I have never studied for HVAC or HVACR, I have never had a job for it either, and my current job is not even remotely similar to it, but yet here I am like 6 or 7 videos deep, watching about it and just nodding my head when this guy figures out the issues and mentally cursing the ass hats who worked on it before him screwing him over like I have any clue what he's even talking about.
I can relate. It's funny that being a manufacturing technician is my chosen profession. Yet, I'll curse at a piece of equipment as if I was expecting to have an easy day. Huh...
@Maxwell R. Do it! I’ve been doing HVAC for 23 years now. The shortage of techs is just getting worse so pay and benefits keep going up. The trades are very hands on so most learning is done by just doing it, which means the pay starts out slow, but once you start getting experience and different licenses and competency cards your pay starts to sky rocket. If you’re up north then learn boilers, that’s where the big money is. The shortage of GOOD boiler techs is even worse and I spend much of the winter following behind bad boiler techs from other companies and fixing their mistakes. I’ve personally trained all of my boiler guys so we all do it right and we have a good reputation.
Me to better than tv I made it to the end and remained interested. Great Channel graleat work ethics and cant say more love your channel keep up the good work.
I always watch to the end. I used to be an auto mechanic before I had to stop working at the ripe old age of entirely too young to retire, so part engineer, part HVAC tech, part electrician, part plumber, part chemist, part physicist, part hostage negotiator, all frustrated with having to sell ideal solutions to people who prefer stop-gap measures. I really appreciate that I can still live vicariously through other tradespeople who take actual pride in their work. It's nice, you know? Plus, being disabled, I'm broke as hell, and have to fix everything myself, so watching these videos shows me all the mistakes your competition makes, that I don't want to have to hire someone else to clean up!
These are one of those love / hate nights. The moment you see the compressor is faulty and it’s already half way through the day and you know you’re gonna be working late, but really don’t want to... but once you’ve done the job and it’s 11pm at night and you look at what you’ve done, you feel so proud and happy that it all came together and working eventually. Makes me want to do it over again because of how well it all went in the end. The feeling of pride is out of this world. Not sure about you, but that’s how I feel when I get jobs like this.
Been in the business 35 years. I never get tired of what i do. I'm always busy & always learning something (sometimes twice). I'd rather do this type of work than go fishing or anything else. Except wild monkey dance of corse!😆
Made it to the end. I'm a former natural gas technician (worked on the gas cooking equipment) and know nothing about refrigeration. I have no desire to be back out there in the elements (yep, it's been very hot the last couple of weeks in SoCal). But you really make this stuff interesting to watch. I really appreciate your troubleshooting steps; a breaker tripped for a reason, so it's always a good idea to find out why before blindly resetting them.
Always make it to the end man. 15 year Hvac vet, been doing Refrigeration now for about four years. I never had proper training on it just got tired of telling people no when they asked about Refrigeration so I started reading a lot of books and manuals also having over a decade of Hvac experience helps but your videos are dope. Makes me happy to see that I’m not the only OCD owner/technician. Me and my guys love your channel. I am the only one out of my four employees that does the Refrigeration, but I’ve been training the other guys and referring them to your videos you and nor-cal Dave
I was always told 20 years ago to never check a compressor or motor off the contactor, always go to the terminals on compressor, and disconnect wires, love your videos, keep them coming, use them all the time for the younger techs. So great that some installer took the time to install all the unions for the drain pans, drives me crazy when trying to blow out a double drain, and no union. Something I try to tell installers, and our estimators, if it’s a 30000 job, make the service easy, so we don’t have to charge 3 years down the road, for something that should have been installed during installation. Love installers, but a lot of think of the day, not the lifetime of the unit.
Definitely watched to the end! Years ago I was learning the very basics of refrigeration from my uncle. I asked him about the old oil trapped in the system and he explained it to me. This would apply to your compressor without a way to pour out all the oil as well. He said just change what you can, and do it again and again.... because "Dilution is the Solution to Pollution!" With the low cost of mini PLC controls and smart-relays, you could program one to monitor the auto-reset high pressure control and count the number of trip events which happen in a given period of time. You could set it to allow for a longer delay after each trip, up to a certain number of trips in a day; after which it would either sound an alarm, or lockout and not re-start until intervention was made. Just a thought! There is probably already an off-the-shelf solution for something like this, maybe. Was taking advantage of the slow time due to the coronavirus to complete some projects I had deferred due to work last year. Was really enjoying that and then.... got sent overseas. It was fun while it lasted LOL!
Dedication and tenacity right there, the service call from hell, and so typically on the weekend! Great job and a great role model for young Techs watching.
Nice job, hard to do when overtired. Been there. Finely you did a job with correct line voltage. Maybe the electric company is starting to listen. I did a compressor change on a Christmas eve during a snowstorm and the unit was ten feet in the air to stop vandalism. Took me more that a week to recover from that one. Great video and many thanks.
I made it to the end of the video. I am not an HVAC tech, or a repairman of any sort in a professional sense. I am a DIYer when practical, including the electrical aspects of my own home's HVAC. That said, I do recognize quality work. I appreciate your videos and the lengths you go to in demonstrating that extra step of care and concern for the overall longevity of a system. You could easily cut corners and rack up charges in small service calls. Instead, you treat it like each system is your personal rig driving a critical aspect of your life. Good job, my man. Cheers from Florida.
I ALWAYS make it to the end! It's never over 'til it's over. Love to go along on the call in my cool, comfortable office and watch how honest and hard-working technicians like you keep the world going--in spite of the bureaucratic suits. (If I had any advice it would be to encourage you to invoice for the hours you spend on a job and not adjust because you think it sounds high. If it's high because you failed to plan ahead, then adjust, but if it's because the customer dropped the ball on maintenance then they need to pay the piper.)
