tech. Wear your safety glasses!
With that EEXV serving as the metering device, it's not surprising that Demand Defrost has been deployed in that system, as opposed to a time-only feature. It would not make sense to use the technology that's needed to support an EEXV, but use a time-only defrost feature with it. However, using time as a default in an EEXV system does make plenty of sense.
@@HVACRSurvival i hear you. What I'm saying is a conventional TXV used with a standard electronic or electromechanical defrost time clock does the job well. But when manufacturers start using electronic TXVs (ETXVs), then they have to use the technology that supports those ETXVs which is not what a conventional defrost time clock or a conventional TXV operates on. Take for example Heatcraft's demand defrost system under their Beacon trademark name. They use demand defrost rather than time-only defrost. To go with demand defrost they have to include solid state sensors strategically placed on the evaporator coil as well as a microprocessor that takes in the signals from those sensors as analog inputs and runs them through an algorithm to determine when to go into ddefrost mode. That's quite a bit of technology to deploy when a standard TXV and standard defrost time clock will do the job just fine. I understand that the higher technology is used because it manages the use of energy better, but sometimes higher technology on these systems is really overengineering them.
You have other refrigerant rules than over in EU😬 Since January 2020 it s not allowed to install or refill any 404A GWP over 2500 is banned. Nice job you made😊
Yeah I know, we're going to be forced into something different before long. We're reluctant to change till we absolutely need to just because we have so many refrigerants already. I suspect we'll probably do R448a like the ice cream machines.
@@HVACRSurvival Seems like hydrocarbons is the main choice here now. Isobutane for 10 years on home appliances now Else Propane on freezers mostly and medium low temperature equipment. I work mostly with ultra low temperature equipment and those use either Ethan or Ethylene in the second stage. The former 508B is now 1400 dollars per. LB 🙄😳 if you can get it.
1:42 major/multiple alarms going off, 12-2(yellow coated) romex wire outdoors? even if used for low voltage total FAIL was the black cable 8 awg romex power to unit? holy sheeeeet if.. I could see in an dire emergency, but still massive fail. ** later in video, I understood the cooler was moved to allow the new installation and that was temporary wiring until decommissioned. but still makes you go WTF 🤣
I've installed that exact model not impressed with the pc board in the evaporator compartment especially when the coil iced up and ice wrapped itself around the board and all the molex connection plugs good luck being careful to defrost as you normally would better have a spare board on deck
Imagine when that board goes bad on a Friday night. The customer will be pissed off. Every extra part that these fancy equipment has will break. And it’s always on long weekend
My unit wont go lower than 60. I have a light switch and temp at door which alternates every 30 seconds or so from 60 to F, not sure if F is a code or fernhgt. its set to 38 and has an orange blinking light under the green active light. Help please
I don't get it. Why put the pcb in the coil. What will happen when it gets wet or humid. Here in DK, we always put the controller (AK-CC 550, AK-CC55 or Carel (thingy)) outside the box
can you explain why virutrally nobody in america uses wire ferrules when making connections? as the voltage is half of what it is in the rest of the world the current is double that of our systems you really need to take care of the correct wire connections. lots of videos that i see of hvac repair is rife with burnt wires from poor connections due to a lack of ferrules and no enough force when screwing the wires down.
@@HVACRSurvival yes for example. in basically every installation i see bare wires shoved in connectors and barely tightend down wich have all oxidised after just a few years and suffer heat damage. especially on defrost clocks and contactors. and the sensor leads going into the boards on the green terminals. those wires tend to snap off or cause intermittent issues in a humid and viberating machine. even in eurpe i have to teach and force apprenteces into using ferrules and screwdrivers with torque clicks in them. almost everyone does not tighten terminals down enough.
A feral is usually a piece of plastic or something that keeps the wire from getting skimmed when it goes through a metal connector are we talking about the same thing?
@HVACR Survival it's a termination you put on the end of a wire. Like a ring terminal except it's... just a chunk of tube you crimp on and make it into a kind of solid block. Then you put the ferrule into your connection and that's that. To me, it's a european solution to a question not asked. You twist stranded wire and you can certainly torque down a lug on it just fine. Those little green terminal connection points on PCBs are garbage but I don't see a ferrule fixing that. It is quicker than tinning the strands.
@Supreme Ruler of the World contactors usually use lugs which aren't an issue or you use a spade connector which isn't an issue. A loose connection in any circumstance is a bad connection. A ferrule wouldn't change that.
