Nice job. Good to see you weren't a douche who tried to rip off a customer, but rather a good guy who fixed what actually could be fixed with a little effort.
Stephen, I have been watching your videos since before I attended my HVAC/R technology school last Aug, 2015. You helped inspire me and 'resparked my motivation for this industry. Among several others, keep on keepin on! Next Level Mama!
Thanks Stephen. Your knowledge in the HVAC Field has help me tremendously in my side work. Keep up the good work on showing us young technicians in the field. Thanks again.
i have used then # 10 yellow wire connectons and wire before if the spade is broken off compressor terminal i have some out there over 5 years like that still running like that .go figure .sometimes you have to get her done anyway you can .. the terminal kit works good also
It was nice to walk thru the troubleshooting steps with you on that call. I'm optimistic about the future of that unit. It may keep humming along for a good while. Great video.
you are good tech because you understand when fuse blown that something else did it. I worked as helper with a tech and he just replaced the transformer and just blamed the thermostat. there was nothing brunt in the thermostat. honesty looking back that circuit should be ohm out to check for shorts. anything like wire with it installation rubbed off and touching the side to shorted relay coil could cause issues.
Good job, my daughter house she called the tech cause the problem was 1 circuit breaker trip because he told my daughter it's bad compressor & he want to change the whole unit
Hi Steve, great video. Please don't take my comments as negative but hopefully save you from a serious injury. First, please take off all jewelry when doing electrical work. Knowing that you may have taken out fuses instantly when re-powering the unit there was a very good chance that contactor may have blown up. Do research on arc flash incidences...there is a greater chance of injury from that than electrical shock. Wear leather gloves! You could just let the thermostat turn on the contactor and stood clear. Or take one wire off contactor coil and attach a jumper to it and where it was connected, both long enough to get away from panel. Then jump to turn on. I know we've all done the push on contactors, motor starters, etc. by hand and nothing has happened, but one bad incident will be very bad.
Good repair and did good by your customer. Could have, kind of, justified a compressor replacement seeing how trashed the compressor connections were. A Dremmel tool though, could have cleaned it up fairly good. I've used them in thermostat compartments where a battery leaked acid, and it cleaned up nicely with one of those tools. How about showing a tube sheet end repair on a copper coil? Or replacing the distributor tubes on a TXV's distributor head???
I use and like the Subco M500, its about $104 on Amazon, pricier at HVAC diet., idiot proof and cust friendly, good for zapping oneself or good friends.
I put in more hours during this time than I care to remember, when I wasn’t working at all hours of the day and night I was working on trying to edit and post videos. I’ve had to cut back to maintain my sanity recently
hey I'm andrew and I'm graduating from my high school career center for havc/r, im= will have my spa universal cert. and missouri HVAC license do you have any tips for my first job or whats a good starting place, thanks
No, I don't think so anyway, probably not. It's been awhile ago that I posted this video. I'll have to watch it again myself. It was supposed to be funny, if I remember correctly.
I'm having pretty much the same problem with my unit exept i do have high voltage, mine works fine during the night but as soon as it gets hot outside the thermostat starts to turn off and on and eventually goes blank, it stays like that all day with no cooling until night and the display comes back on and the unit works fine again for that night. It's diving me nuts...
Joel Ortega that's odd, what type of system do you have? Heatpump? Gas furnace with AC? Packaged unit? Do you know if the power Company has installed a load management box recently?
+Stephen Rardon (HVAC with Stephen Rardon) It's a Intertherm unit with the blower outside that's all i know i bought this home two months ago, i did noticed that the previous owner had changed the stat and it was working fine for a few days, i checked all the wiring and they look ok lil dusty also the capacitor looks ok too but i don't have a device to check for voltage I'm suspecting a wire plroblem somewhere but not sure, today is working fine last night i removed the new stat and replaced with the one was already installed and it came on and still working for now it is 11:30 am usually by this time the stat is blank and no a/c
hey stephen can i ask what adapter you used to connect your gauge to the unit at 1:36, it may sound like a stupid question but i cant find the damn things anywhere!
+Thomas Ricci it's a yellow jacket adaptor, can't think of the part number off hand but it's listed on their website somewhere in their adaptor list. i Think it was part # 19110??? let me check
Whoa wait, Stephen, did you just push that contactor in with with your finger? Your vids are great, but that was dumb, ya have to admit, could just see a kid, pushing in a 3 phase 575' with finger, and dead on the roof
+Helder Fróes it varies widely based on what part of the country or world you’re in as well as skill level and length of time in the trade. A wide range would be $20,000-$100,000 or more
Interesting question SombraLocs, I'd say as long as it's still working there is no limit which begs the opposite question, if the compressor fails, at what age does it Not make sense to put a new one in? At some age you may not be able to find a replacement part. But if you can still find parts does it Make sense to spend half of the money it would cost if you upgrade instead? If you can upgrade for $5000, for instance, and a new compressor would cost $2000, is that a logical way to spend your $2000? I'd say no, even if it was only $1500. Does that make sense?
Dude you have balls of steel pushing in that compressor contactor with your fingers ! Where is your PPE? and why are you showing dangerous work practices on the internet? Seriously man I'm freaking out on this video I'm surprised your still alive... 17 years in the field eh?
Stephen Rardon Man don't hand me that lame crap about you never realized it. You know the dangers and the risks working in this trade.. please don't minimize your shortcomings and laziness of safety precautions. I'm quite sure what ever school you attended or someone who has taught you this awesome trade taught you good PPE practices.
Taheem Akbar nope, didn't do school. I never heard so many people talk about the danger of pushing a contactor until I posted some videos showing my normal process.
I'm told that I shouldn't wear my wedding ring, shouldn't care about checking static pressure or disassemble units to clean them. Shouldn't spend money on expensive test equipment because customers don't care. I do a lot of things that people disagree with
You find burned compressor terminals and you replace the fuses and push the contactor in, with your finger no less. Bad form and super dangerous my friend. Teach... the children well!
Ok, so if I start with the thermostat and find no power where do I go then? Outside to the unit... I already know there is no power at the stat most likely...no point in wasting my time verifying that there is no power...
I'm seriously shocked at how many people are saying this was a great video. Your training on this call is clearly geared towards a novice, as evidenced by the incredible simplicity of the issue, but you did so many things that were incredibly unsafe. You wore zero PPE, pushed a contactor in with your damn finger (without testing first for shorts or grounds, or incoming voltage ), and ran the unit with no fan guard. I know I'm being harsh, but that is completely unacceptable and the work of a hack. I'm a commercial tech, so obviously safety is a huge deal for my company, but you could have been killed several times on this incredibly simple job. I only hope this watching are smart enough not to follow in your footsteps. You may be a good tech, and a good guy. But putting out videos like this and some of your others, exhibiting such unsafe behavior, is downright irresponsible. OK, I'm done.
+Stephen Rardon (HVAC with Stephen Rardon) kudos to you for accepting criticism. I commend you for trying to train our younger techs coming up behind us. Don't forget the little things. with 27k views, people are clearly listening to you.
Jason Rivadeneyra being unwilling to admit a fault doesn't help anyone. I appreciate the way you presented your concern rather than being unkind. that's makes a difference.
