Your Customers are Extremely Lucky to have an Overly Efficient Company handling their HVAC needs. Glad to hear your Employees are taught to Document. 👍🙏
I would typically bring a wet/dry vacuum with me to the roof. On some units I would find a marble in my vacuum cleaner when I dumped it, so some past HVAC contractor put something into the drain! One unit, three of us went to the same unit, it was about 10 years old, so we never thought about the unit not being level, but it was not level. I can only guess why it worked for years, and now was about 1/4" off level, and no longer draining. Without a proper P trap, it is possible for the suction of the fan to pull air into the drain line, and not allow water to leave until the fan shuts off. Then a gallon can fall out!
The total lack of preventative maintenance and dust on those returns was beyond disgusting and unprofessional. If they lack that cleanliness, imagine their kitchen sanitization. Makes you realize that's a place you'd never want to take your family to eat.
Water is always exciting. Little Story from Berlin/Germany Note: The cold room is in the basement in a typical (typical for Germany) apartment building with an later declared commercial unit on the ground floor (Altbau). Call: "It's dripping in the cold room" and yes it is dripping... not from the "piggyback refrigeration unit" but from the cold room ceiling, more precisely between two ceiling tiles - wonder how this could have anything to do with the unit..oh there is also water dripping from the basement ceiling onto the cold room.... As a refrigeration engineer, I only found that water was also dripping from the ceiling above a radiator on the first floor. I then did not check the residential units above.... By the way, they try to refill the water of the central heating system but can´t get pressure. Wonder if anyone wondered where the water disappeared to and how often they refilled the system.... To be fair, sometime I do avoidable mistakes myself (...fail to properly test the condensate drain of an air conditioning split system and cause a small flood because a small edge prevents free drainage... Shit happens) @HVACR VIDEOS I love to see that you take your time. Good work.
I think the plugged returns were the issue. The building was unable to get rid of hot humid air, but the rtu was making cold air non stop. The hot humid air was condensing on the ductwork and dripping down onto the tongue and groove. You got the returns unclogged, and that humid air was able to get out. That’s my theory.
This happened at the grocery store I work at. We had skylights in the roof and water was leaking into the store from near one so they assumed they had a roof leak. After a few weeks of this leaking and nobody figuring out where it came from I asked If I could go up on the roof and look around since I'm known for being Mr. Fixit around the store. I went up expecting a pond of water but the roof was bone dry....except for a small puddle under the corner of a air circulation unit. I open the side and sure enough the drain pan was 110% full of water and was spilling over into the unit which leaked down under the roof and into the store. I also checked the drain line and it was full of water all the way across the roof to another unit. My store director agreed with the discovery and she called the AC people and the guy they sent out did not agree and gave me the "I'm a professional and you're not" spiel. Somebody else eventually went up and messed with the system and the roof stopped leaking. Jump to about a month ago they removed the skylights and resealed our roof and the leak came back. Once again nobody knew what it was and I told one of the new store directors about the drain. A few days later a constant stream of water was coming out the gutters behind the store....they had came back and redid the ac drainage, I had been right all along.
I love the thick mat of debris blocking the returns... The poor system can't breathe! At Colonel Harland's Chicken Shack, we once had an issue with water dripping from the ceiling, from one of the lighting troffers. I dug out the ladder, popped the (soaked) ceiling tile out of place, and what do I find? The flexible duct mostly-disconnected from the vent. Nice, cold conditioned air blowing around in the hot, humid attic, causing insane condensation problems. It's not always a problem on the rooftop. 😃
Sometimes the hardest part is explaining to the customer that the issue is in fact a roof leak and not an AC/R water leak.. at least for supermarkets lol
Would it have been possible to use your FLIR and point it at the indoor ceiling? Even if it looks dry now, the water that may still be present would absorb heat from the surrounding area.
I do a lot of work in move theatres where the returns are too high to get to. Our solution was to get a long paint roller and wet it. Is allows you to “reverse paint” the dust out of the grill.
Look around for water coming out of areas like the door panels or the curb adapters, most of the time a super plugged coil and broken trap keeps water from draining. But I know you already have experienced this. Good work my man
I know this is not the problem, but I’ve seen where dirty filters and undersize traps cause the unit to suck the water out of the trap and cause leaks.
