I TOLD THEM TO STOP COOKING BUT THEY DIDN'T LISTEN...... 

That fire suppressant is no joke, Restaurant managers should know that. Once, I had to yell at a chef on the phone so he could realize the stupidity of him having the cooks cooking while the exhaust fans were down and my coworker was on site investigating the problem.

Hearing that they kept cooking while their exhaust fans were down, reminds me of a tidbit of building code from Germany: you need to install solenoid valves into the gas main of kitches (if natural gas is used for the oven etc.) that are interlocked with the exhaust system. If correctly installed and maintained you can not cook if the exhausts are down. It is not necessary for kitchens that run solely on electricity though.

I had a hotel main kitchen range exhaust hood with flames rolling out one afternoon and the fusible links had not triggered the ansul. With everyone standing around trying to decide what to do, I immediately went to the main ansul control panel, pulled the safety pin and smashed that like button! It ruined the dinner, but we still had a hotel to work at the next day.

Sometimes you may have to explain the what and why to managers. Telling them to stop cooking, but not telling them what could happen if they don't, may not be clear to the manager. In my line of work, I always explain "stop doing this because this bad thing could happen if you don't". If they choose to not listen afterwards, its all on them.

Having worked in fast food myself, it’s not surprising at all that the restaurant kept operating with the broken exhaust fans even though you told them not to. I once worked somewhere that had the AC fail on a record high day (like 112F, which is abnormally hot for the PNW). I was in the drive thru, which was essentially a green house attached to the building directly next to all the warmers and a large freezer that was all contained in the drive thru (I.e. the condensing unit was in there too). At one point, it was 125F in the drive thru. Management wouldn’t allow us to open the doors because of health code, and also wouldn’t close the drive thru even though we were about to pass out. They didn’t care, they were home in their AC-ed house. If I wasn’t a dumb teenager who was desperate for the job at the time, I’d have at least closed down the drive thru, if not the entire restaurant. No customers wanted to stay in the building anyway since it was basically cooler outside. I’m glad nobody had any medical issues as a result, but I almost wish someone did because it would have served the management right to get stuck with the expenses and lawsuits related to it. Restaurant management, particularly franchised restaurants that have managers with no ownership of the restaurant, care only about money. The employees are basically just slaves. I’m sure management of this place didn’t give a second though about the kitchen employees inhaling smoke and oil vapor for hours as long as they didn’t have to shut down the restaurant on their shift.

Chris, your propane danger sign reminds me, we have one on our propane rack at work that reads, "No Smoking Propane" , with no punctuation. Apparently one could smoke anything but the propane. I mentioned this to a coworker, and they said that it's hard to keep propane in a pipe, so it would be hard to smoke it. Another guy said that if one could keep it in a pipe, the fuel would smoke the one lighting it.😁

I'm a chef myself and I had to work in a kitchen without working fans once. I told the manager/boss that I'm out when he's not fixing these fans. It's been a room temperature of 43°C (in the coldest area / in the plating area at the front it's been 52°C) - way too high for any human being to be in there for at least 8 hours... he called the fan company right there and the next day they were there to tell the boss that he needs everything replaced because it's been so old, there are no spare parts available. This place was closed for a week "due to important renovations" and after that we had a maximum of 34°C in that kitchen - way better and for a kitchen these temperatures are normal.

I was a professional chef for years. Two times in my carrier the exhaust system failed. One thing that you did not bring up is that the kitchen will quickly become over 100F. And then 120F. Any restaurant that would stay open in a situation like that is nuts. Your customer was foolish. An You are a wonderful Professional. I really like this upload :) :) :)

Different subject, but I had a customer say the unit was dripping water through the ceiling, it was inside the attic. I told her to turn it off and it would be a couple of days before I can get there. When I got the entire sheetrock ceiling had fallen inside the living room. And it was still running dripping water.

