I Always encourage everybody to to disassemble everything and look into why it failed. Look at those points, look at that extra little dingleberry hanging off of that guy right there. That's a bit silly, huh? Um, you could see that it was making a bad connection in there. burnt it up so definitely had a problem.

But yeah. I Always encourage take them apart, figure out what makes them tick. This video is brought to you by Sportlin. Quality, integrity and tradition.

All right. Today we have a call. uh, an air conditioning call right? And it's starting to get that time of year it is March 14th right now. But uh, this location is hitting I think 80 degrees this week.

Some other parts of California are nice and cold, but they're saying that this AC is operating erratically. One minute it's in heating mode, next minute it's not and it's just not doing what it's supposed to be doing. Now, this is controlled by an energy management system that has internet controlled thermostats. I don't even know if you'd call it an energy management system I mean I guess it is, but it's internet thermostats that are monitored by a person.

So uh, first thing when I walk up just evaluating the unit and what? I'm noticing is that the heater is calling. so the inducer is blowing. It's hot. so let's open up this electrical and see what's going on in here.

All right. I Opened this guy up and we have a problem here. So the heat is running the inducer. We have heat.

Everything's well, it's running I'm not going to say it's good, but then look at the compressor contactor, compressor contactors pulled in. What is going on with that? So let's go over here from see it's a W1 C to W1 We have a call for 24 volts and let's go to C to y1 we have a dual call so y1 to C we have 24 volts and W1 to see we have 24 volts so that is a problem. So what is happening is the thermostat more than likely is failing. Okay, so we need to figure that out.

but this thing is pulled in and it's not running so that's not a good sign either. We have no voltage coming out of the contactor and we have voltage going into the contactor. so why isn't it pulling out? So obviously there's going to be a huge drop across that guy. So something's going on inside that contactor that's causing an issue.

I'm gonna go out on a limb right now and say that what I think is happening is I Think this guy has been short cycling and I bet you it ruined that contactor because why else? let's check this real quick. Is it just a failed contactor? Oh wait, what the heck is going on here? My condenser fan motor is starting to run so let's test this. Is it like making no I think it's intermittently making contact? Condenser fan motor just stopped running. It didn't go full speed.

It was like just a little bit. So that's odd. Well now here's the thing. We don't want to turn this guy off yet because sometimes by turning it off, you can inadvertently, um, fix the problem so we don't want to do that.

So what I think we're going to do is we're very carefully gonna remove the thermostat wires. We're going to remove them one by one the W1 to see if we still have a call. It could be a bad thermostat wire too. There could be a thermostat wire rubbing in the conduit somewhere.

so we need to go test. Oh, one of the cool things is the thermostat for this. Maybe we should start there. The thermostat for this guy.

You can open it without turning it off. so let's go down there. No, no, we'll remove it right here. Sorry, you're hearing my ramblings in my brain.

So I'm going to remove W1 and we're going to see what happens. but we're going to leave the system energized. Okay, again, you don't want to do that kind of stuff if you have, uh, power applied or unless you know what you're doing. Okay, so I'm not going to hurt myself.

This is low voltage, but I'm still going to be careful. All right. I Removed the white wire, the W1 wire and what I wanted to know is if it was something in the unit causing a backfeed, maybe in the board. And it's not because we have 25 volts from the W1 wire.

and if we go over to Y1, we also have 25 volts. Okay, so there is a problem more than likely with the thermostat. Um, we can remove the Y1 and see if the problem still exists. So let's check that all right now.

I've removed Y1 and W1 and we've proved that it's not the unit causing the problem. it's not a board causing the issues because Y1, the yellow wire coming from the thermostat to the common has 26 volts and W1 also has 26 volts. So now we need to go investigate the thermostat to see if the thermostat is our problem. Again, it could also be hey, maybe there's a mouse in the Attic that chewed through the insulation.

It's I've seen weirder things where thermostat wires touch. It could be one of those issues or it could just be a bad thermostat. So let's go downstairs and have a look. According to the the wires, we're only calling for Y1 and we're not calling for W1.

Let's open this guy up. Oh, it's called water damage I bet you someone was cleaning the wall and they shorted it out so we'll test the power right here, see what's up, All right. So if I go from almond to W1 that we got 26 volts and common to Y1 we got 26 volts. So this thermostat's bad, but again, it looks like someone was cleaning the wall and they got chemicals all in it.

So we're going to have to install a temporary stat in the ductwork for this one too. Okay, before I drop a thermostat down in the ductwork and get it going, let's have a look at this contactor. So this guy is, uh, burnt inside here. you can see that it wasn't making a good connection.

More than likely what I think was happening was I think it was short cycling because if the heat was running and the cool tried to run, you'd end up running into problems. So I bet you that's what was going on with that. So we need a contactor too. so pay attention.

This one has lugs and screws. I'll show you guys a trick on how to make that work because this is an Oem contactor. but I don't have to have the OEM one. I can make a contactor with lugs work for this so just watch.

you'll see. Okay, so this is our contactor and here's my replacement contactor. Notice that I have lugs on all sides. I've shown this many times before, but if you actually pull the lug the screw out, there's actually a screw and you can pull the whole lug out.

