In-Line Breaker in A Nasty Air Handler Failure Due to Moisture

[@billm6171]

Another great video thank you

[@wilsonallen2782]

Good videos. Us old folks like the CC so we can follow along..

[@fernandobazan829]

You need “Smell-a-Vision” lmaooooo it looks Lovely just Lovely

[@paulosanchotene1739]

Good day Sir. I enjoy your videos and it gave me the skills to do some of the work myself. I have a Rheem rrnl-b030jk08e package unit. Can you please tell me where I can buy parts online or a store in Georgia that sells for the public? Thanks.

[@RobertTuck-vo8cw]

I have seen technicians check or 120VAC to ground on both sides of a breaker and then not check for 240 across the breaker. They do not realize that the 120VAC can travel through a winding and appear at the other side of the breaker.

[@johnwalker890]

Good job Curtis.

[@johncspine2787]

Do you put a disinfectant in your tank? I’d carry Purell too...Legionella bacteria love water in AC systems..respirator not a bad idea when moldy water involved..yuck!

[@jkbrown5496]

My indoor blower inline breaker went out for the 2nd time in 8 years at the first of July. I swapped it out this time because of the wait to get a tech out so I got to keep the failed breaker. I just took the breaker apart. A bit of corrosion right behind the switch handle, but the contacts were burnt. That was odd as the breaker hadn't been operated but about 6 times in the 4 years since installed. I then noticed a rusted tension spring loose. It is the spring right behind the switch lever that holds the contacts closed when in the "on" position. The other leg of the breaker didn't have corrosion in it. My theory is that with the body of the breaker in the cold air handler a bit of the moist air from my crawl space gets in around the switch lever then condenses right on that spring. I may put some dielectric grease around the switch lever. I had already thought of putting in an external disconnect just so all power can be removed from the cabinet when servicing it. Now if I do that, I'll just remove the breaker and put a fused disconnect in. Seems like ohming out the breaker contacts to see if they are failing would be a good check for the future. Update: I just looked a little closer. The spring that rusted out is the spring that opens the contacts if the bimetal strip heats up. So not only do the contact arc, but the breaker is no longer a protective device when the spring rusts out.

[@thedallastexan]

"I'm gonna leave these long....cause it looks like....this keeps happening" lol. Next to the breaker graveyard in the pan.

[@bazbar8315]

My man uses "hmm" and "mmm" in the way I use four letter words. I never knew "hmm" could be so versatile.

[@dillonlexington]

I ALMOST want to ask you the address of this place just to go offer to fix (or make it look better anyway) the primary drain line. My OCD was killing me every time you scanned past it. As always great video.

[@deanmartin1966]

Glad to know I’m not the only one that loses tools on the job. Good video

[@jamesmartello1827]

One of your phases is not feeding thru the circuit breaker. Your getting a back feed off a winding in the system. Hence 120 to ground on each phase but zero between phases.

[@jthonn]

You have a good eye.

[@throttlebottle5906]

right, simply check across the breaker from line to load side with same meter, you'll see 240v across the bad side. ( 120v if a single pole breaker is bad) yes you could power down and test for continuity also, but on line voltage is best way, also you can test for voltage drop across working breakers/disconnects with the system running under load.

[@OnusBones]

How easy would it be to add a dump pouch to your kit to gather up all the FOD left behind, like the old parts growing science experiments in the drain pan? What a mess.

[@donaldharvey3905]

I fill for you brother I was in the heating and ac Field for thirty five years a man can walk into a real mess sometimes I’m retired now and I don’t miss it a bit

[@leoaz4667]

So much for getting rest this weekend 😩 I go on call next Friday for a week here in Arizona we own 8,000 houses. No sleep for a week😴😴😴😴

[@tonydelgrego2906]

Great professional troubleshooting and repair. You get breaker lock outs You never know when someone could accidentally turn it on.

[@caru3257]

Had someone turn down the tstat while I was working in a crawlspace. Most residential customers don’t touch the disconnects.

[@russellhltn1396]

@@caru3257 True, but are you willing to bet your life on that?

