I started watching this channel over 3 and a half years ago when I first got into HVAC, right when I started going to school for it. I didn’t understand much of anything at first, but I was hooked. I’ve been working in the field for almost 2 and a half years now, and this channel has helped me immensely. Learned a lot from watching these, along with some other HVAC channels.
I loved a challenge. Having million dollar equipment error out and trace out circuits to find out a wire going to the left hand button caused an intermittent open circuit or having flickering lights in bathroom of a multi-million dollar facility makes you wanna get to the bottom of the issue and fix it for the customer. I used to love trouble shooting systems and figuring out why something did this and what I can do to help my customer. Thanks again for teaching us all a different world of the trades. Making the Trades Great again.
You're right about HVAC/R being chaos at times, and it is addictive. Especially when you can focus on and fix one issue and move onto another. It's stressful but when you can make it all work it's very rewarding.
Sir, you are a trooper! Rain or shine, or heavy rain, you're up there on those roofs getting the job done right. As a hands-on guy like yourself, I can certainly appreciate it! I will take this job over a "desk job" any day. 👍👍
I’ve been watching this channel for years now learning how to hook up restaurant exhaust fans I may not know how to work on refrigeration equipment but i can fix any issues with exhaust fans
Just a thought: I use ferrules for everything. I mainly work with industrial automation, and it makes installs cleaner looking, and will avoid issues like that stray wire strand you had there. Im not even an AC tech and I'm still hooked on you channel lol
hey, i wanted to say thanks for talking about the Veto bags in your videos, i just got one of their tool bags the MC Compact Tall Bag for my work in general maintenance and it's fantastic - thanks again
@ 4:06 - A nice teaching moment, with question and answer about installing the hinge! You must be an amazing technician to apprentice under, Chris. Your assistant is very lucky.
thank you for the video, just noted from the video, the hinge you had trouble with appears to have its lower bar the wrong way up, at 5:27 you can see the near hinge has the lower bar bolt holes up but the far hinge has the holes down, the effect of this is the lower bar is closer to the fulcrum of the hinge hence the fouling, I used to be a blacksmith and I made things like this all the time.
Some folks always overstating or being dramatic about something minor, hyping up the drama. Responders think it's an emergency then you get there and see it. Whether it's a service call or 911 or anything that takes a report, people just can't help themselves with their fabricated "emergency". I really stress about this happening far too often.
I hope your customers realize how lucky they are to have you taking care of their systems. So many people doing HVACR work as well as other trades today are doing world half a$$ed regardless of what they'll charing. Some don't charge a lot but their customers are not getting good value for their money.
9:50 Maybe you should try the Wago 222 series instead of the 221 series. The 222 series are a little bit harde to pop open like that. They're still suitable for both stranded and solid wires up to 4mm2 / 12AWG and up to 400V. Only downside is, they're a little bit bigger, not much though.
The levers lifting slightly is perfectly OK. There's a bit of dead slack before the cage is affected. It takes a reasonable amount of force to actually start pushing the clamp open.
Just want to say that i love watching your videos. i love watching people do mechanical work and your a good talker on top of it. keep up the good work
You should get a digital laser tachometer so you can see the belt speed/pulley speed of the old stuff then match the new stuff to that. It would make it easier when you have to do that
Not sure if it'll be worth the investment for the few cases it comes in handy, but you might want to look into time domain reflectometers (TDR) for checking wiring. They work by introducing a very sharp pulse into a wire and using the characteristic impedance and wave propagation behaviours of the transmission line to determine the length of the cable and the distance to impedance discontinuities (partial breaks, fraying, rub-outs, etc.). You don't need a completed circuit - it works more closely on the principle of radar than the way you think about traditional current flowing down a line. They're particularly useful if you're trying to figure out where a break is in a long cable, especially if it's going back through a roof and through the building. The really good ones are precise enough that they'll let you pick up something as small as a fly-away - you'll see a tiny secondary reflection after the main reflection as the wave continues to propagate through that additional inch of wire, and it's especially noticeable if you compare results from multiple lines in the same setup. Cheap ones are a few hundred bucks, good ones start at the $1000 mark and continue upwards from there. The super fancy ones used for checking aviation wiring harnesses cost more than my house!
