Ah, it's time to chill out and get ready for a mediocre. Qa live stream if you're old enough grab yourself your favorite adult beverage and if you're not stick with apple juice, put your feet up and relax. If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the chat and now, let's queue up the intro music yo. How are you guys all doing this evening? I hope you guys are doing well here in Southern California, we got all kinds of crazy stuff going on again.

It started with like a partial kind of a lockdown where they were shutting down. Restaurants again they did it for some of the state and then our governor today just came out and said for the entire state. Now so he made restaurants can't seat people in the dining rooms, all that good stuff, so we're having to kind of figure all that stuff out and it's crazy. So hopefully, you and your family are doing well, and hopefully you guys are surviving all this craziness.

I really don't have any great advice, for it is just save your pennies. That's that's my advice. So let's start this off real quick, really, really appreciate you guys making it in here. Okay, we got a lot of new viewers.

We have a lot of new people from the channel coming over to these live streams and actually coming to the channel lately. So I just kind of wanted to start off, as I have been the last couple streams with an intro okay, my name is Chris, I'm an HVAC our service technician here in Southern California. The cliffnotes of the whole story is, is that I started making videos for my own employees decided to hit the public button. The channel grew.

It became this thing that it is today the whole purpose of this channel, with the YouTube videos that I put out in these live streams. That I do is to literally share the little bit of knowledge that I have okay and to try to prevent you guys from making the same mistakes that I have made over my career, and I have made a ton of mistakes. Okay. Luckily I came up in a forgiving time in the trade working for a lot of forgiving customers and, unfortunately, I work for some of those same customers today and it's not the same environment anymore.

It's pretty fierce out there. They don't really accept any mistakes. You know they'll they'll, cut ties with a contractor, doesn't matter how long you've been with them in a heartbeat for something simple. So I'm trying to share that information.

The mistakes that I've made with you guys in hopes that maybe you guys don't make the same ones. Okay, so that's the gist of my story. I do these live streams on Monday evenings every week consistently. It's actually been a good year and a half now that I've been doing these live streams, it's kind of crazy and I probably count on my hands how many times I've missed a stream.

I really really do do them every Monday evening. Occasionally, I can't make it because of work. You know, so that's why I always say work permitting, but hey. It is what it is, got lots of things on my list that I like to talk about.

So I usually talk about the videos that I discussed and everything I do want to kind of start off with something we are trying an experiment again: okay, we've done this before I'll, be honest with you. It failed miserably the time before and that's because I tried to do it all myself for myself and my friends tried to do it and it just didn't turn out too well. Okay, so we've created a new discord server. This time we have a moderation, team involved and hopefully the whole point of the discord.

Server is literally to have another point of communication. For you guys with me, and then you guys can communicate between whoever else is in the server between yourself. That's fine, but to make it completely clear, I am NOT gon na be on the server 24/7. I am NOT gon na be monitoring it 24/7.

We have a moderation team, that's gon na make sure everything's good, but it is a place like, for instance, today, in the stream we kind of did a little test hangout, where I was in the server just listening to music talking with everybody, just kind of like The chat right now, but it was just before the stream - you know just hanging out, so I'm gon na throw a link to the discord server in the YouTube chat right now. I think the moderator BOTS gon na throw it up in there too, but feel free to join. If you guys are interested. If you don't know what discord is much like, I I'm still learning about it too.

It's just another means of social media. Basically, another communication means don't worry about it, just there's pretty pretty easy instructions on how to join and all that good stuff, so feel free to check it out all right. We got that business out. Um got a couple new videos that I had this last week.

Okay, two of them there were some pretty popular videos, the second one being the most popular in a while, and I kind of knew that was gon na happen, because I kind of pimp that one on social media a little bit here and there. But the first video that I released was the dining room. Ac is not working okay and that one was actually one. That's been plaguing me for the last two and a half weeks, because the first call I went out there.

I found that it had a failed VFD, okay, the VFD in that unit, and I get a lot of questions about this: the VFD in that unit naca fire and security. Thank you so very much for that soup chat. That is awesome. I really appreciate it, but okay, it's it's not required to do super chats or anything like that, but it is appreciated when you guys do it.

Okay, so the the air conditioner in that video had a VFD on it. Okay, the point of having a VFD on a packaging like that that was a multi-stage air volume unit. The purpose of it is to save energy. Now it's arguable whether or not the the energy savings you know it's, it cost them a ton of money.

Okay, so I I would argue that the energy savings really isn't there for the amount of money that they have to put in to maintain that unit. But that's a whole nother argument to make. But the VFD is there to basically make it a 2-speed blower whenever first-stage calls, it runs at whatever speed we program, the VFD for which is a lower speed in this situation. I think it was 40.

Something hurts okay and then on set a call for second stage, which turns on the rest of the compressors in the unit. It goes to full speed, which is 60 Hertz here in the United States. Okay, the purpose behind having a multi-stage air volume. If you don't already know is think about it like this, every air conditioner, that's ever been created that did not have multistage air volume.

