"prevent the air from rubbing out on the box" made me laugh

The electricians get away with such shoddy work because they know the inspector will never go up on the roof when it's 100+F

“Prevent the air from rubbing out on the box.” Chris, that is Master Level sarcasm. You are becoming sarcaholic like me

It’s incredibly subtle but I’m getting the tiniest edge of unhappiness from you in this video.

Totally agree. As an Electrician myself I would be embarrassed to do such a job. Perhaps different electricians should be used.

I'm an electrician myself. In Germany though, but that's not the matter. I know we Germans probably have stricter standards, but in any case, watching the beginning of the video was hard for me because everything that could've been done wrong was done wrong. I mean, they fixed a grounding wire with a goddam screw. As for your solution to this. I can only speak from German standards, we always use Ring Terminals combined with spring and teethed washers. If there is no thread, we use self securing nuts. And for my perspective on everything else (also speaking German standards here): 1. Blank wires on the roof: Depending on how they were cut, they can have spiky ends, causing injury. Since they seemed pretty thick, that's even more dangerous. 2. Conduits on the roof: Tripping hazard 3. Hole towards the main switch: Absolutely disgusting. 4. Hole for the conduit: See above 5. Termination on the Main switch: Now, this will sound very German, since I only know how it should be over here. Normally, every main switch still needs protection from touching. To terminate main switches over here, they must be opened and not only the case where they are seated. That's because over here, you always assume that there are dumb people around the machines. In any way, the electrical work was a disgrace to all electricians who take their job seriously. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. I'll answer. Even if you just want to know about probable differences in electrical code.

I would be telling them that I can't do anything with that unit until a new electrician comes and fixes this mess. As in, "I''m not touching that until it is corrected. Period."

It sucks so hard when you recommend hiring a specialized trade to do the work, and that company does a worse job than you could have done yourself. Always seems to happen when you try to do the right thing.

This "Electrician" should be stripped of their job and sent back to school for a proper education in all things electric. This is not just ridiculous, this is outright dumb and dangerous.

Time for you to set up an electrical division in your company!

You missed one problem: the wire boot acting as a rain bucket. The boot should make for a nice funnel into the building.

You should definitely become qualified on paper as an electrician yourself and run your own cable runs like this for units where necessary, from this video alone I can tell you have what it takes.

Well done Sir. You went the extra mile for your customer but the most important thing is you did the best for our trade. Keep it up.....

Holy moly, I would've been cursing up a storm on that roof. I hate having to clean up other people's mess at work. Don't know why it is so hard to do things correctly.

As much as I want to say I'm surprised by that, I'm not. It sucks because depending on the customer they don't give 2 shits as long as the price is good. Majority won't see the possible implications of poor workmanship like this, and since you found it and fixed it prior to major issues like water damage they'll be like "awesome thanks" and still use the same people without holding anyone accountable

I am 60 years old and retired from my plumbing business. Back when I was working I would get so upset to come across this kind of laziness. You remind me of my self and the work ethics I held. Today the common person wants a paycheck for nothing. Keep up the good work, love your videos.

I really enjoy your videos. I currently teach HVAC in the military and I use some of your techniques to help my airmen understand. I have worked in the field as a civilian and as military and have meet very few people who can explain things as well as you. Keep up the great work!

For whatever its worth, when wires burn up at joints its due to resistance (such as corrosion or loose connection) causing heat at that spot, the heat then causes more resistance and the problem dominos. So normally when wires are burnt at just one spot its due to the wire not the load.

You mentioned that there was some flex conduit going back to the panel. That's not carrying an acceptable ground. A separate grounding wire needs to be run. I saw a video about a residential AC outdoor unit where a grounding wire was not run through the flex whip. The compressor developed an internal short to "ground", which was just through the metal in the flex. That length of flex had enough resistance that the breaker did not trip, and the flex just heated up and burned the outer jacket and internal wires to a crisp. The only thing that kept it from starting a fire was being outside and not in direct contact with anything flammable.

A ground screw has to be a machine screw fastened in an approved location. Also I believe you can not use conduit for grounding at that ampacity and that ground looks under sized as well. Wire size should be #3 copper with a #8 copper ground. NEC 310.15(b16) for wire ampacity ratings.