I can recall a funny event. I was told to go to a certain address, and when I got there, a mechanic from my company was already there, trying to get the rooftop units to all drain. All of the roof top units (about 15 of them in the 10 ton capacity range) drained to only 1" line at a floor sink in the janitor closet. So I put a vacuum cleaner on that line, and was not getting any water. The boss said "Never shoot CO2 into a drain line. Well I wonder why? So I shot some CO2 into that drain line and was talking to the guy on the roof with a cell phone. He was laughing and said IT was very funny to see all 15 units have a geyser of water shoot out of the tee into the air! If they had been split system above a drop ceiling, then those gallons of water would come down all over the ceiling. So that is why the boss says no CO2 into the drain lines! But this water landed harmlessly on the roof. When I was done, I found 4 marbles in my vacuum cleaner, so someone had put a marble into several of the HVAC drain lines. I can only wonder why? Maybe that is why we now have the maintenance contract, and the old company might have made a huge amount of money cleaning drain lines?
"Make it easier for the plumber" = "Get more billable hours, so the plumber gets less" haha Then again, the clients know what they're getting into when they pay a CZcamsr to make a video on their roof ;-)
I watch you from time to time. Never comment but I must on this one. You say you are very familiar with this restaurant and you've been servicing it for over 20 years. As their refrigeration company, how is it you let these unit get so bad without at least yearly maintenance/cleaning?
Customer may not be setup to allow him to come to do PM work because they wanted to save costs (During the Pandemic for example) so the PMs stopped and only service calls where placed when equipment had issues. The rest was left to chance. Chris cant force customers to do PMs he can only recommend it.
5:51 that drain pain wouldn't fill with water, unless the "trap" plugged up, because the top of open T is lower than the pan outlet. probably smart to do them all that way, then it overflows onto the roof instead of backing up into the pan and inside the ducts/building. it's easy to not catch things like that when your mind is jumping around thinking of what and where the issues could be. 🥸 I know all to well.
You say that you saw calcium, do you know what calcium is and where it could possibly come from? Some people think it's the white stuff in milk. Some impurities in the water, but calcium?
if you find a leaking plumbing/water leaking, not only take pictures/video of it, mark right near it with colored electrical tape and leave a large piece dangling! do the same at the drop in ceiling grid location if above something removeable or at the nearest attic access panel. nobody will be upset about that, just don't use dust tape or something nasty to remove. lol
Your Customers are Extremely Lucky to have an Overly Efficient Company handling their HVAC needs. Glad to hear your Employees are taught to Document. 👍🙏
Plenty of experience over the years of water finding it’s way miles through a ceiling before if comes out. Source can be almost anywhere
Water leaks always seem like an easy call, but it's almost never the case
The worst, if I wanted to stick my hands in disgusting goop I'd be a plumber.
Yup...
I would typically bring a wet/dry vacuum with me to the roof. On some units I would find a marble in my vacuum cleaner when I dumped it, so some past HVAC contractor put something into the drain!
One unit, three of us went to the same unit, it was about 10 years old, so we never thought about the unit not being level, but it was not level. I can only guess why it worked for years, and now was about 1/4" off level, and no longer draining.
Without a proper P trap, it is possible for the suction of the fan to pull air into the drain line, and not allow water to leave until the fan shuts off. Then a gallon can fall out!
Hey, they sometimes can be easy, like those where the previous guy used tape to hold the drain line together and gravity did its thing.
To look inside a ceiling without access panels I like to remove lighting fixtures and put my smartphone in the hole to take photos / videos.
The total lack of preventative maintenance and dust on those returns was beyond disgusting and unprofessional. If they lack that cleanliness, imagine their kitchen sanitization. Makes you realize that's a place you'd never want to take your family to eat.
Water is always exciting.
Little Story from Berlin/Germany
Note: The cold room is in the basement in a typical (typical for Germany) apartment building with an later declared commercial unit on the ground floor (Altbau).
Call: "It's dripping in the cold room" and yes it is dripping... not from the "piggyback refrigeration unit" but from the cold room ceiling, more precisely between two ceiling tiles - wonder how this could have anything to do with the unit..oh there is also water dripping from the basement ceiling onto the cold room....
As a refrigeration engineer, I only found that water was also dripping from the ceiling above a radiator on the first floor. I then did not check the residential units above....
By the way, they try to refill the water of the central heating system but can´t get pressure. Wonder if anyone wondered where the water disappeared to and how often they refilled the system....
To be fair, sometime I do avoidable mistakes myself (...fail to properly test the condensate drain of an air conditioning split system and cause a small flood because a small edge prevents free drainage... Shit happens)
@HVACR VIDEOS I love to see that you take your time. Good work.