Personally, I’d have made both holes on the bottom of the switch. Having it on top increases odds of water getting into the box. Coming in from the bottom, we’ll water is not going to go up into the box. I do a lot of wiring at a food factory and so I have to deal with a wash down environment of all the industrial machines. The last thing I want to do in make a hole on the top of a electrical panel or box if I don’t have to. Instead, loop around to the bottom instead. The rare times I do have to come in from the top, I’ll use sealer to better seal. I just had to replace a PLC because of the power coming in from the top. I opened the box with it filled with a bunch of water. Something that came that way. I used sealer on the fitting and replaced the PLC. Replacing the box and changing how the power comes in wasn’t an option.

I am a hood fire suppression system repair specialist. Not only are they lucky as hell it didn't go off, but the potassium acetate that an Ansul system dumps is at least a day if not more of serious clean up. I've had low pro hoods pop a 500° link over a frier multiple times in the same restaurant because they didnt use the fan system.

On the East Coast if the Ansul system trips it also trips main breakers in the electrical panels that feed the kitchen. It also shuts down the gas main feeding the kitchen.

Good morning. My only critique is I would have replaced the liquid tight and wires going to the motor and run both into the bottom of the disconnect. Enjoy your videos. Be safe out there.

I have learned from some old electricians to always try to pull the wires from the underside of the disconnect. This way there is less chance of water entering the box. Also, European style outdoor breakerbox can be used with a breaker as a disconnect switch. This way there is a protected disconnect. And it will be like each fan is on a seperate circuit.

Many of those switches actually have a small punch-out area that you can punch out to let water out. That's useful if there's a high risk of condensation inside the casing.

Nothing on Sunday like watching someone else work over tea. 😜 Love the lessons!

When I was in high school I worked at a restaurant where the exhaust fans went down and they kept cooking. The fire sprinkler went off and flooded their kitchen. The restaurant went from nearly full to nearly empty over the course of 10 minutes once the fire alarm started going off (there was never a fire, so we didn't evacuate, but people understandably get antsy when an alarm is blaring). It took them a few days to clean up the mess and get the kitchen fully working again.

6:15 I highly suggest using ferrules. It not only improves your contact and its lifetime but it also penetrates oxide layers on old cables when you crimp it 8:32 Ferrules also come with a plastic cone at the end so it's basically physically impossible to pinch the insulation. I have tried to pinch the cone on purpose just to see if I can but it just pulls the end back in place. 8:39 Ferrules also fix that. At this point they come out cheaper than your labour for not using them lol

Gb makes lock nut wrenches! They work quite well,$20 for a set! Thx for the video

I imagine that the reason they ignored you when you told them to stop cooking is because their manager told them to. Every minute that the employees aren't working and feeding customers is lost money for these guys. A lot of managers with little to no integrity often place profits over safety or even common sense, which tends to lead to a lot of accidents in workplace environments. Then again, this is just me thinking this and I can be entirely wrong.

Your Customers are so Lucky to have you and your Company Employees Supporting their Businesses. 👍🙏

Code required fused disconnects in Michigan for years. Most Rooftop units with any age has them. Your point about Phasing is well received and you see it occur all the time round here on poorly maintained equipment.

In case you dont know. I had a technician read the manual for the disconnect switch (here they are called safety switches) and there is a small hole, ment as a water drain. Though it wont be safe from a short, it shouldent allow the water to stay inside and create a short on the buttom. also it keeps the IP rating

Having a conduit entering a water tight box on the top just seems wrong. Seems it would be better if all the wiring enters the box from the bottom or, at least, on the sides.

As an electrician from Germany i find it crazy that you are not using ferrules. It would prevent the ends to flare up (no jacked up cable ends) + a better electrical more secure connection. And the additional costs are minimal. You can get decent crimp tools (hexagonal crimp) for a fair price (does not have to be a 150-200$ AMP, Knipex, Weidmüller one).