There's a Phillips head screw in there. Let's see if this is small enough to fit through. There there is and if you pull that off, it will accept a normal screw. So now I can take the screw out of this one.

if I can get it out, I'll have to torque on that guy, take the screw out of that one, put it in the top, and then we still have lugs down on the bottom. So that's a cool little tip where you don't have to get the actual OEM contactor and you could just get an aftermarket which essentially is the same one. Anyways, looks like I might have done that before. All right.

I got the new contactor wired in. Everything should be good. We're not going to turn it on just yet because we still got to change the thermostat, but I always encourage everybody to to disassemble everything and look into why it failed. Look at those points.

look at that extra little dingleberry hanging off of that guy right there. That's a bit silly, huh? You could see that it was making a bad connection in there. burnt it up so definitely had a problem. But yeah, I always encourage take them apart, figure out what makes them tick I understand something I'm going to just go ahead and defeat some of the comments that I'm gonna get already for what I'm about to do, everybody has their own reasoning for doing things.

Okay, I don't think that I have to justify my reasoning, but I am just for the sake of letting people know how I do things. And obviously I put myself out there by making these videos. Okay, there's a lot of contention out there about what I'm about to show you guys. So what I did was I temporarily ran a thermostat wire all the way over, carefully secured it all the way over all the way over to this side, and I'm about to drop this thermostat down into the ductwork.

Okay, again, you don't always know the reasoning as to why I do things. Now there's some people out there that say that's silly. it's ridiculous. that's horrible work because I'm dropping a thermostat down in the ductwork.

so I'd ask you where else can I install this thermostat. Okay, so let me take you through my reasoning. Let's go over here. So I've done this before in a temporary situation I've installed a thermostat right here.

It's a nice good location for one right and then run a sensor and drop it down into the ductwork. Okay, that's a good way if you have to do a temporary stat. It looks a little bit cleaner. This location gets over 120 degrees in the summer inside that electrical box I Kid you not, it's going to be 140 degrees.

Maybe higher in the middle of the summer because you have the heat from the contactors and then the metal. The radiant heat hitting the metal. Okay, so it's not a good idea to put a thermostat in there because the thermostat will go bad the next thing. Well, why don't I mount the thermostat to the wall? Maybe right there or maybe right there.

Well, because then I would theoretically have screws coming out of the wall which I don't want to see screws sticking out. and the next thing is is that again, when it gets that hot out here, this area right here has a lot of uh, heat coming through the panels because that insulation is a quarter of an inch thick so it's not going to be an accurate temperature. The only way to get an accurate temperature is to put this thermostat in the Airstream and keep it away from the walls. So I'm about to turn the unit on I'm going to put it in the center of the ductwork and it's just going to dangle there and the indoor fan is going to have a schedule.

The indoor fan is going to come on and it's going to run and it's going to allow the air to come across that thermostat. It's not ideal. I Get it in a perfect world. I put the thermostat downstairs.

But here's another issue again trying to save the customer money because eventually I know they're going to replace this energy management system. although it's been a while and I keep having to drop temporary thermostats down in. Ironically, we have the least amount of problems with the units where I've dropped the thermostats down in the ductwork. Okay So you know if I installed the thermostat downstairs I'd have to find the remote sensor and possibly change the remote sensor or go through and figure out where the wiring is and I'd rather not undo all of that.

Okay, especially if they're going to go back in with the exact same energy management system which I don't know because the customer is going to buy it. so I'd rather not have to trace out a bunch of wires when I go to replace it. So right now what I did was I just abandoned the wires up here. everything's still hooked up down at the thermostat.

everything still works. My wires are right here, they're isolated and then that way if I end up going back in with the same energy management system, then all the wires are down there and I don't have to redo and try to figure out what goes to what. So again, this is how I do. It doesn't mean it's how you have to do it.

This is a temporary solution. at least temporary for now until the customer decides what to do. And this is how I go about things. Okay, so it may not be the way that other people want to do it, but it is what it is.

Okay, this is what my customer wants. They appreciate it. It's just a temporary solution, so that's where we're at. So I'm going to get ready to fire this up I'm going to clean up some of my messes real quick and then we'll see if everything else works on the unit.

One two three, please don't blow up. And okay, so that happens. Indoor blowers running currently have someone doing the preventative maintenance so he is going to end up changing. that's why the panels are off of that AC and stuff.

He's going to get belts so he'll end up changing these filters. But now I'm just going to go through and I'm going to make sure that this guy is programmed and everything is set up correctly. So I'm going to go through it right now. All right.

The unit has been operating for a little while I Went ahead and probed up with measure Quick. First and foremost, let's come over here. Condenser fan motor is running right on the money. It's supposed to or allowed to run 1.5 amps and we're running right in that range.

Notice something when you're using your meter. You want to make sure that you're using it correctly because you move it around and everything can change. So follow what the manufacturer wants you to do. All right.

