Does this happen to you?

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Ohmy

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Atlanta, GA
This is happening to us? HVAC tech on a service call tells a customer there is an electrical issue with their condenser. We go out there and find that the breaker is tripping. So we check the disco, connections, wire, lugs, etc. Do amp and voltage test, replace the breaker for prosperity sack, and tell them to call the HVAC company back. Twice this week we have received calls back from the customer saying "no its an electrical issue." So then I have to call the HVAC tech and explain how a compressor works and how to use a meter. Both these techs have been from major companies....whats the deal?
 
some just do not care,or do not pay enough attention!!!!!!!!!!!i work for a company ,and my fellow workers care half the time..i spend alot of time fixing there crap--when comes time for final inspec.hopefully me pass my state test,and that will provide me with more job options.seems they do not understand that the faster way ---COST THE COMPANY IN THE LONG RUN!!
 
i've had it happen a couple of times.


I went to a call on a house I wired a couple of years ago, and the HVAC tech was there and told me my 20A CB on a condenser w/ a max OP rating of 20A was too small. He said they always use a 30A.

Since everything checked out fine to the disco and through the whip, I left it with them.
 
I had a call from a customer of a hot tub company we do work for. They said the breaker was tripping and the hot tub tech was there and said he couldn't get the tub to work till we fixed the power problem. QO250GFI in panel held when we disconnected the load. Customer took us outside and pointed at the bubbler and told us the smoke came from there. Disconnected the bubbler in the control panel and everything else worked. Invoiced the customer and told them to let the hot tub tech know he needed to order them a bubbler.
 
Ohmy said:
This is happening to us? HVAC tech on a service call tells a customer there is an electrical issue with their condenser. We go out there and find that the breaker is tripping. So we check the disco, connections, wire, lugs, etc. Do amp and voltage test, replace the breaker for prosperity sack, and tell them to call the HVAC company back. Twice this week we have received calls back from the customer saying "no its an electrical issue." So then I have to call the HVAC tech and explain how a compressor works and how to use a meter. Both these techs have been from major companies....whats the deal?
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So who did you bill for your time?
 
Helped a neighbor out, HVAC guy said breaker was too small, unit had been running fine for 10 years, checked the current, did nothing but climb. Felt condenser, hot and no air movement, and this unit was just serviced how do you miss something like that.
 
Ohmy said:
This is happening to us? HVAC tech on a service call tells a customer there is an electrical issue with their condenser. We go out there and find that the breaker is tripping. So we check the disco, connections, wire, lugs, etc. Do amp and voltage test, replace the breaker for prosperity sack, and tell them to call the HVAC company back. Twice this week we have received calls back from the customer saying "no its an electrical issue." So then I have to call the HVAC tech and explain how a compressor works and how to use a meter. Both these techs have been from major companies....whats the deal?
Click to expand...

At 8PM on the Wed. before Thanksgiving a customer calls for an emergency.
It's a funeral home and the elevator stopped working. They needed the elevator to move the bodies.
They said that the elevator guy just left and said there was something wrong with the power and they needed to call an electrician.
I go out and check the CB/disconnect. The bldg has a 240/120 3phase delta service.
Line and load sides check out OK. Control power OK.
I talk to the elevator guy on the phone, who tells me that he checked voltage to ground on all 3 phases and the voltage on the B phase was way too high.
I told him that he measured the correct voltage readings and explained the electrical characteristics of a high leg delta.
He tells me how long he has been working on elevators and says "no way, I've never seen or heard anything crazy like that"
Most elevator guys I run across are pretty sharp guys, this guy is the exception.
 
jmsbrush said:
So who did you bill for your time?
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Flat fee diagnosis plus new breaker is pretty standard for these situations. Then we give them the rundown..."your a/c is bad, its making your breaker trip and the breaker is probably compromised. You need to call the HVAC company back, etc, etc." Then 8 hours later they call back and say "Hey, your new breaker is tripping" and I ask them if the called the HVAC company and they say no "it was working when you left." Then they get the HVAC guy out there who says AGAIN the "the breaker is tripping...must be an electrical problem" and so on and so on. Until, I actually talk to the HVAC tech and explain how motors work. Then three days later the customer's wife calls and says "it turned out to be an HVAC issue, soo we really didn't need you guys can we have our money back....we are happy to pay the $29 trip charge but not the diagnosis, new breaker, and training session for our HVAC tech. To which I am thinking WTF, I thought you were calling to thank us for awesome service.....?!?!?
 
Ohmy said:
we really didn't need you guys can we have our money back....we are happy to pay the $29 trip charge but not the diagnosis, new breaker, and training session for our HVAC tech. To which I am thinking WTF, I thought you were calling to thank us for awesome service.....?!?!?
Click to expand...

Once upon a time I get a call because an A/C unit for a computer room was not working and the servers had went down and they were having all kinds of problems ( highrise office building, medical). When I checked the problem out it turned out to be an electrical problem. One of the major HVAC contractors had installed a new unit for a lab on the same floor and there wasn't a space in the panel so they just disconnect the A/C for the computer room and used that space for the new unit.

This is a major problem so I called the engineer for the HVAC contractor to see why they had done it that way. He knew all about it and said there wasn't enough money in the budget for them to get a sub panel installed for the new unit they installed because of the price given for the job. So they just disconnected another unit and used they space for their equipment.

To make a long story short I put the engineer on the phone with the manager of the business and let him explain to the customer who had caused the problem and how it was going to be taken care of. You never seen anyone so mad as the manager after finding out what had happened but they were not mad at me. I found space in another panel and got the unit going and billed for service. After that I got serveral calls from that business.

I just try to make sure that the customer understands who is costing them the extra money and it sure as heck isn't me.

Edit: I forgot to mention that they not only disconnect the unit but tried to hide the wires so it would be hard to find. Like no one is going to notice. :grin:
 
the term electrician in a foreign land is translated jack of ALL trades. you have to know how all these other trades do what they do just so you can go back to it later and find ways to get wires someplace that many have tried and failed. :cool:
 
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