I been watching our guy faithfully for a year or so now I guess and I don't think he has a single customer who knows how to change a smoke alarm battery. 😝😂
Yep you found it, fried 2 transformers. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but if I attempt a repair I'm not use to, I take pictures or draw a diagram to make sure when I go back, it's wired correctly. Thanks for sharing.
its amazing to me that tenants are too lazy to replace the batteries in their smokes. It may technically be the complex's responsibility but if you're too lazy to fix something like that yourself you are a LAZY SOB
noway man he would have to get the ladder out that thing weighs a ton plus what would charge 100 bucks i bet someone would pay for that then cry about it for hours lol
In 70’s, Grandparents came to Church. After Mass, mentioned they were Tired because they were Up overnight looking for a Cricket. True Story, I Promise! 🙏
LOL Back in my younger days I was working deep nights at the police department. Dispatch called and said a lady had called asking for help. It was after hours so animal control wasn't around. She said there was a bird in the house chirping, and she was always told that was a sign of death. I rolled up and it was an elderly lady. Every time that thing would chirp she would look at me with terror in her eyes. When I cleared the call my radio response was, "10-8 dispatch. It was a pterodactyl."
Nice work Curtis, Maintenance men aren't always certified. They tend to know a whole little about alot. I had one the other day that told the tenant she needs a new furnace, and it was just a miswired blower motor that he burned out.
Another example where knowledge and experience trumps effort. Seen a lot of that in my now retired career as a Maintenance/Project Engineer. An easy fix for someone who knows what they’re doing. Well done Curtis.
Transformers in consumer HVAC are basically there to step down the POWER LINE (120, 220, 240, 208 -whatever it may be) to LOW VOLTAGE FOR CONTROLS. Higher voltage goes in to the transformer on two wires and lower voltage comes out on another two wires. If you have 240 volts are your power line voltage and need 26 volts for your controls, then you need a 240-to-26 volt transformer. If you have 110 volts as your power line voltage, then you need a 110-to-26 volt transformer. The way the transformer itself is made determines what power line voltage it can work with.
Unless it's a multi-tap universal transformer like the one used in the video. When the appropriate line side wires are selected it can be used with 120, 208-230, or 240 volts. I also do hvac for a living.
Some transformers have a hidden fuse inside them. You only get one try to get it right. You never even see the smoke. Seems to me an unfair way to sell a lot of transformers instead of an external fuse.
Oh nooooo another chirping smoke detector Curtis how hard is it to ignore that and have you decided about the grandmother that got robbed by the inmate if I was there I would help you by providing free labor but have her pay for all of the material that you need with it marked up
Ive seen hvac hacs on service call charged $700,00 found no problem could be a short they said no parts installed 2 days later circuit board replaced more $$$
I had to put on 2x just to not hear that smoke alarm lol you should make a deal with them Curtis you fix there stupid wiring and they fix the smoke alarm’s lmaoooo
It's amazing how many calls you go on where the smoke alarm is chirping. It's annoying enough to hear it on your videos but living with it all day, every day would drive me insane. Just buy a 9-volt battery, folks!
I'm not knocking maintenance people, some of them are quite good, and they are a necessity... But "firing the parts cannon" usually ends up wasting time and money. Quality transformers (read: not the crap Chinese ones in budget cell phone chargers and cheap electronic devices) are usually pretty durable and can take a beating. 99% of the time they won't fail without a cause, and usually that cause will be staring you right in the face. In this case, it was improper wiring.
Curtis, That was a remarkable fix. I find it hard to believe that someone could install all of the primary wires. I think your explaination would have been imporved dramaticallly and show how difficult and out of the normal this problem is if one justs reads the instructions. It would be bennificial if you had shown the wiring instructions for the transformers.
Ironically the instructions are printed on the transformer not on a separate sheet of paper. I'm watching on a phone so it would be difficult to see the printing on a small screen anyway.