So we've got that. the belt is tied I Checked that. Now this isn't the ideal location for a Supply Air probe, but it is what it is because I'm not climbing down into the building. All right.

As far as our numbers go on, Measure quick. Um, super Heat's about 14 degrees. Let's see what the target is. Target is about 12 degrees so we're not too far off and it's kind of moving around Every time they open and close the door in the building, this is right by the front entry.

they'll get outside. Air subcoin's about 13 degrees. That is a true sub cooling reading because I have previously worked on this unit and I put an actual liquid line. Port Normally on the carrier package units, they only have a discharge line Port so you'd expect your subcoin to be a lot higher.

Everything else is pretty much within the money. We do not have a very heavy load on the unit. Um yeah, I mean I'm not seeing anything scaring me, making me worry. Of course these are all estimates and you have to take into account that.

Measure Quick. The software that I'm using is a free software. Anybody can download it. They do have paid features, but for most of what everybody's going to use, the free features will work unless you want reports.

Okay, but they have a good point and this isn't just with Measure Quick. Anytime you're measuring, uh, temperature differential and things like that, you want to make sure you're paying attention and you want to be Usually at the First Supply Grille is the perfect place to have your Supply Air probe. That way the air can properly mix inside the ductwork. Uh, if you're within line of sight of the evaporator coil, that can cause it to get a little colder than it should be.

so just keep that in mind. Okay, but you know I can't really do too much more. I don't see any problems with this unit. Everything's looking good Super Heat's falling in line of where it should be sub cooling.

we're in the green measure quick says let's see if I can get my tablet to react. Typical Target's about three degrees right now we're at 13. Um, I'm fine with that. I'm not seeing any issues.

so I don't see any issues with this unit. So we're gonna go ahead and let the customer know that we need to replace the thermostat with the energy management thermostat. but for now I had to get them running because even if they approve the energy management thermostat, it's going to take a while to get and they have customers in the building. So we had to drop a temporary stat down in the ductwork.

But all is well. that's going to be it on this one. so we'll give them the keys and we will definitely catch you on the next one. It's not perfect that I have to install a thermostat in the ductwork like I did, but it is what it is.

Now that customer has an EMS or energy management system and they it's It's a weird thing, like they buy their own energy management system. they pay for that all. So as far as quoting it and doing that stuff that has to do with them now they do ask me sometimes for labor to do the install and I have quoted it before in the past I don't know what happened to it. but bottom line is when the customers do things like that and buy their own equipment, that's not something that I'm going to bend over backwards to try to solve their problems.

You know it it is. I just basically tell them hey, you need to replace the energy management system and I leave it in their hands. Okay I'm not gonna again bend over backwards and do all the footwork and be like oh, you need to do this you need no like I just tell them now if they wanted to come to me and they wanted to say hey, we want you to sell us an energy management system, then I would bend over backwards and do everything for them. So it's one of those situations so that's you know a lot of people ask like why in the heck do I install equipment that the customer purchases Okay, well I do it with like caveats because I'm if I'm not selling the job, I'm not going to do all the math I'm not going to figure everything out like I'm just going to be there to install the equipment that they provide.

Okay, now when it comes to Parts I typically don't install parts for the customer, this would be like a whole system. they would have me replace their entire building automation system like okay, that's fine, they can buy that. It's kind of a give and take when you do that kind of work. but again, that's one of the the things that happens is if they are going to provide their own equipment.

If they're going to provide their own energy management system with 11 thermostats for me to install and then I have to wire it into the routers and all that different stuff. I would do the work, but I'm not doing all the footwork for it I'm not doing all the math because someone else is making the profits off of it. so I'm letting them do that. So hopefully that kind of makes sense to you guys.

So when it comes to the energy management system not working, bottom line: I have to get their equipment running and that's what they want me to do. So I just drop the thermostat down in the ductwork and you know, set it up for a program and then just tell them hey, you need to replace it. Now another question that I get all the time too is how come I Don't you know carry just like a cheap thermostat on my truck because I try to control my truck stock I mean if I'm going to carry it, why not put it in on my trucks? and then it's another item that we have to have on our trucks. and I just I'd rather not I only keep one thermostat on my truck and that's all that I do And and it does what I need to do so you know I'm not addressing this stuff because I feel like people are attacking me or anything like that.

I'm addressing it just to answer the questions. Okay, I don't get bothered when people ask me questions like this like it's cool we can all learn from each other I have a different way of doing business than maybe you have a way right? But other than that, this was a pretty straightforward repair, right? We had a thermostat that was malfunctioning, causing the unit to go into heating and cooling at the same time. So I went ahead and took care of that and then we just went through the operations of the unit. I ended up changing the contactor because the contactor was in really bad shape.

but other than that, everything else was working good. So I really appreciate you making it to the end of the video as usual. Thank you so very much! If you're interested in supporting the channel, consider subscribing to the channel. Uh, you know the easiest way to support it is just watch the videos from beginning to end.

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