This video is brought to you by sportlin quality, integrity and tradition, so i'm currently heading to a service call just got it, and it's for a restaurant that supposedly all of their refrigeration, air conditioning and exhaust fan equipment is not working. They said they had a power surge and everything went down now, as i'm heading into the area, we've been having thunderstorms all day today with lightning and thunder and stuff. So, let's see what we're walking into. I don't know if this is going to be a big deal.

You know, i don't know they said their lights are still on, but none of their equipment is working which could be a loss of phase. You know because it's three-phase power coming into the building, so who knows we're heading that way? Let's see what happens all right, so i just arrived and the first thing i did nothing's running their exhaust fans were all down. They said their air conditioners are working though, and they did just have a power outage, so we're checking three-phase. So we've got 207 206..

I can't remember what i checked yeah, so we have three phase power, that's interesting, but nothing's pulling in and nothing's tripped. These are my exhaust fan motor starters they're there to protect the motors. So we have no control voltage for those that's interesting, so i'm going to jump on the roof, real, quick and then we'll get over to the breaker panels and look a little bit. Oh, i get up under the roof and everything's running all the condenser fan motors are running and we have three face.

Well, i'm assuming we have three phase power up here. Let's check so huh, i don't know what they mean: the refrigeration equipment's down 206. 205. 205..

So we have three phase power coming into the rack. This is all the compressors for everything, but we don't have any exhaust fans so yeah we're gon na have an issue downstairs and but i know for a fact that all their fryers are down um, all their cooking equipment's down and all their exhaust fans are down Which intrigues me because they do have a shunt on the system and if, like the ansel system, triggers or something like that, it'll kill everything in the line, but it typically shouldn't kill the exhaust fans. The exhaust fan should still be powered. So that's very interesting.

What is going on here, this is their makeup air unit right here, and this is the source of uh, typically, the source of control voltage for all the motor starters. This transformer, i believe right here - should give us 24 volts and our motor starters are all 24 volts. But what's interesting is this: is my 24 volt fuse and it's blown 25 volts right there across that fuse? So we need to replace that fuse, but we don't know why it blew. Is the problem all right, this one's bizarre, so this 10 amp fuse was blown that 10 amp fuse? Is the 24 volts? That's just one line for 24 volts, so between r and x x is our neutral or common.

Whatever um, we did not have 24 volts right here. We had 24 volts across the fuse, meaning the fuse was blown. I put a temporary fuse in there because i had a glass fuse, but that wasn't really what belonged in there, but i threw it in there. The system started up all their exhaust fans turned on their pizza, oven, their fryers, all their cooking appliances.

They all turned back on originally when they called me. I thought all the refrigeration equipment and their acs were down too. So that's why i was thinking they lost a phase, but when i got here, they're like no, it's just our exhaust fan so what's happening. Is the exhaust fans have an inner link in here, and the cooking equipment will not turn on if the exhaust fans are not running? So if the hood switch is not on where the main power switch? Is the uh cooking appliances can't turn on now? It'd be one thing if they just had one exhaust fan that went down, but because all of them were down because the control voltage the 24 volts which comes from that transformer through the fuse into here and then goes down to the main power switch.

Because that fuse blue, the hoods could not turn on the motor starters for the exhaust fans and all the cooking equipment is interlinked into those motor starters. So because we lost that control voltage, they lost the entire system. What caused it to blow? You know we got thunderstorms right there, we got lightning today, uh they did have what they call the power surge. They said the lights flickered like two or three times, and then everything went down right after that.

When i pulled up to the building, the stop lights are flashing like they lost power, so something happened. I would hope that that's what blew the fuse um. I don't know, though, and they're already cooking they've already got equipment in there, so i can't play with it. I can't you know, tinker with it, but i will say i did check current on that wire earlier and it was barely anything.

Let's see, we can check it again. Three amps, that's not bad at all! So three amps, it's a 10 amp circuit. That's fine! So yeah this was a trip shut down the entire building. They had to close the doors.

Well, luckily i was i was close, so you know the whole process was two hours at the most, but i've only been here an hour. You know - and i already talked they had their electrician coming out here too, but i already talked to the electrician and called him off told him. He didn't need to come um. This is a bizarre setup here, even when i tried to explain it to him.

He's like what and then the facilities people were like what and i'm like yeah this is it blew my mind too. I've never never seen this issue before now. I talked about a shunt breaker um. Sometimes they will have like an interlink.

If something happens, it'll trip a breaker like if the ansel system goes off or something like that and it can shut down all the cooking appliances, but it typically doesn't shut off the exhaust fans. So that's why i was kind of blown away and that's what they they typically do, that in a fire situation. If the answer or fire suppression system was to go off, they would uh when the their. When the answer system goes off, it triggers a micro switch that sit.

You know we'll will trip a breaker because it's supposed to shut down any fuel sources for the building, but when that happens, they typically will shut down the makeup air because that fuels the fire and then they turn on the exhaust fan. So that way it can suck the air out of the building and suffocate the fire. When we're going into these service calls, it's really important to not get caught up in. You know what you think it might be.

