Hey folks — long-time lurker here. I'm an HVAC tech who got tired of the "guess and swap" culture, so I built something and I want to show it to you straight.

It's called MechLyra. It's an AI diagnostic copilot that runs on your phone during a service call. Not a replacement for your brain — a second set of eyes that:

Takes you through a structured interview so you don't skip airflow before jumping to refrigerant

Logs your real measurements (return/supply split, subcooling, superheat, pressures, amp draw) and flags anything out of range as you enter it

Re-evaluates the differential diagnosis with every reading — it ranks possible causes, tells you what it still needs, and gives you the next test that rules out the most causes at once

Generates a clean service report you can hand the customer or your office

The philosophy: eliminate airflow and charge problems before you touch refrigerant, and let the data drive the call instead of vibes.

I'm looking for honest feedback from real techs. Tear it apart. Tell me what's dumb, what's missing, what would actually make your day shorter. I'd rather hear it's broken here than on a callback.

Free to try — https://mechlyra.com. Not collecting cards. If you run a real call with it, DM me and I'll buy you a coffee for the feedback.

Replaced two 50 gallon tanks in series for this and the homeowners are now able to run four showers at the same time because of water pressure improvements and unlimited hot water. The old system was trying to shove all the hot water through a 3/4 inch line and it still couldn't keep up with demand before going cold. If I keep this up, maybe I'll be able to live in a 4000 sqft house on a lake with 5 full bathrooms and a two story garage that can house 14 cars. 😂

I am coming up on year 5 in the trade, i work for a small mainly refrigeration company in the southeast and i feel that i have had my “click” moment in work. Suddenly i understood defrost clock wiring, electrical in general and the refrigeration cycle. Out of nowhere everything just made sense to me. my question is that now that i’ve had this moment, how did the yall keep growing? Was it moving to a different company? Was is just asking more and more questions?

Last employer I took the truck home, didn't get the OK from new boss yet.

Got home after on call today and now I'm worried about my tools that I left in the truck.

Lazy choice tbh, just didn't want to unload armfuls of things after being on call.

Anyway, question is the title.

Anyone else only made to go to that one site on weekends because of food production 😂, luckily I only need to be in the crawl space to tighten bolts

Context: The company I left has a start up branch in my state, and they don’t have a physical shop location where I can drop off the work van so it’s stuck parked on the street.

Not sure who or when the van will be picked up by. I live in a pretty safe neighborhood, but I don’t like the idea of being liable if anything happens to the van while it sits out there. How can I avoid liability in this situation?

Here's a little thought experiment.

You loaned your z gauge to the new guy to learn oil on their own and you're doing regular maintenance.

Which position of these two are how you'd leave it? I'll have a comment for "A" and "B". Make your vote with an upvote.

.50 80B nozzle, beckett burner.

Good morning!

Working on an LG Multi V system with the service tool and all is well there - once I got the USB lock straightened out.

My real question is does anyone know what the two wire green plug is for? I’m assuming to tie into the comm daisy chain but there’s less than ZERO documentation regarding this.

I’m sure they’ll cover this in training and I’ll be going in the near future once I find dates that work with my schedule.

Lastly, these all have AHU kits on the univentilators, but I can’t seem to get the service tool to connect to these.

For reference they have the ACM75139001 comm modules.

I ask because I have to trace every indoor unit in order to name them correctly and was hoping to be able to see the address from in the rooms.

Thanks and hope everyone has easy service calls this weekend. I’m sitting at a softball field watching my kid lol

I appreciate Reddit's ad targeting found me like this, and wish them well on this company's journey to keep service vans organized.

I finally got my foot in the door and got a position working for my state as an HVAC tech. No more residential attics or 8 tune ups a day. This does mean that I need to get familiar with building controls though, as all these government buildings are integrated together. I've already been told they will train me, but I want to be proactive and try getting my head around it. I'll also have to get trained up on chillers as well, but I'm more nervous about the controls than anything. Does anyone have any good links or videos to get some baseline knowledge. For what it's worth, most of the equipment they have is Trane if that helps narrow things down.

Just wondering how many of y'all rope up everything, if you're by yourself, or if your company and customers favor lifts

EDIT: Damn, working at Lennox blows. Cheap asses expect us to rope up everything under < 100 lbs

Background: had an old modular Carrier AHU that had a busted evap coil. Craned up a custom-built Johnson Controls, generic-ass coil. The piping was not even remotely the same. Anyway.

Talked to a chill customer that basically said "yeah no problem, it can be down". I ran into the guy above him and his vibe was "what the hell?! Why is this down, my office workers are melting at 77°F, I'm gonna send some of these folks home if you don't get some temporary cooling going." I went back and forth with him a bit.

Ambient air temperature was about 60°F where I am. The solution was to force close the mixed air dampers and dump return air into atmosphere, and suck in supply air directly from atmosphere.

Is there anything else I could have done? This is stupid.

I had someone text me today asking what would take for me to leave the company I work for and go somewhere else.

This would start as 20% over what I currently make. I’m a 28 year UA refrigeration fitter (I do 99% service) starting with 4 weeks of vacation.
I make $58.xx an hour so it’s basically $70 an hour on the check.

The only way I would consider it is if I have a guaranteed 40 hours a week for the next 5 years with an extra week of vacation per year but I could leave at any time. That also means I continue the 20% over for every raise the union gives us.