Okay, they had to set the air flow for all stages of cooling, all right. So whenever the evaporator coil starts getting cold and it starts condensating, you get moisture dripping off the coil that coil the static pressure drop across that coil increases because you have a wet coil. It's harder to pull air through it. Okay makes sense so because the static pressure increases we have to set the the CFM through the evaporator coil to maintain a certain amount of air flow.

Typically now this changes from different parts of the country or different parts of the world, but I live in a very dry climate. We run about 400 CFM s per ton. Okay, some places, maybe 450 some places, maybe three seventy-five. It just depends: okay, but anyways.

We have to pull so much air through that evaporator coil, even if all stages or just one stage is running. But let's think about this. If only one stage is running on that giant 15 tiny, evaporator coil, then there's only gon na be so much condensation. So, theoretically, we're going to be pulling too much air and we're going to be running the blower using more energy to because we're pulling enough air for if we had a fully saturated coil okay.

So we have the multistage air volume. So that way, when only first stage is calling, it slows down the airflow okay, because we don't need that much airflow to compensate for a wet coil, basically because only half of its being wet or a third of it. That's the whole point of the multistage air volume: okay, now with the VFD in that unit, they're installed in a really crappy location, okay, and in arguably it's not really the manufacturers fault, because the customer wants everything perfect right and they want everything easy in a perfect World that VFD comes shipped secre separate its installed in a mechanical room downstairs, that's got filtered air going to it. It has power conditioning going to it that VFD would probably last for a very long time.

Okay, but unfortunately that's not how it works, and in California we have all kinds of energy laws that say we have to have these multi stage air volume units we have to have the VFDs installed in them, so they just throw them inside the package unit. Sometimes in the electrical section, sometimes in the blower section, there's really no good place inside that package unit to put a VFD because everywhere it gets hit by dirt heat all kinds of crappy stuff. So the VFD fails. In my opinion, the reason why the VFD failed in my video was because it was dirty.

Okay, you guys saw that dust all around it, and it also sits in that compressor cabinet that it gets extremely hot and it just gets beat by the Sun and it overheated, and it was probably dirty and the VFD failed okay, but it was kind of frustrating In that situation, because the VFD it wasn't simple to replace so I went ahead and bypassed the VFD. Then I ran into some problems, bypassing it, so I needed up having to leave it in play but still bypass it. You watch the video you guys will understand, but then once I replace the VFD, I found out that the circuit board was bad and then we had to go through the process and you guys can kind of see it in the video. But it can be frustrating at times.

Okay, in a situation like that, I really had to lean on technical support, because I don't have the knowledge in my head on how to program everything and how to check everything. So there's certain things I am. I just have to accept that I'm not gon na know everything cuz. You know something like programming that Linux prodigy.

I know how to program the board for a start-up, but as far as setting up the VFD and bypassing the VFD and removing it from the the prodigy board and all that stuff. I don't have that knowledge in my head in, or do I even want to have that knowledge? That's something that I would rather lean on technical support for okay. So in that situation I gave tech support a call. Now it's very important, though, when I called technical support, I had everything that they needed to know.

Okay, I called them with models and serial numbers. I called them with all the information that they needed. I gave them voltages. I gave them everything that way they weren't waiting for me to go check all this stuff.

Okay, so I didn't just call tech support and ask them how to do my job. I called tech support and I said: hey I've done my job, but I also need a little bit of help here. How do I do this? How do I confirm you know this or whatever? Okay, so it's okay to lean on technical support? It really is don't let people pressure you. I think I mentioned it in the video that I get people giving me crap all the time, I'm not offended by it.

I I'm not too proud to call technical support at all, but I do get people that think. Like oh yeah, you don't need to lean on those guys well yeah. I do because I don't want to have that knowledge in my head, because I don't have room for it. I've got all kinds of other crap that doesn't need to be in my head.

The last thing I need is some silly: how did you know program a VFD on a prodigy unit? Okay, but that's also what installation and operation manuals are for so do yourself a favor and read them as much as possible, but there's a point when I have a manual for the VFD. It's like I'm just gon na call tech support for that. Okay, so that was the VFD video as far as the chat goes guys, I am going to go ahead and go on to the second video and then I'll start addressing the chat. I'm not gon na hit that one quite yet okay, so the next one was the the real big one that everybody wants to talk about.

Okay, and that was the roach video. Okay, I had a reaching cooler and the title of the video was our roaches really that bad okay, so I am not very disgusted with roaches like it was kind of frustrating like opening it up, but it is what it is. I see that stuff often now this particular customer their restaurants, are null and not all infested with roaches. Okay, it'd be one thing if I went to every one of their restaurants and they were just filled with roaches, that's not the case.

Okay stuff happens. Okay, this one happens to be in a particular part of town: that's older, okay, so when you get into older cities and that are near big industrial complexes and shopping malls and different stuff, like that, you tend to have some issues: okay, so they had a pest Problem now, yes, it was gross, but the customer took care of it. Okay, the customer remedied the situation. They went ahead and called the pest people the first time it didn't eradicate everything.

