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Catering kitchen: the walk-in that would not pull down, then the 15-ton 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 planned maintenance on the building’s 15-ton packaged rooftop unit and the walk-in unit cooler fan motors
Timeline
Two visits, a few days apart
Tonnage
15-ton packaged rooftop unit (two R-410A circuits); 1-ton walk-in expansion valve
Location
New York City
Year completed
2026
What was delivered
  • Sporlan EFSE-1-C expansion valve replaced like for like, new liquid-line drier, system evacuated
  • Bulb strapped and insulated at the correct position on the suction line, superheat checked after settling
  • New BX70 blower belt fitted and tensioned on the rooftop unit
  • Full rack of 18x24x2 pleated filters
  • Kitchen thermostat and supply air checked with the unit running
  • Two US Motors EC5409E electronically commutated fan motors fitted to the four-fan Krack unit cooler

Visit one: the call

A catering kitchen’s walk-in was not pulling down. The compressor was running on the roof, the box was sitting warm, and the gauges said the evaporator was being starved: low suction pressure, high superheat. That combination points at one part before anything else.

The condensing unit that feeds the walk-in, on the roof, where the day started. Older cabinet, running compressor, gauges on.
The condensing unit that feeds the walk-in, on the roof, where the day started. Older cabinet, running compressor, gauges on.

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. Same valve back in: a new Sporlan EFSE-1-C brazed at the evaporator inlet.
  2. New drier on the liquid line.
  3. System evacuated.
  4. Bulb strapped and insulated on the suction line at the correct position, 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.
  5. Superheat checked once the system settled.
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 15-ton packaged rooftop unit with two compressors on two independent R-410A circuits, and a list. None of it was an emergency, which is the point.

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. The old BX70 was glazed and cracked. A belt like that slips under load, the blower slows and airflow across the coil drops, the same starvation that ices an evaporator, arrived at from a different direction. New BX70 fitted and tensioned.
  2. Filters. A full rack of 18x24x2 pleated filters.
  3. Thermostat. The round Honeywell in the kitchen pulled from 68 to 65 to make the unit call, and the supply air checked while it ran.
  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: the worn BX70 blower belt off the rooftop unit. Right: the EC5409E replacement motor in its box.
Left: the worn BX70 blower belt off the rooftop unit. 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 pulled from 68 to 65 to bring the unit on for the supply-air check.
The kitchen thermostat pulled from 68 to 65 to bring the unit on for the supply-air check.
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, replaced like for like with a new liquid-line drier
Condensing unitAir-cooled unit on the roof
Rooftop unit15-ton packaged 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, new, tensioned
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 looks 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 two fan motors on a weekday morning cost less than any one of them failing on a Saturday night, and one contractor covered the refrigeration and the HVAC on the same site, on one schedule.

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

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