HURRY THE AC IS ON FIRE

After all was said and done this was a really fun service call, I actually prefer repairing these units vs just replacing them.
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[@ntsecrets]

I wonder what cost more the routine maintenance or having to evacuate the building for an hour or two with people leaving without paying their tabs.

[@adamdnewman]

Maybe insurance covers the lost revenue 😕

[@kens.3729]

@@adamdnewmanThat will NOT Happen with a High Deductible at a Restaurant. 👎

[@Starchface]

Every restaurant I go to, you pay before you eat. Judging by the grease content of that one evaporator, this may be such a restaurant. 😂

[@graywolf2694]

They might even get a fine

[@mackenziegray2090]

​@@adamdnewmanthat's what taxes are for

[@justinmayer8125]

I actually watch your videos to better my knowledge with AC units as a firefighter. Our district has Hundreds of commercial roof top units and we are constantly chasing smoked belts, duct detectors and burned up motors. We always open up the unit with hand tools, verify and check for extension. However some departments don't want the liability of opening up someone else's equipment unless they can confirm a fire inside. More than likely the smoke stopped when they cut power, checked with a thermal imagery camera and called it a day. Thanks for the continued videos!

[@stopthebus]

Thank you for the valuable work you do - and thanks to all of your comrades. The fire service where I am is held in extremely high regard and I daresay it is where you are as well.

[@carpespasm]

As a fire alarm tech that's cool to hear. In my service area we see everything from "this deficiency has been on the report for 10 years and the FM couldn't care less" to "code book under arm, zero problems allowed", and it's always good to hear what actual response looks like and operates like. As an alarm tech my most usual interaction with you guys is apologizing for getting you dispatched because a property manager swore their system was on test when it wasn't. Edit: Also, at >2000cfm/5 tons this unit should have had a duct detector shut down the unit within a few seconds of smoke entering the ductwork, fire alarm system or not. Maybe these units were old enough to predate that requirement, but even the scabbiest duct detector install would have cut power to the thermostat and the unit would have stopped the blower after about 30s.

[@HVACRVIDEOS]

Thanks for watching!!

[@vbarbee1]

Exactly, we don't open units unless there is active fire. Just disconnect power. We do have a few ppl that are electricians or hvac. If I have a question or issue, I'll call them personally on their phone.

[@rowebil00]

This guy does everything correctly the first time instead of having to come back in a year for another emergency service call.

[@LeewardStudios]

As a 33 year firefighter I have see dozens of burned up motor/ fans in hvac systems. We cut power check it with a thermal camera but will not throw water in there and ruin more equipment and cause more property damage if we don’t have to. In all that time I have never had a rekindle on one. (Watch it will happen next day I’m on duty). The smoke smell will dissipate over time. On cloth and ceiling tiles the consumer odor eliminators are pretty good.

[@throttlebottle5906]

that makes perfect sense and it's very unlikely a fire in an RTU would spread out of it, unless it was a large natural gas/propane leak. I mean, it has minimal flammable things inside a steel case and the blower stopping would slow any flow to a snails pace of makeup air via negative building pressure. that said, anything is possible and the FD should always be called to evacuate, check and ventilate the building.

[@tonitighe4008]

I love this young fellow, he understands anything, even works for HVAC companies

[@electroimpex8897]

Greets from Germany, wish you a great sunday 🤙

[@bigbud4729]

hahahaah ich auch

[@mc-sp8zr]

I don't know how well they work, but maybe some of those activated charcoal air filters could help remove the smell. We've put them in some units where the whole surrounding areas smelled gross, told them it'd be like pissing on a forest fire.

[@adamdnewman]

I think that would definitely help

[@cliveramsbotty6077]

nah it just bleeds around the air gaps

[@jaygunter3828]

That's what I was wondering.

[@DelticEngine]

Having an overtime rate is one thing, but I hope there's also a special rate for out-of-hours emergency calls.