[@joep4143]

@@russellhltn1396 Come on now. We all got zapped with 240 volts.

[@danielkelley7422]

Hey Curtis I’m sure you have heard it before but a good habit to develop before testing for power is to switch your meter to continuity and touch your leads together. Let’s you know if your meter is operational

[@caru3257]

I am doing that because my leads have failed before.

[@dontarguewithfools]

Good tip appreciate that

[@throttlebottle5906]

that place has a dire need for insulation! holy moly 😵‍💫

[@franks6837]

You had the slot screwdriver when you took the door off of the CONDENSER unit so if that was your last call yesterday that's where the driver should be . In thirtythree years I can't even count the amount of tools I've left behind and lost . I sympathize

[@ypickering]

I had something similar yesterday. Air handler breaker just wasn’t passing power and narrowed it down to the breaker being toast. Tenant said he was gonna replace the breaker so I said ok 🤷🏻‍♂️ I hope he didn’t end up burning the house down

[@mikedillon6233]

Or have a brain malfunction and electrocuting themselves in the process!

[@aaronclark1599]

Nice work. I have a question, why don't you check the Schrader valves for leaks after you take your gauges off cuz most times they will leak. And you might do it off camera I was just curious because I tend to have a lot of leaks after I've taken my gauges off

[@jackl9922]

I’m amazed at what you find and have to repair. Maybe climate zone? In my area, people can go 10 or more years without maintenance if air filters are serviced.

[@jackl9922]

I had a heat pump go 29 yrs, only outside service was a capacitor replacement. Kept it clean, but when it blew the charge, replaced.

[@khx73]

Place has some electrical issues for sure... look at the parts graveyard in the secondary pan

[@mikedillon6233]

Run Curtis Run before something else blows up ! Lol

[@WSmith2024]

Great job, looks like they could use some PM.

[@brainndamage]

High humidity inside the air handler where that breaker is. It rusted the screws and probably rusted the internal mechanism to where it wouldn't make contact any more. I'd relocate it outside. High humidity might be caused by condensate draining issues, as evidenced by the bypassed float switch and water in the overflow pan

[@jeffhurckes190]

That arcing noise when you closed the breaker at 7:47, not good at all.

[@throttlebottle5906]

when the terminals are rusty/corroded, you're better off just cutting the wires off and stripping them again, also make sure the wire is bright/shiny/clean and not tarnished/corroded or you'll end up with a self cooking mess and repairing it again in the near future.

[@martinsmartinsautobodyandr6740]

Screws like that is why I use pentatrox on every connection

[@tphvac87]

I like that service bag what’s the model number on that I have an MC veto pac right now

[@HVACGUY]

That’s the MCT tech blackout, yes it’s different than the regular MCT tech

[@tphvac87]

@@HVACGUY okay thanks for the clarification, also is it possible to add CC when the video starts? I know I’ve asked before and I’ve seen most of them come out with them and some not? Thanks for the content Curtis, learn something new everyday!! You the man! My market is northeast in CT, it’s interesting to see different markets and I always enjoy your videos! We only see heat pumps in condos in our region and I think that’s silly we get down to temps like -10 in our area but it is what it is, can heat strips really keep up that much?

[@HVACGUY]

@@tphvac87 as soon as it’s available

[@ronniebuchanan6575]

@@tphvac87 you have to turn CC on I turned mine off on KZbin

[@deegriffin3409]

Do anyone know what kind of bag he is using I would like to buy one

[@marcio9242]

veto pro in his link description

[@marcio9242]

veto pro in his link description

[@FredD63]

I hate opening a air handler to a rats nest of wiring I like to make and leave them nice and tidy … feel lucking living up north where most air handlers are in the basement or on the main floor …

[@biblebloopers946]

I miss your old tool bag

[@caru3257]

My only call yesterday was a heavily clogged condensate drain line.

[@melvinwillingham233]

This unit needs a service disconnect at the unit.

[@Paulie1232]

If my my boss would have seen that mess, he'd say rip all the wires out and get it looking sharp...

[@FredD63]

Exactly

[@waldenanthony]

Yep!