They are in very common use with computer network cable installers - I know when I was doing that kind of stuff they were a godsend in tracking down problems. Worth every penny!
@@DocNo27 They're particularly accurate on Cat5/Cat6 too because the ANSI/TIA specification defines a certain tolerance band for the single-ended and differential impedances, so they can calculate the phase velocity from there and use it to derive ε_r and propagation delay. I've also seen some field TDRs where you can take a known length of the same cable (e.g. cut from the installed run, or taken off the same reel) as a calibration reference to get high accuracy over very long distances. Really useful for utilities running coax or local loop over several miles. There are optical ones for fibre too.
As long as there's a fairly steady Z0 you're correct. I worked on Network analyzers for 33 years.. with TDR, TDT, and so on. You can run your finger along the surfact of the romex (if exposed) and locate the break rather precisely. I've used this trick many times.
How well would a TDR work on power power wiring where it's individual wires and not a cable? I'd think the characteristic impedance would be too variable for it to work. RF and network cables have tight tolerances for that.
@8:40 Not sure if you caught it or not as I havnt finished the vid yet, but I can see whats wrong with your hinge at this time stamp. On the right hinge, the bolts are going through the bottom half of the bar while on the left hing the bolts are going through the top of the bar. Bassically, the bar on the right hinge is too high. Compared to the left side, it actually looks like that bar was put on upside down, so if you was to take it off and flip it, it should work just fine without shims.
I would make it a habit to bond your metal boxes to ground at every junction. It’s code and it’s always a good idea to make sure that ground path is fresh. Your new exhaust fan is definitely bonded to chassis so you’re probably fine in this situation but I can never trust older buildings and their questionable electrical!! Excellent work nonetheless, I’ve learned so much from this channel, and I appreciate what you do man. Keep up the good work my friend!
Jake you made me get out the code book...and you are absolutely correct! NEC 250.148 (C) says if circuit conductors are spliced in a metal box, that box gets bonded to the EGC.
I too am addicted to the chaos of the trades lol, after you have been in this shit for long enough everything else is boring lol. Still gives an adrenaline rush when there is emergency down situation and you walk out victorious.
with that hinge interfering with itself, couldn't you move the bottom bracket to the inside of the hinge instead of the outside of like they came out of the box. That should solve the interference issue and maybe be easier to install when the curb is narrower than the bottom lip around the fan.
Have you tried the push-in Wago clamps? I have used these as well as the snapping ones you are using and they never ever popped open. Electricians all over the place here use these. Maybe heavy vibrations are causing this issue. So try the other ones.
@@DANGERTIM112 The wago 773 push-ins are suitable for "stranded" but not "fine stranded". The wago 2273 push-ins are only suitable for solid wire. I think the wire intended for use in conduits normally falls into the "stranded" category but i'm not 100% sure on american wire types.
This anti-wirenut stuff is kind of ridiculous though. They don't fail as much as the salesmen of WAGO connectors would have you believe. Marketing, marketing, marketing mostly.
@@kanetw_ I don’t use not crimped ones - I am not in the audio business. I have different types of crimpers, because I like to form a ferrule to the shape of the lug, for better surface contact area, although I’ve been told that I don’t have to. In the automation terminal blocks - don’t matter whether it is spring loaded, screw or lever action ( life Wagos) wire ferrules used everywhere ( besides ring terminals), although not required.
@@commenter5469 You have to follow manufacturer recommendations. For Wago 221s ("CAGE CLAMP"), it has to be either: solid, stranded, stranded with gas tight ferrule crimp (!), stranded with gas tight pin terminal crimp. A good crimper can do a gas tight crimps, but especially ferrules are often not crimped well.
@@kanetw_ That’s a bunch of a hog wash! I understand necessity of tight crimp, so the high resistance will not occur inside the crimp - but a gas tight?!?! 😳😂 Are they claiming that 211 making a gas tight connection on the stranded conductor, by the lever action?!?! Spare me with this nonsense! Please!!!
Hang on, is this the 1. April??? Management could give you actual priorities??? I usually get "This got the highest priority!... And this one too... And this one!" So which should I take first? "This!.... and this, and this!"... But...... never mind, I'll do something...
