Video is brought to you by sportlin quality integrity and tradition we got a customer customer complaint that their restrooms are hot. But then they also say some of the room is kind of warm. So i have a feeling we're going to have an issue with this ac. Right here.

It's pretty warm out. And it's not running at the moment. So we're going to open. It up and start checking power all right got some more clarification.

What i did was uh. The unit wasn't running when i came up here. So i called their energy management company. And had them put all the units on test and full call for cooling.

This unit comes on beautifully all the units. It's not hot in the dining room at all it's not hot in the bar. It's not hot in their kitchen area everything's working this unit. I went ahead and checked the tds.

We've got 20 degree tds all the way across the belt's tight everything seems fine so that leads me to their restroom exhaust fan so we're going to dive into that right now so these restroom exhausts never underestimate all the dried up poop particles so uh be cautious and wear gloves when you're cleaning those screens but look at this thing it's all full of poop particles um motor's not hot let's get the meter out and test for voltage see why it's not running. It should be running all right. This is the uh speed controller for this guy and uh. It doesn't appear to have power in here.

Maybe maybe there's power. But i'm i don't ever just rely on non contact voltage testing um. We're gonna go ahead and pull these wire nuts and test power to ground and see what's going on and if it's a you know breaker problem or what so all right. So uh got my meter right here uh.

This is the fieldpiece sc480. It's been my go to meter for a while now um. And it you know i know that you can get super scientific meters and stuff. But this works perfect for everything that i do to each their own right so we've got power right here.

I pulled out the speed controller. We've got no voltage here three volts so no voltage. And i check both legs to ground. So our next step is to go downstairs and try to find a break or something that controls the power to this.

But i isolated the motor that way we only have the power in those wire nuts and then if the breaker's tripped. I can turn it on and come and troubleshoot the rest of the unit well things have escalated pretty quickly and i'm currently climbing in the attic. So here's the deal. I have no power on the roof.

The the labeled breaker for exhaust fan number five who knows if it's correct. But the label breaker is on and i can't see anything now i will say that right over here. Where you see all these conduits right here that is a lighting panel and in the past. I have noticed that a lot of times.

The restroom exhausts will be controlled in the lighting panels of the restaurant usually they set them up to when the lights are on the restroom exhaust fan is on that lighting panel has been bypassed and they've installed a whole new setup. So we might have a problem there it may have been off for a very long time it's hard to say. But the first step is to get over find the conduit on the other end. The fan is right there in the middle of the screen.

It's on the other end of that and trace the conduit down and see where it's going. That's the step that we're at at this point all right i climbed over there it's on the other side of this this is our roof access so it's way over there. But i started climbing over there and then realized that wasn't the best place. So i got up over here in the dishwasher and i could see the conduit and i realized i marked it with this towel.

It's this conduit right here. And it seems to be going down into here. Now. This is not the area of the breaker.

The breaker's like four panels over so maybe there's some controls in here. We'll have to open it up and see all right get the panel opened up and it says right there ef5 and that's correct. Because i have a white a blue and a green wire going up there and if we come into here. It's like we've got some maybe lighting contactors.

But then down here. There's a time clock time clock says exhaust fan. 5 circuit 35. And that's accurate so let's open this guy up.

I think they've just got time clock. That's out of time 12 43. It's been a while since i've done one of these okay and power should be on now question is does that keep time. We'll have to put a marker mark on it and then uh follow up and see if it's you know got the right time next time.

We come back or something so uh. It looks like it's set up to turn off from what is that 9. Pm which seems kind of early to be honest with you. Till 6 am.

We need that thing shutting off at like midnight because they have customers in the building. Until midnight at least all right i ended up wiring the speed controller back in um. The wire nuts weren't making a good connection. So i went and grabbed some wiggos they seem to be holding a little bit better just got to make sure you get them in there properly.

