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0 pointsteslabox1y ago0 comments

> But HVAC supply shops will sell them to you, you don’t need to be licensed or anything to buy them.

My local HVAC supplier doesn't sell to non-licensed people. I think they don't like dealing with returns from people who don't know what they're doing. I needed a 24vac transformer once. My dad used the same HVAC company for his office for a long time, they still remembered him, and had the part I needed in stock.

My brother's capacitor went out, but we found the part he needed at a local Grainger branch. https://www.grainger.com/category/motors/motor-capacitors

Two summers ago my AC didn't sound right. IIRC the outside unit was clicking on and off. I pulled the breaker. Eventually I decided the problem was with the contactor (a switch controlled by 24vac). I took pictures of where the wires were connected and pulled the contactor. For no particular reason I started taking the old contactor apart, and found a cricket in the middle. I removed the bug, cleaned out the cricket residue, put the contactor back together, and returned it to the outside unit. My AC system resumed working perfectly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactor

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SOLAR_FIELDS1y ago

I’ve heard of this in the past. Usually the shop will sell to you without a license if you’re affiliated with an HVAC company, because you might be some unlicensed peon picking up parts for the installer or technician down the road. But they often have no way to verify whether you’re a HVAC person for things that don’t require a license vs some clued in homeowner, so you can give them a made up LLC name and say you want a cash account. It takes a fair bit of confidence to pull this off though. Easier and cheaper to order off of Amazon usually anyway

FWIW there are some things that DO require licensing. Purchasing refrigerant requires an EPA number. Almost no shop will sell you full on ready to install systems without a contractors license. But off the shelf components like this don’t require one and they have unlicensed helpers coming in all the time buying stuff, so confidently pretending you’re one of those is usually enough in a pinch.

Suppafly1y ago

> Purchasing refrigerant requires an EPA number.

Why can I buy as many cans of it that I want for my car then? Is the stuff used in house systems that different?

teslaboxOP1y ago

I had some more R134a added to my car recently. The mechanic said when he had his shop, he would have completely evacuated the system to measure how many ounces of refrigerant were still in the system. He also said the old R12 systems were less leaky than R134a. R12 was phased out because of the ozone layer.

I think refrigerator and AC repair companies are required to capture and recycle the refrigerant - they don’t seem to have the equipment to capture and measure refrigerant like auto mechanics.

R22 (phased out refrigerant for home AC) has chlorine in it, while R134a doesn’t have chlorine, making it easier on the ozone layer. R134a is being replaced with R1234yf.

The best refrigerant is CO2, but this has the greatest tendency to leak.

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zrobotics1y ago

A lot of supply houses only sell to people with an account setup. It's not that you need to be a liscenced contractor, they just aren't setup for retail sale. This often extends to not even having a till, customers create an account with net 30/60 terms.

A good way to check if a place does retail sale is to ask for the city desk when calling in.

adxl1y ago

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