[@DeclanTighe-o3v]

I love you my man, your excellent at everything

[@vbarbee1]

2:28 That's great to know. I'm a firefighter and been on AC calls like that. Typically we don't open units unless there is active fire. We're not trained on opening units and not sure what we're doing or what potential problems we can cause doing so. If it's nothing active, we're trained to disconnect power and tell the manager to call their AC repair person. Don't want a business to say we messed up something and try to have the FD pay for a new unit lol. Now we do have a few guys that are electricians and or HVAC ppl.

[@Ghyus01]

Woah, this same thing happened to me at my movie theater last week. Got a call around 11pm saying there was a ton of smoke in the theater, got in, couldn't find a fire but noticed the thermostat was blank for that auditorium. Had the fire department make sure we weren't on fire, called HVACR the next day. Blower motor was CRISPY. Took 3 or 4 days for the auditorium to stop smelling like burnt wires lol

[@LadariusCapersOfficial]

Wow, the auditorium wasn’t hot 🥵 was it

[@Ghyus01]

@@LadariusCapersOfficial Na but it got a bit chilly! Outdoor temp was around 10c and I don't think the motor ran for too long. Enough to smoke the place out though. Each auditorium has a HVAC so we kept the door open to let some heat from the lobby roll in.

[@LadariusCapersOfficial]

@@Ghyus01 okay ✅ I bet in the summertime they keep the auditorium 68 degrees or below because that’s how it be when I go to a movie theater or auditorium. They both be freezing 🥶

[@808jpm]

I appreciate all these companies opting to repair so we can get video content from you.

[@itguydave2164]

I may not work in this industry, but I really appreciate there are people out there like you who care about the best outcome for the customer and their situation. Your candid honesty in making these videos and so thoroughly detailed shows true passion and is one of the reasons I watch every video!

[@stopthebus]

Every time I watch one of Chris' videos I am reminded of his excellent work ethic and straight-up honesty with his customers. I work the same way. I tell my customers exactly how it is and I will do my best to ensure they get a fair deal from me.

[@AKStorm49]

Parts ID and locating is a skill on it's own. I work on kitchen equipment and still struggle getting part numbers on my own. Sometimes it's still a struggle even with tech support.

[@HVACRVIDEOS]

Yeah part number identification is getting very difficult

[@larrydouglas3951]

As a former motor shop tech and manager, I used to see a lot of 'small' motors (as well as large ones). While retired now, I saw many small motors burned up in systems with no fuses or wrong ones, and thermal overloads that didn't work properly. Nothing usual at all. Depending on a thermal and/or a fuse to keep a motor from destruction is doubtful at best, especially when multiple people do the maintenance..

[@geraldschilli8870]

It’s always amazed me how some businesses are too cheap to maintain their equipment. I’ve encountered this many times.

[@samuelgilbert9734]

I really like the style of music playing during your time-lapses!

[@mattl643]

Uggggh, changing that damn bottom plate really sucks. Nice job as always.

[@johnrider7826]

They make scented spray to remove smell from building, cherry is the most common, you could spray the insulation with it.

[@Jonathan_O]

Be careful brother!! We had a nearly identical situation at wing restaurant here in the Tampa area. About a year ago similar problem. Fire department came out at 3 AM, Did their thing and left the property. By 6AM the fire had restarted and fully engulfed the building. It was a total loss.

[@ramonvilla1409]

I bet it was the belt getting hot from the motor still moving when the blower got stuck. I seen it happen before on other things.

[@dennishamilton772]

You say you are not the best tech around. I am an electrician, and NOT a hvac tech. I enjoy watching your videos. Your methods of troubleshooting are really well though out and how you explain things are great. I don't understand all you are doing, but like the way you troubleshoot like a pro.

[@HVACRVIDEOS]

Thanks for the nice words bud

[@myname7021]

I am surprised they didn't want to replace the fan with the bad bearing... do they seriously want another fire? Unbelievable...

[@adamdnewman]

Restaurants almost always choose the cheapest(short term) option, even if it means doing nothing and paying loads later.

[@Thumper79]

To be honest after watching so many videos where restaurants choose not to do certain things because of money, like routine maintenance and fixing issues before they break I have come to the conclusion that these business owners lack common sense.