But so far so good so we're going to push this back in go turn the breaker on and see if this guy runs and if that's the case then we'll clean the poop screen all right power's turned back on and it's running so what we're gonna do is uh turn it back off and we'll try to pull this screen out if i can but look at the shape of the fan. These fans are pretty much throwaway fans. So if it's really gummed up. But like on the wheel and stuff.

I'll just order them a new fan but let me pull that screen off dinner oh yummy restroom exhaust fans are nasty i'd rather clean grease off of an exhaust van than dried up poop dust all right well i'm gonna finish this up and then uh we'll investigate the rest of the fan. All right didn't really see anything else wrong with the fan um. It's not very dirty on the inside it's really all on the screen so we're allowed to run. 49 amps and we're running 29.

So don't see anything wrong with that so i have it set for as high as it'll go high speed. The moment you start uh lowering these things down they start to mess with the motors. Like when i slow it down watch that current it just keeps climbing and climbing and climbing. Sometimes you got to watch out um.

Just depends on the fan and how much of a load. It has on it these things can really kill the motors. If you don't pay attention to the current. So this one looks like even on the lowest speed.

It's not slowing it down too low. But still turn it back up watch that current drop um. I've never liked these style of speed controllers in all honesty. When i install most fans i take them out.

But regardless we'll just uh put this one back together and go check on the restroom. See if the ventilation is better in there. But i don't see any problems with the ac. So as far as the uh time clock goes.

I give it a chance. It's possible that you know it's just way out of whack because of power outages or something so i'll set it and then tell the customer to keep an eye on it if we have to change it we can come back another day. But i like to give it a chance last but not least i went in and took my paint marker restroom exhaust fan number five and then also on bright yellow riding time clock and lighting panel that way the next guy doesn't have to go climbing in the attic. Like me right when it comes to these service calls.

Okay talking with management is really important getting information from them. Now. I mentioned in the video that when i got there they were complaining about their restroom. That was their main complaint okay.

But in talking with the manager. I started quizzing him after he said yeah. The restroom's hot and i said have you had any problems with the dining rooms. My initial thought on that call was that it was going to be an ac issue.

Okay so that's why i was like well if it's an ac issue. They would be complaining about a hot dining room. So when i asked the manager. Like hey have you been having any problems with the dining room ac.

And he's like well you know in a few areas. It's a little warm. But i think i led him to that one it wasn't necessarily like the ac was down. And it also didn't make sense because when he explained it to me.

It's like yeah. There's a few tables that are a little warm and it's like no in my head. I'm thinking it wouldn't be a few tables it would be the whole dining room. They only have three ac's for that building again understanding.

How these buildings operate is a very very been a good benefit right and it helps me because i can think of that building and i'm like okay. If the restrooms are hot more than likely. It's controlled off of their dining room ac. That's just how it works in that particular restaurant.

Sometimes. It's a kitchen. Sometimes it's the bar right so having an understanding of the operation of the building is important okay. So i think when i mentioned in the video.

That he said ah you know it's a little warm in the dining room. I was quickly turned off of the acs by when i called the energy management company and i just said hey put. All systems on full call for cooling. I'll call you when i'm done and then i went through all the ac's and i'm like okay these ac's i didn't see need to go digging into them.

Putting gauges on and things like that i just did an initial triage kind of a thing check the acs out. I'm like they all came on and they're all kicking butt now simply checking a temperature differential across across the supply air and the return air does not tell you if the unit is working properly 20 degree td does not necessarily mean it's good what happens if that particular building has undersized duct work. And it typically when operating properly runs a high td like 28 29 degrees. Okay so just because i saw 20 doesn't mean that's right and also another thing to understand too is your your evaporator td or your your delta t.

I guess we should call it right the difference between the return and the supply air temperature is not always going to be 20 degrees depending on the indoor conditions and the humidity in the air it could be 17 degrees it could be 25 degrees okay it's really nice to have software. There is things you can do to calculate what your target. Delta. T.

Is. Okay. Um. Field.

