UTILITIES REFRESHER

REFERENCES
 Air Condition Condensing Unit (ACCU)

an "outdoor unit," the condensing unit is the air conditioning unit used to
cool the house. The condensing unit works with the air handler, or "indoor unit",
to absorb the vaporized refrigerant that is given from the air conditioning
refrigerant located inside the air handler. The condensing unit then liquefies
the vapor and returns it to blow heat or air conditioning in all the rooms
throughout the house. It contains vital air conditioning parts, as well as, an
outdoor fan to help with circulating air in your air conditioning system so that
one room doesn’t receive all of the air conditioning at any one time.
outdoor unit withstands all temperatures and conditions. Rain actually helps
clean the condensing unit as well
Planting farther away from the unit can help with the operation and overall
performance of the condensing unit as well. If you can see any water
collecting outside of the unit, it may mean the level is off so just adjust the level
the unit is on so that the water can be drained away from the system so there
will be no damage.
 ACCU

come in various sizes, cooling capacities and prices

window air conditioner - easy and economical way
to cool a small area
 ACCU

condenser unit in the backyard

 ACCU

apartment complex - multiple condensers for each

dwelling
 ACCU

Most businesses/office buildings have condensing

units on their roofs
 ACCU

 office complexes use large cooling towers that are

connected to the air conditioning system

 DRYWALL

 The name “drywall” refers to the fact that walls made of

the material are installed without the use of water. A major
problem with plaster had been the extremely long drying
time associated with it, as it was installed wet, and
installers had to wait for the previous layer to dry before
installing the next one. The word “gypsum” comes from the
Latin term “gypsos,” meaning “plaster.”
 DRYWALL
INSTALLATION
 DRYWALL
Recent Trends in Drywall

 The newest drywall types being introduced are

being marketed as eco-friendly in order to take
advantage of the growing market for green
products.
 EcoRock said to have a zero carbon footprint.
Enviroboard, a drywall-type sheet made of
agricultural products like
wheat,grass and straw compressed between two
sheets of paper.

Both materials share drywall’s fire resistance.

DRYWALL
 Alternatives to Dry Wall
 Masonry/Brick - An exposed, unfinished brick wall can add a lot of
character; adds a lot of value to the property (unique and highly coveted)
 Traditional Plaster - the look and texture of traditional plaster installed
over a wooden lath system; simplified the installation of plaster with faster
drying times and better structural backing.
 Veneer Plaster - consists of a layer of thin drywall, called blue board,
with a very thin, 1/8-inch layer of plaster applied on top; faster to install
than drywall because no finishing is required; 25 percent more expensive
than drywall
 Wood Paneling - very easy to install and comes in nearly any wood
veneer or finish you desire, though it's still more expensive than drywall.
 Fiberglass Reinforced Panels (FRP) - used in areas that would normally
receive ceramic tile, such as kitchens, bathrooms, and pools; used in
sterile environments (laboratories, hospitals and doctor's offices) due to
its resistance to mold, bacteria and other potentially harmful biological
agents.
 LOCAL AREA NETWORK
A local area network
(LAN) is a computer network
that connects computers and
devices in a limited
geographical area (home,
school, computer laboratory,
office) The defining
characteristics of LANs, in
contrast to wide area
networks (WANs), include
their usually higher data-
transfer rates, smaller
geographic area, and lack of
a need for leased
telecommunication lines.
 Building Wire Types – Thermoplastic
Insulation
 Building Wire (sometimes referred to as “construction
wire”) is usually rated 600 volts and includes some of the
more common UL types: THHN, THWN, THWN-2, THW,
THW-2,MTW, TW, TFN and TFFN which are
thermoplastic insulated, and XHHW-2, USE-2,
 RHH and RHW-2 which are thermoset insulated. The
conductor size of building wire typically ranges from #14
AWG up to 1000 kcmil.
 The “T” stands for thermoplastic, “H” for heat resistant,
the “N” for nylon,“-2” for a 90°C rating in both wet and
dry locations.
PATCH PANEL
 A patch panel or patch bay is
a panel, typically rack
mounted, that
houses cable connections.
One typically shorter patch
cable will plug into the front
side, whereas the back holds
the connection of a much
longer and more permanent
cable. The assembly
of hardware is arranged so
that a number of circuits,
usually of the same or similar
type, appear on jacks for
monitoring, interconnecting,
and testing circuits in a
convenient, flexible manner.
 ROUTER - a device that
forwards data
packets across computer
networks. Routers perform the
data "traffic directing" functions
on the Internet; connected to
two or more data lines from
different networks. When data
comes in on one of the lines, it
reads the address information
in the packet to determine its
ultimate destination. Using
information in its routing table,
it directs the packet to the next
network on its journey or drops
the packet. A data packet is
typically passed from router to
router through the networks of
the Internet until it gets to its
destination computer unless
the source IP is on a private
network.
BUSBAR –
CLOSED
RACEWAY
CABLEBUS
CABLE TRAY
THREE-WAY SWITCH
 OCTAVE