[@TheMinecraftACMan]

​@@Thumper79 I think it's less that and more the margins they run to stay competitive. Like all businesses, there's going to be places that compete on quality, and there's going to be places that compete on price. The ones that compete on price are in a race to the bottom, and they run extremely tight margins to stay competitive. They most likely aren't paying for the repairs for a very simple reason. They are responsible for maintenance costs, while their business insurance is responsible for repair costs due to "unforseen" events. It's about making your monthly expenses as predictable as possible, when you have to run an extremely tight margin.

[@Thumper79]

@@TheMinecraftACMan even if that's the case I would think doing preventive maintenance and even making repairs when problems are found would be a more cost-effective way then letting things break and then having to pay more to fix it.

[@TheMinecraftACMan]

@@Thumper79 It's one of those "devil's in the details" things. Oftentimes they're writing it off against their "loss of business" insurance, and if the damage isn't severe enough to cause a shutdown of the business, the insurance won't cover it. If the A/C is down completely they get to file the claim on the grounds that "No A/C means no customers."

[@ShukenFlash]

God, I relate so much to "My brain is mushy from all the work stuff lately."

[@meh7793]

Nicely done on the use of wagos, great to seem them across the pond!

[@holywells]

Lysol spray always works great. I even spray the filters with it. Makes the entire building smell great.

[@anthonytidey2005]

I worked for UL, I wondered if the AC have UL or other approvals and the replacement parts also. Any motor I checked for UL should have stoped due to the high temperature fuse blowing. Or if it was resettable it would come on when the temperature dropped. Thus it would turn on and off. If this was UL motor it should mot cause a fire. Presumably beacuse you are working on buildings equipment, FM and electrical standardd also apply. I think I would wilt doing your job. I don't like the heat we have in the UK at present 22 degrees C, 71.6 deg F. Thanks for the video.

[@moonowo]

This is the video that introduced me to your channel.

[@HVACRVIDEOS]

Awesome glad you enjoy the videos!

[@CajunReaper95]

What’s crazy is on one end the spectrum some people would call you a hack for not replacing the entire unit yet don’t understand that the customer has the final say at the end of the day even if you recommend a whole new unit meanwhile on the other end of the spectrum others would call you a greedy HVACR technician or basically trying to upsell the customer on a new unit not realizing or understanding that the machine in some cases will end up costing more in the long run as the age increases making it less reliable and therefore it starts to become an endless money pit where the price to keep it running surpasses the cost of a brand new unit, I think in some cases it’s better to replace the unit and have it be more reliable than the old “faithful” that really isn’t faithful anymore and can eventually fail catastrophically to the point of catching on fire and potentially causing serious injury or even death and causing severe damages to the property!

[@valenzaplumbing]

Nothing worse than getting ready to relax on the couch or fall asleep after a long day and hearing your phone ring.

[@LtKernelPanic]

Once again either you schedule maintenance on your equipment or it'll schedule it for you usually at the most inconvenient time. That said I'm glad the store I work at is very proactive about doing PMs. Better to have a couple tech out over a few days each month doing PM then having all the coolers and freezers on the sales floor go down overnight again. It took a 30 (40?) yard dumpster to hold everything we lost that went out of temp. At least we were able to get a hold of the local food bank and they took as much as they could before we were forced to start getting rid of stuff.

[@eddevoe2519]

I'm not going out at 11 30 pm. "I'll see you in the morning". If fire Co was there and they say it's safe and left, then it will wait till 8am. I tell my customers if they want to skip scheduled maintenance, they will pay me a lot more later when parts fail and you still have to do the maintenance. Oner of my customers has a walk in cooler door that is tearing itself apart because its not anchored at base. We were called for icing evaporators and its the door not sealing. Told her I can fix it for $500 and door will last many more years but she declined. Door frame is getting weak and when that internal steel fails it will be $5k for door replacement.