I've had those ansul fuseable links fail after I've told them to shut it down while I work. Depending on the hood application the links can be anywhere from 160-460 they make higher for solid fuel and pizza oven hoods. Whenever we are doing hood repairs we have in the quote that customer agrees to not have cook line in operation during repairs just to cover ourselves for when they ignore our verbal warning not to cook. That chemical suppression stuff is brutal and you're guaranteed to be closed several days at minimum if it goes off. That's why we push the more high end hood fire suppression system that uses a good grade degreaser called a surfactant and a ton of water to put out kitchen fires. If it goes off you can wipe everything down, refill the surfactant reservoir and get back to cooking within hours.

Good demonstration with the rope. I've watched a lot of guys working on cranes trying to carry crap up in one hand while climbing ladders.

Grease can be cleant off quickly with pure ethanol. You can get it in home supply shops as "bio ethanol" or fireplace fuel

When putting stranded wires into a screw down fitting, aren't you supposed to use hollow ferrule over the strands? EDIT: Some screw downs have a flat plate the screw pushes on, not the screw tip right on the wire... If this switch has that feature, then bare strands are OK. I see both kinds of screw downs these days, and keep ferrules in stock for the times they are needed when we are doing electrical work. It would be educational for the viewers if you could cover this detail. We also use dielectric grease, smear it all over the bare wire before insertion, that produces a moisture and oxygen barrier to keep corrosion next to zero over the passing of time. New switch looks great! END EDIT

Been through that circus when the Fire Suppression system gets activated. It was a manual pull but still the entire restaurant (this was a diner) gets the powder on everything to one extent or another. We had to basically remove all movable furniture and soup & hot water clean it all, the ceiling, walls, floor scrubbed and waxed (waxed to be sure that any suppressant residue was not able to get airborne. Everything in the reach-ins had to be tossed as per Health Regs. It was considered contaminated and unsafe for sale and consumption. Then the coolers all needed to be scrubbed and swabbed to be sure no suppressant residue was in the trackways for the doors. Not even counting the inspection time for every one that had to make one, cleanup itself took days. The diner was closed for close to a week and that was considered to be fast.

I have been in the Electrical / Electronics field for decades, and this switch through me with it's power in on the botom and power out on the top. What I take away from this is to check the markings on every switch. Granted I have never installed a 3 phase switch before, but I have now been edified and will look at the markings on every switch. My brain tells me that electrically it shouldn't matter, but I'm sure there is a reason, probably code if I don't miss my guess.

I'm a night manager at a grocery store. One of the service deli clerks managed to start a fire in the fryer by turning it on before all the oil was in place, and somehow managed to bypass the safeguards. As the deli manager put it, the fryer was smarter than the employee. Fortunately we use pressure fryers so the fire was extinguished by closing the lid, but I don't think they believed me about how damn lucky they were that the fire suppression didn't deploy. We've already had issues from the fire marshall including the nozzles not being centered over the vats. But from what you're saying recovering from fire suppression is a bigger issue than I realized.

That’s a slick looking switch. I’m not a big fan of the plastic enclosure though, but I’m sure it’ll last a while

I can just imagine the many jobs that need to be done since Covid. Even though there was restaurants closed for a time I suspect the maintenance was not maintained as regular as before.

Cant fix stupid.....if there ever was a more accurate statement....for some people....im not aware of it. Money seems to be put above all else and common sense goes right out the window. Great message Chris.

Two things.#1 The standardized NEC Color code for 208v~ is 1-black 2-red 3-blue. And Brown, orange, yellow for 480v~ and obviously the feed coming from the power source was counter clockwise, that's why you had to reverse it in the switch. #2 you should always try to put line side voltage to the TOP of all switches and disconnects. Although it doesn't matter for some types of switches, it does for disconnects. And it's just good practice.

I was at this restaurant which had the toilets above the kitchen. Multiple floors. And someone left a tap running. It overflowed and flooded the kitchen through the roof. And staff just kept working with water dripping everywhere, from the toilets. Just so they could keep serving customers. The kitchen never stops. If nuclear war broke out, they would still be cooking.