[@jackkreighbaum783]

Do you make it a practice to place a warning tag on remote, open (from work area) breakers when working on systems?

[@Hvacnc]

Anybody ever had an aligator clip once attached to the COMMON wire (at the wire nut) goin to the furnace cut the system off. Every time i tried attach my gator clip to my common bundle it would turn the fan off. Just one end of gator clip at that. Other end wasnt attached to ntn

[@jthonn]

You know, if people would clean up behind themselves it would make life a little easier on the next guy. It takes no time at all to pick up instead of leaving old capacitors, chunks of wire and whatnots hanging around, especially in the drain pan. Not only messing with flow, but more junk for the algae to grow on, hence the stink. Also a little extra wire can be a good thing, but 3 ft when you need 3 in is ridiculous, hence the spaghetti. Also folks need to change their filters a little more often. Neglect going on there, looks like they were having trouble for a while.

[@thesilentonevictor]

That secondary drain pan is a mess

[@jamesmartello1827]

You know what would be really cool in your voltage tester while testing your low voltage would be if the tester has an enunciater where it would say 24.5 volts etc. or 240 volts or 120 volts.

[@RayRay-nb7tn]

Wow what an eagle nest of wires. So constant moisture in the blower compartment oxed the main breaker? Not a good thing. Are those reversing vavle silinoides replaceable or not. Have to replace the whole thing? Keep going in the hvac world.

[@HVACGUY]

You can replace the solenoid

[@RayRay-nb7tn]

@@HVACGUY just had an old one and the silinoide is non replaceable. It was an 2000 lucky i saw the plug to it, it had arched on the vavle. May replace the plug to the silinoide. Nice video thank you Curtis

[@m9ovich785]

I noticed you flipped the breaker over when you in stalled the new one ? Or is it not marked LINE/LOAD ? either way it will still work. Mike M.

[@rebus570]

That is not a tripable bkr, only a disconnect, I still like to put them in right side up.

[@MrCmgl1]

What setup is that on the end of your vac for using on the drain lines?

[@HVACGUY]

Diy vac. There’s a link in the description

[@williamreick2669]

Would it be hard to keep a label maker in your van and print out a small R-422B label and put it on the data plate?

[@Evansautorepair]

Parts graveyard in the drip tray

[@kodonosaki9273]

The whole area is nasty!

[@snidelywhiplash8923]

I catch your use of the word "tenant". The air handler area was a mess, perhaps a reflection of a lack of professionalism of prior tradesmen or the result of hiring cheap? Did I notice that there was no insulation up there? I guess I don't have the heart or the heartlessness to be a ruthless landlord. Heavens.

[@tphvac87]

In my experience aren’t you supposed to have a separate breaker for your strips and for your main power to the unit? I only see one breaker there, I mean I’ve done it that way too with some 6awg size wire but idk…

[@MrCmgl1]

No. Depending on the strip heater size their maybe 1 or 2 breakers.

[@ronniebuchanan6575]

10 Kw and under when you go to 15 another line has to be brought it. Exceeds 60 Amps.

[@SM-vs4ro]

Pick up a FLEX vacuum and save your hearing!

[@bryansimon4072]

That rats nest in that air handler is killing my ocd!

[@Demy26]

What a 🤢🤮

[@jamesmartello1827]

That breaker was probably around 40-50 dollars.

[@rebus570]

He is lucky to find one, Sq d is not in full production right now, I been waiting for 3 months on a back ordered 150amp main QO, no date on arrival, I even ordered it through the local SQD distributor.

[@eastcoast186]

Curtis when you retrofit a R22 system you should mark the unit with the refrigerant type you retrofitted the system too wtf that marker you used will fade away be professional service tech and label the unit properly for the next tech

[@sbc383zz]

YES SIR!

[@joep4143]

You can get UV stickers preprinted with refrigerant type from supply houses.

[@daddygc5814]

Did you ever hear of a permanent marker

[@eastcoast186]

@@daddygc5814 really who driving the mini bike

[@daddygc5814]

Oh,I believe it must be a Mr. Know it all ,like you!