Ask Caleffi
Ask Caleffi
#20 Have you discovered our HYDRONIC TOPICS on the Ask Caleffi Blog?
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Greg and Dan share commonly asked questions from the Ask Caleffi Blog. During this episode, they will zero in on heating products. You'll learn:
→ Can I add an air vent onto a Caleffi dirt separator?
→ How do I determine head loss in a hydraulic separator?
→ Can I order your Z-one zone valve with differing connections on the 2-way and 2-way bodies? Any tips on how to order?
→ How do I clean an air separator vent?
Thanks for tuning in!
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[Music]
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welcome to ask Caleffi the podcast that
00:07
dives into real life problems that
00:09
plumbing and hvac technicians face in
00:12
the field we're your hosts from the
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kalepi tech support team i'm greg tubbs
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and i'm dan ferkus welcome we look
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forward to sharing some stories from our
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tech calls and using our background and
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expertise to make your days a little
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easier
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[Music]
00:29
hey there welcome back here we are for
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another episode of the ask leffy podcast
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how are we doing dan we're doing good
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well welcome back everybody yeah it's
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been a hot minute um but we're back here
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recording a few more yeah yeah we're
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excited about that so thanks for coming
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back yeah
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so what we're going to do today
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and we're going to continue to do this
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going forward every so often i think
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we'll slot these in now and then yeah
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we're going to we're going to pull some
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questions from the ask leffy blog
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and for some of you that don't know
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about the blog you head to our website
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click on ask leffy and it'll drop down
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and show you the ask leffy blog
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and there's a bunch of different topics
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you know ranging from plumbing to
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heating to all there's a ton of
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different topics there's a lot
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so a lot of good information a lot of
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good questions and some of these are
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very commonly asked questions that we're
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always answering either over the phone
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or through email yeah i mean it's made
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up of questions that we've you know were
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popular questions that we got a lot that
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we went on to the ask lefty blog and
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created blog posts about and also made
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up of questions that were posted on
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there from
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from contractors engineers homeowners
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people out in the industry yeah they
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read the blog and they'll they'll ask a
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question yeah we we get a lot of
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questions coming in even yet you know
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maybe one or two a week on that blog so
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there's always new content being added
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absolutely so go check it out if you
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have time um if not continue to listen
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in here we're going to give it to you
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one way or another yeah so we just
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thought you know what greg is right we
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thought you know what we'll each grab a
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couple questions from the blog and just
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kind of give you a an example of what
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you'll find on there and then you guys
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can go back there and help add content
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and ask questions there yeah so today
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we're going to talk heating just heating
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and the next one we'll we'll talk some
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plumbing questions right yeah good
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so i'll i'll kick it off yeah great i
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think one of the most common questions
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we get with the dirt separators is can i
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mount an air vent on top of your dirt
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separators and quite honestly if it has
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a port where there's a plug or a
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standoff of a piece of pipe you
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absolutely can add an air vent to it
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which is a great idea because it has a
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coalescing mesh in it and it's going to
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grab that entrained air out of the
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solution as it moves through yeah if you
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look at our our dirt separators you know
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they essentially look like our air vents
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upside down and and they really kind of
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are because the the ports on a dirt
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separator you know you're entering and
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leaving ports are at the top section of
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the body which gives the bottom sections
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the space for that dirt to fall and then
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we have an access point on the top you
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know where you can add an air vent to it
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certainly
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yeah it has a similar coalescing mesh
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performs a similar function so certainly
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that's a great spot to add an air
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separator sure or air vent
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because you're making it out right air
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dirt separator correct
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we got to be very clear about that i
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want to be clear how i say that that's
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right
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what do you got there
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um so one question i get a lot and it's
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been a popular question on the blog post
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um is how do i determine head loss in a
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hydraulic separator that is a very
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common question we don't get it too
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often from contractors or homeowners
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looking to install it more from
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engineers right they want to know
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exactly what the head loss is well we
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can tell you it's minimal yeah it's very
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minimal but there is a mathematic
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calculation there is and actually that
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mathematical calculation that formula is
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listed on the ask blog so you'll be able
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to go on and find that
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but craig's right it's negligible
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what you'll find is that you know
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because the body is you know three times
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larger than the connection size you have
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that instant velocity drop so the
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velocity in the body of an air separator
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is 1 9 the velocity of the pipe
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connecting to it beautiful
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so because of that you know you'll get
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even transfer across you don't get you
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don't get a pressure drop you know that
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would account for both our hydraulics
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operator and our sep 4. right the
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foreign one yes so for you engineers
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that you want to know or contractors
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listening that actually want to learn
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how to calculate it the formula is on
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the ask lefty blog you can go there and
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find that and we also link it to i
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believe it is
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hydronics number 12. yep it has there's
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actually two different actually it's
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hydronics 16. is it 16 yep
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hydronics issue 16. okay so
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it's in there and it tells you
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there's two different
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calculations if you're using rough iron
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pipe the larger flange type stuff
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usually or smooth copper copper so there
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are two different calculations so if
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you've got questions about it you want
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to know how to find out that information