I try and watch all the stuff you post! Just when you think you know it all you can always grow while watching another pro do his thing! I really appreciate you taking the time to create these videos for everyone!

I once electrically connected a gas security system for a 20 square meter Asian kitchen. No working exhaust air (differential pressure switch) no gas to cook. 3 8kW gas burners.

If you are installing these fans I think it would be worth it to take some tape, like painter's tape, and cover the label with the tape. That way, after they have been there that long, you could just peel the tape off and have a clean label to get information off of in the future.

3:30 Interesting, did you know that Home Depot sells a Milwaukee Impact Unibit so you can make a hole with your impact drill? It’s a little expensive but a good impact drill attachment.

Hello, In Australia we use a lot of the plastic style isolation switches. I would have put both cables into the box from the bottom, much better form maintaining IP66 keep in mind 100mm or 4in of rain per day is the norm in summer. The ansul fire wire I have seen comes in a few different fuse temps, 350deg C is the most common but will change to meet the fire risk level determined by the fire risk assessment and the building code.

USA knife switch style isolators/switches are much the same as what we used in Australia in the 1930's; over here top entry into an isolator is banned due to the possibility of water ingress. Plastic rotary isolators are far better than the crap metal ones I see in most US videos

I would always try and fit both conduits to the bottom of an isolation switch reduces water ingress greatly

My son was the manager of a restaurant that had 2 inline exhaust fans over the grill. One quit, so he called in a guy to replace it. After the guy left, the cook was complaining about it being smokey in the kitchen. Come to find out, the guy put the fan in upside down. So what the one fan was exhausting, the other was pulling the smoke back down into the kitchen.

You should change conduit if it was short and attached to the bottom of the disconnect switch

For those in the UK wanting a bootlace ferrule crimping tool and crimps, LIDL have had them in recently, for £20 you get a 4 jaw ratchet crimper and a decent amount of different sizes of insulated crimps. Seems decent quality and the supplied crimps go to decent sizes.

If those fire suppression systems use the same powder as you get in extinguishers, that would have bin a sight to see. And hell to clean, that powder travels everywhere. Their kitchen AC might also need a good cleaning now, I guess it sucked up lots of grease in those 2.5hours

Haha I can testify that when you set off the fire suppression system, you are not going to be operating for a long time, and it it’s very very expensive for the buisness owner. I accidentally set one off back in the day when I was a cook. One hell of a mess, it even sprayed I to the fryers and caused the fryer oil to bubble over out of the fryer and onto the floor. Lmao it was insane

5:33 - If you use your ‘channellocks’ to tighten that piece of the seal-tite connector to just beyond hand tight you can be sure of a good seal with low chance of vibrating loose. That technique works on metal and plastic boxes. 9:02 - The low voltage three phase colors are Ba, Rd, Bu here in Florida. Not Ba, Bu, Rd. Interesting!

when you mount conduits to boxes, that are mounted outside, never run them through the top... Water WILL find its way in... ALWAYS! Go to the bottom and drill a small hole on the bottom as a emergency drain! And check, if the products are UV resistant. If not, the plastic will get hard and crack. And i dont know, how you handle this in america... but we in germany clamp on core end sleeves on flexible wires.

You probably meant to say that Black, Red, Blue was the normal sequence, not Black, Blue, Red. We call it the Line side of the switch. Always enjoy your willingness to explain why you are following certain procedures.

Ah... The beauty of modern industrial world. It's a giant LEGO set, plug and play parts equipment. Very little field fabrication on site anymore. 👍

Plastic or specifically pvc is very common in the rest of the world for electrical. Cheap to manufacture and doesn't rust and corrode outside to the degree that metal does.

Some of the older ansul units are manually activated that I've been around and the fusible links usually have a color coding for the temperature that they will melt out and set off the unit

I was going to ask why would it matter if they didn't stop cooking but you answered it don't know if I would install a automatic fire suppression system if I could get away with it

If it was an option, I would have put the switch sideways so the water would not go directly down into the box in the event the conduit connections break again.