He explains it at the end; the transformer was installed incorrectly, burning out its wiring. Curtis did it right, which is no surprise to anyone who has been watching his videos for a while.
@@carolakemp7369 Curtis is one very honest service professional and won't stick a customer with a bad repair or replacement. I hope you show more respect for him!
@@carolakemp7369Very funny; I'm guessing you must be his sister. The only mistake I've seen him make is supporting the UGA Bulldogs over the North Avenue Trade School's Yellow Jackets, but I realize that no one is perfect.
Technically a class 2 transformer can have its outputs shorted and not result in burning out the windings. This is assuming it was installed correctly. Class B just means it has 150C winding insulation.
He said the maintenance guy replaced several parts and the transformer twice. Could have been anything really. But the maintenance guy basically wired it wrong. Had three line side connected. Should have only been two line side (primary) with the two(secondary) side connected.
The fact that the maintenance man and the supervisor could spend time in a unit and do nothing about the chirping smoke detector says all that needs to be said about their capabilities and concern for the tenant. Curtis, do you ever feel motivated, as with that long linear clump of dirt/dust along the left side of the cabinet, to take a damp paper towel and wipe such things off?
When I worked as an installer of window shutters and blinds, in more than a few houses I would fix loose hinges, closet door tracks, floppy locksets, anything that popped out at me during mobilization. People were so appreciative. But, never had the smoke alarm chirp to endure because my clients were always rich and smart. Microsoft land out here in the PNW.
I don't blame anyone for wanting to save money, esp these days. But folks need to be smart about it and realize that sometimes being cheap will cost more. I know my limitations and call pros when the job requires it.
@@btu64 That's good; I've seen guys carry a drum of freon and a set of gauges and add refrigerant (apartment complexes). Glad you made the effort to learn the trade!
They aren't paid like an hvac tech, so done expect hvac tech level of repairs. Maintenance is cleaning coils and replacing filters. Let the guys who get paid to be a tech be the techs.
277 is common in commercial applications. Residential is 120 or (with electric heaters like I saw) 240 volt. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 277 one leg of 460 ? I do commercial hvac but I see 230 3 phase the most. I have worked on 460 3 phase.
OMG what kind of idiots work on furnaces and AC. If they are certified by some school, that school needs shut down. The HVAC Guy approaches most problems with logic and intelligence and this makes him the local GURU. As a general rule GURU is a compliment but in other cases GURU means great understanding, really useless.
Most companies could care less if your certified if it saves them money. Well they think it saves them money but In the long run they usually spend more than they would have to just call someone out that knows what they're doing. And if a maintenance guy knows what they're doing they wouldn't me in maintenance for very long. Doesnt pay well enough for the expectations.
I can't believe how many people don't replace the batteries in their smoke detectors. For God sake the chirp should drive them crazy. When I watch these my dog starts to shake so I turn off the volume.
All the negative comments about maintenance guys. I've seen so many bad installs and service calls from HVAC companies that I'm at the point where I'd rather haul window units up 3 flights of stairs for every bedroom until I can find the time to do things right. Its not even worth calling HVAC companies out even to save myself time. Brand new installs losing all refrigerant within a month. Putting in the wrong gauge wire frying everything up on new units. Lying to property managers. Upselling new units. Saying nothing can be fixed. And this isn't with just HVAC companies, put with pool companies, painters, flooring guys. My last property was paying a pool company $900 a month to maintain the pool. The thing was a ecosystem when I got called there. Couldn't see the the bottom. Frogs, tadpoles and snakes had taken up residence. In a week I had that thing cleared up. Their excuse was the pool pump wasn't working. Whatever. That's one of the roles of a maintenance supervisor is to keep contractors honest. Cause they will milk a property until there is nothing left. Even maintenance guys who are inexperienced are at least invested in the property and managers keep them around hoping they'll grow rather than put their trust in contractors.