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give us a call shoot us an email we're
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happy to help you out with it or jump
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into that idronics or ask clappy post
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you got it
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well on to the next question uh another
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one that we commonly get because we are
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a company that has so many different
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fittings
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uh we get this a lot with zone valves
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can i get your zone valve usually the z2
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or z3 series is what they're referring
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to
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can i get your zone valve with a sweat
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connection on one end and an npt on the
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other or we'll get it where it's swept
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and barbed or something they'll they'll
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want a combination of fittings or packs
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on one side and sweat on the other yeah
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sure and essentially yes you can um the
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z2 and z3 bodies you can order
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what's called a one-inch male union they
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have straight threads
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and they use that that are ever so
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famous one-inch male union thread on
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them
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with a ceiling washer and a union nut
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you can go to press you can do a lot of
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different things with it
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we always have people want to do that
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and
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yes we can do it but you really need a
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combination of different part numbers
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like we don't offer it in the catalog
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yeah you can there's no way to jump into
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the catalog and order it that way
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um you will need to order the body and
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then go to section eight of our catalog
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has a lot of the fitting combinations so
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you'd have to go to section eight and
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look at that one inch
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union connection and that's going to be
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all your different connection type from
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mpt sweat press packs pex expansion pex
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crimp yeah and and in section 8 we
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actually offer these as fitting kits so
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that'll include
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the tailpiece
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the union nut and the ceiling washer so
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it's a bag of three parts you order that
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one all for one part number
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and you know you'll need two two of
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whatever kit you want to get or one of
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every you know one one kit of each kind
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or whatever but
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it's
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it's very possible and it makes things a
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lot easier for you guys in the field to
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mix and match right yeah say maybe you
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want to come off of a header and you
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know three quarter inch copper but then
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have pecs attached to the other side you
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don't order your
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order your sweat or press you know
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copper connection and then order your
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pex outlet connection everything will
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come complete assemble it on site
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pick your actuator that works for your
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application you add that to it and
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you're set and if you need a hand
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selecting those fittings and make want
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to make sure you get the correct parts
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and pieces give us a call we'll help you
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put together that project list yeah
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we're happy to do it do it all the time
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what else you got
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boy so another one i get a lot is
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how do i clean an air separator vent
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we're commonly talking people through
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that because yeah they don't their
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distributor doesn't have the replacement
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cover and float right or they look at it
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and go boy it's really not that old or
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tech's on site and you know what they
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don't have a replacement cover and float
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things leaking they don't want to just
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tighten the cap down take it out of
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service and come back at a later date
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right you know pull it apart clean it
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out you know drop the pressure isolate
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it drop the pressure in your system you
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can spin that cover off pull the float
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out clean the linkage behind it you can
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get in if there's any debris in that air
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vent assembly at the top you can clean
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that out right i mean heck you could go
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one step further and take the body apart
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and clean the the coalescing machine you
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really want to either yeah if you're
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down that far and you want to see what's
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going on inside the system why not if
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you got that much dirt up above you got
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to wonder what's below but i commonly
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describe that mechanism that cover and
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float is like a
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floating carburetor so you got that
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float attached to the linkage and it
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moves that needle valve up and down
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and that needle valve at the tip of it
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is it's a pinch point right now it's got
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a rubber seal on it so when it when it
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pushes up it closes well if you've got a
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dirty system with a lot of dirt and
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debris
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that's where you're going to want to be
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able to take that thing apart and clean
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it
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and it's really not that difficult what
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can be difficult is if it's it's really
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corroded then you're trying to scrape
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around and yeah at that point you might
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want to just jump in and out and order a
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replacement cap
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yeah that's that's honestly the best fix
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for it
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yeah but you know certainly get that
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question a lot and i know there's been a
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lot of comments on that on on site yeah
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one thing i'll mention too
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when you look on our ask luffy blog
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under a lot of these we have a video
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showing how to do it so i think i
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believe with this you know how do i
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clean the air separator event i believe
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there's actually a video showing how to
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disassemble it so if you're online or on
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your phone and you can get on that ask
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fluffy blog you'll be able to pull that
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video up and see it taken apart right
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there yeah and if not give us a call and
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ask us we're happy to talk you through
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it well i think that's gonna do it for
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this one uh tune in next time um we're
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probably gonna see more of this type of
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content coming down the pipe here so
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yeah i know we'll come back with another
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one on plumbing questions absolutely
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thanks for tuning in
10:09
thank you for tuning in if you ever need
10:12
help please feel free to contact our
10:14
tech support team anytime at
10:16
techsupport.usc
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caleffi.com
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or call us during our business hours
10:23
at 7 30 a.m to 4 30 p.m
10:26
central time
10:28
at 414-238-2300
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