I suggested your channel to my instructors at the technical college I'm taking commercial Refrigeration classes at. Really hard transitioning to online instruction from class and lab works. I've been watching since last year when I took their residential HVACR course. I learned so much that I passed the ESCO Light Commercial Refrigeration Ready to Work test they had us take for a benchmark during the first week. I guess they didn't expect anyone to pass because they were going to have to take it again at the end of the class. Today I passed the N.A.T.E. Light Commercial Refrigeration test. I can't give you all the credit because they did a great job too but your videos certainly helped! Thanks! Keep up the great work!
I think it’s just the human element that Service techs short cut and make shoddy repairs. I’m like you in the auto industry where I see improper repairs. I always said the day I start compromising my work is the day I need to hang it up.
At 03:50 FAIL. Short to ground test lead placment. Never use a 'galvanized' metal for a test lead ground. (Galvanized steel electrically resistive). Look up at top right of video. PERFECT ground block was available.
came to say the same (but in a nicer tone) galvanised steel is still conductive but not as conductive as bare steel, would have been better to prove the ground by touching two points on the galvanised chassis. I run into this alot on aluminium stuff, as anodised aluminium is a pretty damn good insulator.
I've been in the Hvacr service for 36 years now... you're an excellent technician! And I love your ranch at the end of the video it's real life situations you're a good dude best wishes to you and your wife
I love watching these kinds of videos. They are very informative for people coming new to the HVAC field. It especially helps when you're explaining what troubles you are finding how you found it as well as the corrective action taken.
I hate how people do short work like this . I am glad there's people like you out there that are still honestest . This is also why I do all my own work .
Although I am not a HVACR professional, I wanted to let you know I watched the entire video. I do find your video series fascinating and your trouble shooting prowess to be phenomenal. Thank you for your tremendous efforts. I certainly do appreciate it all.
Made it to the end. I saw you arrived during the day and then it was night. I knew you were there quite a while although didn't realized is spanned a few days. That sucks that it's so hard to drain the old oil so it starts off clear. That said, the sight glass at the end was looking way better, almost clear.
You didn't see the short to ground at first cause your multimeter doesn't use high enough voltage for properly testing the insulation (as in resistance to ground if you measure between ground and each disconnected phase of the 3phase supply). Using something like a Megger electrical installation tester could be helpful in cases like that cause those can test resistance using 500VDC up to 1kV DC (you need to be careful with those tho cause you can easily fry electronic devices if they're left in circuit by accident and if people should touch wires under test, they might get a shock). I also wonder why you didn't check current draw right when/after turning the compressor on as that could've been an indicator that things are wrong. I assume current draw was moderately too high right from the beginning, making the breaker trip on a slight overload condition (there are two ways a regular breaker can trip, one is a hard short circuit condition making the breaker trip right away using an internal electromagnetic coil and the other is it heating up over some period of time which makes a bimetallic strip inside the breaker disconnect the load if a specific internal temperature is exceeded).
Always watch till the very end, I know you will deny it but you really are a refrigeration Guru, I have been in this business for 30yrs and I know expertise when I see it, I along with other really appreciate you filming your jobs. 🛠️
What the hell who could give a thumbs down to this man people have high expectations. Keep up the the good work hope Tru tech took care of you on the the purchase I made with the link.
Didn't think about that but that's a good point. I usually check continuity from two points on a ground plane to make sure I'm getting purchase from having false negatives before and having it drive me mad. Ground terminal block would have been an ideal spot on this one especially since it was actually accessible thinking about it now.
Yep. Got fooled by that once too. The rubber mounts on the compressor base can also play hell on grounded compressor checks too. I used to go from the terminals to the copper on the suction or discharge lines and it avoided a lot of headaches... Really useful when it's 3 am and you are on-call after working a full day already.
I'm sure that surface was fine for anything that was attached to it or the grounding lugs/wires. The compressor was another matter. He should have shown ground continuity from chassis test point to compressor shell. The old known, unknown, known test procedure.
Made it to the end! Always been fascinated about hvac. Dabbled in automotive hvac and seriously thinking about going to school after watching these videos.
You need an insulation resistance meter. Your multimeter only sources a few volts when reading ohms. You can't reliably test insulation breakdown without a test voltage similar to the DUTs nominal voltage. It's like checking for refrigerant leaks in a system with 5psig of nitrogen and soapy water. Yeah, you're going to find the big leaks but miss all the small ones. Hope this helps. Yes, I watched to the end. You teach me so much. I hope I could return the favor. I have a Fluke 1587fc and I love it. Great backlight. Wireless. Confusing auto range for AC volts; ranges down to millivolts.
You can see how many volts/milliamps your clamp sources by using another multimeter. An insulation tester should be used to source about twice the DUTs nominal voltage. This makes sense because it sources DC where as the DUT is typically AC. You can damage things and hurt people with this type of meter. Be careful.
Don't know if it's already been said but, use a megger instead of the multimeter when testing motors and resistances/shorts, I work in industrial machines and I have had many times my multimeter displayed nothing when testing a motor or component, but with the megger it was a few 100ohm short or something, it's because the meggers use higher voltages to bridge any gaps or insulation. Also the compressor was mounted on rubber dampers, and most of the piping was mounted with plastic clips, it could be that the ground wire to the motor was broken or something
Great video like always! I’m taking a break from working for the next couple of years but your videos bring back great memories so I’m staying subscribed. The moment you realized the compressor was bad and you reacted. I think we can all definitely relate to that.
Dude, I know nothing about HVACR, but I'm fascinated by your videos. I love the post-mortems that you do at the end. I ALMOST understand what you're talking about. Love the channel!
Its amazing watching someone who has its craft down to perfection. I feel you so much on fixing stuff other people mess up. As an Emergency IT Tech I get soooo many Cases where the guy bevor just went mental on the whole System. As much as it is annoying, i somehow love it. I love the Detective work. And I get the same vibe from you.
