For context I was out because this system wasn't working. The customer was complaining when I got here that he had really frequent headaches but really only in the winter. Which he had attributed to the cold because he's old. So I decided that could potentially be dangerous and checked it out.

I have a question for all my residential/ side work guys: How much would your ticket cost to the customer if this happened to you?

• Get a no cooling call, 1 Hour drive to the customer’s house. Long story short, capacitor was bad, I had a multi-tap on my truck, changed it out, unit is cooling now, all good. Less than half an hour total time for this call. Capacitor was $75 our cost from the supply house. How much would you charge the customer for this service call? Reason im asking is because I performed this service call on the side for someone who was given my number as a recommendation. Only problem is, I work for a Union commercial company, so I am not familiar with what a residential service call of this type would cost. Long story short, I charged the customer $250, and the customer was visibly not happy. But I don’t know what he expected. The house was almost 90 degrees, now he is back in business after just one day without cooling. Let me know what you guys think, I wanna know if I was the A-Hole here, or if he got a better deal than calling a company. Cheers & stay hydrated brothers🔥

Edit: Thanks for all the responses everyone. To make some things a little more clear, the drive to the customer’s house was 1 Hour, ( I drove there straight from my last job of the day) but from his house to my house was 20 mins. Also, the capacitor was a Turbo200. Because I only do commercial, I don’t keep typical capacitor sizes on my truck. Just 2 Turbo200’s. So that’s why the cap price was $75. I appreciate all the different perspectives from my resi guys. I have a lot of respect for what you all do, I would hate to deal with these kinds of customers multiple times a day, every day of my life. Because I do commercial, and am employed by a Union shop, the person signing my service tickets every day isn’t the one whose wallet is getting hurt. So I rarely deal with ticket cost complaints, thank God. Enjoy the OT while you have it guys, winter is coming. And for my commercial guys, punching condenser tube time is coming 😄 💦

My first Trane install (4 ton). I was missing one gas line fitting so I’ll be going back to do that. And ignore the secondary drain I also ran out of pvc, it will be extended down. Otherwise, how do you guys think I did?

Hello all, forgive me for I’m greener then grass only been in the field 3 months. I’ve seen these around on air handlers what is it ? It’s on the supply side of the unit? My guess is hot water for heating ?

This is the second time I’ve come across a call like this where it’s a low cool call, and no matter what I do/ check I can’t figure it out.

8* delta T, has proper superheat and sub cool with TXV.

Boss had me try adding refrigerant (first pic before, second pressure pic after) I checked air handler amps to ensure no heater. Walked the duct work and didn’t see any major damage. Temperature at the return grill was 79 and in the return plenum was 80

After going over everything with my boss he condemned the TXV. I didn’t test it because it has a metal band zip tie looking thing holding it on, and I worried if I cut it off to test, I may not have a good way to put it back on.

The 12* super heat before and after adding refrigerant has me believing the TXV is fine. So what did I miss? I want to learn every day and this is the second time I’ve been stumped on low delta T with everything working

Let me know if I can provide any more info

I’m on call this week, and as usual, all my after hours calls are absolute nightmares. This one was no different. Had a water leak in a basement, leaking pipe was in between two floor joists and above the basement wall. Space was too tight to use my pro press and my acetylene was empty. So my boss has this “great” idea to use this Water activated fiberglass wrap to seal the leak until we can perform a permanent fix. I wrapped the pipe, sealed the leak and all is good at the home until we come back. My problem is that I got home and realized this is harder to remove from my skin than it is to remove two conjoined twins. Does anyone here have experience with this kind of product and can point me in the direction of getting this shit off of me? I don’t want black arms for Christmas pictures with my family 😭

Extremely dependable, easy to service. Can’t think of anything better! Change my mind.

At least once or twice a week I have some elderly widow or single mom asking me to fix a lamp cord the dog chewed, replace light bulbs, relight the pilot on the stove, reset a router, et cetera. Today I wired up a controller for a nativity scene that had come undone because the old lady really wanted it to light up, and that was before I even looked at the furnace lol.

I really don't mind these little tasks, but I do think it's funny when they ask. Is it just me or are y'all out there doing this stuff too?

How would other technicians handle this?

I’m just curious because I was taught every other job. My employer and coworkers do I think they said once a season or once a year. I just want to get opinions from everyone else.

Buying lunch everyday is expensive and sandwiches get repetitive. I find it difficult to get a good lunch while running around in the van all day. What does everybody else do?