I know how you feel man! I had to fix some Plumbing from the installers today. All the piping behind the shower wasn't fastened so you couldn't get the tub spout on correctly and the shower head was flopping all around because of the pipes being loose
Curtis, I know this sounds strange, but if there is a smoke alarm chirping, you should record yourself telling the owner that they need to replace the battery. I would personally have a fresh box of 9 volt batteries on the truck and contact cleaner, and change the batteries myself. Should there be a fire in a dwelling and the occupants get burned or killed, it is possible that a sleazy lawyer would make the point that you were on site, and you were the " most knowledgeable person". Frankly, I dont think that point would be very hard to make, considering the fact that the dumb asses in this place just turn up the TV so they dont have to hear the chirping alarm.
Im a maintenance guy myself but I’m smart enough to know when I’m not smart enough. I hate getting hvac calls, because I’m extremely limited on that knowledge. Mostly I just go look at the problem, and say “yep, call the hvac guy”
When a furnace destroys a new transformer like that. My guess would be ether it was wired in wrong, or there's an underlying electrical issue persisting, like a low voltage short somewhere.
Low side is usually fused or has a breaker in case of shorts. Larger commercial rooftop units will fuse the line side also. With out knowing the original cause, I'm going with replacement transformer was wired wrong (as this case was).
Once again a maintenance man who thinks he knows what he's doing cost his employer more than if they had called an AC Contractor first....Easy money working behind the jack of all trades certified in none......They should invest $30 bucks in a 10 year battery smoke detector from the Depot.
I been watching our guy faithfully for a year or so now I guess and I don't think he has a single customer who knows how to change a smoke alarm battery. 😝😂
Yes mabeya they think if it's working it supposed to be chirping. Right
The actual problem they should have fixed was changing the damn smoke alarm battery!!!!
I thought it was mine making the noise !
I smashed mine to pieces already
They probably would have installed a new battery backwards.
@@CommercialGasEngineerVideosthose things save lives man... Just put in a new battery
I couldn't listen to that damn thing all day!
Yep you found it, fried 2 transformers. I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but if I attempt a repair I'm not use to, I take pictures or draw a diagram to make sure when I go back, it's wired correctly. Thanks for sharing.
Hey Curtis! Any Chance your Viewers could Contribute to a 9-Volt Battery Fund to Shut those Crickets Up Once and for ALL ? 😬👍
its amazing to me that tenants are too lazy to replace the batteries in their smokes. It may technically be the complex's responsibility but if you're too lazy to fix something like that yourself you are a LAZY SOB
I don't know how people stand to listen to them chirp all day and night
I would have charged to replace the battery in the smoke alarm first and then did my work I absolutely love that your meter is magnetic
I normally can't see your meter; I appreciate you telling us what is on the meter.
Curtis, you could get rich just changing smoke detector batteries in Georgia
noway man he would have to get the ladder out that thing weighs a ton plus what would charge 100 bucks i bet someone would pay for that then cry about it for hours lol
@@fernandobazan829 it was a joke. Do you know what a joke is?
In 70’s, Grandparents came to Church. After Mass, mentioned they were Tired because they were Up overnight looking for a Cricket. True Story, I Promise! 🙏
LOL Back in my younger days I was working deep nights at the police department. Dispatch called and said a lady had called asking for help. It was after hours so animal control wasn't around. She said there was a bird in the house chirping, and she was always told that was a sign of death. I rolled up and it was an elderly lady. Every time that thing would chirp she would look at me with terror in her eyes. When I cleared the call my radio response was, "10-8 dispatch. It was a pterodactyl."
Nice work Curtis,
Maintenance men aren't always certified. They tend to know a whole little about alot. I had one the other day that told the tenant she needs a new furnace, and it was just a miswired blower motor that he burned out.
As Dirty Harry said, “ A mans gotta know his limitations”. They can unclog a sink but cant do hvac repairs.