[@Th3_infinity]

quality, integrity and tradition. something i may always want to hear

[@Bishopx999x]

I bet when the squirrel cage bent while the motor kept going causing the wheel to grind causing sparks since the smoldering was over the cage vs motor It happened to one of the ahu at the hospital I used to work at. Only I didn’t catch it in time. It grinded out the cone, blower wheel, and disintegrated the doge bearing.

[@theabsentmindedprofessor8357]

I personally would find the source of that smoke, when you get that thing up and running the airflow in that thing will fan the ember in a major way. Just for my peace of mind I would have to know it was completely out.

[@seanmcmurran7552]

I bet it finally shorted internally from melting, overcurrent maybe fused before it could trip. Either way, just wanted to tell you that I enjoy your videos, and you are one tough dude. Keep it up man. *that 2nd motor from the other bad blower bearings, did it last? Sound like bad bearings in that too, the beginning of metal on metal anyways.

[@bennimotlatsi8901]

My brother i really admire ypur as technician myself but on on domestic refrigeration im learning a lot from you benni from south africa

[@CT-vm4gf]

At least the customers lack of maintenance gives us entertaining videos.

[@Ddiddles99]

You’re a way better person than me. If they weren’t doing routine maintenance then they’re not having a service call answered at 10:30 pm

[@kens.3729]

Your Customers are so Lucky and Blessed to have such a Highly Qualified or Overqualified Company that Services their Very Important HVAC Equipment. 👍🙏

[@garypoplin4599]

17:28 - That heat exchanger looks rusted at the bends.

[@michelbrown1060]

Being awaken up a few minutes after falling asleep, your brain is in OFF position, 😵‍💫 You're not sure if you are awaken or still asleep, having a nightmare , ,🤣. It . happened to me many times. . 😂

[@Darisiabgal7573]

The blower assembly on my attic system is going on 50 years. These roof systems are fairly easy to replace, why dont they just buy new ones instead of trying to repair junk.

[@LadariusCapersOfficial]

The 1 package unit was still useable it just needed some real preventive maintenance 👨‍🔧

[@jeffreykubiak5126]

Good Job Chris , thanks for the video. .

[@temmayB]

10:30 Plastics start to melt at around 120 and are fluid at around 150 °C. There are plastics with higher melting points, but I guess that the plastics in the motor are more the regular ones. Thus, there must have been at least 120 °C in the motor during the fire. I also think, that maybe the implosion of the blower assembly happened gradually (First potentially rubbing only at the housing until the flaps completely detached) and that may be why the motor has become hot without shutting down on overload. Does it mean there should be a temperature sensor in such motors additionally?

[@BerraLJ]

I had a similar event back in the 90's when i was the foreman working night shift, could see parts of the workplace get all hazy and you had that burning smell, called the fire department and it was a major thing since we where pretty close to the city center, nothing bad happened it was just bit scary, and me being in charge sure was fun :)

[@FrostHVAC]

I always use the carrier app for parts, hell I even call york tech support to get part numbers fo their units too. Suppliers can be totally useless anymore.

[@TooManyHobbiesJeremy]

Yea! it wasn't click bait ❤ 😂 Great video title. And a very interesting video the way that blower came apart.

[@johnregan2882]

Seriously?! They declined to fix the other blower that is going to seize also?! Oh gawd ...... FLAME ON!

[@DelticEngine]

The way you describe this restaurant makes it sound like if something bad happened and blew the RTU off the roof and into the parking lot they'd expect you to drag it and all the parts back up and onto the roof and put it all back together in working order. This would, of course, all take place in the middle of the night during a storm. The above paragraph may be (a bit) far fetched, but I bet it feels like this sometimes!...

[@8joh58]

Hi Chris I got questions, I watched one of your video about bypass the pressure switch on walk-in freezer, it won’t short the circuit when u bypass the low pressure switch ? And why thanks

[@jimmystheworkbee]

Working my day job as faculty maintenance and supervisor at a mobile patrol security company. All my site I always have my staff check the maintenance rooms, to just pop their head in a check for smoke/ flames or usual sounds.

[@Klangtrieb]

The 4 year old kitchen AC looks so fucked up, I thought at first it‘s from the 90‘s. It‘s so sad to see these units slowly dying without maintenance.