Piece has a target. Exit. Evaporator temperature built into the some of their old cyclometers and then measure quick. The software will tell you your expected targets based off of your indoor conditions.

So there's a lot of different ways you can do it but just understand that simply because it has a 20 degree td does not mean it's working properly okay but in my situation i felt comfortable saying. Hey. All these acs are working good okay. So i quickly stopped with that i probably spent 25 minutes.

Just turning on all the systems. Just observing listening checking everything. And i'm like hey. I don't see anything here.

And if it wasn't ac. I would expect them to have massive complaints about comfort in the whole dining room or something so i'm like eh you know i saw all the stages come on and it's like yeah. So i kind of got off that one and then said okay if it's not an ac. What else could cause the restroom to be hot and you have to really start thinking they have weather stripping around their door in their restroom.

Okay when the door shuts it almost creates a seal okay. There's a little bit of airflow in the undercut. But not a lot there's there's barely any okay so in the undercut of the door the opening under the door okay so there's weather. Stripping all around the tops and the sides of the door so it almost creates an airtight seal.

When the door shuts in the restroom with that being said there's supply air vents in the restroom from the ac. So the air vents are pushing the air into the restroom. But there is no return air vents in the restroom. Which that wouldn't be a smart thing to do anyways right you don't want to put return air vents leading to an ac in the restroom.

What happens if someone goes and takes it just a colossal you know bathroom break. And it smells horrible you don't want that being sucked up into the ac. Okay so oftentimes in the restroom. They'll use exhaust fans okay.

So the exhaust fan is the path for that air to exit the restroom. Okay. So think about it. If the exhaust fan is not running you're dumping in air into that restroom.

But it has nowhere to go at some point. It's gonna cool down. But then at some point that air is not going to have anywhere to go anymore. And it's going to get trapped okay.

And it's actually going to create a positive air pressure in the restroom and we need somewhere for that air to exit. So that way we can transfer heat right you can dump in cold air all you want. But if you don't have that warm air exiting. The restroom.

You're not going to have an effective heat transfer. Okay so with that being said. The exhaust fan wasn't working so i went through the process and found what was going on okay now restroom exhaust fans i i think you know this video was basic it was short it was simple but i think that there's some value in troubleshooting right and understanding once you know what's going on hey. I didn't know what breaker was controlling that exhaust fan.

I didn't know there was a time clock. But okay let's break it down what's the again i use dumb logic okay and i know i maybe it's just my way but i call it dumb logic okay all right i need to find out what's controlling the power for that exhaust fan and my thing is okay. I don't want to chase every breaker. I don't want to start flipping every breaker like that just seems silly okay so and i looked inside the labeling for the exhaust fans uh.

Where the breaker panels are and it just says exhaust fan it doesn't say which one and oftentimes those can be incorrect so i thought let's let's use my dumb logic let's go climb in the attic and let's find the exhaust fan that's easy. I can find an exhaust fan in the attic. Because i can see the penetration coming down. I know where it was and just look for the conduit going to it and then trace the conduit back it wasn't that hard so i started climbing in the attic.

And it's like hey you know what i don't think. This is the smartest way to do this i think i can approach it from another angle. So i went to another spot in the kitchen that had a better vantage point popped a ceiling tile. Didn't have to climb up there at all i just popped it up stuck my head up.

And said. There's the exhaust fan there's the conduit and then i followed that conduit to the breaker. Panel and like you guys saw. I was a little confused.

Because okay. I see a breaker labeled exhaust fan. 5. Which i think that's it and it's on.

But it's not in the panel that the conduit was going to huh open it up investigate carefully okay investigate and boom. There we are time clock okay so i set the time on the time clock turned. It on went up to the roof fan. Started running okay good sign.

So now. It's time to clean. The bird screen or the poop screen right and uh rinse. All that stuff off and get some air moving through that thing and our problem was solved okay.

So yes. It was simple yes. I could have just walked up if i knew right where the time clock was okay cool. I could walk up twist.