To cheap to pay a real maintenance man that's what happens all over this country
Another example where knowledge and experience trumps effort. Seen a lot of that in my now retired career as a Maintenance/Project Engineer. An easy fix for someone who knows what they’re doing. Well done Curtis.
Great work curtis
If a unit dose not have a fuse to protect the transforemer we put one in
Nice work Curtis.
good find ,good revenue source when "they have repaired on".....!
A Maintenance guy AND a Supervisor were there long enough to blow two transformers, yet they didn't replace the smoke alarm battery? Slack.
Good vid, thanks.
Glad you liked it!
Great finding!
Great job troubleshooting and repair thanks for the video
that dam chirping is driving me CRAZY!!!!! replace that dam smoke battery now!!
Transformers in consumer HVAC are basically there to step down the POWER LINE (120, 220, 240, 208 -whatever it may be) to LOW VOLTAGE FOR CONTROLS. Higher voltage goes in to the transformer on two wires and lower voltage comes out on another two wires. If you have 240 volts are your power line voltage and need 26 volts for your controls, then you need a 240-to-26 volt transformer. If you have 110 volts as your power line voltage, then you need a 110-to-26 volt transformer. The way the transformer itself is made determines what power line voltage it can work with.
Unless it's a multi-tap universal transformer like the one used in the video. When the appropriate line side wires are selected it can be used with 120, 208-230, or 240 volts. I also do hvac for a living.
Some transformers have a hidden fuse inside them. You only get one try to get it right. You never even see the smoke. Seems to me an unfair way to sell a lot of transformers instead of an external fuse.
Can't always just match up colors, although they're getting better would be nice if manufacturers would standardize wiring colors.
They'll never do that; why makes things easier? They just want to sell more parts!
Only in a perfect world, ☝️🙏✌️💪😎
Oh nooooo another chirping smoke detector Curtis how hard is it to ignore that and have you decided about the grandmother that got robbed by the inmate if I was there I would help you by providing free labor but have her pay for all of the material that you need with it marked up
Thats an old video. But, she didn’t like my estimate. Her family has plenty of money if they wish to help her.
Curtis, the maintenance man should have also found that churping cricket while he was there 😫 Au
Thanks.
Ive seen hvac hacs on service call charged $700,00 found no problem could be a short they said no parts installed 2 days later circuit board replaced more $$$
I had to put on 2x just to not hear that smoke alarm lol you should make a deal with them Curtis you fix there stupid wiring and they fix the smoke alarm’s lmaoooo
How does 2x fix anything? It's the same sound, just quicker and sharper, no?
I've also been watching your videos ,you really know about HVAC thanks so much for the videos ,i wish i could work for you.
It's amazing how many calls you go on where the smoke alarm is chirping. It's annoying enough to hear it on your videos but living with it all day, every day would drive me insane. Just buy a 9-volt battery, folks!
I'm not knocking maintenance people, some of them are quite good, and they are a necessity...
But "firing the parts cannon" usually ends up wasting time and money. Quality transformers (read: not the crap Chinese ones in budget cell phone chargers and cheap electronic devices) are usually pretty durable and can take a beating. 99% of the time they won't fail without a cause, and usually that cause will be staring you right in the face. In this case, it was improper wiring.
Curtis, That was a remarkable fix. I find it hard to believe that someone could install all of the primary wires. I think your explaination would have been imporved dramaticallly and show how difficult and out of the normal this problem is if one justs reads the instructions. It would be bennificial if you had shown the wiring instructions for the transformers.
Ironically the instructions are printed on the transformer not on a separate sheet of paper. I'm watching on a phone so it would be difficult to see the printing on a small screen anyway.
@@criticaltemperature3343 If all else fails, read the instructions.
I have to rewatch this a few times to figure out what you did.... Im on my second time
He explains it at the end; the transformer was installed incorrectly, burning out its wiring. Curtis did it right, which is no surprise to anyone who has been watching his videos for a while.