6:18 - I recommend AGAINST using a power tool's battery pack as a hammer... There's a SLIGHT risk of the case breaking, and a piece of the plastic puncturing one (or more) of the cells inside. I know it's a very slim chance, but better to be safe than sorry - thermal runaway in lithium-based battery packs is a very real danger. And OEM battery packs aren't cheap. 10:14 - I'd like to thank/curse John Denver for ruining the phrase "flyaway." Every time I hear the word, the song "Fly Away" gets stuck in my head. 10:22 - OK, now it's Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away." 🤣
I see so many people on the net that are fascinated with Wago connectors….as if they somehow bring some extra admirable quality to electrical work, but the truth is, if you actually know how to use wire nuts correctly, there’s no reason at all to use a Wago.
Agreed I was hesitant to use the wagos but once I did I actually like them especially if you have to work on stuff that is hot.... not that I would ever do that though.....
@@HVACRVIDEOS Well, Chris, I still haven’t found a reason to use them instead of a wire nut, and if the circuit is hot, I’m interrupting the circuit anyway, so it’s not going to work properly…… so there’s no reason for it to be hot.
@@squirrelwood8008 I agree with that in principle, but after 50 years of mechanical work, I have yet to find a situation that I can identify where the Wago is going to be the way to go….No pun intended.
I have no idea what I'm doing here, or understand all the big words, magic man, but I can't leave
Happend to me 3 years ago and I'm still here, watching.
@@Mazurky same
i love how he doesn't explain the basics, just makes it clear it's your job to keep up and understand . a great way to advance learning
Been here for 3 years. Watching Chris had helped me improved my troubleshooting skills in another industry immensely.
I started watching this channel over 3 and a half years ago when I first got into HVAC, right when I started going to school for it. I didn’t understand much of anything at first, but I was hooked. I’ve been working in the field for almost 2 and a half years now, and this channel has helped me immensely. Learned a lot from watching these, along with some other HVAC channels.
I loved a challenge. Having million dollar equipment error out and trace out circuits to find out a wire going to the left hand button caused an intermittent open circuit or having flickering lights in bathroom of a multi-million dollar facility makes you wanna get to the bottom of the issue and fix it for the customer. I used to love trouble shooting systems and figuring out why something did this and what I can do to help my customer. Thanks again for teaching us all a different world of the trades. Making the Trades Great again.
OSHA approved step block! 😂😂😂
You're right about HVAC/R being chaos at times, and it is addictive. Especially when you can focus on and fix one issue and move onto another. It's stressful but when you can make it all work it's very rewarding.
Really like this POV with your co-worker.
A fresh perspective. Please more.
Strangely quiet and calming when nothing is running. Appreciate you supporting the local crane company and buying American.
Quite an expensive MILWAUKEE hammer that your employee had.
Loving the Osha safety step. I've got a few of those stashed on customers roofs😂😂
on one of my customers roofs we got close to a dozen osha saftey steps also known as milk crates
Sir, you are a trooper! Rain or shine, or heavy rain, you're up there on those roofs getting the job done right. As a hands-on guy like yourself, I can certainly appreciate it!
I will take this job over a "desk job" any day. 👍👍
I’ve been watching this channel for years now learning how to hook up restaurant exhaust fans I may not know how to work on refrigeration equipment but i can fix any issues with exhaust fans
Just a thought: I use ferrules for everything. I mainly work with industrial automation, and it makes installs cleaner looking, and will avoid issues like that stray wire strand you had there.
Im not even an AC tech and I'm still hooked on you channel lol
hey, i wanted to say thanks for talking about the Veto bags in your videos, i just got one of their tool bags the MC Compact Tall Bag for my work in general maintenance and it's fantastic - thanks again
@ 4:06 - A nice teaching moment, with question and answer about installing the hinge!
You must be an amazing technician to apprentice under, Chris. Your assistant is very lucky.
thank you for the video, just noted from the video, the hinge you had trouble with appears to have its lower bar the wrong way up, at 5:27 you can see the near hinge has the lower bar bolt holes up but the far hinge has the holes down, the effect of this is the lower bar is closer to the fulcrum of the hinge hence the fouling, I used to be a blacksmith and I made things like this all the time.
