margarita wrote:

There is a possibility of the suction line melting the wire insulation if
the indoor airflow becomes reduced or non-existent due to a system fault.



exactly the reason that you should not do this




but not sure about the dufus that ran a low voltage line up against a hot
liquid line when the unit was installed

This is standard practice.



Oh I would agree with you there, a lot of bad procedures are "standard
practice" among neanderthal HVAC techs. If I was in charge of the
licensing, about 90% of current techs would not be able to qualify and buy
refrigerant, the first thing they would have to do is pass a college level
course on basic thermodynamics, so they would have a ****ING CLUE how the
damn A/C system works!

unbelievable the lack of basic knowledge of the average HVAC goon

Your sentiment might be a bit more reasonable if perchance you
understood the difference between an insulated suction line and an
uninsulated liquid line. There is no problem strapping the t-stat wire
to the line set. If the suction line overheats in heat pump mode then
the insulation will protect the t-stat wire. The liquid line (the bare
pipe) will never get hot enough to harm the wire except maybe in the
event of a structural fire or the Sun going NOVA. Your personal
experience seems to have translated into an irrational attitude toward
techs in general.

I agree that a licensee should earn that privilege rather than having it
handed-over-no-questions-asked for a fee. Some states are catching on,
NATE or similar certification becoming a prerequisite to licensing.
We're getting there, but it won't happen overnight--putting half the
HVAC workforce out of work over a short timespan would cause one helluva
crisis, not just for the industry, but for the customer as well. Some of
the people in alt.hvac that you protest feel precisely the same about a
good number of techs, some of which have taken up residence there. Maybe
they enjoy getting berated regularly. Goes along with being stupid. But
there are still plenty of techs that simply don't correspond to your
statements. If you haven't met one, then you're probably just a ****ing
cheapskate that hires the cheapest outfit in town. If you want a bigger
fish, then you have to use bigger bait.

hvacrmedic