Your reaction is exactly the same reaction I would have had. I hate dogging people but I absolutely cannot stand willful incompetence. No one cares about quality of work (it seems more common today) and sure part of it comes down to a customer's willingness to pay for quality work. But at the end of the day, there are some things that you absolutely cannot skimp on, and that includes electric and gas fittings! This is why I prefer to do everything myself. Because then I know it's done right. I'm not perfect, but I know I'm not one for shortcuts and shoddy workmanship.

Looks like Hack and Moe stopped by

For holes like that, keep a slab of polycarbonate shoved between a couple of shelves in the van somewhere. Quarter inch thick poly carb is cheap, and you can rough cut it with basically any power tool like a 3 inch cutoff, Sawzall, or a drill with a hole saw. You can also score it deeply and crack it with a good knife on any straight metal edge if you're desperate. Alternatively, keep a chunk of thin marine plywood on hand. Marine plywood is about as much epoxy as it is wood, so it's not going to warp or rot. Regardless of what you chose, silicone the hell out of it and it'll last for a decade. Half inch marine plywood with a few spacers is also a great way to bodge together a mounting solution for various things.

As a Sparky, I feel like I ought to apologize on behalf of my trade. The thing that motivates me to do good work is remembering that if somebody is hurt or killed by my negligence, their family can take everything I have. Yes, I know, Section 110.12 shouldn't need any teeth behind it except the ones your own pride has, but when it's 110 on the roof, it helps to remember.

You should get the inspector out to check it out and get the guys credentials. He can get a super fine.

It sounds lovely when all the stages start up and hearing those beefy compressors humming away happily 😊👍

The metallic conduit is grounded to protect against shorts to the conduit, I'm pretty sure it's NOT supposed to be carrying the ground to the end equipment.

I honestly don't know how you can work in that heat all day. I guess it's a dry heat, but still, you must be super human,lol. You never mention how much work it is to carry all your stuff on to the roof ,ha. You are awesome i swear. I've been doing HVACR since the 80's, Love your videos!

I'd call the local inspector and have them take a look. See if you can get their license pulled. At least show the customer.

You, sir, carry yourself as a professional and craftmanship and doing the job right is so very important. Great job!

6:00 you think he's done complaining lol and then he gets so pissed that he just can't handle it. 🤣 I understand his frustration. I feel it

i'm going to hazard a guess that the sparky that did this used the old ground wire as a draw tape for the new cabling.

Title of the video, oh my god me too. Because sometimes the only way to get something done right is to do it yourself even though you should be delegating.

I’m a commercial refrigeration technician. I add phase monitors to older systems like the ones shown in this video. This will protect the compressor in the event of a bad contactor or loss of phase on one leg.

Don’t look in the attic! Pandoras Box “Polishing a terd” I love it!!!

I agree with the frustration. We might have shared the same "electrician". I had a 3 phase demand meter stop working. It was still under warranty. The original installer sent someone out to replace it. It only needed to be swapped out with the replacement. The "electrician", changed the conduit, replaced conductors, reversed the phases, and removed 2 unrelated breaker from the panel, that went to our outdoor security lighting. The ground was covered in debris, wire pieces, zip ties, cut off terminals, and tape. My service call was for the inop security lights, and when I arrived and saw this mess, I called the cops and made a report for vandalism. Also, the work was untested, because the replacement never went online, and he never announced his presence or made contact with the POC, nor was anything inspected or reviewed. I took 2 more visits to correct and repair the damage that he created, and still did not pick up his garbage. This contractor has now been blacklisted from bidding on any future contracts. Unprofessional, unskilled, untrained, and DANGEROUS worker! Even My 10yo son would never have done such a poor job.

Yesterday I couldn't spell electrocian, today I are one!🤣 I'm hyper vigilant about leaving debris on membrane roofs, so even just seeing it as you walked up triggered a facial tic...

That unused bushing was left there for a reason! When I figure that reason out, I'll let you know. 🤣

The flex in the attic will heat up like a giant toaster coil under a ground fault and will not trip a 100a breaker. You cannot use flex as a gounding means. That exact situation caused a serious fire at a restaurant that my sister and brother in law was at one night. My sister noticed the lights flickering while she was in the restroom, and just as she got back to the table the staff was evacuating the building. The lights went out and flames broke through the ceiling just before they got out of the door.