So then, when I went back out there to do it to look at something again, then I said: hey, there's still a problem and I left the region outside and I said you guys need to fumigate this. I literally told him put a damn bag over the reach-in. Have them fumigate it leave it outside for a couple days, I'll be back okay, then I ordered the compressor and I came back and I returned and the problem was solved. At least there was nothing living in there at the moment now, there's always the possibility, if there's eggs and different things like that.

But hey you know, but they did a pretty good job at removing everything so but that stuff doesn't really freak me out too much. I don't know, I guess I'm just kind of jaded. I guess I don't know if Jade is the quite the right word for that. But that's what comes to mind I just yeah.

It doesn't really bother me too much. Okay, I mean I I went ahead though, and I covered my butt so when I first walked up to the region and I saw the roach infestation and they were literally coming out of the controls. I don't have very good video that little clip I showed at the beginning. That was a tiny little clip, but I had I thought I got really good clip, because when I pulled the temp control out, I was like shaking the control and like the mama Roach came out and like all these babies were flying out of it and then The same thing with the other controls too.

So in that situation I didn't even give the customer the option. I just said: look if I'm gon na work on this thing. All these electrical components get changed period, no choice, it doesn't matter if they're working or not to new temperature controllers, a new time clock and then we're gon na start with that, and in that situation I gave them all the information and that's what we did. We started with that.

I went out there with the parts and guess what it didn't solve the problem. There was still more, we had a refrigerant leak, we had a compressor issue and what's weird was when I first went out there, the top section was still working and it was down to temperature. So that means that the refrigerant leak literally happened from you know when I diagnosed it put the new controls in there and you know between when I diagnosed it and came out to put the new controls in there. That's when there were happened, because when I went back out the second time, it was completely flat on refrigerant so and that's a very common that refrigerant leak.

That was on the the compressor. That's a very common place on those Danfoss compressors is to leak on the suction stub tube, the way that they are installed and set up. It's like a whole thing, but yeah, that's why, in the manufacturer actually had that service bulletin where they wanted me to use the cork tape to solve that problem. So all right, I'm gon na, take a look at the chat here guys and I'm gon na see what we got going on in the chat, so keep in mind guys in the livestream chat.

Do me a favor? If you have questions or things you want me to talk about, put them in caps, lock as usual and I'll definitely try to get to it. If I don't get to all the questions, don't worry just send me an email, HVAC, our videos at gmail.com, or you can feel free to use the discord server as a place to put questions, there's actually a a room in there. I don't know if you call them rooms or what I'm still new to the discord thing, but there's a place in the server to put questions to me. So maybe we'll start using that a little bit so but anyways any questions.

Let's look at the chat and see what we got going on here. Excuse me great question Greg and I actually had that on my list. So Greg asked me what shoes do I wear at work? What boots do I wear? Okay, so I wear boots work boots. I have a requirement for my employees at my company that our boots be slip resistant, that they be some sort of safety, toe, okay, composite or steel, and that they have some sort of water resistance to them.

Okay, really, the biggest thing is: is steel, toe or safety, toe and or slip resistant? That's the most important thing. Okay and you know we don't like them to get all holy and crap like that. So I personally use the Timberland Pro boondock work boots. Okay, I've used them for a very long time.

I like them very much. Yes, my feet get a little bit hot and then there's no perfect work boot out there. Okay, but I wear the same boot in the summer and the winter time. It does me.

Well, they do pretty good at slip. Resistance, there's, no boot, that's perfect with slip resistance, but the Timberland pros do good. There's, also something that when your work Slippery environments, you have to learn how to walk. Okay, I walk flat-footed.

I don't walk on my toes because if I walk on my toes or my heels, then you're gon na fall on your butt. I know it's a little it's a little weird, but you have to learn how to walk flat-footed when you're, especially when you're working in restaurants, you walk flat-footed and you also don't you know, just walk in there without kind of you. You have to learn how to walk and feel it out and not look like a duck when you're walking around trying not to slip and stuff okay, but yeah Timberland pro boondocks, I've worn them for a very long time. I would say at least five or six years I go through lately about one pair every nine months.

Nine to ten months I get a pair of new Timberland pros, they're they're quite expensive. I think they're, just under 200 bucks or right around 200 bucks. But it's one of those things you got to do. Okay, everybody has a preference on boots that, like I happen to like the Timberland pros and they're just very comfortable for me, so really really dig that all right, let's see what else, what about symptoms of an overcharge system on a walk-in freezer great question: Jay a Okay, so here's the deal first off on a refrigeration system, most walk-in freezers are going to have an expansion valve and a receiver.

So, on a refrigeration system that has a receiver and an expansion valve, we typically don't use subcooling as a charging metric, but we can use subcooling as a gross overcharging metric. What that means is we. I don't typically charge two subcooling right, so I don't go for 10 degrees, sub cooling when I'm working on a system with the receiver. What you do is when you're adding refrigerant to the system, you clear the sight glass assuming that there's no restrictions and the lines.

There's lots of caveats to that. Okay and assuming that the system is not completely overloaded and all that stuff. I've got it in lots of videos how to do that, so you clear the sight, glass! Okay, next thing you do is when you get the system charged up. Okay, you charge to a clear sight, glass.