[@jasonjohnsonHVAC]

Those Carrier units are at least fairly easy to work on.....when you get into their larger tonnage units....especially the 50AK.....its a whole new level of suck....nothing is all that easy to get to....and they have all the same problems.....great video as always Chris....keep em coming

[@ImFromPolen]

17:50 The fan motor diagram described two blue wires from the thermal sensor. Shouldn't they be routed outside and connected through the fan relay?

[@throttlebottle5906]

likely that's a new option and only useful for being linked to variable frequency drive or some other early alert safety gear to trip offline or send automated alerts. there would still be a physical thermal overload protector, now as to if they'll work or not when needed or keep working if it's overheating endlessly? they could weld shut and just keep nuking. lol 🥳🤡

[@schmitty99]

One of my favorite parts of the weekend is watching these videos. Thanks!

[@MyRandomContent7]

No problem! You just got a free heater😂

[@jo6520]

I have a carrier A/C at home. It works great, but we maintain it.

[@chatrkat]

I can relate to the after hours service calls. Hated when I was the on-call tech and my phone rang late. I have to laugh here, that white dish at the beginning, is one I used to service, fixed hundreds of those over my many years with the company, but not in your area. There is supposed to be (10) half cinder blocks on that base. A good wind can fling that rather heavy unweighted dish into a condenser coil. Ask me how I know! Imagine being the tech that drove 2 hours at night only to discover a destroyed coil on a critical package unit? Manager screaming because you can’t restore the dining room cooling at a busy restaurant.

[@dexterthewulf3637]

Gotta love the Milwaukee and Fieldpiece tools 🤙

[@ni_wink84]

That blower wheel seems fine, just straighten it up a bit and slap er back in it’ll be fine just pretend you didn’t see that…. 😂😂😂😂 wow! That thing got eaten!!

[@bobbymcnutt8046]

I truly wish I could work for you. Awesome videos.

[@matthewdievendorf9609]

I wonder if you could use alcohol to remove the smell on the insulation?

[@zekenzy6486]

Great Video. Thank you for sharing

[@PhilipRomeo69]

Nice job on the repair

[@efco24]

Love the video but I have one criticism. Don't replace variable pitched sheaves with another variable pitched. Figure out the diameter that the variable one was set to and replace it with a fixed pitch. The variable ones are only meant for the initial install for setting air balance. Plus the fixed pitch sheaves are cheaper, so you're giving your client a better deal for a sheave that will last WAYYY longer!

[@theoriginalicymidnightsalt656]

Hey!! I just wanted to say I love your videos they have inspired me ever sence I got my phone, I've been watching your videos sence the first channel you had, and I gotta say you never change (I mean that in a good way) so keep up the good work! Peace out

[@Transit_Biker]

Much enjoy the timelapse with the old school synth music!

[@matthewmiller6068]

Motors stay hot for a LONG time. I had a pressure washer melted down (plastic mounts and brushes holders anyway) and even unhooking power and soaking it with cold hose water, flipping it over and filling the casing up until it stopped bubbling-boiling, let it sit an hour...and it was STILL so hot I had to wait longer to handle the motor directly.

[@GothGuy885]

and how much do the new blower bearings cost, opposed to $600 or whatever you quoted for the entire squirrel cage housing?

[@HVACRVIDEOS]

Bearings are probably 60 bucks or so each, but they take some serious labor to install and the entire blower assembly needed to be replaced anyways

[@robertmoore254]

The plant operations supervisor at the hospital I just retired from told me that money spent on repairs is tax deductible but money spent on new equipment is not.

[@DB-zh3ti]

I am supprised that the fire department didn't open up that panel with their axe. I once had to check out a fry station that the fire department had opened up the exhaust duct chase with their axe. I did not realize that an axe could cut through stainles steel like it did. The Ansul system did it's job, there was very little fire damage but the damage that the fire department did was enormous.