Commissioning is my least favourite part of the job , bloody hate it ! Anything goes wrong while you're there or even months later and guess who they're blaming. 3 units in one day though ? Sheesh !
@@primetime758 once again I'm the tech not the installer. There's a bunch of stuff I didn't like about this or the mua unit that your going to see next. I'm not there boss 🤷 or there's plenty that would be different. But don't forget price is a determining factor on this job
@@HVACRSurvival price is usually a factor for most jobs its Rare for Clients just to ask for a ball park price and dont care if its higher than quoted.. or some clients dont care how much it costs just do it..... most clients are penny pinchers and hunt for the cheapest.... and than end up paying the most lol
@@HVACRSurvival Was there no need for it because the lineset length was short ? I'm asking because I didn't even think about it so now I'm thinking I shoulda...
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Excellent vid ... Those Russell units seem pretty nice ... Thx for posting ...
Thanks for posting. Glad to hear some feedback on this evaporator controller.
Just recently worked on a WIF with a similar set up, 1.5 years old. A company installed it and never changed the refrigerant on the board. Had to do a ton of de icing, the line set was around 120' and still flooding back. Nice video. It had 448 in it but the board from factory is set up with 404.
Those Russell units are a nice step
Up from Heatcraft
I agree 👍👍
Thanks for bringing us along. Love these new equipment videos.
Glad you like them! Thanks for watching!
Thanks Rick! Great video
Those damn electricians did it again, Good job Rick.
Those units are pretty damn nice. Well done Rick....get er done....on to the next.
Thanks🤜🤛✌️✌️
Nice thorough video, I am starting to see a lot more of the Russels. Darn good time to jump in the market. The need for new equipment far exceeds brand loyalty. Good video.
I was impressed, other than the non-serviceable EXV valve. The heatcraft valve can be unscrewed and change just the head.
Yeah they’re fun as they’re pretty much new to what we are used to but i’d be careful & check to be sure they didn’t install it incorrectly or in no time you’ll end up going back to have to find out why it’s freezing up
If i can find the pics of both valves i had to reinstall I’ll send them your way
Stay safe 😎 always looking forward to watching your video man
Best part about them is as long as you have all operating properly it’s the smart board that’s able to give you superheat & the fact that you can open & close the valve via the board
Have fun man
Thanks Erick! I appreciate the support🤜🤛🤟🤟
In my area, Health Dept. would ding those bare copper drain lines in cooler. They don't want any exposed copper in boxes including liquid lines. Also can not install them tight to wall, require standoff clamps so lines can be cleaned on backside. Galvanized clamps against copper ?
I get most of that but why not bare copper pipe in a cooler? I can see that in a freezer.
@@HVACRSurvival Bare copper can develop green corrosion over time and potentially flake off and into food. That is their thinking.
Well done Rick!
Thanks bud!
If you had a choice would you go with a conventional system or this system shown?
I like basic stuff and don't want problem or as few problems as possible in the future with equipment.
I like both but the traditional will have less problems.
I do like these systems. Made it pretty easy. Installed a few heat craft ones at H.e.b. Curbside stores. only issue was the stepper motor on the exv were installed backwards from factory on a few.
Interesting👍👍. Thanks for sharing your experiences!
Sporlan SER electronic valves are bidirectional according to their literature.
I am definitely curious how well that control board will hold up in the evaporator, especially as it has a tiny battery on it (just past the upper left corner of the display). I am surprised they didn't put a shield of some kind over the nasty high voltage/power supply part of the board.
Time will tell. Thanks for watching!
I’ve only had one issue with those controllers. We installed a walk in cooler/freezer combo box and supposedly the right sized equipment was supplied by the same company as its a standard in this franchises (Imperial brown I believe). After a day of runtime and product coming down to temp, the cooler box would overcool and freeze the product. Freezer did not have any issues (it’s meant to freeze, it can run longer obv) The system cooled the box so quickly that the box would be at temperature and continue to drop before the min compressor run time (4 minutes) would be up. I was able to lower min compressor run time to 2 minutes but the problem continued. I even tried adjusting the differential which helped, but didn’t solve the issue completely. That was on OT at 9:30pm and they closed at 10. Another tech was sent back, but not sure how the issues was solved. I would venture a guess to say that the equipment was oversized for the box even though it was all supplied by the same manufacturer. Imperial brown
All parameters were adjustable and could be set to zero if I remember correctly. I would definitely go with a minimum of 3 to 4° differential
Very good video!