You hate to see shoddy work it makes your life not easy awesome video

It's funny. I'm not an ac/heat engineer. But I like watching ur videos. They are really interesting to because u take a lot of time to explain what the problem is and how to fix it. U have a way of explaining like we r there with you. I think it is really cool. Keep up with the awesome videos and jobs that you do. Stay safe. Take care. Kenny.

Opening that electrical panel is going to be super easy! Barely an inconvenience!

Go for it, full send! There are too many good electricians that take pride in their work that would never dream of leaving a hot pile of garbage like that. When technicians in any field do shoddy work like that, they should be called out so hopefully the ones that do good work will get the job next time allowing the trade to continue to be respected.

Good work as always, Chris! Nothing wrong with verbalizing one's frustrations out of the sight of the customer!

Love it! It is always good to hear a good old rant.

Thank you for sharing, I can attest to what you have dealt with. I enjoy your videos.

- It's 113 degrees in the shade today! - So, keep out of the shade.

Early in the video - "We're literally in the Lowe's parking lot" Later in the video - "we ran over to Home Depot to get an LP". I only go to Lowes to remind myself why I don't like going to Lowes...

Some of the best concisely orated videos on KZfaq! Keep them coming!!!

Hey man, my buddy told me about your videos he’s been doing commercial hvac & refrigeration for a year we worked at the same company we both quit he quit 1yr sooner then I did, I’ve been a residential hvac tech for 7yrs, I quit my current job as of today I’m done working there, and Monday I go to my new job to go work commercial hvac & refrigeration and I’ve been watching your videos for about month now, the amount of information & advice you have given me is substantial and gives me ALOT more confidence making the switch in my career, love the hats I’m getting one soon to help ya out, since you have helped me thanks man.

As always excellent video Chris...you have the best training videos on KZfaq!

I am not an HVAC guy. Not even close. I am an IT guy. But I for some reason find your videos really interesting. I've probably watched about 20 of them in the last couple of weeks. It might be your personality and style of explaining things which is similar to mine. Keep it up!

I deal with this kind of stuff all the time. They KNOW no one of any importance will be on the roof to inspect their work.

I recently have become an HVAC technician for a company in the Midwest and I enjoy your videos I've picked up a lot of good tips and tricks that help make my life easier I thank you so much keep putting out the good content

I've been an electronic Tech for over 50 years and what I've noticed is that A) People no longer take any pride in their work. B) They don't know what they're doing C) They really just don't give a damn. Finding people that actually care, know what their doing, Treat the customers property like their own are becoming scarce. I've run into my share of morons and I relate to your frustration. Just one example : On a Television Pc Board there was an LC. Instead of removing all the module plugs and flipping the board over to resolder a Mosfet power regulator. The last guy wedged a matchbook cover to hold the transistor in place. Oh it worked for 6 months or so until the LC popped up again. I fixed it correctly and put all the extra screws that were laying in a plastic bag in their proper spots. What a non-caring , screwup of a lazy non-caring moron tech! And he worked for our company too BTW I like your videos. I always wondered how you guys did your repairs under some brutal conditions up there on the roof Good Job! 👍👍 People that have both good mechanical skills and electrical knowhow and troubleshooting abilities are like striking gold nowadaze.

Makes you understand a little bit better that when you recommend to a place to get x, y or z professional to come in and do a job that you can't do, that the restaurant is hesitant and probably won't do it unless it's absolutely necessary. Every "professional" they call is another chance to get ripped off and get shoddy work done

As a PM here is some of the things I hear from subs. “That’s a laborers job to clean up”., “that’s a change order because you provided no written scope”, “that’s an existing condition”. That’s why as a home owner I do everything myself…

Thanks a lot for sharing this Chris

Excellent video thank you!!

As a former electrician and the father of a teenager who is hoping to enter an electrical apprenticeship soon I am ashamed for that level of work. The amount of damage to the wires and the lack of forethought scares me.