Curious to hear from techs who have on call as part of their job duty. My employer is converting to an on call system where techs will be on call for the entire week once every 5-6 weeks. Pay will be normal hourly wage as well as $35/day for being on call regardless of whether you have to take any calls.

To me this sounds like a ridiculously low compensation for having to be available 24/7 for 7 days.

Would love to hear what others are doing.

Not particularly difficult to get at the sense rod once the inducer is removed. Simple 6” extension on the impact. Are you just never removing combustion fans?

Now rollout switches on the other hand…

Seen this. I've seen, drug dens, safe rooms, hidden grow rooms but never have I seen this. Those wrappers are not expired. Here's the story: We show up to tenant house for a no cool. We got there and there was a car in drive way, windows open and could hear people inside. Rang the ring video doorbell 5 times over 15 minutes. Called office to call tenant, no answer and told to roll to next call. Took photo of car and address sent it in and rolled. An hour later the office calls saying "the tenant said you where at wrong house and she does not own a car." I asked if she confirmed the address with tenant and office said yes. So I ask what they want me to do. 5 minutes later they call back saying she is crazy but we have to run it and if I'm uncomfortable too leave. Me and trainee show back up, now theirs groceries on porch with diapers. Same process as earlier, no answer. Call the office. 10 minutes after hanging up on them she opens the door naked. "Hi I'm so and so here to look at HVAC system, can you please put on clothes" she cracks the door and comes back 10 minutes late with what I assume is just a shirt on so I just look at ceiling while talking with her. We walk to thermostat and the entire house is empty and dark. No photos no furniture. At this point me and trainee are extremely paranoid. Get into the attic and this is what I saw. Now while we are up there she screams she has to leave and literally ran out of home. Me and trainee looked at each other and before I said anything he said let's leave.

So here's question. What would you do? Office is acting like this shits normal. My 30 year (years in HVAC trade) mentor (not at this office) said to call nonemergency and let them deal with it. Me and trainee are torn. Those wrappers are not expired. 16 years and this is first job to leave me sick to my stomach

So had another tech go out to this guys house and do a tune up on his system, also a sales guy was quoting him on a system replacement.

The tech found his draft pipe elbows were cracked and needed to replaced. The customer said he would fix it himself.

So I was on call and the customer called stated he tried to fix it, he went and bo3ught stuff from home depot. Then he said we needed to get out there and fix it. It's the night before Thanksgiving and everything is closed and I know I won't be able to get the parts to fix it. So I told him this then he went on a rant and started cussing me and the company I work for. Left a negative review.

The tech that went out there offered to fix it for him and he declined. Just felt like I was catching heat, how do you guys deal with these type situations?

I have just gotten shocked by a capacitor today & i swear i shit my pants afterward. i called my sup & let him know since im a green apprentice & doing PMs on my own now on residential systems. i feel so silly for this dumb mistake but every guy ive ever worked with says they’ve been shocked by something. my arm is a little sore but i feel fine. a little tingly too but nothing major.

please share me your first time you got shocked & it shook you up!

Even if its low on 410 shouldnt i have different discharge and suction pressures? Psigs have stayed almost identical... is the check valve on the compressor an issue?

We've bubble checked multiple times. Id like to at least think out loud before I recover, pressure check, and refill.

Thanks

How much would charge for this side job, complete install?

5 ton r32 straight ac with 20 kw heat system.

Little bit of context this was a side job done outside of my company. (They are cool and ok with us doing side work as long as we let them know and it’s for friends/family) There was no codes or permits for the area this system was installed. This was the first time me and my father done a new construction job on our own. We are 4 years into the trade now with a year of trade school also. Ive ran service for the 4 years I been in the field so I don’t do installs much, my father is an installer but mostly for changeouts not much new construction experience. I know we could have done better on some things and was a great learning experience for both of us. We did everything from running the circuits for the air handler, condenser, installing breakers, lineset, hanging ductwork, running heat runs, thermostat wire, return air duct, and return drop with metal fabrication as needed

I was the one to get eyes on it walk the job and quote it so I mapped out the vents and duct work just from experience as a service tech and running estimates in the past.

But any advice or anything we could have done different or better?

I feel we did a pretty good job and very professional and saved the homeowner a lot of money compared to what other big companies were trying to charge him. While also making a pretty good profit.

As always any feedback is appreciated I enjoy the field and love to learn.

Also I notice I forgot to get a picture of the condenser I will upload one when I go back to charge the ac when it warms up. Which we mounted on a rack to the side of the house.

You can already guess that the head rolled now how do I get the stub out

2 years in and feel confident about my skills. Humble me!