 In music, an octave is the interval between one

musical pitch and another with half or double
its frequency. Using notes, this is the same note
up or down 12 semi-tones on the chromatic
scale. For example, an A4 note is one octave
lower than an A5 note, and one octave higher
than an A3 note. The octave relationship is a
natural phenomenon that has been referred to
as the "basic miracle of music," the use of which
is "common in most musical systems”. It may be
derived from the harmonic series as the interval
between the first and second harmonics.
 LANDFILLS

 Landfills - usually lined with several feet of dense clay and then sealed
with thick layers of plastic to prevent leaks of hazardous chemicals;
garbage is dumped in rows or piles 10’ to 20’; Bulldozers/Compactors are
used push the garbage into rows and squash large objects. Squashed
garbage takes up less space extending the life of the landfill. Each day,
soil, glass, plastic foam pellets is spread over landfill to reduce
odors/pests. The soil covering reduces the amount of rainwater that
seeps in. Invading rainwater carries water-soluble chemicals out of the
garbage to form liquids called leachates. When leachates pool in the
bottom of the landfill, they are pumped out, collected, treated. The treated
leachate is handled like sewage. The particles (sludge) are separated
from the liquid and burned, used as fertilizer, dumped in the ocean or
back into the landfill. If the sludge is considered hazardous, it is shipped
to a hazardous waste disposal site.
 LANDFILLS

 Landfills produce methane gas. Once landfills are full, they are often
capped with a layer of clay. The cap excludes water, reducing the danger
of chemicals leaching from the landfill into the surrounding soil and
groundwater. The cap slows the movement of oxygen from the
atmosphere to the buried garbage. When the oxygen available below
ground is used up by fungi and bacteria, their decomposing activity stops.
Easily decomposed organic substances will continue to be broken down
by anaerobic bacteria, which can live where no oxygen exists. Methane
gas is one of the products of their decomposing activity. The anaerobic
condition (very low to no oxygen) and low moisture level in the garbage
stops or greatly slows decomposition. The garbage is essentially
"mummified" in this stable environment. Only one-third to one-half of even
easily decomposed materials such as lawn, garden and food waste is
decomposed after 20 years.
SEPTIC TANK
FIRE DAMPER
BOOSTER
PUMP
 PNEUMATIC TANK

 How Do The Pneumatic Pumps Work? Signal air pushes the

piston forward, unseating the ball. Strained liquids are forced into
the tank, which is filled with atmospheric air. Forced liquids
compress the air in the tank; signal air is discontinued, forcing the
piston into reverse, seating the ball and sealing off the inlet. The
liquid outlet is now open in piston reverse and was closed position
forward, eliminating the loss of compressed air. (Compressed air is
only used in piston forward!)
SUMP
PUMP
 GREASE TRAP

 Grease traps capture grease from the

wastewater flow. Grease traps slow
down the flow of hot greasy water,
allowing it to cool. As the water
cools, the grease separates and
floats to the top of the trap while the
water flows down the pipe into the
sewer. The grease is trapped by
baffles that cover the inlet and outlet
of the tank. If the tank is not pumped
frequently enough or the drain lines
are not maintained properly, backups
and blockages occur.
 GREASE
INTERCEPTOR
A grease interceptor is much
larger than a grease trap and is
usually located in a vault outside
of the establishment. The
minimum size is 750 gallons. It
too should be cleaned on a
regular basis, however, a
licensed grease hauler or
recycler should perform grease
interceptor maintenance.
Cleaning the interceptor vaults
requires special training and
equipment.
 FREON

This is how the evaporation cycle in an air conditioner works

1.The compressor compresses cool Freon gas, causing it to become hot,
high-pressure Freon gas (red in the diagram above).
2.This hot gas runs through a set of coils so it can dissipate its heat, and it
condenses into a liquid.
3.The Freon liquid runs through an expansion valve, and in the process it
evaporates to become cold, low-pressure Freon gas (light blue in the
diagram above).
4.This cold gas runs through a set of coils that allow the gas to absorb heat
and cool down the air inside the building.
Mixed in with the Freon is a small amount of lightweight oil. This oil
lubricates the compressor.
WACU
A window air conditioner unit implements
a complete air conditioner in a small
space. The units are made small enough
to fit into a standard window frame. You
close the window down on the unit, plug
it in and turn it on to get cool air. If you
take the cover off of an unplugged
window unit, you'll find that it contains:
 A compressor
 An expansion valve
 A hot coil (on the outside)
 A chilled coil (on the inside)
 Two fans
 A control unit
  The cold side, consisting of the
expansion valve and the cold coil, is
SPLIT TYPE AC generally placed into a furnace or
some other air handler. The air
handler blows air through the coil and
routes the air throughout the building
using a series of ducts. The hot side,
known as the condensing unit, lives
outside the building.
 Other than the fact that the hot and
cold sides are split apart and the
capacity is higher (making the coils
and compressor larger), there's no
difference between a split-system and
a window air conditioner.
 In warehouses, large business
offices, malls, big department stores
and other sizeable buildings, the
condensing unit normally lives on the
roof and can be quite massive.
Alternatively, there may be many
smaller units on the roof, each
attached inside to a small air handler
that cools a specific zone in the
building.