Ahhhh Yes... The Bean Counters of Corporate. I can't even imagine 25 degrees over a 115 F ambient temp ? WOW. Once again with the Dirty Condenser, preventive maintenance will always win.
I Currently work in Pharmaceuticals -80c Ultra low temp stability chambers. I’ve decided to run my own business on the side as I started in HVAC/R and Commercial hot side kitchen equipment. Your videos keep me up to date and are extremely intuitive. Thanks a bunch
Your the King of late night service calls for sure. Always enjoy watching you troubleshoot for shorts. I cant believe how much this channel has grown. I subscribed when there was only 4 or 5 videos on your channel so I guess that that makes me a HVACR video OG! If you like to fish, you should come on out to San Diego & go out for tuna. I always do a few trips per year.
Yes sir i made it to the end. Ive been in this trade for 4 years now and i still consider myself a rookie, still got alot of learning to do and that’s exactly why i watch your video. Very informative and they always help me so keep up the great work.
I made it to the end. I have learned a lot from you. I've realized I got laxed in a lot of refrigeration practices. And I realized the new technology and tools that I'm going to start purchasing
I watch your videos all the time. Your attention to detail and work ethic is inspiring. However the work environment, and physicality makes me glad I'm a nurse.
This brought back a nightmare call. Sunday call had to call a supplier to come open the store to get a 30 horse compressor and supplies. Took all day. They had a huge condenser set in the parking lot. Had to spray up from the bottom or get a crane to help take panels off the top. Spent hours laying on the catwalk spray up getting covered. Had my wife bring more clothes and my diving mask and snorkel. Worst job I did. Though it might tie with a system in a prison. You did a great job with the video. Good job.
Many people will teach us how things are supposed to work... We often miss out on details that would send us astray... I'd imagine, it's all those things that really teach us the practical-depths of these projects.
All those heaters don’t like what you do , because they only thing about them, Thank you for sharing your on hands training , every time I watch your videos I feel that Iam working with you , Thank you for that Chief.
I have little experience with any of this but the company I work for makes industrial hvac stuff but we use ammonia as a refrigerant and we don't use compressors at all. But this is still helpful to me and Interesting to watch
You got respect from me man. I always see you working CRAZY hours to get these systems up and running. Could tell them you would be back in the morning but no you do it that night.
Hello. What adventure!! Thank you for sharing your experience!! I don't work in walk in freezers, racks or rtu units. I do domestic refrigeration, ACs, small refrigerators and freezers, but thanks to you and other HVAC tecs, I can at least have a small experience of the big leagues in refrigeration. Best regards from Argentina!!
I don't work in HVAC field, I am just a curious person and the type that will watch anything interesting, I love your video and I know I will be watching more.
Good job.... just wish you had checked for a short directly on the compressor and done an acid test from the start. I know it's easy to second guess, great job under difficult circumstances. I admire your dedication and commitment. Thank you!
Great video Chris! I use your videos in my apprenticeship program class. I have been a refrigeration man since 1973 and I always learn something from your videos...you are amazing!
Short to ground is not the same thing as over amping. Shorting to ground is only one way to get a circuit to draw too much power. If a winding is shorted internally to itself (which would mean low resistance - low ohms) can cause the amp load to increase.
Thks for the excellent efforts. Especially here in covid. I am part of a company that runs a huge walk in freezer and six trucks with reefers. I appreciate your attention to detail. Thks from Montreal, Canada. Hope u get some good time off this covid summer. Definitely made it to the end. Dont find your rant rambling at all
Get a good vacuum on the end of the drain run. In most cases just a piece of car board can block the drain holes of all but one of the coils You should be able to hear the suction; pulls out most crap, pour in a little hot water. plug with cardboard and proceed to next coil. Get rid of p traps (bacteria trap) only needed in hvac units with coils on return air side
Man, you are dedicated. So much work to film all that, especially a middle of the night compressor change out. Watched to the end, dealing with those corporate national accounts can be such a pain. Awesome video!
Curious, when I worked with my old company, whenever I made changes like cutting wires out or disconnecting things ect, I used the printer in our trucks and printed a notes sheet and often would attach a service pouch inside the unit with our notes, nothing sucked more than not being able to figure out why someone did something, we hated it and we know we won't service the system forever exclusively, so having others have that info was helpful
At 11:05 mm: Three hours of windshield time to fetch parts. We use courier services or Uber to fetch parts instead. Tech time too valuable. Try Courier svc.. You gonna like em! A lot!
Dang Chris thats the worst! You know that drain has been plugged for a while but they didn’t call it in. That use to frustrate me, you go from a simple call to a laundry list of things just piled up.. good work bro as always!
Great video, thanks for taking us on the journey. Cant imagine how stressful some of these jobs are, i get stressed out just watching. Super informative as well.
Don’t you just love these systems! The ones I work on around here have been installed completely wrong and to blow the drains on three connected systems, you will have to blow one then the next then the next and go back up and back down the line and it’s a constant problem, and like you said, it’s never the service call, just an additional problem.
I made it to the end... I feel your pain... I work in IT and often get stuck with unplanned late night crap. And I'm not in 100 deg heat wrenching on a compressor
When you say you took as much oil out as you could, I’m assuming you just drained oil from the oil port until oil level fell below that? Since you cannot tip the compressor over right? I have run into this in the field too so I use a refrigerant tank, vacuum pump, and 1/4” hose with a 1/4” copper tube on the end and suck the oil out of the bottom of the compressor by removing the sightglass and sucking from that hole. Actually works pretty good. If you want a photo of the set up I can email it to you if you want.
Bought a cheap fish tank transfer pump (connects to your drill) pumps out pretty quickly. Removed the sight glass /& pushed the clear tube to the bottom.
Bearing in mind that the oil is there to lubricate the pistons in the pump. Oil in the refrigerant is a sign that the pump and compressor is knackered.