Looking at all your vitals, you don't just look at the sight, glass. Okay, it's not just a really simple answer. You don't just charge to a clear sight. Glass.

I still am gon na pay attention to subcooling, but I'm gon na look at the sub going to know that on my systems that I typically work on my sub cooling again, we don't use this as a metric, but my sub coin is around for five to Three to three to five degrees: subcooling coming directly out of the condenser okay, but what we can do is we can look at that and if we start seeing a sub cooling, that's like 3035 degrees, then there's a very good possibility that we have an overcharge situation. Okay, but we don't use sub cooling to find you know normal charge right now. The next thing that you're going to do is you can use saturation temperatures. You kind of have to understand the age of your equipment to know what the condensing temperature over ambient is again.

We don't use condensing tempo over ambient as a standalone metric, but we do use it to kind of get us in the ballpark. Also we're gon na pay attention to evaporator superheat. That's gon na basically be dialed in once the system starts coming down to temp, okay. So, as far as your question, how do you tell if there's an overcharged on a walk-in freezer system? Okay, first off, don't guess make sure the condenser is clean and I mean when clean I mean clean, okay, sparkly clean.

You should be able to see right through that condenser. Okay, if there's any lint in there, you need to clean it better. All right make sure the condenser fan motor is running in the right direction. Make sure you've got good air flow across the condenser start, adding refrigerant, clear the sight glass paying attention to all your vitals.

Obviously, checking compressor amps, but compressor amps again is not a vital that you use as a charging metric when I'm doing a charge. When I'm charging a refrigeration system, I'm gon na clear the sight glass, I'm gon na monitor the sub cooling. I'm gon na monitor the compressor amps and I'm gon na slowly. Add gas, not overloading the compressor and again just because it goes above, run load give it a second it'll drop back down as the system stabilizes out.

Okay, keep adding gas until your sight, glass clears up, but it's very important that you understand that a sight glass is only a window into the system at the exact point that the sight glass is installed. So if it's installed on the outlet of the receiver on the roof, there's a very good possibility that you could have a restriction after the sight, glass, so charging a clear sight, glass doesn't necessarily mean it has the right refrigerant, okay! So it's not a real, simple thing, but cliffnotes pay attention to the sub cooling clear. The sight glass check the compressor amps make sure it doesn't get overloaded, okay and make sure that you have a good condensing tempo ver ambient maximum condensing tempo / ambient on much any of the systems that you're working on out. There is gon na be about 28 to 30 degrees.

You don't want to go anything over that, typically, even on newer systems, you might go as low as 20 degrees, 15 degrees - maybe 18, something like that. Okay, so hopefully that answers your question. If it doesn't send me an email to HVAC our videos at gmail.com guys, let me make this clear. I don't know everything: okay and when I'm trying to figure stuff out for refrigeration, what I'm gon na do hold on is I'm gon na grab this book right here: commercial refrigeration for air conditioning technicians by mr.

dick, worse, okay, it's published by the company called sin. Gage, you guys can actually find this in the show notes of this livestream. There is an amazon link for that book. That book is an amazing book to help you with refrigeration, and basically it was written for an air conditioning technician.

That already knows what he's doing to transition into the refrigeration field: okay, amazing book - and it's worth every penny. I think it might be like 200 bucks or something like that. It's worth it trust me: okay, so commercial, refrigeration for air conditioning technicians by DIC, worse check it out, read it live it love it! Okay, all right! Let's move on what progression do. I expect an apprentice with no prior experience to to acquire in one year.

What do I expect an apprentice to acquire in a year? You know it really depends on every single apprentice. Okay, so if I start with an apprentice, fresh out of school he's, never gotten his hands on an air conditioner besides in trade school. Ideally, I want him to ride with me for, or you know, shadow me for three to six months. It used to be that he rode in my van, but nowadays we're not doing ride alongs with the virus thing.

So I want him to shadow me for three to six months somewhere in there and at that point I'm gon na slowly start letting the leash off baby steps. Okay, so I'm gon na start letting him clean, condensers and move on, but within a year. I would hope that an apprentice can slowly be able to know exactly what I need before I need it. Okay, I would expect him to be able to do basic preventive maintenance.

-- is to maintain equipment, check current draw check, all vital signs be able to apply service gauges, recover evacuate charge. I would expect him to be able to do that. Heavy troubleshooting, not so much. It's gon na.

Take him some time for that, but hopefully that answers your question again. Thank you for that. Super chat knock a fire insecurity and very, very awesome. Man.

That's awesome and I saw a spotter man, hey bud, I. What is it that I I'm curious? What is it? That's and when your time out, you're in timeout right now, because you were talking crap apparently, but what is it about me that makes you think, I'm a hack, I'm very curious, I'd like to know so when you, when you pop out of the the timeout thing, I'd be really curious to know what about me makes you think that I'm a hack, I'm okay, I'm okay! With criticism! That's okay, but I mean you don't really got to be kind of a dick about it and say that I'm a hack I mean if you really really think that I'm explaining something incorrectly then say: hey bud. That's I don't think that's right. You know you can use big-boy words and talk normal, I'm cool with that.