So you know at the very beginning of the video i made a clip saying what i was going into and how we were having a lightning storm and how it could be a power issue. But with that being said, i did not go in with blinders on okay. Now i had a few things in my mind when i walked in the door and uh i actually when i walked in the door, the manager was on the phone with the electrician. So i immediately got on the phone with the electrician and just said: hey, you know, i checked the shunt breaker, it wasn't that and all this stuff - and i pretty much had an idea that i was probably gon na call off the electrician.

But i wanted to dive into it a little bit more okay, so i did not get you know um. I did not go in with blinders just looking for one particular thing i still went in and i was kind of a little surprised. You know like huh. That's odd, but i went in with an open mind: okay, now um what led me to the makeup air unit.

I don't know exactly what led me to it. I just kind of decided, i'm gon na start there. I knew that there was uh electrical components inside the makeup air unit. I knew that my issue, really more than likely wasn't gon na be in an individual exhaust fan, so i didn't see the need to get into there, and so that's when i open it up, and then i remembered when i saw that transformer i was like you Know what this is the control voltage transformer for the entire system, so the way that the system worked? If you guys watch at the very beginning of the video um in giant letters, it's written right there.

When i open up the motor starter cabinet, it says all relays are fed from 24 volt power source in makeup air unit. Now i didn't read that i had i had blinders on when i went into that panel, because i just looked right at the motor starters and didn't read anything that was on the thing, and luckily i found it in after the fact when i was looking at Pictures and editing in the video i'm like well duh, it's right there. It says 24 volt power is fed, so what they do is they actually have an individual contactor for each cooking appliance and those contactors will not allow main power to go to the cooking appliances. Unless the hood switches are on the 24 volt power supply coming from the make, a bear unit goes to every one of the contactors for the cooking appliances and then goes to every one of the motor starters.

Okay, i have a motor starter right here now. This is a different one and this one's failed, but the point of the motor starters is to protect the motors in a high current situation in a low voltage situation, which is going to cause a high current issue in a phase loss situation. That would cause a high current issue. This thing is a contactor with an overload relay on the bottom of it built into it, and that overload relay controls the control voltage for the contactor portion.

So it's a three-phase contactor that pulls in. We call this a motor starter in the past. They had different styles, they would call them mag starters. They had ones that actually had like little heater elements that would heat up and burn out.

This is a newer style electromechanical. These are the most common ones that you're gon na see. Now it's so important for us to understand how the systems work. With that being said, when i called the electrician - and i told him what happened and told him he didn't need to come, he was trying to wrap his brain around what was going on now, nothing against the electrician because he doesn't deal with the hood systems like I do on a regular basis, so i kind of had a general idea once i found that fuse it made sense.

It was like. Oh okay, yeah! I get it now. You know so it's so important. We as technicians understand what it is that we're working on, because it can really help us to troubleshoot and go through the systems.

Okay, i understand basic control strategies now this is a peculiar system, because most restaurants, the exhaust fan motor starters. These guys right here are typically 120 volts, so 120 volts comes from a breaker runs through some controls, some interlinks and the the ansel system panel, or the fire interlink or whatever, and then it goes to a hood switch. Then it comes out of the hood switch and goes to all the motor starters and turns on all the exhaust fans in this situation, they're using 24 volts, which i actually kind of like the whole 24 volt concept, because i don't know it's a little bit less Risky, when you're working on the systems live when you're having to deal with 24 volts, but where i will say a 24 volt control system is a pain is when you need to go get motor starters like i keep motor starters in my truck, but i don't Keep a 24 volt motor starter because they're not very common! Well! Actually i do now because of this particular customer. I have a 24 volt one, but um yeah, 24 volt motor starters can be a little bit tricky.

You really need to pay attention when you are diagnosing them and don't just go slap in a 120 volt. Sometimes people get tunnel vision when they start working on things: okay, but understanding the sequence of operation and how the systems work or even just having a general understanding of what should happen. Then you know right and also know when to stay in your lane. Um.

You know when i was at the restaurant. I was kind of explaining a few things to the manager and i was saying you know it could have something to do with the the ansel interlink and he's like. Oh well, let's open it up, let's get our fingers in there. Let's touch, let's push buttons i'll try to reset.

No, you know i don't get into the ansel panel. If i don't need to every once in a while, i have to get in there to rewire the micro switch or something like that or fire suppression. Ansel is actually a brand name, so fire suppression system they use a um, it's kind of like a fire extinguisher liquid material and it has a gas charge that pushes it through the system and it extinguishes the fire. Okay.

So again, ansel is just a brand name. The best way to call it is a fire suppression system, but um the manager wanted to like get in there and start resetting and pushing, and it's like, no, no, no, no, we don't need to be touching the ansel system. You know we don't need to be getting into there uh. I didn't think that my problem was going to be inside there now.

I would have gone that route if i needed to, but i didn't see the need for it. Okay and obviously we found what the issue was now i had that glass fuse in my truck. I actually slapped that on there and got it running, but i told him do not cook you cannot cook yet. I just wanted to see it run for about 30 minutes, while i went and got that fuse or a couple of the fuses and left spares up there too.