Made it to the end. Cool video. Nice studio. Work on the railroad. We deal with wires, cables appliances 110 100hz, 220 25 Hz. 750dc. Oh and did I mention 80 psi air plant. 125cfm nominally. It's a few miles long. 2" (2.5") to 1/2" Feed's for air track switches. We use 750 for switch heaters. I added one switch up and it was 40000 watts. No wonder the knife switch burnt up after being on for days. Big copper knife switch in between the tracks. Cool video.
Being a former HVAC Tech I understand what you went through on this job. I have recognized some of your locations. If I would have had my preference I would have preferred to work on Refrigeration. My favorite thing to work on in College was a Cascade System.
Once you found the compressor short I stopped and spent an hour doing online research about grounded compressors and then ultimately watched someone cut up and take apart an entire compressor haha
This is a good repair job. You purged with nitrogen, you recovered the old refrigerant, you used new refrigerant after, you changed the oil, you cleaned the condenser, you cleaned the drains, this is a GOOD REPAIR! You gave this system EVERY chance to last a long time. Your customer should be a customer for life now!
As I was watching your video, I thought to myself “now he’s going to take from leg to leg.” Great video all the way throughout I watched till the very end!!
Really enjoyed the video! Would really enjoy to work for a guy like you. I respect the attention to detail, recommendations to customers, and your training. I do mainly restaurant hvac, refrigeration, and hot/cold equipment. But my boss is nothing like you. Always pushing us in the field and wanting bandaid repairs. Keep up the great work! Starting to explore the idea of going on my own in the future. Always keeping the big picture in mind.
Great video Chris! I can't imagine how you felt walking into the house at 4:30 at night. But at some point, I am sure I will be in your shoes. Thanks, Chris for the video.
Watched the entire video, was really nice to see how u approach troubleshooting. im not a fridge tecnician, more an eletrical tech on audio\lights plants. a little observation: when u are triing to check for shorts to the metal chassis, use the ground screw as reference couse sometime if your tester tip is exactly on a zync chunk of plating it could give u a fake negative due oxydation
The head pressure control is called the headmaster the cap tube is supposed to be capped it either sends gas to the receiver or sends it bach to the condenser to keep head pressure up in very cold weather. They can be eliminated in normally clement conditions like so cal.
You know what, I love this channel. The guy is very good and is very good at doing a proper job, first time. Well done...please continue doing what you are doing.
I Watched to the end, good video. Days like that, that’s why I left service industry for a local union shop and took a job as a service mechanic for the state facilities for New York. It’s kind of funny in a strange way I miss those crazy after hours calls. It’s a great industry and my opinion the best skilled trades job. Thanks for taking the time.
What a can of worms! You touch one thing it leads to another... Watched until the end. I said it before, if I had a teacher like you when I was in technical high school, I might have stayed in HVAC :) Moved to electrical and then IT/network engineering instead. Watching your videos reminds me of things I knew and makes me discover things I could have learnt then. Thanks from southwest France!
I really love this channel. Just discovered it and I'm going through 30mins videos one after another! I'm a beginner electrical technician so these videos are a really good on site experience. I like how professional you are while describing, and the good quality while handling the camera and the sound, really really good job. Keep it up!
I really enjoy your videos and your troubleshooting skills, everyone can learn from these problems by keeping things simple and following the basics of troubleshooting!
been watching your videos.... all to the end lol. Just started my own residential company and I am literally running restaurant calls at least once a week. Apparently no one can find a good commercial guy in this area. Your videos are awesome and this one is really good feels like one of my calls.
That’s why I don’t like to test shorts to ground with the beep range on the meter. I don’t believe that range reads in the megaohm range. I never use that range on checking compressors. I don’t believe a mega ohms short reads in the beep range. Good job on keeping your cool.
Always watch your videos to the end. Another great job. UK subscriber and semi-retired engineer, now mentoring apprentices. Keep up the good work and most interesting videos.
I have never studied for HVAC or HVACR, I have never had a job for it either, and my current job is not even remotely similar to it, but yet here I am like 6 or 7 videos deep, watching about it and just nodding my head when this guy figures out the issues and mentally cursing the ass hats who worked on it before him screwing him over like I have any clue what he's even talking about.
I do this for a living and how he stays so calm when he deals with the BS is impressive.
I can relate. It's funny that being a manufacturing technician is my chosen profession. Yet, I'll curse at a piece of equipment as if I was expecting to have an easy day. Huh...
@Maxwell R. Do it! I’ve been doing HVAC for 23 years now. The shortage of techs is just getting worse so pay and benefits keep going up. The trades are very hands on so most learning is done by just doing it, which means the pay starts out slow, but once you start getting experience and different licenses and competency cards your pay starts to sky rocket. If you’re up north then learn boilers, that’s where the big money is. The shortage of GOOD boiler techs is even worse and I spend much of the winter following behind bad boiler techs from other companies and fixing their mistakes. I’ve personally trained all of my boiler guys so we all do it right and we have a good reputation.
@@mnhvacguy9788 is 50 too old to shift to this? currently into electronics and pc tech... :D
@@TheKb117 no, never too old
This is a real good one, I'd rather watch this than TV any day
Me to better than tv
I made it to the end and remained interested.
Great Channel graleat work ethics and cant say more love your channel keep up the good work.
I smart view it to my TV
Damn. From fishing to hard work. I know the feeling. 🙄
Has a chief engineer its enjoying watching learning some new everytime
I love the cold opens as they are often you getting mad.
I always watch to the end. I used to be an auto mechanic before I had to stop working at the ripe old age of entirely too young to retire, so part engineer, part HVAC tech, part electrician, part plumber, part chemist, part physicist, part hostage negotiator, all frustrated with having to sell ideal solutions to people who prefer stop-gap measures. I really appreciate that I can still live vicariously through other tradespeople who take actual pride in their work. It's nice, you know?