As someone who has had to manually trigger an Ansul System, you definitely do not want that thing going off unless there is a FIRE. Huge Expensive Mess!

Most of these companies only care about their employees when they cost them money. If they can get away with them cooking in poor conditions, they'll do it. If someone dies or gets injured, they'll pass the buck to the employee and fight tooth and nail to not pay them.

The managers need a big picture outlook too!

You need to pick up some of the hex bit hole saws!! Impact all the way

In Australia we twist the conductor strands before terminating into any terminals. it helps individual strands from breaking. Better would be crimp ferrules as well of course. Bottom entry of conduits as well.....

You don't have to stop cooking, but that's a lot of beer and fries to cover the costs associated with being closed for a week and all the other cleanup, repairs and inspections.

🤣 I wish the fire suppression would have dumped. Maybe then they'd learn the hard way to listen when they're told to shut it down.

Those Fire Sytems be easy money for those who carry the License and Insurance. Just a fancy mouse trap for most exhaust hoods of cooking appliances. Government and Insurance Companies force the people in Michigan to get their Fire System checked and signed of every six month.

I was talking with some fire men, and they had shut down a popular restaurant when they where getting food for lunch, they drove past it, and there was fire shooting 15 feet above the roof out the exhaust fan. The cooks where inside making a lot of lunch for the crowded and popular place. The Fire Captain found and pulled the plug on the automatic system, while two firemen went to the roof to put out the flames. The auto system did it's job. The place was closed for about 4 days to clean up the fire suppression stuff. Most times it is like 200 pounds of baking soda that is pressurized to about 400 PSI in a huge tank, about a foot in diameter and about 4 feet tall! I would guess the fuseable link will melt around 300 - 350F. By 500F, the grease on the walls of the air ducts would already be ready to catch fire! The rooftop fan was covered in thick grease, not cleaned once a year like required by local fire code. Many fines later, and they could open again, with a inspection by the Fire Department on the one year anniversary and again 1 year later. All of the food that was exposed to the fire stuff is tossed, along with cleaning the fryers and every square inch of the kitchen.. The floors where pretty bad too. I think the Health Department found warm refrigerators and other problems too. The place you where at, probably needs a good air duct cleaning too. Maybe even check the grease trap on the sewer line, they might not know they have one.

My dad accidentally tripped the fire suppression system in a Coney Island restaurant a friend of his owned by accidentally cutting a cable that activated it. Fortunately it occurred while the place was undergoing renovation before opening.

those conduit nuts are fairly soft metal. I never worry about which screwdriver I'm using, as long as it's a flat head. they wont damage the hardened steel of the screw driver

Thanks brother. I learn so much from your content

Questions : Why go from motor to top oof the switch box? Why not the side of box? Idt refusing potential for woter ingres.

8:10 actually it doesn't matter from which direction you feed in the main. Top, bottom.. Same same. The fuctionallity is identical.

Saw some of the other commenters recommending plumbing the electrical fitting from the bottom. It's virtually impossible for water to get in if it has to climb against gravity.

I had a fusible link in a fry vat hood let go one day during a lunch rush. No fire but for what ever that link just decided to do its job. It dump the system. I had to call for the hood system to be serviced. While waiting for them to arrive, I drug the fryers back to the back room and cleaned out the fryers. That was a four hour job that was not fun. I'm lucky. That's the only time I ever had one dump in 43 years of food service employment.

Would it be cheaper and easier to just put in a 3 phase throw lever disconnect? You got to be safe on those vertical ladders, they had a tech from another company near me , that fell from one in a sprinkler room and fell to his death! Great video 👍🇺🇸

Love the Simpson 260 on the set behind you my favorite tool to check armatures.

