[lurgi]

Was unsweating a liquid line I thought was totally pumped down-leaning over it, it suddenly came apart at about 200 pounds of pressure-you could see the huge vapour cloud rising above the supermarket roof-I never knew my body was capable of such lightning speed- in the opposite direction! Now THAT was a fright!

Anyone else?

 

[DeltaT]

During my service years had an idiot civilian shop supervisor that wanted to replace a leaking Vib on a large split system. Asked him over and over again if he had pumped the system down as he was using GI's to unbraze the vib and I wanted to double check his work cause he was such and idiot. Told me to mind my own business. He put the torch on the fitting and had a GI stand above the fitting pulling on it.

He heated the fitting, the GI pulled and it blew off. About a 20 ft flame came shooting out and straight up with burning gas as about 50 lbs of R12 went up in flames. He never pumped the system down.

The GI got singed but you never saw so many guys move that fast.

 

[NedFlanders]

ONCE

I was squating down in front of a spankin' new 4D cope , which was hanging on the metal threshhold of the motor room door on a come-along .
I wanted to remove the oil for some reason or another so I removed the drain plug under the oil pump with a bucket under the comp.( so I wouldn't make a mess ).
I pulled the plug out , but had forgotten to purge the nitro holding charge.
BLAMO from my ears down to my ankles oil spraying out full steam . I was trying to run but I kept slippng down to the floor on the oil.
My helper said I look like I was doing the Russian folk dance where you squat down and kick your legs out ( like the three stooges do )

After I screamed the " F " bomb a couple of hundred times , and installed the mutha' ( which was a tandem by the way no time to pout ) we laughed about it .

took forever to clean that one up .

 

[indian]

Leave the refrigerant in the system, it's non flammable! HaHaHa, theres nothing quite like atomizing a pocket of oil and providing an ignition source to get your attention!

 

[kingvalve]

I was 19 at the time (man, that was decades ago) and was working with an older engineer who was probably close to 60. We were pulling 2" tubes out of a large sea water cooled ammonia condenser. Everything was strictly bull work, the tubes had to be shrunk back from the tube sheet with a cold chisel and then punched out with a sledge hammer. Well, I was on the sledge hammer and he was holding a large rod against the end of the tube, I let rip with the sledge and the next thing I knew this poor guy was doubled over with his hand between his legs yelling and cursing. Somehow, the top of his finger and my sledge hammer wanted to occupy the same space at precisely the same time and my sledge hammer won...lol. Geez, I felt awful, blood all over.
They sent him to the first aid station, bandaged his finger and sent him back to work. I apoligized...wasn't my fault of course...how can a 19 year old do wrong... but still, it was his finger that was all banged up, heck, my sledge hammer was still as good as new.
Yes, we did finish the job together, him holding the rod and I swinging the sledge hammer...a little more carefully maybe.
Well, he has now passed on to his great reward where, hopefully, fingers never get squished with hammers of any kind. That would be the other place but I'm certain he didn't end up there...it was probably enough like hell on earth just trying to watch out for me...

 

[R12rules]

Little IMP on the WRONG tube in a bundle in a market. Liquid like there was no tomorrow. What a waste of R-12.
I tried metal tape to slow the leak, but to no avail.
I tried connecting a line from this system to another ... no go.



I've also sprayed a few pints of oil in my day also.


Nothing quite like at dance on the motor rrom floor though. That shold have been preserved on film for us all to enjoy.

 

[market-tech]

Many years ago I pulled the oil trick on a new compressor. I was covered from head to toe. It was in a rooftop Port a Pak and I think they heard me yelling down in the store. Funny now, wasn't funny then. >)

 

[hvacmd2002]

Well, I was on the sledge hammer and he was holding a large rod against the end of the tube, I let rip with the sledge and the next thing I knew this poor guy was doubled over with his hand between his legs yelling and cursing. Somehow, the top of his finger and my sledge hammer wanted to occupy the same space at precisely the same time and my sledge hammer won...lol. Geez, I felt awful, blood all over.
..

That's too funny. My former boss thought I was a little twisted because whenever he started bleeding, I'd roll on the floor laughing. Nothing like a stupid human trick to get everybody loose.

 

[Diceman]

Was unsweating a liquid line I thought was totally pumped down-leaning over it, it suddenly came apart at about 200 pounds of pressure-you could see the huge vapour cloud rising above the supermarket roof-I never knew my body was capable of such lightning speed- in the opposite direction! Now THAT was a fright!

Anyone else?

Did the exact same thing only inside the store, sounded like a shotgun going off, followed by the mushroom cloud.
I did worse, but I'm saving those stories for later.

 

[condenseddave]

If I told ya,

I'd have ta kill ya.

 

[a\c don]

About 10 years ago I was working on three Lennox multi-zone RTU's.

The building had just changed hands and the maint super asked if was possible to get any more heat out of the unit serving the office area.

The unit had an unused 10kw heat strip so I checked the breaker and wire size and told him we're good to go.

I wired it and powered it up.

Next thing I know all these people are on the sidewalk outside looking toward the building and two fire trucks racing into the parking lot.

All the dust burning off the long unused heater set off the smoke alarm.

BTW, this was an inhouse drug rehab.

Never forget that one as long as I live.

 

[Freezeking2000]

Once upon a time i front seated one compressor on a rack system and recovered the gas to drain the oil out of the compressor. Removed my gauges and went to lunch. Upon returning i found the rack off on high pressure........................................................hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

I neglected to turn off the compressor service switch and filled the entire rack with air when the computer called for it to run. (no compressor mounted L.P. controll.

Needless to say it was one hell of a long night to get that puppy going properly again.

 

[bigdmike]

Ned flanders i'm like condense dave if i told ya i'd have to kill ya.I will say i've taken an oil bath.I've cut a liquid line.I've...well like i said,i'd have to kill ya!Reading these post has made me laugh and remember i've done the same kinda things.

 

[oogene]

i accidentally slugged our recovery machine (recently), also blew 250 psig of nitrogen out of a reefer through the manifold, had to think for a minute about why the compressor was out of oil and I could see some dripping back into the sump through the sight glass.

[Edited by oogene on 01-19-2005 at 01:47 AM]

 

[will 2]

Ya know those pressure switches mounted on a schrader valve fitting ?

Ever tried to get one back on in a hurry ?

 

[patchdf1354]

Sweating a leaky hole that had oil still on it which made a little smoke, not to mention all the other crud I burnt up like roaches, grease etc. Anyway, It was in a brand new 10 story building. Cafeteria kitchen on the 1st floor. I set a high tech alarm off and the manager couldn't shut it off because it had to be shut off by security. Meanwhile 5-10 minutes went by. I finished and went to get the invouice and the whole 10 floors was emptying out with people to the street. I had to bill him 3 times the amount figuiring he'd never call me again.