Yeah they goofed on the ground… especially at that amperage you can’t rely on the conduit to give you a solid ground to clear the short, and usually when using conduit your not allowed to go over 6 feet for anything over 20 amps. But that rule is a safety rule for encountering a problem on a small scale to if you don’t have a ground what can be used. Considering they had to pull a new feed a #8 would have fit … I agree codebooks are practically free, the electrician doesn’t have an excuse… that’s why HVAC guys hate us lol

I've been looking at getting my electrical license due to bad electricians up here. We've made multiple trips to remote locations because electricians couldn't get their tihs together. Maybe it could lead to something else but at this point, it'd be to make my life easier.

As an electrical contractor for 30 years I totally agree with you. Bosses fault for not training and following up on the jobs. Was the 3 pole breaker that was the original disconnect rated to be fed from the bottom with the load on top?

Always enjoy watching your videos, but after the first part of this one, you owe me a new Sarcasm Detector. You plain blew mine up! 😁 Everything looks so much better after you got done fixing the mess the electrician left. Well done!

You are a legend! The customer is very fortunate.

appreciate the video. taking notes

lol the sarcasm is strong in this one! :D pleased to hear my first language in use

I remember watching you and u used to be just always fun and I formative and nice... Glad to see you like this...it's the real u

Now thats crazy. I've never seen an electrian thats ever done a job that poorly. That's not how it should've been done. Also the ground wire in that box? That is not safe whatsoever. Glad you were able to fix some the issues they caused after they did stuff to it.

YOU ARE SOOOOO RIGHT....VERY GOOD

If that HVAC unit develops a fault that creates a path to ground, then that conduit potentially needs to deal with a current of up to 100 Amps. If that happens, that conduit will get so hot that it melts everything in it and around it. I mean, if the total resistance of the short to ground is a bit higher than 2 Ohms, the breaker won't trip and something will start burning for sure. Ground connection should be same gauge as the power wires. Just screwing it to a piece of conduit that is probably grounded via fittings, a length of pipe, some more fittings, a length of flex, another fitting and finally, the case of the main panel, well, that is not acceptable.

I feel your frustrations. It takes just a few minutes to clean up after yourself but I see it day in and day out. Even in residential going up into their attic to find an old evaporator coil and cabinet just thrown in there with all the broken straps and tape or piss bottles without lids leaning against a truss

I’m 13 and been learning about electrical for about 6 years

NEC 250.134 Wiring Methods Grounding All electrical equipment, metal boxes, cover plates, and plaster rings shall be grounded. All switches, including dimmer switches, shall be grounded. Min. Wire Ampacity (100 ft away) = 125A × 1.2 = 150 Amps That means that we need a wire with at least 150 ampacity to deliver 100 amp service, 100 feet away. 1/0 AWG wire has 150 ampacity. That means that 1/0 AWG wire is the perfect size wire for 100 amp service 100 feet away.

great video glad to see someone who cares

respect to the moon , always enjoy checking in on your channel here , knowledge is key . . . Arizona , lake havasu city ...Bill

(I will preface that i have no credentials as either a HVAC tech or an electrician and only watch as a fan and I work as a diesel mechanic) As you pointed out that its so hard to find the people you really need to do good work but from seeing this I can see a large opening for your business that could be filled by possibly finding some guys that are good (and certified) electricians to maybe convert them over to learn the hvac trade as well or maybe vice versa if they are good and willing to go back to school to learn the electrical trade (possibly with a decent incenctive). could seriously be a one stop shop so to speak when it comes to that stuff when you are able to bring out your guys to do the full installs from "panel to roof" making it an even easier choice for companies to choose you over someone else that may have given a slightly cheaper bid when they can have it all done by one company rather than having to deal with two maybe three companies to do an install of equipment. just my thoughts on whole matter looking in from the outside and im glad there are still amazing people that want to do a quality job instead of taking the easy route out of things all the time. keep up the great content.

That was not an issue of having a bad day. That was incompetence by the electrical company who did that work. You don't "forget" a ground wire. And the ground wire that was connected in that box? Omg, even connected with a few strands, it's dangerous. Those can break easily, who knows what can happen. You were 100% right to rant and complain about it. Absolutely right to call them out on it.