Okay, I'm okay with criticism, I'm totally! Okay with it all right, but you don't got to be a jerk about it. Tell me what is it that you think I did wrong. I'm always curious to know if you don't want to say it in the livestream. That's fine send me an email to HVAC our videos at gmail.com.

I'm I'm always willing to accept criticism. Okay, all right! Let's see what else, what tools do I provide for my technicians and what do they have to provide so at our service company? I'm not everybody? Okay, but at our service company we provide all the big tools. We provide an oxy-acetylene torch kit. We provide recovery machines, vacuum pumps, you know any big materials.

Basically it's easier to say what I don't provide. I don't provide a manifold gauge set. I don't provide smart probes, I don't provide a cordless drill and I don't provide their basic hand tools in a tool bag, okay, so that, basically, what I expect them to bring for the most part. We provide everything else.

Okay, we don't need air flow meters and things like that doing what I do so, basically, you know we provide them with the torch. The vacuum pump, the recovery machine. We have other tools at the shop. We have certain vendors and different things like that.

Sometimes the guys like to bring their own benders, that's fine, you know, but for the most part we provide all the big stuff. So exactly we are all hacks, no matter how much you know, I am probably one of the best people at doing hack, jobs, okay, but the difference is the most important thing is that you have to know the right way to do something guess what I take Shortcuts sometimes guys, I don't always pull a perfect vacuum. I don't always you know, do everything by the book right, I think recently, I just did an expansion, DAF job, and I think someone pointed out in the video that I strapped the sensing bulb to the top of the 7/8 inch suction line. Good point: okay, I am gon na argue that on a 7/8 inch suction line, it really doesn't matter the top of the things not that big of a deal the from 70s Portland basically says, I believe, from 7/8 and up you're supposed to really start setting it.

Like 3 to 9 - or you know that third position right there, but I mean I'm not perfect, I make mistakes all the time. Ok, even in that video 2 that the guy said, I was a hack because I strapped it to the top of the suction line. The sensing bulb was hanging off three-quarters of an inch. There was nothing I could do.

It is what it is. Ok, so long as I made sure it was working and so long as I understand how it works. I think that's the most important thing. Ok, so we all have a little bit of hack in s guys all right.

Let's see what else we got yeah yeah, exactly Ellen's Silvia. He says his hacking powers have gotten his customers out of serious blinds dead straight. Ok, sometimes you have to do what you have to do to get the system operational. I've done some funny things guys.

Condenser fan motors failed on a weekend and it's the middle of the night and I didn't want to open a supply house amen. I have that that spraying wand, that I use the clean condensers with I'm always preaching about it. It's a orbitz wand from Lowe's right. I set that thing up on some cinder blocks.

Put it on mist, put it on the condenser and walked away for the rest of the weekend, because I didn't even want to change it for the rest of the week and condenser family. So I had a spray or spraying on the condenser all weekend. It had a head pressure, control valve, it was fine. You know, I'm not saying leaving something like that forever.

I've put box fans on top of like dishwasher exhaust fans before temporarily, just to get them. You know through the night kind of thing, yeah I've done all kinds of things like that guys. Sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Ok, it's important, though, that you, you really really.

I would strongly suggest that you don't ever bypass any safeties that can call serious damage yeah that one's kind of questionable, but I mean I've, gotten belts from the auto auto parts store to get an exhaustion running for the weekend until I can go back with a Proper V bail, I mean I've done all kinds of weird things like that, so you got to do what you got to do sometimes to get the customer operational, we'll merthin, you said, you're replacing a packaged unit at your house and you just sealed your rigid duct System with mastic is it possible for a home owner to test and calibrate air flow without specialized equipment or for only 75 dollars, or so no, not really you're, not really gon na test in check air flow per se. If, if you did the work yourself, then so be it good for you? If you could figure it out, you know that's cool. I would highly suggest that, if you're really concerned about the air flow that you at least pay an airflow company to come out, it's not going to cost you that much to get an air flow certification, they'll just come out and test it they're, not changing anything. They're literally going to come out and measure it for you.

I there's not really anything that I can tell you to do easy ways to measure air flow, because air flow is actually one of the hardest things to measure in our trade. They make silly tools and different things like that. I have some of them, but I mean they're all an estimation in one form or another. So it's really not just a simple throat in there and it tells you a number.

So I would highly suggest if you're really concerned about it, that you at least have an air flow company come out. I would imagine I I would imagine that you could probably have an airflow come out. Company come out for maybe 500 bucks, maybe less than a thousand for sure less than a thousand, absolutely for sure they would come out and do an air flow verification on your building. But I I would bet it's even closer to 500 bucks or something like that.

So hey, you know what so be it all right, flat rate versus time of materials. Brian, that's a really interesting question, it's kind of hard for me because I'm a commercial refrigeration contractor, so my commercial customers would not accept flat rate to save their lives because they want time the materials period so we're a time and materials company with that being said, I don't use flat rate. I can understand why flat rate is a good thing for homeowners because they see the price they're gon na pay, but at the same time, as a contractor, I know that flat rate pricing can also be a little misleading in a weird way and I'm not saying That people are ripping people off, but I mean you know, okay, so you you price everything like this hey to do. A condenser, coil cleaning is gon na cost X number of dollars.