One of the important things, though, which is really interesting that i found it to be kind of surprising, is the way that that system is wired up to change that fuse. You have to do it hot. You cannot disconnect the power unless you go downstairs to the breaker panel, which seems a little ass backwards. There should be a disconnect switch on the roof, but i also see why they didn't put a disconnect switch because you can shut down the entire kitchen.

If someone was to go onto the roof, if they had a disconnect switch up there and they flipped it boom entire kitchen gets shut down. So i see why there should be a switch. Maybe it should be behind a panel with a big thing on a do. Not switch or something like that, but it would be smart if it was because um you know like, for instance, when i was talking to the manager he's like.

Well, i told him i left extra fuses and he's like oh yeah, okay cool, so i can go change it if it ever blows. No, no! You can't, because you can't turn off power, so power comes from the breaker downstairs all the way up to that transformer. So, no matter that there's a disconnect switch inside that make up our unit. All that that does is shut off the motor for the make up air.

It doesn't shut off the 208 volts. That's powering that transformer! So that's a little bit sketch! You know! I really wasn't a huge fan of that, but it's one of those things right, so we need to understand. We need to know when to stay in our lane and not get in and over our heads. You know, but at the same time just like i said in the very beginning, you don't want to get tunnel vision, okay, so you're going out there, don't just ignore everything.

At the same time, you need to look at your surroundings, so had i not known that we had a lightning storm going through there, as i was pulling up to the restaurants, and i saw that the stop lights were out in front of the restaurant and then The manager said that the power had flickered a couple times. Okay, some things are starting to work in my brain here you know and while i'm still concerned, i don't know what caused the fuse to blow. I'm a little bit more at ease. Knowing that they've been having power issues and lightning coming through the way, okay, it's a possibility that that's why the fuse blew now.

It's now been three weeks two weeks since this incident and we haven't had any other issues, but you know i wasn't 100, like i didn't know what caused the fuse to blow. So you kind of had to just put it in and hope for the best in a way you know, but i mean we still. I checked current made sure there was nothing obvious and you know went through that. So hey, that's the end on this one.

I really appreciate you guys making it all the way to the end. As usual, you guys are amazing. I really really appreciate all your guys's feedback, your comments. Um i've been getting a lot lately, so it's kind of hard to keep up with it all, but i try i try my best and i i just i can't thank you all enough um.

I i've been saying this a lot lately um i i know it's probably getting silly, but i i really do mean it you guys. We need to be more kind to enough to one another. Uh we've got craziness going on in the world and it just seems like everybody's, so bitter, i'm gon na tell you guys something, and i don't want this to sound - don't take this the wrong way, but i was working in a restaurant today, okay, it is uh August, i'm sorry it is um september 18th of 2021 right now, so i had an overtime emergency service call today and when i pulled up to the restaurant we had a walk-in freezer down right when i pulled up a police car with lights and sirens comes blaring Into the shopping mall, i kid you not skids right in front of the restaurant, a female officer jumps out of the car and runs into the restaurant that i'm supposed to go into. At the same time, i saw two people, an employee and a customer run out of the restaurant and they're running their faces, and i'm like i'm, i'm dumbfounded like what's going on here.

You know i'm thinking, like pepper spray. What is this, you know like i'm, waiting for more people to come running out of the building or something and you know, and then security guards are coming and it's like what is going on, and so i grabbed my tools and i'm getting out thinking. What am i walking into you know the restaurant that i need to work in and, as i'm walking up, there's a security guard right in front from the mall and i go hey. I need to go in there and work what's going on and she's like? Oh, it's a medical incident and i go okay, all right, so i walk in the door and there's a gentleman.

I can't help, but look because it's right in the the doorway of the restaurant there's a gentleman laying on the ground without a shirt they have an aed defibrillator hooked up to them. They're doing compressions and i don't know for sure. But my understanding is the gentleman didn't make it okay, and it really gets me thinking. You know my problems when i get angry when i get upset, because a customer calls me out for overtime when i, when i have a bad day when someone cuts me off on the freeway guys, those problems are so petty.

They don't mean anything in the grand scheme of things potentially there's a guy that i witnessed today that didn't go home, probably will never get to go home. I don't know that to be a hundred percent, the truth, but i mean that stuff happens every day. So, in the grand scheme of things, my problems are nothing and i am thankful for my petty problems in comparison, because there's so many more less fortunate people in the world - and i just feel like we need more kindness - we need more people just holding a door Open for someone, you know what yeah it's frustrating but letting that person merge in front of you on the freeway. You know we just need more kindness, guys if you guys could do me, the favor.

Just just something simple. Do something simple: buy someone a coffee. You know buy someone a sandwich when you're buying your lunch pay for the person behind you hold the door open for someone. It could be something so simple help out one of your co-workers, that's having a hard time.

You know anything just just anything. We need more kindness, okay. I really really appreciate you guys. You are all amazing uh.

Remember that i try to go live monday evenings about 5 p.m, pacific on youtube, work permitting, of course, and kind of answer, questions and stuff so come check that out. That will be on youtube. I also go live on the hvac overtime, youtube channel. That's it guys.

I will catch you on the next one.