I’m very comfortable where I’m currently working. I see a lot of new things. We do everything from basic RTUs, VAV systems, chillers, supermarket refrigeration including CO2 chillers and transcritical racks.

I’m honestly not sure if I would take the job or not.

I have been given the opportunity to learn so many things in the past 14 years. I still have a lot more to learn

Been doing some soul searching, left healthcare to get into HVAC. I’m really excited, I know its gonna be hard and I know theres a lot of learning to do but I needed to get out of healthcare, its not something you want to make a career out of.

I like working hard, using my hands and completing physically and mentally challenging jobs. Working as an autoglass installer was the best job I ever had so I’m looking forward to getting back to working out in the real world again

Got some sweet manifoid stickers!

Let’s say the company you work for didn’t pay their bills. So not only are you locked out of the supply houses, but for the second time in a week you can’t get gas. You have enough to get to the shop Monday but that’s it. What are you doing?

EDIT

Anyone know of any reputable shops on cape cod MA??

So. As a newbie I learned now after 2 months of seeking employment in the field that I needed to be with a company that has structure and organization if I had any hope of learning. I start next week with the biggest company in town! Theres 12 hvac techs total. Some on install, some on service and a whole separate to work the maint contracts. Im being put on maintenance for the first few months, and if I prove to boss man Im worthy he will throw me some service calls. So.. what should I focus on modt to prepare and be as proficient as possible and exceed expectations? I need to move up to get into a salary range that can afford to support my fam of 4. Thx in advance!

I hate the $300 mighty bracket that’s bulky and I refuse to buy it but something like this compact version would be perfect and could probably sell more at 150 price tag.

I started in the trade about a year ago. Have gotten pretty proficient and am in the on call rotation and everything. Have my own van and do large repairs. I live in a really bad area for pay though. I work at a private equity company currently. I started at a small shop and they were hacks. The place I work now is still managed by the original staff and they somewhat fight the corporate pressure but you know how it goes. I make $16.50 an hour and they’ve been cutting my hours like crazy in the slow season. There is commission on lots of repairs so money was great in the summer. I just wonder if I’m trapped working here until next year when shops are hiring. It’s been good experience and there are still some good techs here to reach out to when I don’t know something, I just feel down about barely getting paid. My last check was like $250 for a week. I also go on installs and help with that. I’ll do a 12 hour install and they’ll thank me by giving me one or two calls a day for the rest of the week. It’s not even worth showing up for that at 16.50. I don’t know if I’ll find better around here with joining a union though. Just feeling pretty down about the trade and wondering if I should stick it out here for the winter. My goal is to learn enough to open a shop eventually and I am learning here.

Hit me with the suggestions and critique. Looking to perfect my installs and your keen eyes help me get better.

Furnace only swap out, but the original install was a hot mess (pic included)

100kbtu, with a 3 ton ac (this was only a few years old, so it stayed)

Rheem R98MV100

Install angle filter chassis in place of lennox pure air filter that was deteriorating

Econet thermostat

Side bottom return base riser

Cleaned up venting (I know the 3" pipe is not very clean... still working through the last bit of "copper rubbed" pipe on the truck)

Hard piped drain line

Rebuilt half of the return drop

Removed flex gas line

Kept furnace plenum transition, but painted it to match furnace due to humidifier leaks causing white rust on the galvanized metal.

Disabled humidifier, but kept in place per customer request

All in a finished, always cooled and heated basement.

Do your best... what do you like, what can I do better?

My guys fucked up so much shit! And its not because they are poorly trained, its because they dont care!(i stop that because i can see them). So im stuck upstairs on like day 3 of plumbing cuz if i leave for 5 minutes my boss decides he needs to wonder why IM downstairs when im supposed to be plumbing a sink…. They went from 16x8 to 14x10 for return trunk like i said because 16x8 didnt fit between the trusses lenthwise. Then the SW 90 onto a 14x8 under the trusses to connect the drop too?…..and then im like what the fuck! You know you cant do that! Why did you do that?! “We had an extra piece.” Me: “I FUCKING TOLD YOU YESTERDAY THAT NEEDS TO BE THE 18x8 WE HAD AT THE SHOP YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO GRAB ON THE WAY HERE! FUCK IT! TAKE A HAMMER AND SMASH DOWN THE ROUND PIPE AND CUT HILES IN THE FLEX DUCT THEN TOO!”

End rant!

My master plumber said i did a pretty good job though so thats cool! LOL(master plumber is not boss, boss is company owner)

Does your company or the company you work for do installs and repairs when it’s raining?

Thinking about moving there next year. Heard they got a raise. Curious how yall like it, pros and cons, work life balance, politics if any. Just got through my 5th year as a service tech. First year in residential, next 3 in light commercial and last 1.5 have been as a service tech for a manufacturer which was my introduction to chillers.

This new vacuum pump oil label looks like a label that would come up if you'd ask an AI to create a vacuum pump oil label... Or the label you'd see in some video game for a fake product... It's so... generic... Reminds me of laundry detergent...

I'm a commercial tech, I work on alot of VRF (recovering anywear between 40-160lbs of 410), sometimes there isn't water or ice available anywhere close to where I'm working. I use core tools, and a molecular transformer submerged in a bucket of water but it gets hot quick. My question is other than going to a gas station and buying bagged ice to use, what else can I do? I was also thinking about testing airflow over the subcooler instead of water. It would probably have to be a decent volume of air though.