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Catering kitchen: a new expansion valve, then the rooftop unit

Client: Catering kitchen
Collage of four photos from the catering kitchen visits: the rooftop condensing unit, the walk-in unit cooler, the worn belt and new motor, the four-fan unit cooler
Scope
Walk-in refrigeration repair, then maintenance on the building’s packaged rooftop unit and the walk-in unit cooler fan motors
Timeline
Two visits, a few days apart
Tonnage
Packaged rooftop unit on two R-410A circuits; 1-ton walk-in expansion valve
Location
New York City
Year completed
2026
What was delivered
  • New Sporlan EFSE-1-C expansion valve brazed in at the walk-in unit cooler
  • BX70 blower belt on the rooftop unit
  • Full rack of 18x24x2 pleated filters
  • US Motors EC5409E electronically commutated fan motors fitted to the walk-in’s four-fan Krack unit cooler

Visit one: the call

A catering kitchen’s walk-in, with its condensing unit on the roof.

The condensing unit that feeds the walk-in, on the roof, with the recovery cylinder beside it.
The condensing unit that feeds the walk-in, on the roof, with the recovery cylinder beside it.

What we found

The thermostatic expansion valve is the metering device at the inlet of the evaporator. It feeds exactly as much liquid refrigerant as the coil can boil off, no more and no less, by sensing the temperature at the coil outlet through a bulb strapped to the suction line. When the valve’s power element loses its charge, or the pin sticks, it stops opening. The coil gets a trickle: the first rows frost, the rest run dry, and the compressor pulls on a near-empty evaporator. From the kitchen it just looks like a warm box.

The unit cooler is a Heatcraft LSC090AK, a low-profile ceiling unit with two 1/15 HP fan motors on 115 volts, rated for R-22, R-134a, R-404A and R-407A. It is fed by a Sporlan EFSE-1-C, a one-ton R-404A valve with an external equaliser. The coil face was dark with kitchen grime, which is worth knowing about a box that has to be cleaned around a catering schedule.

The Heatcraft low-profile unit cooler at the ceiling of the walk-in. The expansion valve sits at the inlet on the left; the fins are dark with grime.
The Heatcraft low-profile unit cooler at the ceiling of the walk-in. The expansion valve sits at the inlet on the left; the fins are dark with grime.
Heatcraft LSC090AK plate: 115 V, two 1/15 HP fan motors at 1.0 A each, MCA 2.3, MOPD 20, design pressure 300 psig.
Heatcraft LSC090AK plate: 115 V, two 1/15 HP fan motors at 1.0 A each, MCA 2.3, MOPD 20, design pressure 300 psig.

The work, in order

  1. A new Sporlan EFSE-1-C brazed in at the evaporator inlet, with the equaliser line and bulb capillary routed to the suction line.
  2. The bulb is the step people rush: strapped loose, on top of the line or sitting in a draught, the valve reads the wrong temperature and meters wrong from day one.
The Sporlan EFSE-1-C: one ton, R-404A, external equaliser, capillary to the sensing bulb.
The Sporlan EFSE-1-C: one ton, R-404A, external equaliser, capillary to the sensing bulb.
New valve brazed in at the inlet, equaliser line and bulb capillary routed to the suction line.
New valve brazed in at the inlet, equaliser line and bulb capillary routed to the suction line.

Visit two: the building side

A few days later we were back at the same kitchen for the HVAC: a packaged rooftop unit with two compressors on two R-410A circuits, and a list.

The rooftop unit plate: 208/230 V three phase, two compressors at 25.0 A running and 164 A locked rotor, two R-410A circuits factory charged at 20 lb each, a 5 HP indoor blower and two 1.25 HP outdoor fan motors.
The rooftop unit plate: 208/230 V three phase, two compressors at 25.0 A running and 164 A locked rotor, two R-410A circuits factory charged at 20 lb each, a 5 HP indoor blower and two 1.25 HP outdoor fan motors.
  1. Blower belt. A BX70. A belt that slips under load slows the blower, and airflow across the coil drops: the same starvation that ices an evaporator, arrived at from a different direction.
  2. Filters. A full rack of 18x24x2 pleated filters.
  3. Thermostat. The round Honeywell in the kitchen, reading 68 in the room with a 65 setpoint.
  4. Walk-in fan motors. Two evaporator fan motors for the site’s four-fan Krack unit cooler, replaced with US Motors EC5409E electronically commutated motors: 30 to 50 W, 115 to 230 V, 1550 / 775 rpm, 0.72 A maximum at 115 V. The motors that came out carried an earlier EC5408E label. The new motors run cooler in the box, which is heat you are not paying to remove twice.
Left: a BX70 blower belt on the roof. Right: the EC5409E replacement motor in its box.
Left: a BX70 blower belt on the roof. Right: the EC5409E replacement motor in its box.
New 18x24x2 pleated filters in the rack, coil behind them.
New 18x24x2 pleated filters in the rack, coil behind them.
The kitchen thermostat: 68 in the room, set to 65.
The kitchen thermostat: 68 in the room, set to 65.
Old motor beside new: the EC5408E that came out and the EC5409E that went in.
Old motor beside new: the EC5408E that came out and the EC5409E that went in.
The four-fan Krack unit cooler the new motors went into, back in the walk-in.
The four-fan Krack unit cooler the new motors went into, back in the walk-in.

Equipment and parts

Walk-in unit coolerHeatcraft LSC090AK low-profile, 115 V, two 1/15 HP fan motors, 1.0 A each, design pressure 300 psig
Expansion valveSporlan EFSE-1-C, 1 ton, R-404A, external equaliser; a new valve brazed in
Condensing unitAir-cooled unit on the roof
Rooftop unitPackaged unit, 208/230 V 3 ph 60 Hz, two compressors 25.0 A RLA / 164 A LRA, two R-410A circuits at 20 lb each, 5 HP indoor blower, two 1.25 HP condenser fans, test pressures 236 / 445 psig
BeltBX70
Filters18x24x2 pleated, full rack
Fan motorsTwo US Motors EC5409E ECM, 30 to 50 W, 115 to 230 V, 1550 / 775 rpm, in a four-fan Krack unit cooler
ThermostatHoneywell round, kitchen

What this means if you manage the building

A failing expansion valve can look like low charge. Gauges and a thermometer tell them apart; guessing and adding gas does not, and it leaves the real fault in place. The second visit is the other half of the story: a belt, a rack of filters and fan motors on a planned visit cost less than any one of them failing on a busy night, and one contractor covered the refrigeration and the HVAC on the same site.

From the job log: The valve that meters everything (22 Oct 2026); A belt, a rack of filters and two fan motors (scheduled for 19 Nov 2026, link follows).

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