Hey guys in this video, we're going to talk about three things that I see HVAC technicians doing wrong all the time I Thought it would be important to do this video because I've seen other YouTube videos where guys are explaining things that they do or what they think that homeowners should be doing and I saw some of these things we're going to talk about pop up in there. So these are the top three things that I see Heating and Air professionals do wrong on a regular basis. The first thing is, most heating and air systems have some sort of drain that come off of them. Usually it's a PVC line or at least where I'm located.

They're typically you know, like a PVC line that comes off of there depending on what type of system it is. If it's an air conditioning mode, that drain is just taking that condensation from the evaporator coil away from the system draining outside a lot of times. And if it's during the winter time, you might have furnaces that also have drains that come off of them since the furnace is a condensing furnace regardless of the type of system you have if it has some sort of drain coming off of that. I've seen technicians and even videos here on YouTube where guys talk about blowing the lines out, they'll have different setups where they will actually blow air nitrogen CO2 Whatever they're blowing through those drains and in my opinion, in my humble opinion, that is an incorrect way of doing that and I'll tell you why.

The guy that I learned under first of all was starkly against it. and years ago I had gone to a job site where after hearing this from the guy that I learned under multiple times saying don't blow drains out I went to this house where a technician had blown the drain out and the customer had water coming through their ceiling. What happens is when you're blowing compressed air of some type through that drain. If the drain itself was not glued properly, primed properly before being glued, or just simply not installed right, it's possible to actually blow holes into that drain.

Whether it's blowing so much pressure through there that the drain itself Springs a leak or fittings that again that were not glued or primed properly separating because you've now pushed all this air through there, you could actually create issues from blowing drains through there now. I Know there are guys out there that do it all the time and that's what they'll say. Well, I do it all the time I Don't have issues. it's probably very rare I guess for that to happen, but it does happen.

If you do it enough times, you're gonna find a drain that was not installed properly or a drain pipe itself is you know, weak and brittle and here you are pushing all this pressure all this air through that line only to create more issues. I Would recommend that if you are clearing a drain whether you're a technician or a homeowner and you're trying to clear a drain the way I do it most times, more than not, is to use a shop vac on the end of that drain. Now there's more to it than that. You might have to cover the vent pipe in there.

You might have to, you know, adjust the drain itself. Maybe it goes to multiple. make sure. So when you're actually putting your shop back on there, you're not actually clearing it all the way back to the source.

but there's other ways around that as well. installing unions and things like that that you can open the pipe up and then use your shop vac on both ways. you know, go this way and then this way on that drain and clear it that way. ultimately.

I Think you know instead of blowing air through there, let's use a shop vac and clear it properly. The other thing is, you're not just breaking the clog loose, but if you're using a shop vac a lot of times, you're actually going to clear any buildup out of there as well so you don't continue to have problems and clogs and so on. I Would highly recommend use a shop vac and clear it that way. Number two of things that I see HVAC techs do wrong all the time and that is they don't read the instructions.

They think they know everything I've worked with. Old-Timers that think they know everything and they just won't read the instructions. Because of that, they'll say that I've installed a bunch of these I don't need to read the instructions, but it's not just the old timers, sometimes the the younger guys that either think they know everything or they're just trying to do it too quickly or whatever the reason is and they don't take the time to read the instructions. I Had a call just recently on Christmas Eve an emergency call that I went out and just read through the instructions real quick when I was having an error code only to find in big bold letters written right there in the instructions how the low voltage wiring needed to be wired depending on what type of system it was set up with and had the guy that installed that system read those instructions.

This poor homeowner would not have been without heat on a holiday, so luckily we were able to get all that straight. but again, if the original guy or any service tax after that would have taken a moment just to read the instructions, they had left the instructions laying on top of the Furnace right there. All I had to do was grab them and read through it real quick and I found pretty quickly because it was. it wasn't just written in the instructions, it was in big bold letters.