Hey mate, just a tip,when you install a new unit of any kind cover the one line diagram and troubleshooting guide with clear book contact, that way it's covered forever and you can just wipe it down with a cloth and it will always be there.😉⚡

have been watching your vids for years!!!!!your so on top of your game!!!! thanks for posting !!!!!!!

Just a suggestion if at all possible never come in the top of the box. It’s better to come in on the side because that gasket at the top always goes bad. And on the side the most of the water will fall out. If not possible then caulk it really good

Just FYI.. The 4" or 5" Knipex cobra pliers work really well for those box fitting nuts.

You mention single phase running problems a lot. Now I'm curious, here in Europe we have devices that can monitor the phases, and will trip if one or multiple have problems. Therefore, you can't have those single phase running problems and it will give protection to high peak voltages. Don't you have those in the US? Or are they too expensive to install as a prevention method? The 3-phase switch you installed looks like a Europe version indeed. We're not allowed to use metal boxes or conduits by code. This is to prevent it from becoming electrically charged, if something in it becomes damaged and touching the box or conduit.

Youre the best tech ever Chris ! I learn so much from you as a hvac company owner also in canada. ! Never give up the good work 🙌🏻🔥🔥

I monitor fire and security panels for residential and commercial buildings. The fire suppressant system is no joke. They are sensitive. I have them go off pretty often because of negligence and no due regard.

10:11 so shacky thumb. Love your videos! greetings from Poland!

Honestly, I'd rather go to a place of dining that had to close down some food service for maintence than to one that had to close for up to or more than a week due to a fire event brought on by a lack of maintence. I'd rather a rep of closing to get things repaired than closing due to disaster. Also like the switch boxes pull out tab for lock out tag out, very nice.

If the carabiner is on a belt loop rather than on your beeeeeelt, the belt loop will break very easily (I haven't tested it but they don't feel like they can't take much more than 10 kg (about 100 american bananas)) and probably will be OK. But I am not a professional, your milage may vary, if symptoms persist consult your physician

10:52 "Aw, hit my head" take care man hahahahahaha

Very unlikely that it would ever occur, but the grounding wire should have enough slack in it so that it will be the last one pulled out.

I have seen criminals remove those fans and drop cinder blocks down to clear fire piping to gain access and rob the building.

It could have been at least been a week before they got the people to come out to get certified and they would more then more then likely been fined as well for putting the public in dangerous conditionings as well as the staff, adding up to thousands of dollars in fines. I have seen it happen before

The earth should always be longer than the rest of the wires in case someone or something pulls out the cable, that way the last wire to come loose is the earth. At least that is what I was taught in tradeschool in Iceland. Having said that, I love your professionalism. You can only give them information, but what they use said information for is out of your control.

Imagine powdery blue Comet we scrub sinks with, completely burying cooking grill griddle & powdery dust fire suppression spreading across entire kitchen out to dining room. Even food already cooked is screwed.

Thanks for the tighten, loosen, tighten.

Can't fix stupid! My favorite expression 🙂

I like the 1 arm Bandits. Reminds me of my trip to Vegas.

I personally always avoid putting any kind of a connection to the top of the box the side of the box last Chance water getting inside the and if water did come in through the side of the box minimal

Wouldn't mounting those boxes horizontally prevent any chance of water getting in? I don't do HVAC work, just weirdly interested in your videos.

I would recommend to drill a small hole in the bottom of the disconnect switch you fitted to allow any water to exit, 1/8” hole would be fine, best to do it on the same side as the lower cable when they have those screw humps.

good evening. When you were installing the new switch, is it not up to code to make both wires to run to the box from bottom? Let's say left would be incoming power, right would be feeding the fan. I.E. to eliminate possibility of making gates for rain from up the box

Would love to see a video on your load out…. Maybe hear why you chose the tools you do and what works best. I see Kline and Veto.. good choices my man.

Rust buster im pretty sure is just Turpentine,been using Turpentine for years on rusty fastners,best penetrant ever! And a gallon is fairly cheap!