I was working on that exact model and had the vfd explode on me. There was multiple rubouts from the vfd to the IFM. It shot shit across the roof. Never found a short to ground and powered the breaker back on. As soon as the blower spinned up it went. Now I always check for rubouts even if I don't have a short to ground on the meter

I feel your pain but thanks for your videos. Stay cool.

on a positive note.. the wire was wrapped the correct way around the screw... it's great fun to come across wire wrapped counter-clockwise around a screw.

Noticed a small flash right @14:29 from a bottom lug of the center contactor.

Excellent video!! Really good stuff!😁😎

I love your work ethic.

It’s like this everywhere now. I recently took an AC test to buy Freon. A guy was standing outside reading a pamphlet that gave him enough answers to pass. He gets a few weeks of training and that’s it. These are the same guys here in florida that just measure pressure and one one occasion I asked about superheat and super cold and he said “Oh, don’t worry about that, it’s not that critical”. Welcome to a country that is full of low information people.

I love your sarcasm it’s funny

Great job cleaning up the mess!!!!

Freaking dangerous that's what that was, Nice job on the repair Chris!

I'm an electrician and It is amazing how often I come across work like this. It goes to show that training and a license means nothing in any trade or profession. The one thing I have learned after being in my trade for 20+ years is that the people who do the work like you showed in the beginning of the video will forever be on the revolving door of employment. The people who take pride in what they do and do it correctly as the job and customer permits are always in demand. Never forget that service technicians from any trade would not be worth what they are if everyone did their jobs correctly. I make a living making things right that were done wrong. Its frustrating but so rewarding when you are given the opportunity to make things work that never worked correctly, its what gets me out of bed in the morning.

"I run into that problem every once in a while when I try to put it in there!" 😅

That is downright DANGEROUS! You won’t get a short to ground because there is no ground. You can only get a short that puts someone in the ground.

The start of your roasting the electrical guy was amazing omfggg I was rolling

It sucks for you to come up to the roof and find such carnage left behind by the last guy. But from a KZfaq perspective, this makes some damn fine entertainment! If I remember correctly it was shoddy wiring in some old Lennox unit and your heart felt rant about it that got me hooked on your videos. It shows the contrast between quality work and the bodge jobs you find oh so often. Though I would not wish it upon you as a person, I'm looking forward to the next time you get screwed over. Sorry. 🙈

Just wow. Love the sarcasm in the beginning, but on HVAC Overtime you were so pissed.

I was thinking, and waiting for more info, that you should call or send this to an inspector over this job, but the gold was struck at 4:45 when you said the company that did the job watches your videos. So nevermind to the inspector job, they got the shame needed to not do this again

I feel your frustration. I can't count the times I had this same scenario happen. I would shut down the unit and have the customer call the electrition, having the customer refuse to pay them for shoddy and unsafe repairs not to mention blatant code violations. A supposed licensed electrical contractor got nasty with me on the phone one time, what he didn't know was he was on a 3-way call with me and my friends that was not only an electrical engineer but a city and state certified inspector. I unmuted him, he identified himself and proceeded to let this guy have it, my friend ended up pulling that contractor's license and filing charges, he also helped out by filing for the contractor's recovery fund to cover the cost of repairs for the customer.

I am a master electrician and HVAC tech. That is horrible, unprofessional work! Thank you for calling it. Sadly, I have seen so much of this kind of crap over the years. It gives all of us who are true pros and care about what we do a bad name. Unacceptable at all levels.

That why I'm so thankful my Electrical vendor I use is driven by speed but quality first

I have no professional experience with commercial or residential electrical work, but even the slightest amount of common sense would indicate that the work of the previous hack (won’t even call them an electrician) was crap. As someone else said, melted wires are typically caused by resistance in the circuit. The fuses and circuit breakers protect the wiring from melting due to overloading. As long as the circuit protection and wiring is sized correctly, even if there is a direct short to ground, the circuit protection will trip before the wire is significantly damaged. So yeah, odds are the problem was a crappy connection, not a failure of the HVAC unit. I have no professional experience in commercial wiring, but I have extensive professional experience in automotive electrical and electrical basics/circuit protection basics are the same. Also, the saying is “I *couldn’t* care less.” If you could care less, that means you care.

Hi, code enforcement? Yeah I'd like to report a flagrant violation.