Some folks always overstating or being dramatic about something minor, hyping up the drama. Responders think it's an emergency then you get there and see it. Whether it's a service call or 911 or anything that takes a report, people just can't help themselves with their fabricated "emergency".
I really stress about this happening far too often.
Right on Chris, keep supplying us with these informative videos please !
We call a flyaway wire a George Michael a careless whisker 😂😂
I’ve had those clear wagos lay back to back and arc thru the plastic. I love Wago but have gone to the gray bigger ones with more body.
Used to thrive on crisis management when active duty, coffee addict, LoL!
Thank you very helpful informative and practical 👍👍👍
your work is very cleaning 💯💯💯
the hinge hitting is becasuse the bolts and the holds are different sizes and need to be loosened and lifted on the side that hits
Good little vid Bud ... Thx for posting ...
Those Omni hinges are great and are fully adjustable - we install a ton of them - if you need any tips or advice, feel free to reach out to me!
I hope your customers realize how lucky they are to have you taking care of their systems. So many people doing HVACR work as well as other trades today are doing world half a$$ed regardless of what they'll charing. Some don't charge a lot but their customers are not getting good value for their money.
9:50 Maybe you should try the Wago 222 series instead of the 221 series. The 222 series are a little bit harde to pop open like that. They're still suitable for both stranded and solid wires up to 4mm2 / 12AWG and up to 400V. Only downside is, they're a little bit bigger, not much though.
Chris, thanks for bringing us along! Always appreciate your attention to detail--that was a clean install!
The levers lifting slightly is perfectly OK. There's a bit of dead slack before the cage is affected. It takes a reasonable amount of force to actually start pushing the clamp open.
Great Video. Thank you for sharing
If you usually only join 12G wire or smaller I'd recommend the grey Wagos, they can't really be opened as easy as the clear ones.
Yep was going to say the same thing. Ever since a lot of the equipment was switched to r290 wagos is all I use. I use the grey ones all the time now.
Just want to say that i love watching your videos. i love watching people do mechanical work and your a good talker on top of it. keep up the good work
You should get a digital laser tachometer so you can see the belt speed/pulley speed of the old stuff then match the new stuff to that. It would make it easier when you have to do that
9:58 It just looks like its opened but its not, the thicker the wire the more play the lever has. IDK why....
6:19 Every tool is a hammer when it needs to be! :-)
Another great video. Very informative and to the point!
6:18 I don't recommend that any one uses there cordless drill / impact driver battery pack in this manner.
Not sure if it'll be worth the investment for the few cases it comes in handy, but you might want to look into time domain reflectometers (TDR) for checking wiring. They work by introducing a very sharp pulse into a wire and using the characteristic impedance and wave propagation behaviours of the transmission line to determine the length of the cable and the distance to impedance discontinuities (partial breaks, fraying, rub-outs, etc.). You don't need a completed circuit - it works more closely on the principle of radar than the way you think about traditional current flowing down a line. They're particularly useful if you're trying to figure out where a break is in a long cable, especially if it's going back through a roof and through the building. The really good ones are precise enough that they'll let you pick up something as small as a fly-away - you'll see a tiny secondary reflection after the main reflection as the wave continues to propagate through that additional inch of wire, and it's especially noticeable if you compare results from multiple lines in the same setup. Cheap ones are a few hundred bucks, good ones start at the $1000 mark and continue upwards from there. The super fancy ones used for checking aviation wiring harnesses cost more than my house!
They are in very common use with computer network cable installers - I know when I was doing that kind of stuff they were a godsend in tracking down problems. Worth every penny!
@@DocNo27 They're particularly accurate on Cat5/Cat6 too because the ANSI/TIA specification defines a certain tolerance band for the single-ended and differential impedances, so they can calculate the phase velocity from there and use it to derive ε_r and propagation delay.
I've also seen some field TDRs where you can take a known length of the same cable (e.g. cut from the installed run, or taken off the same reel) as a calibration reference to get high accuracy over very long distances. Really useful for utilities running coax or local loop over several miles. There are optical ones for fibre too.
As long as there's a fairly steady Z0 you're correct. I worked on Network analyzers for 33 years.. with TDR, TDT, and so on. You can run your finger along the surfact of the romex (if exposed) and locate the break rather precisely. I've used this trick many times.