The time clock. I could have been out of there in 10 minutes. But i didn't you know i was familiar with the restaurant. But i didn't know exactly where the time clock was so you see my troubleshooting and the logic.

That i used to find it then once i found it again. I was just talking with someone another technician on the phone right now because he's out troubleshooting. An exhaust fan issue ironically at that same restaurant now this was filmed. I don't know a month ago.

And i have another technician. My on call technician. And he's working on an exhaust fan system because all their hoods aren't working and uh you know i was walking him through some things and he had motor starters that were tripped and what i was explaining to him was the same thing with this when you have a motor starter tripped when you have a breaker tripped you don't want to reset it when you still have a load on that breaker typically okay especially if you don't know what potentially caused it to trip okay in our case. It was a time clock.

But still i didn't want to turn the time clock on and have a load on it because i wanted to be up on the roof to see it turn on to see if there was any problems so in the case of my other technician. That's doing a service call right now. I told them what you do is you go up to the roof. And you shut off all the exhaust fans at the emergency switches right they should all have emergency switches and whatever the load may be you you shut it off okay.

Then you go downstairs. And you restore power. So that way you can come back upstairs and turn it on and invisibly. See and hear and have your meter and your test instruments up on the roof to tell you what's wrong.

Because if you have a direct short on the roof right and uh and i know i'm kind of going off on a tangent. But i think this is a great learning point. If you have a direct short on the roof at a exhaust fan motor right. But what happens if it's just intermittent it only happens every once in a while so you reset the breaker.

And the breaker trips again and you're like okay. Now i got to go find the short. So you go upstairs. And you're just staring.

You're looking you're doing things now of course before you reset things you always want to test and preferably you don't want to reset a breaker. If it has a direct short. But if it's intermittent. What do you do you know so you shut the equipment off on the roof.

You go downstairs you reset. It you come back up you test for direct shorts to ground. You don't see anything then one two three please don't blow up you turn it on and forbid that it does short. When you're up there at least you're up there.

And you have an idea where it came from because sometimes it could just be in a conduit and being downstairs. You can't hear the pop in the conduit or you can't see these things happening okay so again slow down step back use what i call dumb logic and just trace the conduit like i did you know go through everything now in my situation um. It ended up being a time clock. And then after i found it i went and i talked with the manager and i said hey you guys had any power outages lately and he's like yeah actually we did we had one for like seven hours.

The other day hey that particular time clock. That was on there does not have a battery backup. It does not have the ability to maintain its setting. When the power is shut off to the building.

So it's possible that it's just a matter of setting the time on the time clock. Now also i have since been back to that location a couple days after i set the time on that time clock. And it was still maintaining the proper time so i felt comfortable. And i don't necessarily just want to throw parts at it and say oh.

The time clock had the wrong time you need a new one well that's not necessarily the truth sometimes i like to give it a shot and see if it still maintains time okay so it was a pretty basic video. It was a time clock that was off. But we still look at the big picture. We still take our time right remember look at the big picture give the customer a big picture quote.

If possible they don't always have to accept the big picture quote. But you did your due diligence you went through everything you checked it thoroughly you made sure. It was working properly the customer can choose how they want to repair it that's fine. But at least you're covering your butt.

Okay. I really appreciate you making it to the end of the video. Thank you so much hey stay tuned. We got a cool series.

That's kind of brewing right now we're going to be replacing the air conditioner at my house. I'm excited about it it's super fun we're going as much as i can we're gonna go all building science on it okay um. It's kind of fun. I've got some cool tools.

Coming and different things so it should be a cool series so stay tuned. I really appreciate you if you haven't already please consider subscribing to my channel uh consider checking out my website hvacrvideoscom we've got some merchandise t shirts hats that kind of stuff beanies sweaters for the fall coming up um it's a great way to help support the channel. If you're interested in doing so we are getting kind of low on the hats. But i have put another order in production.

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That's it i appreciate you all be kind to one another and we will catch you on the next one okay.