Okay looks like your systems low on gas to do a leak check is gon na cost X number of dollars. Okay. So then you add that to that where, as you know, on a time of materials thing it's easier for me to go in and say hey, you know what I charge this much an hour. I'm gon na clean it that'll.

Take me about two hours. Then I'm gon na do a leak check. That'll. Take me about this much time, but the flat rate gives the customer a price and they know what they're gon na get at every single step of the way, time and materials.

They don't know that I mean I'm giving them an estimation, but I'm not guaranteeing it's gon na. Take me two hours to clean it. I'm telling them look, I'm gon na say it's approximately two hours, but it might go over that. So it's that that thing you know, what do you do most homeowners I'd imagine would like that set price.

They want to know hey to get my system cleaned and recharged is gon na cost me this much period, not necessarily fixing leaks or anything like that. So it's it's a hard one, I'm personally more of a time and materials person, but again I'm just a commercial guy. I see both sides. So all right, let me see what else we got in here, kai, the avatar.

Can you take the heat pump out of a general fridge and use it as an air conditioner? I think you're a little mistaken when you say the heat pump? Okay, because I'm assuming you're talking about the compressor. Can you take the compressor out of a general refrigerator and use it as an air conditioning compressor? No and here's why? Okay, a refrigeration compressor, the refrigerant coming back to the compressor cools the compressor off okay and it requires that certain temperature. So I'd! Imagine that a domestic refrigerator at your home is probably going to look for, maybe a zero Degree, suction temperature, maybe 10 degrees, suction temperature. Coming back to the compressor on an air conditioner, your suction temperature is going to be much higher.

Coming back to the compressor and over time, theoretically, it could overload the compressor the compressor could overheat and it would burn out so in that situation, you're going to want to get a dedicated air conditioning compressor that can handle that higher suction gas temp coming back and The system needs to be properly rated for it, Plus, on top of that, the the refrigerator compressors typically are meant to operate with different refrigerants than the for. An air conditioners meant to operate with two okay. Would it work for a short period of time sure I'm sure you can do some MacGyver skills action going on and you could probably get it to work temporarily, but is it gon na be a long-term item? No definitely not! Okay. Why does the work ethic suck nowadays? It seems to be getting worse.

Very, very true. Okay, it's very hard. I don't know what it is. Oh I do.

I have theories on what it is. I mean it's the generations as they come up, so my parents, you know they provided so many things for me right now. I provide even more for my kids. So, theoretically, my kids are not gon na have to work as hard as I had to work to get what I had, and vice versa my parents didn't have to work as hard as their parents didn't have to work.

So every generation does more for their kids because they want their kids lives to be easier, which sounds great. We all do it because we love our kids and we don't want them to have to struggle so hard right. You know my kids are afforded luxuries, that I was never afforded my kids, you know don't think twice when they say they want to go out to dinner. When I was a kid we didn't go out to dinner unless it was a birthday that was like one certain wall, we were lucky because I had a brother and a sister, so we got to go to dinner three times a year, maybe four or five.

If we went from mom and dad's stuff to now, we take our kids to dinner all the time, so you know but part of that's, because I've worked hard and I want to go to dinner all the time you know so with that being said, why is The work ethic changed. I think it's because we do more and we don't expect our kids to do stuff right coming up. You know, I probably I was treated a lot harsher than my kids were treated and it's nothing against my dad or my mom or anybody. But things were expected of me, things were said to me that I don't necessarily say to my kids.

You know so it's us, I think, that's responsible for the generation becoming less likely to work hard is because we're baby and our kids, but what's the alternative, I love taking care of my kids. I love the fact that my kids don't have to work as hard. So it's that fine line of trying to be a good, loving, parent and or trying to be a tough love parent that your kids are gon na, be great, but resent you in the future. You know that's a hard one.

All right, grocery stores have huge number of compressed. Do they have in-house text? It really depends some grocery stores. Do some don't ever every chain. Does it differently locally? Here we have stater brothers.

Stater brothers is a big Southern California grocery chain and they have their own in-house Tech's, but they, if I remember correctly, I believe they call on the weekends. I believe they use other companies, but I'm not a hundred percent sure on that. I've seen other service companies that stater brothers on the weekends, but never during the weekdays. I think, but you know different grocery stores.

Do it differently. I don't think the Kroger brands have their own text, but I again I'm not a supermarket tech. So I'm not a hundred percent sure, but I know that there used to be some Walmart in house text, but then I don't think they do in-house anymore. So I think it goes back and forth.

The biggest problem, guys is labor costs, labor costs and having to deal with employees. That's the biggest issue with hiring your own service technicians for a grocery store. Let's just say, for a restaurant chain, a restaurant chain in general, hey, we could save money. We could have our own service text.

That sounds great. I've seen it happen, but then they realize one of the service texts gets hurt and they have a worker's comp claim a big worker's comp claim. You know the insurance is hire the vehicle insurance. All this different stuff for most of the time, people find it easier and less of a hassle to hire outside companies to come, do their service work and then they just scrutinize the outside companies and just burn through them left and right.