Worked on a couple of those EEV’s certain companies have installed backwards, they’ll work okay for sometime then come to a point in which they fail & constantly feed refrigerant causing big freeze ups, keep an eye out Rick, be safe brother
Thanks for the heads up. I noticed the exv was a one piece unit but the heatcraft was a two piece allowing you to replace the driver.
Yeah they made them like that which is harder for us to replace, poor design from russell unfortunately
Yep, the Sporlan valve is a 1 piece valve. Heatcraft uses Carel valves, which you can separate the stator coil from the valve.
Finally the covers of service valve and electrical parts on the evaporator unit can be opened from the front but not the side? The side open design is so bad
I'm used to HeatCraft too but I do like some features of that Russell. That's display looks so easy to read and work.
I always ask if I can handle the wiring because sparky usually makes more work for me. I try to believe it's just ignorance of how that system works and not recklessness
Exactly, I didn't care for the electrical wiring, I thought it looked a little shady ran in that flexible crap.
When you read the manuals you overcome most problems installing & troubleshooting!
Thanks again for the videos!
🍺🍺🍺🥃🥃🎳⛳
Stay safe.
Retired (werk'n)keyboard super tech. Wear your safety glasses!
Thanks for watching!
Good start up Rick never to big to learn
Didn't know how to do it before I started but I do now LOL
Great video doctor 👍 👏 🇺🇸💪
Thanks bud!
Another great video ✌👍
Thanks bud! I appreciate the feedback!
With that EEXV serving as the metering device, it's not surprising that Demand Defrost has been deployed in that system, as opposed to a time-only feature. It would not make sense to use the technology that's needed to support an EEXV, but use a time-only defrost feature with it. However, using time as a default in an EEXV system does make plenty of sense.
I know how many problems I had on the True freezers that have a accumulated run time style defrost like that. I had to change them all back to time.
@@HVACRSurvival i hear you. What I'm saying is a conventional TXV used with a standard electronic or electromechanical defrost time clock does the job well. But when manufacturers start using electronic TXVs (ETXVs), then they have to use the technology that supports those ETXVs which is not what a conventional defrost time clock or a conventional TXV operates on. Take for example Heatcraft's demand defrost system under their Beacon trademark name. They use demand defrost rather than time-only defrost. To go with demand defrost they have to include solid state sensors strategically placed on the evaporator coil as well as a microprocessor that takes in the signals from those sensors as analog inputs and runs them through an algorithm to determine when to go into ddefrost mode. That's quite a bit of technology to deploy when a standard TXV and standard defrost time clock will do the job just fine. I understand that the higher technology is used because it manages the use of energy better, but sometimes higher technology on these systems is really overengineering them.
it's 18F with 6" of snow here in NEPA today, I think your in Northern Ohio
Your correct👍👍
You have other refrigerant rules than over in EU😬
Since January 2020 it s not allowed to install or refill any 404A
GWP over 2500 is banned. Nice job you made😊
Yeah I know, we're going to be forced into something different before long. We're reluctant to change till we absolutely need to just because we have so many refrigerants already. I suspect we'll probably do R448a like the ice cream machines.
You can still recharge a 404a system in EU. Where are you from ?
@@HVACRSurvival
Seems like hydrocarbons is the main choice here now.
Isobutane for 10 years on home appliances now
Else Propane on freezers mostly and medium low temperature equipment.
I work mostly with ultra low temperature equipment and those use either Ethan or Ethylene in the second stage.
The former 508B is now 1400 dollars per. LB 🙄😳 if you can get it.
Nevermind, i can see you are from Norway. You are not even in the EU.
HFOs?
That cooler fan on the roof sounds like an old Volkswagen sounds it is . You know what you call 100-year-old frog. An old croak
🤣🤣👍👍🤟
Placing equipment close to the edge of the roof makes me nervous. Thxs for the vids!
I hear you, especially on days with ice and snow.
1:42 major/multiple alarms going off, 12-2(yellow coated) romex wire outdoors? even if used for low voltage total FAIL
was the black cable 8 awg romex power to unit? holy sheeeeet if.. I could see in an dire emergency, but still massive fail.