Do this if you have this type of setup so it's like one of my biggest pet peeves. I see Heating and Airtex all the time install equipment, install accessories, different types of components without actually reading the instructions. I've actually seen control boards that come in the package and they'll say please read this before you install this board only to find out that you know if you read the instructions, the board itself, you know you might need to do this or that before installing this new board. And if you don't take a minute to read those instructions, you would have missed that and created more issues again.

Now you might say if you're a homeowner, well if I got a heating and air guy at my house and I see them, not read the instructions, should I be alarmed I Think there's an argument to you know, if if a guy has installed a hundred of a certain product that they had they read the instructions the first couple times, but now they've installed so many that they could probably rewrite the instructions, then maybe you can make the argument that they don't need to read the instructions on that particular product. What? I might argue against that though is what if something changes? What if you've installed a hundred of that product only to find out that they made a change. And if you read through those instructions, you would find out you know Flipping through there. Boom.

This is something new. This is a change and it's not like the first 100 you install, they look the same, but this now product that you've installing. So many of you now see something new that needs to be done differently and you would have only caught that had you read through the instructions. at least flipped through them really quickly just to make sure nothing jumps out at you and nothing is new.

And then finally the number three thing of the top three things. heating and air attacks do wrong. And that is they don't address the real problem when they have an issue. What do I mean by that? I See guys all the time that they will go into a customer's home, they'll find a part that has failed and they'll of course order that part and replace it.

but in a lot of cases they don't actually address the real issue. So for example, if I've got a compressor that has failed, the question that I might ask is, why did this compressor fail Now do compressors just up and go bad sometimes? Well, yeah, but there is a chance that something is killing that compressor, right? Or if I have a system that's giving me some sort of error code that you know is new and the customer says, well, the system's been here for four years. I've never had a you know that error I've never had an airflow issue or whatever then I might say to myself, well if they didn't have an issue with the first four years there, what is now new? What's different? What is the real problem? What you know: Maybe I don't just need to replace this little limit switch. Maybe I need to address the issue of airflow that is causing that limit switch to fail.

I See guys diagnose bad pressure switches all the time when in reality it's not the switch itself. it's whatever's causing that pressure switch to stay open and not close and let that system work. I See you guys diagnose bad thermostats from time to time, Not realizing that maybe the thermostat just either has low batteries or something further down the line in the low voltage wiring is causing that thermostat to operate the way it is. The issue becomes if somebody deems something bad, they need to replace the this part.

Did you actually test that part? Did you actually make sure that that part is the issue? It's easy to say oh well. I have a system that you know the board's not acting right. So I need a new board I Need to replace this board. The board is bad.

not realizing that it's doing what it's supposed to because maybe a switch is open. So maybe that board's not letting voltage be sent through and closing a contactor because a limit switch is open or something else is causing that board not to allow voltage to pass through. And it basically boils down to are they testing it properly to make sure that it actually is failing that that part does need to be replaced I Don't like the gas I Don't ever want someone to be able to come behind me and say oh well, he was wrong. It's actually just this little part right here.

I Remember years ago I was working at a company and one of our employees said that a compressor had failed and I just happened to be passing by over there and my boss wanted me to check on it. so I did. and I ended up finding out the reason the compressor wasn't working is because it was locked out on the the thermal overload. The compressor was fine and it ended up being a bad hard start.

and why is that important? Well a hard start you're you're talking about a few hundred bucks to get the customer back up and rolling or a compressor that you know was going to be over a thousand dollars to fix. We were going to have to order the part and it was going to be a big deal. had that other technician just taken a moment and made sure that that compressor had actually failed instead of just saying well, the compressor is not coming on must be bad. he wasn't addressing the real problem.

so anyway, that's their top three the ones. I See all the times that heating and air techs are doing wrong. Have you had a Heating and Air Tech Do something wrong in your home? Or misdiagnose something? I'd love to hear about that. Please comment down below and for more heating and air tips.

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