So but yeah a lot of different grocery stores have their in-house, but then a lot don't so it really changes every time. All right. Let's see what else we've got. Are there any restaurants, a service that I wouldn't take my family out to great question and that's gon na kind of segue into another thing too? So on my list, someone had asked me: do I eat at my restaurants, and this came up after the roach video? Okay, so the roach video that I released this last week was pretty nasty and the question is: would I eat at that restaurant guys? Yes, I would okay, because I know that the restaurant did a good job and I see that kind of stuff all the time.

But in general I don't eat out at restaurants, very often, or at least the restaurants, that I work at okay and it's not because I don't like their food. I I choose to like I'd rather go to. I don't want to do. I do a lot of casual dining restaurants, that's what I work for and I don't really want to go eat at a restaurant and sit down for the most part I like to go to fast, casual restaurants, or occasionally I like to go to a nice steak House or something like that, and I really don't do work for a nice steak house, so it's not that I think my restaurants are gross, but I also just I work at a lot of burger places and I don't want to eat burgers.

You know I used to eat out a lot. I used to accept food from my customers and what actually started to happen. My customers would always give me food all the time, even to this day they offer me food and I just say no thank you. You know, and then they say why you don't want to eat our food and I said: do you eat your food and I said it's not that it's gross? It's just that I'm here watching you prepare it every day and I just don't want a hamburger.

You know that's just not what I want so I'd rather go out to sushi or go to a Thai place or something like that, get something that's just different right, but anyways I used to eat out at my restaurants all the time and what happened was they Would you know I'd be at a restaurant, they'd say: hey, you want a burger and fries and I'd say sure and I'd get a burger and fries and then I'd go home and my wife says hey. We want to go out for burgers and fries tonight. I just had that for lunch yeah, so I stopped as principal accepting food from my customers just for the fact that I wanted to go out to dinner with my family in the evening and then it kind of went away from that and we eat. We eat home more than we eat out.

It really is a treat for us to go out. We definitely do it more than when I was a kid, but you know my wife she's laid off right now, because she was a waitress at a restaurant. So she's been making my lunch every day and it's been kind of cool I've been you know, I don't feel gross after I eat a nice. You know turkey sandwich or something for lunch, so instead he eaten fast food.

All the time I'm just sick of eating gross stuff and feeling like crap or regretting it you know later on. So all right, let's get to something else. I had a question actually Greg had asked me. Another good question Greg had asked me: have I ever fallen off a ladder? I've said this before my stream's before.

Yes, I have, I have fallen off a ladder. I was working at a restaurant and I was in a hurry and I was climbing up onto the roof. They had a stationary ladder that was attached to the building, so it was a straight ladder going up and I was one handing it because I had my oxy-acetylene torch in my right hand, and I was one handing it you know, reaching up raaah reaching up every Rung, you know, and I literally went to the top rung and I missed it, and I fell backwards right off the ladder. The ladder was about probably 25 feet up, I'm holding my torch caddy and guys that fall.

I swear I had so much stuff go through my head as I started to fall. I remember thinking I don't let literally in my head as I was falling, my thoughts exactly were. I do not have enough money saved up to get hurt. That was the thought that went through my head as I was falling down and I just kind of like okay here it goes, you know I've just accepted it.

I let go of my torches and I just said: okay and I fell and then something caught. My fall, luckily, as I was climbing up the side of the building, they had a parapet, I mean they had a cage around their back dock and I had to climb up through a scuttle hole in the cage, and it was a chain-link fence over the entire Roof or the entire, you know the entire top of the back dock. Basically, and I fell onto the chain-link fence like I fell on a hammock right between the two beams that hold it together and as I was going, there was, if you guys, can picture this. There was a scuttle access and the scuttle access you open up and what stopped it was: a giant piece of metal fence, chain-link, fence, pole, okay, that chain-link fence pole was a stopper for that scuttle hole access.

I landed right next to that thing and it was poking up and I landed right next to it right next to my arm, so I was lucky. I didn't fall on that because that would have hurt me a lot. I was super super blessed to be okay and my torch caddy fell on the chain-link fence too, and it didn't explode. I changed a lot that was probably if I had to guess six or seven years ago, that that happened, guys I'd climb so many ladders.

In my life never fallen off a ladder, I have no fear, I have respect, but I have no fear when I'm climbing a ladder just boom boom boom. You know - and that was the moment man I remember thinking I do not have enough money saved up and I'm so thankful that I landed on that chain-link fence. I did not get hurt one bit other than being embarrassed and walking away, because it was a bunch of guys watching me and they're like. Where did he go? Because they saw me on the roof and then I disappeared.

They all came running and I was just laying there on the chain-link fence. So from that point forward I got that rope. Out of my van, I put the hook on the end that you guys see in my videos all the time and I started roping all my stuff to the roof, I'm too old to get hurt like that. Doesn't matter how old you are you don't want to fall off a ladder? So, yes, I have fallen off a ladder.