Plus, being disabled, I'm broke as hell, and have to fix everything myself, so watching these videos shows me all the mistakes your competition makes, that I don't want to have to hire someone else to clean up!
These are one of those love / hate nights. The moment you see the compressor is faulty and it’s already half way through the day and you know you’re gonna be working late, but really don’t want to... but once you’ve done the job and it’s 11pm at night and you look at what you’ve done, you feel so proud and happy that it all came together and working eventually. Makes me want to do it over again because of how well it all went in the end.
The feeling of pride is out of this world.
Not sure about you, but that’s how I feel when I get jobs like this.
A nice OT paycheck is nice too. Especially after setting around for two months.
Been in the business 35 years. I never get tired of what i do. I'm always busy & always learning something (sometimes twice). I'd rather do this type of work than go fishing or anything else. Except wild monkey dance of corse!😆
Made it to the end. I'm a former natural gas technician (worked on the gas cooking equipment) and know nothing about refrigeration. I have no desire to be back out there in the elements (yep, it's been very hot the last couple of weeks in SoCal). But you really make this stuff interesting to watch. I really appreciate your troubleshooting steps; a breaker tripped for a reason, so it's always a good idea to find out why before blindly resetting them.
I know absolutely nothing about HVAC so why am I so addicted to watching this guy troubleshoot? And yes I made it all the way to the end!
Made it to the end... Its interesting to hear how people react to sound technical advice.
When testing for compressor shorts , always use the grounding block instead of the back plate.Great video.
You are a king
Always make it to the end man. 15 year Hvac vet, been doing Refrigeration now for about four years. I never had proper training on it just got tired of telling people no when they asked about Refrigeration so I started reading a lot of books and manuals also having over a decade of Hvac experience helps but your videos are dope. Makes me happy to see that I’m not the only OCD owner/technician. Me and my guys love your channel. I am the only one out of my four employees that does the Refrigeration, but I’ve been training the other guys and referring them to your videos you and nor-cal Dave
I was always told 20 years ago to never check a compressor or motor off the contactor, always go to the terminals on compressor, and disconnect wires, love your videos, keep them coming, use them all the time for the younger techs.
So great that some installer took the time to install all the unions for the drain pans, drives me crazy when trying to blow out a double drain, and no union.
Something I try to tell installers, and our estimators, if it’s a 30000 job, make the service easy, so we don’t have to charge 3 years down the road, for something that should have been installed during installation. Love installers, but a lot of think of the day, not the lifetime of the unit.
Definitely watched to the end!
Years ago I was learning the very basics of refrigeration from my uncle. I asked him about the old oil trapped in the system and he explained it to me. This would apply to your compressor without a way to pour out all the oil as well. He said just change what you can, and do it again and again.... because "Dilution is the Solution to Pollution!"
With the low cost of mini PLC controls and smart-relays, you could program one to monitor the auto-reset high pressure control and count the number of trip events which happen in a given period of time. You could set it to allow for a longer delay after each trip, up to a certain number of trips in a day; after which it would either sound an alarm, or lockout and not re-start until intervention was made. Just a thought! There is probably already an off-the-shelf solution for something like this, maybe.
Was taking advantage of the slow time due to the coronavirus to complete some projects I had deferred due to work last year. Was really enjoying that and then.... got sent overseas. It was fun while it lasted LOL!
Dedication and tenacity right there, the service call from hell, and so typically on the weekend! Great job and a great role model for young Techs watching.
Nice job, hard to do when overtired. Been there. Finely you did a job with correct line voltage. Maybe the electric company is starting to listen. I did a compressor change on a Christmas eve during a snowstorm and the unit was ten feet in the air to stop vandalism. Took me more that a week to recover from that one. Great video and many thanks.
Yeah, not only doing the job, but making a video... incredible!
I made it to the end of the video.
I am not an HVAC tech, or a repairman of any sort in a professional sense. I am a DIYer when practical, including the electrical aspects of my own home's HVAC. That said, I do recognize quality work. I appreciate your videos and the lengths you go to in demonstrating that extra step of care and concern for the overall longevity of a system. You could easily cut corners and rack up charges in small service calls. Instead, you treat it like each system is your personal rig driving a critical aspect of your life. Good job, my man. Cheers from Florida.
I ALWAYS make it to the end! It's never over 'til it's over. Love to go along on the call in my cool, comfortable office and watch how honest and hard-working technicians like you keep the world going--in spite of the bureaucratic suits. (If I had any advice it would be to encourage you to invoice for the hours you spend on a job and not adjust because you think it sounds high. If it's high because you failed to plan ahead, then adjust, but if it's because the customer dropped the ball on maintenance then they need to pay the piper.)
I suggested your channel to my instructors at the technical college I'm taking commercial Refrigeration classes at. Really hard transitioning to online instruction from class and lab works. I've been watching since last year when I took their residential HVACR course. I learned so much that I passed the ESCO Light Commercial Refrigeration Ready to Work test they had us take for a benchmark during the first week. I guess they didn't expect anyone to pass because they were going to have to take it again at the end of the class. Today I passed the N.A.T.E. Light Commercial Refrigeration test. I can't give you all the credit because they did a great job too but your videos certainly helped! Thanks! Keep up the great work!
I think it’s just the human element that
Service techs short cut and make shoddy repairs. I’m like you in the auto industry where I see improper repairs. I always said the day I start compromising my work is the day I need to hang it up.
At 03:50 FAIL. Short to ground test lead placment. Never use a 'galvanized' metal for a test lead ground. (Galvanized steel electrically resistive). Look up at top right of video. PERFECT ground block was available.
came to say the same (but in a nicer tone) galvanised steel is still conductive but not as conductive as bare steel, would have been better to prove the ground by touching two points on the galvanised chassis. I run into this alot on aluminium stuff, as anodised aluminium is a pretty damn good insulator.