[@PleaseExplainMe]

We use a completly different kind of motor alignment. You align the motor just once, and tensioning the belt is done with a central rod and bolt. Can send you a picture if you want...

[@Zetharion1]

Let them continue to pay more to not prevent future issues. Its a lesson they will probably never learn.

[@matthewcarlacci]

Every once in a while I get a phone call from security telling me someone left the gate open at like 1am. Super easy to take care of and a easy auto 4 hr of ot but man I’d rather have the sleep

[@jls1259]

great job at the repair, i didn't know about the deck being avaiable either

[@johnwalker890]

Good job Chris.

[@xcalibertrekker6693]

At least the blower was jammed/blown up so it couldn't actively blow into the restaurant.

[@electriciants7927]

My question is, if that motor became locked up, why didn't the overloads trip? I've never seen that happen to a properly protected 3 phase motor. That thing got cooked. Is it possible the overloads were over sized or even bypassed? Strange. I really enjoyed this video. Thanks for posting.

[@picobyte]

Nice call 👌 Smoke machine 😁

[@Jeff-Lawrence]

Love your channel. Would like to,see,some more,prep,tables

[@wolphin732]

when you came that night... I would have done a lockout, tagout on it, so nobody would be able to turn it back on, before returning the next morning for a larger look, due to it being on fire. I would also have pulled the insulation from the top where it was smouldering...

[@tbelding]

You really need to keep your hat on when you're out in the sun. Yes, the temperature may feel cool, but you're still cooking your skin.

[@tzony1_original]

Usualy there is no need for a big fire when a plastiq piece burns, it can crate a lot of smoke from a real small flame. And inside the space, if the smoke is from plastiq, you will see that smoke even after the fire is off, maybe is like you said, small piece of dust still stay in the air. But people don't think that maintenance it is cheaper than to buy a new instrument. Maintenance is always good

[@simuler]

He has videos explaining that, basically opening or closing the motor pulley to increase or decrease its size changes the speed and respectivly the amp draw

[@SetTheCurve]

Anyone with this HVAC guy hit the jackpot

[@hgbugalou]

I can tell you with certainty, you do 1000% more than any company I know around my area. They'd replace to broken parts on the fire unit, and maybe the bearings and bounce telling you to change the filters and buy some air freshener. Theyd probably put in the wrong sized motor too. 😂. Good on you for doing it right.

[@Transit_Biker]

It's honestly surprising more buildings don't burn down with the stuff they let go on with their HVAC systems, especially with kitchens & grease!

[@stephenbullock-yn3vh]

You did excellent repair. Definitely alot involved in this fix.your the man dave👍👍👍

[@mastermenthe]

His name is dave???

[@stopthebus]

@@mastermenthe His name is Chris.

[@mastermenthe]

@@stopthebus thanks

[@snpdg1]

You definetely dont wanna miss battery when its time to mount the unit back up with all those screws 😅🔥

[@sondrayork6317]

I saw the ice on that unit. It’s time to shut it off and let it thaw out.

[@LadyAnuB]

Let the bad bearing AC catch on fire. Enough fire calls to the place and it gets shut down like a local Burger King in my area. It's being remodel in to a different franchise.

[@CajunReaper95]

🎵This ac is on fireee🎵

[@LadariusCapersOfficial]

😂

[@the_expidition427]

4:46 looked like a cat

[@danpresson]

Awesome video how do you speed up or slow down motor

[@stopthebus]

Pulley change.

[@Tonyhvac]

👍🏽good service amigo

[@HH-mc8lg]

I Watch ur videos when I go to the gym

[@xARMM4G3D0Nx]

Haven't checked in in a while. Thank god you left these terribly wirenuts behind:)

[@boodie_1979]

I love that you used Wago-clamps and not twistingclamps.. In Germany it’s forbidden to twist cables to connect them..

[@UhOhUmm]

Spring terminals are taking over everywhere. Helps eliminate installation errors.

[@matkremzar5474]

insulation s aturated with smoke?! good work

[@EFD620G]

Gotta luv the never ending repairs on a Carrier rooftop. a couple drops of vanilla extract will cover the smoke smell