I think the plugged returns were the issue. The building was unable to get rid of hot humid air, but the rtu was making cold air non stop. The hot humid air was condensing on the ductwork and dripping down onto the tongue and groove. You got the returns unclogged, and that humid air was able to get out. That’s my theory.
This happened at the grocery store I work at. We had skylights in the roof and water was leaking into the store from near one so they assumed they had a roof leak. After a few weeks of this leaking and nobody figuring out where it came from I asked If I could go up on the roof and look around since I'm known for being Mr. Fixit around the store. I went up expecting a pond of water but the roof was bone dry....except for a small puddle under the corner of a air circulation unit. I open the side and sure enough the drain pan was 110% full of water and was spilling over into the unit which leaked down under the roof and into the store. I also checked the drain line and it was full of water all the way across the roof to another unit. My store director agreed with the discovery and she called the AC people and the guy they sent out did not agree and gave me the "I'm a professional and you're not" spiel. Somebody else eventually went up and messed with the system and the roof stopped leaking. Jump to about a month ago they removed the skylights and resealed our roof and the leak came back. Once again nobody knew what it was and I told one of the new store directors about the drain. A few days later a constant stream of water was coming out the gutters behind the store....they had came back and redid the ac drainage, I had been right all along.
I love the thick mat of debris blocking the returns... The poor system can't breathe!
At Colonel Harland's Chicken Shack, we once had an issue with water dripping from the ceiling, from one of the lighting troffers. I dug out the ladder, popped the (soaked) ceiling tile out of place, and what do I find? The flexible duct mostly-disconnected from the vent. Nice, cold conditioned air blowing around in the hot, humid attic, causing insane condensation problems. It's not always a problem on the rooftop. 😃
Sometimes the hardest part is explaining to the customer that the issue is in fact a roof leak and not an AC/R water leak.. at least for supermarkets lol
If there were more journeymen like you back in the day, I probably would have stuck with tinbashing. Great videos.
Would it have been possible to use your FLIR and point it at the indoor ceiling? Even if it looks dry now, the water that may still be present would absorb heat from the surrounding area.
I do a lot of work in move theatres where the returns are too high to get to. Our solution was to get a long paint roller and wet it. Is allows you to “reverse paint” the dust out of the grill.
Look around for water coming out of areas like the door panels or the curb adapters, most of the time a super plugged coil and broken trap keeps water from draining. But I know you already have experienced this. Good work my man
I'd guess duct sweating, after seeing the ac units appear to be working OK. something like low air flow and maybe high indoor humidity or both.
Great video Chris. Always learn something watching your videos!
I do hope the spiders did not call their lawyers for breaking their privacy.
No routine maintenance, huh
Wow that mat of greasy dust was impressive.
Nice work Chris. Roof leaks can drive you nuts.
Great advice on hydration - thanks.
Water leaks are tricky awesome video
great psa at the end
That's funny I work for a roofing company and we always get the leak calls, even when its the roof top unit backing up.
Great advice on the water, we already had one fall out in an attic....
Every time I ask myself how hard can a job be, a few hours later I regret asking myself that question again.
Thank you so much Chris for the tip and sharing.
good detective work,thanks for sharing.
Another fine production Bud ...Thx
Looks like they need to do a better PM on the units, more then changing out filters and run.
Fault code6: that AC was picking up the totally clogged return inside.
That teaching really helps my friend!
thanks for the PSA. another great video
Nice video as always
I do this c*** and I'm sick of it every day. But yet I find myself on my optimal
I know this is not the problem, but I’ve seen where dirty filters and undersize traps cause the unit to suck the water out of the trap and cause leaks.
I had plug return grill like Chris and the unit was sucking the water out of the trap as well trying to pull return air.
Off topic question but what’s your take on tool body trucks vs the vans ? Do you prefer the vans for the organization and security it offers ?
7:04 omfggggg it all came out in one sheet. Stunning. and yuck.
I can recall a funny event. I was told to go to a certain address, and when I got there, a mechanic from my company was already there, trying to get the rooftop units to all drain. All of the roof top units (about 15 of them in the 10 ton capacity range) drained to only 1" line at a floor sink in the janitor closet. So I put a vacuum cleaner on that line, and was not getting any water. The boss said "Never shoot CO2 into a drain line. Well I wonder why?