I've been in the Hvacr service for 36 years now... you're an excellent technician! And I love your ranch at the end of the video it's real life situations you're a good dude best wishes to you and your wife
Thanks so much bud!!
Man honestly you got the best hvac channel learned so much off of your videos highly appreciate the content.
I love watching these kinds of videos. They are very informative for people coming new to the HVAC field. It especially helps when you're explaining what troubles you are finding how you found it as well as the corrective action taken.
I hate how people do short work like this . I am glad there's people like you out there that are still honestest . This is also why I do all my own work .
Although I am not a HVACR professional, I wanted to let you know I watched the entire video. I do find your video series fascinating and your trouble shooting prowess to be phenomenal. Thank you for your tremendous efforts. I certainly do appreciate it all.
Made it to the end. I saw you arrived during the day and then it was night. I knew you were there quite a while although didn't realized is spanned a few days. That sucks that it's so hard to drain the old oil so it starts off clear. That said, the sight glass at the end was looking way better, almost clear.
You didn't see the short to ground at first cause your multimeter doesn't use high enough voltage for properly testing the insulation (as in resistance to ground if you measure between ground and each disconnected phase of the 3phase supply). Using something like a Megger electrical installation tester could be helpful in cases like that cause those can test resistance using 500VDC up to 1kV DC (you need to be careful with those tho cause you can easily fry electronic devices if they're left in circuit by accident and if people should touch wires under test, they might get a shock).
I also wonder why you didn't check current draw right when/after turning the compressor on as that could've been an indicator that things are wrong. I assume current draw was moderately too high right from the beginning, making the breaker trip on a slight overload condition (there are two ways a regular breaker can trip, one is a hard short circuit condition making the breaker trip right away using an internal electromagnetic coil and the other is it heating up over some period of time which makes a bimetallic strip inside the breaker disconnect the load if a specific internal temperature is exceeded).
Dang. You need to start a youtube channel.
True
Always watch till the very end, I know you will deny it but you really are a refrigeration Guru, I have been in this business for 30yrs and I know expertise when I see it, I along with other really appreciate you filming your jobs. 🛠️
Relatively green HVAC/R technician here. I like how you show all your work and explain why you do things. Thanks for the informative videos!
What the hell who could give a thumbs down to this man people have high expectations. Keep up the the good work hope Tru tech took care of you on the the purchase I made with the link.
Cause ppl are morons
As much as it sucked, it was cool seeing how you dealt with all the issues until everything was up and running correctly. Watched till the end. 😎
At 10:58: EXACTLY WHY not to use galvanized steel surface to place meter test lead to chk for SHORTS.
Didn't think about that but that's a good point. I usually check continuity from two points on a ground plane to make sure I'm getting purchase from having false negatives before and having it drive me mad. Ground terminal block would have been an ideal spot on this one especially since it was actually accessible thinking about it now.
@@mwiz100 Exactly.
I always clip onto the ground lug. It's never far away.
Yep. Got fooled by that once too. The rubber mounts on the compressor base can also play hell on grounded compressor checks too. I used to go from the terminals to the copper on the suction or discharge lines and it avoided a lot of headaches... Really useful when it's 3 am and you are on-call after working a full day already.
I'm sure that surface was fine for anything that was attached to it or the grounding lugs/wires. The compressor was another matter. He should have shown ground continuity from chassis test point to compressor shell. The old known, unknown, known test procedure.
Good to see a professional at work.
Made it to the end! Always been fascinated about hvac. Dabbled in automotive hvac and seriously thinking about going to school after watching these videos.
You need an insulation resistance meter. Your multimeter only sources a few volts when reading ohms. You can't reliably test insulation breakdown without a test voltage similar to the DUTs nominal voltage. It's like checking for refrigerant leaks in a system with 5psig of nitrogen and soapy water. Yeah, you're going to find the big leaks but miss all the small ones. Hope this helps. Yes, I watched to the end. You teach me so much. I hope I could return the favor. I have a Fluke 1587fc and I love it. Great backlight. Wireless. Confusing auto range for AC volts; ranges down to millivolts.
You can see how many volts/milliamps your clamp sources by using another multimeter. An insulation tester should be used to source about twice the DUTs nominal voltage. This makes sense because it sources DC where as the DUT is typically AC. You can damage things and hurt people with this type of meter. Be careful.
Don't know if it's already been said but, use a megger instead of the multimeter when testing motors and resistances/shorts, I work in industrial machines and I have had many times my multimeter displayed nothing when testing a motor or component, but with the megger it was a few 100ohm short or something, it's because the meggers use higher voltages to bridge any gaps or insulation.
Also the compressor was mounted on rubber dampers, and most of the piping was mounted with plastic clips, it could be that the ground wire to the motor was broken or something
A simple walk in freezer that led to so much more! Not a great day today.
5:13 Man has no fear.....
Great video like always! I’m taking a break from working for the next couple of years but your videos bring back great memories so I’m staying subscribed. The moment you realized the compressor was bad and you reacted. I think we can all definitely relate to that.
It’s nice to know there are people out there who care enough to do it right, not over!
Dude, I know nothing about HVACR, but I'm fascinated by your videos. I love the post-mortems that you do at the end. I ALMOST understand what you're talking about. Love the channel!
Its amazing watching someone who has its craft down to perfection. I feel you so much on fixing stuff other people mess up. As an Emergency IT Tech I get soooo many Cases where the guy bevor just went mental on the whole System. As much as it is annoying, i somehow love it. I love the Detective work. And I get the same vibe from you.
I like it. I worked in home appliance for 20 years in 70 an 80s. Retired in 2007.from state of missouri.i like your video s. Good job.
I know nothing about HVAC systems but you make these videos quite informative. Keep up the good work.
iI have watched 6 you tube video's 3 on refrigeration and 3 on electrical now i'm a professional LOL. Thank God they had you to fix that mess
Ahhhh Yes... The Bean Counters of Corporate. I can't even imagine 25 degrees over a 115 F ambient temp ? WOW. Once again with the Dirty Condenser, preventive maintenance will always win.