** later in video, I understood the cooler was moved to allow the new installation and that was temporary wiring until decommissioned. but still makes you go WTF 🤣
🤷
I've installed that exact model not impressed with the pc board in the evaporator compartment especially when the coil iced up and ice wrapped itself around the board and all the molex connection plugs good luck being careful to defrost as you normally would better have a spare board on deck
Your the third person to mention that about the control. That's a valid point. 👍👍 Hopefully that doesn't happen.
Imagine when that board goes bad on a Friday night. The customer will be pissed off. Every extra part that these fancy equipment has will break. And it’s always on long weekend
Bingo👍👍
Is that a check valve on the suction line next to the compressor? If so, just wondering why
List me the time stamp and I will go back and look at it. I'm not sure what part of the video your asking about.
HVACR Survival 17:58 Thanks
I'm surprised they allow a hardwired power supply (no HV disconnect) on a new install. Anyway, thanks for the video.
👍
👍👍👍
My unit wont go lower than 60. I have a light switch and temp at door which alternates every 30 seconds or so from 60 to F, not sure if F is a code or fernhgt. its set to 38 and has an orange blinking light under the green active light. Help please
Your best off to call someone local so they can get it back up and running before you lose product.
I don't get it. Why put the pcb in the coil. What will happen when it gets wet or humid. Here in DK, we always put the controller (AK-CC 550, AK-CC55 or Carel (thingy)) outside the box
I didn't design it. I've seen them inside and outside, but still in the cooler.
@@HVACRSurvival It's maybe not a problem. That's just something i wouldn't do.
I don’t like circuit board inside evaporator when sometime wrong ice will build up around circuit board
That's a valid point 👍👍. Time will tell
210 Thumbs uP
can you explain why virutrally nobody in america uses wire ferrules when making connections? as the voltage is half of what it is in the rest of the world the current is double that of our systems you really need to take care of the correct wire connections. lots of videos that i see of hvac repair is rife with burnt wires from poor connections due to a lack of ferrules and no enough force when screwing the wires down.
Where are you looking for ferrules at? The high voltage coming into the EVAP?
@@HVACRSurvival yes for example. in basically every installation i see bare wires shoved in connectors and barely tightend down wich have all oxidised after just a few years and suffer heat damage. especially on defrost clocks and contactors. and the sensor leads going into the boards on the green terminals. those wires tend to snap off or cause intermittent issues in a humid and viberating machine. even in eurpe i have to teach and force apprenteces into using ferrules and screwdrivers with torque clicks in them. almost everyone does not tighten terminals down enough.
A feral is usually a piece of plastic or something that keeps the wire from getting skimmed when it goes through a metal connector are we talking about the same thing?
@HVACR Survival it's a termination you put on the end of a wire. Like a ring terminal except it's... just a chunk of tube you crimp on and make it into a kind of solid block. Then you put the ferrule into your connection and that's that.
To me, it's a european solution to a question not asked. You twist stranded wire and you can certainly torque down a lug on it just fine. Those little green terminal connection points on PCBs are garbage but I don't see a ferrule fixing that. It is quicker than tinning the strands.
@Supreme Ruler of the World contactors usually use lugs which aren't an issue or you use a spade connector which isn't an issue. A loose connection in any circumstance is a bad connection. A ferrule wouldn't change that.
Commissioning is my least favourite part of the job , bloody hate it !
Anything goes wrong while you're there or even months later and guess who they're blaming.
3 units in one day though ? Sheesh !
I had to go back for a couple hours for the mua. I feel ya on the call back🤟👍👍
snip out and throw away all the electronic garbage and it might last almost 1 year. 😒
someone seriously Put P traps lol wow what is going on with Mechnics these days
I'd rather see them do it every time than choose randomly and Skip when they need them.
@@HVACRSurvival ya but thats the problem there was no P trap required at all it works against everything you are trapping oil for no reason
@@primetime758 once again I'm the tech not the installer. There's a bunch of stuff I didn't like about this or the mua unit that your going to see next. I'm not there boss 🤷 or there's plenty that would be different. But don't forget price is a determining factor on this job
@@HVACRSurvival price is usually a factor for most jobs its Rare for Clients just to ask for a ball park price and dont care if its higher than quoted.. or some clients dont care how much it costs just do it..... most clients are penny pinchers and hunt for the cheapest.... and than end up paying the most lol
@@HVACRSurvival Was there no need for it because the lineset length was short ? I'm asking because I didn't even think about it so now I'm thinking I shoulda...
Super easy wasted time reading that. If u had many experience, dont meed that
Did you read the title? This wasn’t a mystery dinner show.