How well would a TDR work on power power wiring where it's individual wires and not a cable? I'd think the characteristic impedance would be too variable for it to work. RF and network cables have tight tolerances for that.
@8:40 Not sure if you caught it or not as I havnt finished the vid yet, but I can see whats wrong with your hinge at this time stamp. On the right hinge, the bolts are going through the bottom half of the bar while on the left hing the bolts are going through the top of the bar. Bassically, the bar on the right hinge is too high. Compared to the left side, it actually looks like that bar was put on upside down, so if you was to take it off and flip it, it should work just fine without shims.
Great work Chris
I would make it a habit to bond your metal boxes to ground at every junction. It’s code and it’s always a good idea to make sure that ground path is fresh. Your new exhaust fan is definitely bonded to chassis so you’re probably fine in this situation but I can never trust older buildings and their questionable electrical!! Excellent work nonetheless, I’ve learned so much from this channel, and I appreciate what you do man. Keep up the good work my friend!
Jake you made me get out the code book...and you are absolutely correct! NEC 250.148 (C) says if circuit conductors are spliced in a metal box, that box gets bonded to the EGC.
@@kevinhoober1863 Thanks dude! I was hoping someone would back up my claim. Can’t say I was completely sure about what I was talking about!! Lol
Nice video
Those hinges are nice. Wish more places would use them
Another awesome video
I too am addicted to the chaos of the trades lol, after you have been in this shit for long enough everything else is boring lol. Still gives an adrenaline rush when there is emergency down situation and you walk out victorious.
Good job Chris.
Watching you man with the drill bit scary
Using the drill/battery as a hammer. 🤦♂️
He got that from me, I do that all the time. Everything is a hammer
Ut hes getting stuck in and learning
"What you saying it wos working fine yesterday" 🤣
I have a green heck exhaust fan that someone was throwing away it still works nothing was wrong with it
Chris you do awesome work!! But that crooked weather proof box drives me up a wall. Sorry, that's from doing electrical work for 35 years.
Ha ha I knew it would trigger someone....
That's called engagement on TH-cam :)
@@HVACRVIDEOS Sorry about that. But I was kinda like you when I worked where everything had to be just right!!
@@HVACRVIDEOS That lets the water run off rather than pool on the top. Good idea for outside.
I was looking for someone to say this.. I’m super triggered
Listen to Chris, sir Journeyman. He KNOWS his stuff!
Yikes, that's a death trap waiting to happen, good you there to fix it!
What do you do with the old fans? Do you take them back with you and give to a metal guy? Throw in customer's trash?
Mighty fine electrical work in the us of a
Hello, greetings from Poland!
Could you place a wireless manometer at the building location and touch up the speed if to low or high.?
I really enjoy your show. Thanks for taking the time to produce it. I’m not even in the industry but you helped me trouble shoot my own HVAC. 😅
Where's your disconecting means?
6:19 NO!
That is not a hammer!
with that hinge interfering with itself, couldn't you move the bottom bracket to the inside of the hinge instead of the outside of like they came out of the box.
That should solve the interference issue and maybe be easier to install when the curb is narrower than the bottom lip around the fan.
Not really as the hinges have stops on them.
@@ferky123 but the stops don't depend on the bottom bracket, only the vertical middle bracket.
Have you tried the push-in Wago clamps? I have used these as well as the snapping ones you are using and they never ever popped open. Electricians all over the place here use these. Maybe heavy vibrations are causing this issue. So try the other ones.
The wires he used were stranded ones, they wont work in the push-in ones as they are for solid cores only.
@@DANGERTIM112 The wago 773 push-ins are suitable for "stranded" but not "fine stranded". The wago 2273 push-ins are only suitable for solid wire. I think the wire intended for use in conduits normally falls into the "stranded" category but i'm not 100% sure on american wire types.
@@DANGERTIM112 yeah right. Didn’t think of that.
This anti-wirenut stuff is kind of ridiculous though. They don't fail as much as the salesmen of WAGO connectors would have you believe. Marketing, marketing, marketing mostly.
Where are the safety switches?
inside the cover
they now have a much better waggo now that's a sideways connector and less likely to pop loose try them
Could you say the reference?
Need to make them locked close.
Changing speed or cfm ?