I Currently work in Pharmaceuticals -80c Ultra low temp stability chambers. I’ve decided to run my own business on the side as I started in HVAC/R and Commercial hot side kitchen equipment. Your videos keep me up to date and are extremely intuitive. Thanks a bunch
Thanks for watching and im glad I could help!!
Your the King of late night service calls for sure. Always enjoy watching you troubleshoot for shorts. I cant believe how much this channel has grown. I subscribed when there was only 4 or 5 videos on your channel so I guess that that makes me a HVACR video OG! If you like to fish, you should come on out to San Diego & go out for tuna. I always do a few trips per year.
Yes sir i made it to the end. Ive been in this trade for 4 years now and i still consider myself a rookie, still got alot of learning to do and that’s exactly why i watch your video. Very informative and they always help me so keep up the great work.
I made it to the end. I have learned a lot from you. I've realized I got laxed in a lot of refrigeration practices. And I realized the new technology and tools that I'm going to start purchasing
It's simple if they don't want to pay the increasing overage fee on Emergency call-outs thay can upgrade the equipment or find a new contract.
I watch your videos all the time. Your attention to detail and work ethic is inspiring. However the work environment, and physicality makes me glad I'm a nurse.
HVAC guy says "Everything's cool" and i lose it. Why do I love these videos so much?
This brought back a nightmare call. Sunday call had to call a supplier to come open the store to get a 30 horse compressor and supplies. Took all day. They had a huge condenser set in the parking lot. Had to spray up from the bottom or get a crane to help take panels off the top. Spent hours laying on the catwalk spray up getting covered. Had my wife bring more clothes and my diving mask and snorkel. Worst job I did. Though it might tie with a system in a prison. You did a great job with the video. Good job.
Many people will teach us how things are supposed to work...
We often miss out on details that would send us astray...
I'd imagine, it's all those things that really teach us the practical-depths of these projects.
All those heaters don’t like what you do , because they only thing about them,
Thank you for sharing your on hands training , every time I watch your videos I feel that Iam working with you ,
Thank you for that Chief.
I have little experience with any of this but the company I work for makes industrial hvac stuff but we use ammonia as a refrigerant and we don't use compressors at all. But this is still helpful to me and Interesting to watch
You got respect from me man. I always see you working CRAZY hours to get these systems up and running. Could tell them you would be back in the morning but no you do it that night.
I thought I made it to the end but after you talked about that, there was another half minute of rambling. That was the hardest part.
Hello. What adventure!! Thank you for sharing your experience!! I don't work in walk in freezers, racks or rtu units. I do domestic refrigeration, ACs, small refrigerators and freezers, but thanks to you and other HVAC tecs, I can at least have a small experience of the big leagues in refrigeration. Best regards from Argentina!!
I don't work in HVAC field, I am just a curious person and the type that will watch anything interesting, I love your video and I know I will be watching more.
Good job.... just wish you had checked for a short directly on the compressor and done an acid test from the start. I know it's easy to second guess, great job under difficult circumstances. I admire your dedication and commitment. Thank you!
Great video Chris! I use your videos in my apprenticeship program class. I have been a refrigeration man since 1973 and I always learn something from your videos...you are amazing!
Short to ground is not the same thing as over amping. Shorting to ground is only one way to get a circuit to draw too much power. If a winding is shorted internally to itself (which would mean low resistance - low ohms) can cause the amp load to increase.
YES! A new video to watch during quarantine!
my reaction as well!
Thks for the excellent efforts. Especially here in covid. I am part of a company that runs a huge walk in freezer and six trucks with reefers. I appreciate your attention to detail. Thks from Montreal, Canada. Hope u get some good time off this covid summer. Definitely made it to the end. Dont find your rant rambling at all
Get a good vacuum on the end of the drain run. In most cases just a piece of car board can block the drain holes of all but one of the coils You should be able to hear the suction; pulls out most crap, pour in a little hot water. plug with cardboard and proceed to next coil. Get rid of p traps (bacteria trap) only needed in hvac units with coils on return air side
Man, you are dedicated. So much work to film all that, especially a middle of the night compressor change out. Watched to the end, dealing with those corporate national accounts can be such a pain. Awesome video!
Thanks bud
Aus electrician here, looking to get into hvac, love your videos, helping me out with my own fault finding on small systems :) (made it to the end)
Curious, when I worked with my old company, whenever I made changes like cutting wires out or disconnecting things ect, I used the printer in our trucks and printed a notes sheet and often would attach a service pouch inside the unit with our notes, nothing sucked more than not being able to figure out why someone did something, we hated it and we know we won't service the system forever exclusively, so having others have that info was helpful
At 11:05 mm: Three hours of windshield time to fetch parts. We use courier services or Uber to fetch parts instead. Tech time too valuable. Try Courier svc.. You gonna like em! A lot!
Some of my supply houses will run me anything for $75... I’ve only used it while in the city without parking.. I see the value in it
You can use Uber to get parts for you- I never thought of that
I'd like to see the expression on their face when they see a big heavy box with an UP arrow.... Nevermind a handful of related parts all in one shot.
This is why I watch these videos and read the comments always learn something. Uber might be something I try...👊👍
hm...good point and if the courier is already in the location of the item, that can cut time in half.
Dang Chris thats the worst! You know that drain has been plugged for a while but they didn’t call it in. That use to frustrate me, you go from a simple call to a laundry list of things just piled up.. good work bro as always!
Great video, thanks for taking us on the journey. Cant imagine how stressful some of these jobs are, i get stressed out just watching. Super informative as well.
Pretty amazing to watch you work and troubleshoot...I work maintenance and although i dont enjoy massive problems...its fun to get the brain going.