So I shot some CO2 into that drain line and was talking to the guy on the roof with a cell phone. He was laughing and said IT was very funny to see all 15 units have a geyser of water shoot out of the tee into the air! If they had been split system above a drop ceiling, then those gallons of water would come down all over the ceiling. So that is why the boss says no CO2 into the drain lines! But this water landed harmlessly on the roof.
When I was done, I found 4 marbles in my vacuum cleaner, so someone had put a marble into several of the HVAC drain lines. I can only wonder why? Maybe that is why we now have the maintenance contract, and the old company might have made a huge amount of money cleaning drain lines?
Customer needs to understand basic maintenance such as filter clean and return grills at a minimum
Jesus those vents were so blocked 😂
"how hard can this be" and "leaking water" in the same sentence = impossible 🤣🤣
I've seen plugged relief airs cause issues with drainage
When the trades work together we all win
Good video ❤
Best way to find Waterleak put a Dye in the water system of that AC that Glows under UV light
If you suspect a roof leak, do you also suspend unit cleaning until you can confirm roof integrity? How do you prioritize.
preach! trades
Keep inform
"Make it easier for the plumber" = "Get more billable hours, so the plumber gets less" haha
Then again, the clients know what they're getting into when they pay a CZcamsr to make a video on their roof ;-)
I will discuss this on my livestream this evening 7/17/23 @ 5:PM (pacific) on CZcams come on over and check it out czcams.com/users/liveHGBq-WMiuCk
I watch you from time to time. Never comment but I must on this one. You say you are very familiar with this restaurant and you've been servicing it for over 20 years. As their refrigeration company, how is it you let these unit get so bad without at least yearly maintenance/cleaning?
Customer may not be setup to allow him to come to do PM work because they wanted to save costs (During the Pandemic for example) so the PMs stopped and only service calls where placed when equipment had issues. The rest was left to chance. Chris cant force customers to do PMs he can only recommend it.
They don't do regular maintenance only reactive maintenance. Almost every major chain restaurant does not do regular PM service anymore.....
I will discuss this on my livestream this evening 7/17/23 @ 5:PM (pacific) on CZcams come on over and check it out czcams.com/users/liveHGBq-WMiuCk
isnt condensate without calcium?
5:51 that drain pain wouldn't fill with water, unless the "trap" plugged up, because the top of open T is lower than the pan outlet. probably smart to do them all that way, then it overflows onto the roof instead of backing up into the pan and inside the ducts/building. it's easy to not catch things like that when your mind is jumping around thinking of what and where the issues could be. 🥸 I know all to well.
*Sees title, then proceeds to grab popcorn*
the painters strike again....
I take the hose and I soak the roof, and watch the ceiling, if it doesn’t drip then I go process of elimination
You say that you saw calcium, do you know what calcium is and where it could possibly come from? Some people think it's the white stuff in milk. Some impurities in the water, but calcium?
Also seen when water is in contact concrete and cement on its journey
after being in the trade for 40 years the easiest things are the hardest
So 1 compresor fan bad , 1 main bearing going bad for the sound of it, and a pluged drain , besides all the dirty stuff
Any more black widows on this roof??
Really want to buy one of your hats but I'm in Canada and it's $30 in shipping and $30+ for the hat... Anything you can do Chris??
Just one thing, you do not prove a theory, you prove a hypothesis and create a theory.
Gee I think you discovered another customer that would be perfect for your mandatory cleaning services on a regular basis. 😂
My wife got me hooked on alkaline water with electrolytes in them. Thanks for the video Chris
Just be careful who you buy it from. There was an article if you search “alkaline water death.” Basically, people mixing incorrectly.
739 thumbs up
Watching other people do it l o l
if you find a leaking plumbing/water leaking, not only take pictures/video of it, mark right near it with colored electrical tape and leave a large piece dangling! do the same at the drop in ceiling grid location if above something removeable or at the nearest attic access panel. nobody will be upset about that, just don't use dust tape or something nasty to remove. lol
random question am i the only one that has had a broken AC ?
ALL SUMER LONG
2nd!
Pretty pathetic management has not taken the time to call in their filter maintenance company to do their filters and ductwork. pathetic.
Dripping condensate and rain does not contain any calcium. It is pure distilled water. If you see calcium stains it must be city water.
god i love myself a dirty trap
How you managed to start JVS. SO YOUNG? Commercial hvacR 9:30 tech out of Orlando
I will discuss this on my livestream this evening 7/17/23 @ 5:PM (pacific) on CZcams come on over and check it out czcams.com/users/liveHGBq-WMiuCk
Keep inform