Arkansas HVACR NewsMagazine January 2026

HVACR NewsMagazine January 2026

Tech News

Warm metal = faster moisture release. As we’ve covered in cold weather commissioning, adding heat to the refrigerant circuit increases molecular energy and vapor pressure. Use heat guns, heated blankets, or run the furnace if the lineset passes through a conditioned plenum. ⁸ A PROPER DECAY TEST Only isolation tells you if moisture is gone.

curve. A wet system produces a characteristic rise-and- plateau pattern that’s unmistakable once you’ve seen it. The graph doesn’t lie. The question is whether you’re reading it.

References

1. Vapor Pressure of Ice, LyoTechnology, Technical Reference Chart, 2015 2. ANSI/ASHRAE Addendum c to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 147-2019, ASHRAE, Standards and Guidelines, 2022 3. Heat Pump Quality Installation and Commissioning, Building America Solution Center, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 2024 4. Fundamentals of Vacuum Technology, Leybold, MMRC Caltech, 2016 5. TruBlu Evacuation Tools: Steps to a Proper Evacuation, HVAC Tools Australia, 2023 6. Nitrogen Purity Grades for Different Industrial Applications, NiGen International, Technical Specifications, 2024 7. Temperature dependence of the sublimation rate of water ice, ResearchGate, Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2014 8. Review of Vacuum for Service Engineers, Revised by Jim Bergmann & Bryan Orr, Technical Manual, 2023 9. Residential HVAC Installation Practices: Review of Research Findings, U.S. Department of Energy, EERE Buildings, 2022 10. Optimizing Residential HVAC Systems: Evaluating How the Usage of Smart Diagnostic Tools for Quality Installation and Commissioning Impacts System Performance, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, U.S. Department of Energy, 2024 This article is an example of the thoroughness of Jim Bermann ’ s training. We appreciate his generosity for furnishing articles and encourage you to search YouTube for his many training videos. We also encourage you to give a close look at measureQuick. You ’ ll be amazed at how it can help you diagnose the most confusing of problems as well as make you a commissioning hero.

7. The Big Lesson from This Graph Hitting 135 microns shows the ability of the vacuum rig. The decay test shows the condition of the system. • The TruBlu vacuum rig could easily overpower the tiny vapor pressure generated by frozen moisture. • The decay test exposed that the system was still wet. • Triple evacuation provided no measurable improvement. This is why modern evacuation best practice has changed: • Triple evacuation is outdated • Nitrogen sweeps don’t dry frozen moisture • Deep vacuum ≠ dry system • The decay curve tells the truth • One long, deep evacuation + heat + a verified decay curve beats triple evac every time Digital graphing tools, like measureQuick’s evacuation tracking, make this visible. You’re not watching a number. You’re watching a