10:06 a careless whisker, or George Michael, as Big Clive would say.
what summer shirts do you use? my company has t shirts 😂 and I gotta talk to them about long sleeves even though we're in NY
Isn’t that third exhaust fan too close to the AC intake side, aren’t you supposed to be 10’ away from that?
Wire ferrules - that’s how you deal with fly aways. Never go anywhere without them.
Wagos should not be used with ferrules (you can, but it has to be a specific crimp type).
@@kanetw_ I don’t use not crimped ones - I am not in the audio business. I have different types of crimpers, because I like to form a ferrule to the shape of the lug, for better surface contact area, although I’ve been told that I don’t have to.
In the automation terminal blocks - don’t matter whether it is spring loaded, screw or lever action ( life Wagos) wire ferrules used everywhere ( besides ring terminals), although not required.
@@commenter5469 You have to follow manufacturer recommendations. For Wago 221s ("CAGE CLAMP"), it has to be either: solid, stranded, stranded with gas tight ferrule crimp (!), stranded with gas tight pin terminal crimp. A good crimper can do a gas tight crimps, but especially ferrules are often not crimped well.
@@kanetw_ That’s a bunch of a hog wash! I understand necessity of tight crimp, so the high resistance will not occur inside the crimp - but a gas tight?!?! 😳😂
Are they claiming that 211 making a gas tight connection on the stranded conductor, by the lever action?!?!
Spare me with this nonsense! Please!!!
I'm wondering if he got his new ac in his house that was a interesting vid ac pro working on his own home ..😁
No not yet but I just ordered the new equipment.... stay tuned
@@HVACRVIDEOS yes 💯
Wago’s are fantastic
Hang on, is this the 1. April??? Management could give you actual priorities??? I usually get "This got the highest priority!... And this one too... And this one!" So which should I take first? "This!.... and this, and this!"... But...... never mind, I'll do something...
Hammer drill not hammer 😂
6:18 - I recommend AGAINST using a power tool's battery pack as a hammer... There's a SLIGHT risk of the case breaking, and a piece of the plastic puncturing one (or more) of the cells inside. I know it's a very slim chance, but better to be safe than sorry - thermal runaway in lithium-based battery packs is a very real danger. And OEM battery packs aren't cheap.
10:14 - I'd like to thank/curse John Denver for ruining the phrase "flyaway." Every time I hear the word, the song "Fly Away" gets stuck in my head.
10:22 - OK, now it's Lenny Kravitz's "Fly Away." 🤣
Big Clive calls the flyaways "careless whiskers" 😁
Didn't know Milwaukee made hammers.
It says right in the user manuals that all tools have a hammer function.
I liked:-D Hammer nooooo Baterry is just fine:-D Btw one day old nimh pack exploded in my hand (even i dont using it as hammer)... just be safe :-D
Out of curiosity, you were very adamant that the hinge went on a certain way, was this because of the location of the other fan or something else?
At 55 you’ll lose the chaos feeling and gain the aching bone feeling! Then you’ll get the IDGAF feeling then it’s over! Been there done that!
0:30 also known as a George Michael in the event industry
OSHA approved safety step. 🤣
are you a licensed electrician in California? here in the upper Midwest they would want a licensed electrician run the wiring ? 17:37
That was scary lol
first video with a new face that I can remeber - welcome to the viewership !
I see so many people on the net that are fascinated with Wago connectors….as if they somehow bring some extra admirable quality to electrical work, but the truth is, if you actually know how to use wire nuts correctly, there’s no reason at all to use a Wago.
Agreed I was hesitant to use the wagos but once I did I actually like them especially if you have to work on stuff that is hot.... not that I would ever do that though.....
They are more or less interchangeable. Use whichever you have or which is more practical in a given situation.
@@HVACRVIDEOS Well, Chris, I still haven’t found a reason to use them instead of a wire nut, and if the circuit is hot, I’m interrupting the circuit anyway, so it’s not going to work properly…… so there’s no reason for it to be hot.
@@squirrelwood8008 I agree with that in principle, but after 50 years of mechanical work, I have yet to find a situation that I can identify where the Wago is going to be the way to go….No pun intended.
I am early, Yay!
230 Thumbs uP
Weygos..... such a waste