Don’t you just love these systems! The ones I work on around here have been installed completely wrong and to blow the drains on three connected systems, you will have to blow one then the next then the next and go back up and back down the line and it’s a constant problem, and like you said, it’s never the service call, just an additional problem.
I made it to the end... I feel your pain... I work in IT and often get stuck with unplanned late night crap. And I'm not in 100 deg heat wrenching on a compressor
Best HVAC video... U worked hard and with lot of dedication.,....👍👍👍👍👍
Retired now but I so remember those calls, Going to be easy then it falls apart. Great video. By the way made it all the way.
When you say you took as much oil out as you could, I’m assuming you just drained oil from the oil port until oil level fell below that? Since you cannot tip the compressor over right? I have run into this in the field too so I use a refrigerant tank, vacuum pump, and 1/4” hose with a 1/4” copper tube on the end and suck the oil out of the bottom of the compressor by removing the sightglass and sucking from that hole. Actually works pretty good. If you want a photo of the set up I can email it to you if you want.
I was going to say exactly what you said, and that setup does work well.
Jonathan Schulz I have used a large syringe with a small hose on it and put it through the glass port into the base/sump and draw most of the oil out.
Bought a cheap fish tank transfer pump (connects to your drill) pumps out pretty quickly.
Removed the sight glass /& pushed the clear tube to the bottom.
You can use a oil hand pump.
Bearing in mind that the oil is there to lubricate the pistons in the pump. Oil in the refrigerant is a sign that the pump and compressor is knackered.
Made it to the end. Cool video. Nice studio. Work on the railroad. We deal with wires, cables appliances 110 100hz, 220 25 Hz. 750dc. Oh and did I mention 80 psi air plant. 125cfm nominally. It's a few miles long. 2" (2.5") to 1/2" Feed's for air track switches.
We use 750 for switch heaters. I added one switch up and it was 40000 watts. No wonder the knife switch burnt up after being on for days. Big copper knife switch in between the tracks. Cool video.
Being a former HVAC Tech I understand what you went through on this job. I have recognized some of your locations. If I would have had my preference I would have preferred to work on Refrigeration. My favorite thing to work on in College was a Cascade System.
Once you found the compressor short I stopped and spent an hour doing online research about grounded compressors and then ultimately watched someone cut up and take apart an entire compressor haha
This is a good repair job. You purged with nitrogen, you recovered the old refrigerant, you used new refrigerant after, you changed the oil, you cleaned the condenser, you cleaned the drains, this is a GOOD REPAIR! You gave this system EVERY chance to last a long time. Your customer should be a customer for life now!
As I was watching your video, I thought to myself “now he’s going to take from leg to leg.” Great video all the way throughout I watched till the very end!!
Really enjoyed the video! Would really enjoy to work for a guy like you. I respect the attention to detail, recommendations to customers, and your training. I do mainly restaurant hvac, refrigeration, and hot/cold equipment. But my boss is nothing like you. Always pushing us in the field and wanting bandaid repairs. Keep up the great work! Starting to explore the idea of going on my own in the future. Always keeping the big picture in mind.
Great video Chris! I can't imagine how you felt walking into the house at 4:30 at night. But at some point, I am sure I will be in your shoes. Thanks, Chris for the video.
Watched the entire video, was really nice to see how u approach troubleshooting. im not a fridge tecnician, more an eletrical tech on audio\lights plants. a little observation: when u are triing to check for shorts to the metal chassis, use the ground screw as reference couse sometime if your tester tip is exactly on a zync chunk of plating it could give u a fake negative due oxydation
Good video. The customer clearly doesn’t believe in preventative maintenance... I made it to the end of your video Chris. 😎
This is where a helper comes in handy
Ive done commercial and industrial refer work for 20 plus years. Makes me smile when i see other people deal with cluster f.cks.
The head pressure control is called the headmaster the cap tube is supposed to be capped it either sends gas to the receiver or sends it bach to the condenser to keep head pressure up in very cold weather. They can be eliminated in normally clement conditions like so cal.
A lot of hours,so much knowledge,gracias for the teaching and sharing bro👏🏾👏🏾🛠🛠🤙🏾
Made it to the end as always. I really appreciate bringing us along to your calls. Greetings from balmy north Texas!
You know what, I love this channel. The guy is very good and is very good at doing a proper job, first time. Well done...please continue doing what you are doing.
I Watched to the end, good video. Days like that, that’s why I left service industry for a local union shop and took a job as a service mechanic for the state facilities for New York. It’s kind of funny in a strange way I miss those crazy after hours calls. It’s a great industry and my opinion the best skilled trades job. Thanks for taking the time.
What a can of worms! You touch one thing it leads to another...
Watched until the end. I said it before, if I had a teacher like you when I was in technical high school, I might have stayed in HVAC :) Moved to electrical and then IT/network engineering instead. Watching your videos reminds me of things I knew and makes me discover things I could have learnt then. Thanks from southwest France!
I really love this channel. Just discovered it and I'm going through 30mins videos one after another! I'm a beginner electrical technician so these videos are a really good on site experience. I like how professional you are while describing, and the good quality while handling the camera and the sound, really really good job.
Keep it up!
I really enjoy your videos and your troubleshooting skills, everyone can learn from these problems by keeping things simple and following the basics of troubleshooting!
been watching your videos.... all to the end lol. Just started my own residential company and I am literally running restaurant calls at least once a week. Apparently no one can find a good commercial guy in this area. Your videos are awesome and this one is really good feels like one of my calls.
That’s why I don’t like to test shorts to ground with the beep range on the meter. I don’t believe that range reads in the megaohm range. I never use that range on checking compressors. I don’t believe a mega ohms short reads in the beep range. Good job on keeping your cool.
Always watch your videos to the end. Another great job. UK subscriber and semi-retired engineer, now mentoring apprentices. Keep up the good work and most interesting videos.