Guys safety, especially as I've gotten older, has become such an important thing. I am so concerned about safety. So recently I have this on my list to this last week. We did a crane lift.

Ok, we did a crane lift just a simple 15 ton package unit really easy lift, no major obstacles. Ok, but before - and I never used to do this - but I do this now before we do every lift. I pull everybody aside and I do a see a safety meeting. I know it sounds stupid.

I know it sounds silly, but we do a safety meeting. I just reiterate: everybody: ok, here's your job, here's your job and here's my job, I'm the crane signal person, I'm watching out for you guys, I'm expecting a when I ask you a question. I look at one guy. I want you to tell me: you know that he handles the left and right and then the other guy handles the front in the back.

So I'm directing the crane. You tell me when it's centered over the the curb, basically ok and then you tell me when this is, and you know we kind of get ready. We do our game face on you know and we kind of talk about everything before and then I instruct them. Ok, every time, every time they're, probably sick of hearing me say this guy's do not get under the load.

What happens if the crane falls over? What are you gon na? Do? What are you gon na? Do we try to be as prepared as possible? Ok, we try to do lifts when there's nobody in the building - it's not always practical, but for the most part we don't ever let there be customers in the building. So we don't unless - and I don't think I've ever had to do a lift when there was a customer in the building, because accidents happen, guys guess what my package unit weighs 3,000 pounds. If my package unit dropped, it probably wouldn't go through the roof, all the way to the ground, it might damage the roof, but if that crane falls, it's gon na go through the roof. Ok, so we kind of prepare for all of that stuff.

We think of the worst case scenario and we look ok. What direction is the crane gon na set the old air conditioner on which way is he gon na come? Is there any power lines? We look for everything before safety is the biggest thing. The reason why I bring up the crane is over the weekend locally here at a local hospital that I actually used to do work for a very long time ago there was a crane accident guys there was a giant crane, one of those big cranes that lifts Air handlers up onto high-rise buildings, this particular crane - they finish the job is the way that I read the newspaper article, they finished the job and they were dismantling the crane. This crane is so big if you guys haven't ever seen.

One of these it has like two trucks that come by the actual crane, that's driving down the road and they have to assemble the crane on-site well when they were assembling or disassembling the crane the crane fell over onto the building. Luckily nobody was hurt, but you should see the damage from this and it's a trip to because it's a place where I used to work a long time ago. So I recognized everything out when I saw the pictures I was like. Oh my gosh.

I used to work there. I know that hit inches away from the engineering building where all the engineers sit it fell on a trash can area and it's so dangerous, but it's I'm so happy to read in the article if everything is still the same, there was nobody injured guys. That is a crew that really really thought about safety. Even when the most horrible accident in the world happened, nobody was injured, wow, that is so cool cuz.

They were prepared, and you know they really really thought about safety. So safety is the biggest thing guys. Okay, we take shortcuts in our career all the time we need to be careful about that kind of stuff. Okay, I am a little bit relaxed and probably not cautious enough when it comes to electricity.

I work on 480 volts. I don't have a beekeeper suit. I probably should okay, it's things like that. We need to be more careful, okay, cuz guess what this job that you and I do that I do that.

You do it's not worth our lives because guess what? If we don't come home more than likely the company's gon na go on and your family's gon na be less one person think about that for something simple as you're, not verifying that something was off before you stuck your hands in it guys. You didn't go home and your wife or your brother, your husband or whatever, didn't, get to see you again, your kids, it's not worth it guys, it's just a job. It's not worth your life! Think about that slow down and pay attention I'm guilty of it too. I need to pay attention.

I need to slow down. I need to be more concerned about safety. All right, Andy kill sue. Why do commercial HVAC units tend to top out at two stages when Residential's go to five stages? Well, that's not necessarily true residential goes to five stages because they usually use inverter driven compressors, and you can actually go further than that with inverter driven compressors and we actually have those in in commercial too, but for the most part, your thermostat.

I don't do a lot of the fight. You know the inverter driven compressors, but for the most part your thermostats gon na have logic built into it and I don't know if they quite call it stages: okay, but on commercial we just break it down to two to three stages for the most part, and We can have inverter driven compressors in our units too. I actually have, I think, one trained Voyager package unit that has the variable speed, 10-ton scroll, compressor in it, so it can slow down and speed up different things like that, but it gets kind of tricky when you start doing inverter driven unless you get into the Really really complex controls that actually slow down for a proper system to work good. If you have an inverter driven compressor, you need to have an inverter driven blower that slows down and speeds up with the compressor too, so that you can maintain suction temp and all that good stuff.

Alright, what's the highest voltage, I've ever been zapped by 120. 240. 480 or 600 Wolff I got zapped by 600. More than likely I wouldn't be here.

If he got zapped by true 480, you probably wouldn't be here either. Okay, most people are zapped by one leg of 240, which theoretically be would be, would be 120 or one leg of 120. Okay, for the most part, I'm not saying people don't get hit by bigger stuff, but okay, most of us service technicians, that work in commercial and or residential are only going to be dealing with 240 volts, maybe 480 volts, but even 480, if you're only hit by.