Customer Reviews

Troubleshooting & Serving Heat Pumps

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I originally purchased the "HVAC/R Professional's Field Guide to Heat Pump Systems & Service" and although it was copyright 1990 that book is the BOMB. Yes the copyright is old; however, the information is fundamental and solid. I recently purchased "Troubleshooting & Servicing Heat Pumps" - because I loved the first soo much - and I found it to be a carbon copy of the original 1990 copyright (right down to the Dedication and Introduction. There is one one very important exception however.

The original contains Part Two: Manufacturer's Service Data. So what you ask? That section has the tech manuals from the Manufacturer's themselves and they are LOADED with additional information that you do not find in Part One of either book (find PTC switches, pipe sizing, charging charts, troubleshooting flow charts in Part one...you wont). This is the information that you wish you had when you are staring at a unit but never seem to have while the customer is over your shoulder asking "What is taking so long...what's the problem...are you done yet?"

Bottom line, this author writes clearly, succinctly, and about the solid fundamentals; however, spend the money and buy the original 1990 copyright and you WILL get more information and better value (5 Stars without any questions). Don't let the age of the older book disuade you. If money is a consideration, then by all means by "Troubleshooting & Servicing Heat Pumps."

Troubleshooting and servicing heat pumps was very helpful, in that it was not written in techincal lingo, that a student or beginner would be come overwhelmed by and give up. It does explain the many different aspects of heatpumps and deals with different variations and operations. There are many good diagrams to show how items work. The thing I found lacking was step by step troubleshooting diagrams.

Great book, fantastic resource. Every HVAC installer and service person should carry this field reference.
It's fantastic.
A+++

This book is worth having for anyone dealing with installation and mainenance of heat pumps. It is not especially helpful for geothermal systems though, as it is quite dated in that field, as it spends very few paragraphs, focusing on only one manufacturer. No mention is made for example, of DX systems, where the refrigerant is circulated directly through the earth. On water circulation, I see only some standard diagrams, published by Water Furnace Inc. in introductory literature; very little is said about rates of flow, heat transfer numbers, recommended tube length and material for various climates and soil types. Also missing is mention of supplementary heat sources, which is an essential part of an efficient heat pump system. Other than electric resistance coils, which are briefly covered, supplementary is left to the imagination of the reader.

Recommended subtitle: Except for Geothermal Systems.

This book does a good job of talking about some of the basic aspects of heat pumps and there operations. Some of the illustrations are done very well to give you the insides of a basic reversing valve. However some of the information on there was old and being in new installation this didn't help me much but if I were doing retrofits on old systems it may be of more use. Overall a decent book.

Being that this is the only service/repair book out on heat pumps reasonably priced there aren't many alternatives so we're stuck. I read it in about an hour - there's not much to it and no helpful tips that made me go "Wow - what a great idea!" It could use a chapter on installation and some explanations of the tradeoffs that can be made to optimize heat pump efficiency or operation. I'll give you a tip and I won't charge $30 either. Delay the indoor fan for 30 seconds to give the coil time to heat up so cold air doesn't blow out the vents.