Bu I need to know where the orange goes on the transfomer@@OnusBones
Curtis is wrong most of the time but won't admit it
@@carolakemp7369 Curtis is one very honest service professional and won't stick a customer with a bad repair or replacement. I hope you show more respect for him!
@@carolakemp7369Very funny; I'm guessing you must be his sister. The only mistake I've seen him make is supporting the UGA Bulldogs over the North Avenue Trade School's Yellow Jackets, but I realize that no one is perfect.
Technically a class 2 transformer can have its outputs shorted and not result in burning out the windings. This is assuming it was installed correctly. Class B just means it has 150C winding insulation.
howcan these people sit in their house and listen to the smoke alarm beep all day????
It’s a shame the residents are hard of hearing and cant hear the low battery chirp from the smoke detector.
That was a petty good video 😅
Great job Curtis. Did I see stitches on the knuckles of your left hand?
Yes
Watch HVAC Knights if you'd care to hear about what he did.
I guess that maintenance people don’t know how to change smoke detectors batteries as well as HVAC transformers. 😂
You know you in the ghetto when you hear the old smoke alarm chirps.
Sounds to me that the property needs to get rid of the maintenance crew.
Na, they be good painter's and grounds keeper's and their brother-in-law is the supervisor.
Would you do tech level work for $10-15 an hour less than they would pay an actual tech to fix the issues?
Wow! Great job! What was the original problem? Was it the transformer
He said the maintenance guy replaced several parts and the transformer twice. Could have been anything really. But the maintenance guy basically wired it wrong. Had three line side connected. Should have only been two line side (primary) with the two(secondary) side connected.
I dislike having the UNIT in ANY living area?
How much i got to pay you to train me lol good stuff
The fact that the maintenance man and the supervisor could spend time in a unit and do nothing about the chirping smoke detector says all that needs to be said about their capabilities and concern for the tenant.
Curtis, do you ever feel motivated, as with that long linear clump of dirt/dust along the left side of the cabinet, to take a damp paper towel and wipe such things off?
👍👍👍
When I worked as an installer of window shutters and blinds, in more than a few houses I would fix loose hinges, closet door tracks, floppy locksets, anything that popped out at me during mobilization. People were so appreciative. But, never had the smoke alarm chirp to endure because my clients were always rich and smart. Microsoft land out here in the PNW.
By the chirping of that smoke alarm that unit is occupied by a single female. Don't ask me how I know...😂😂😂
I don't blame anyone for wanting to save money, esp these days. But folks need to be smart about it and realize that sometimes being cheap will cost more. I know my limitations and call pros when the job requires it.
I would have told them: Before I get started, replace the smoke detector battery & turn off the tv volume.
Who's the maintenance man? Ernest P Worrell?
It's notorious that maintenance folks aren't familiar repairing air conditioning systems!
Not all maintenance men! I've been in maintenance for years and I know how to fix AC systems
@@btu64 That's good; I've seen guys carry a drum of freon and a set of gauges and add refrigerant (apartment complexes). Glad you made the effort to learn the trade!
They aren't paid like an hvac tech, so done expect hvac tech level of repairs. Maintenance is cleaning coils and replacing filters. Let the guys who get paid to be a tech be the techs.
I worked with
What camera are you using to record these?
GoPro
How's your knuckle? I see those stitches.
As an electrician I prefer wagos .
Should've tell them to install a bigger transformer. lol
Did you mean larger wattage?
75 va instead of 40 va. Lol.
Do you come across 277 very often, i only came across 277 on water source heat pumps.
277 is common in commercial applications. Residential is 120 or (with electric heaters like I saw) 240 volt. Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't 277 one leg of 460 ? I do commercial hvac but I see 230 3 phase the most. I have worked on 460 3 phase.
The dude needs to fire his maintenance guy.
👍👍😊😊
How can anyone live with that chirp !
What's with the chirping in many of these videos?
OMG what kind of idiots work on furnaces and AC. If they are certified by some school, that school needs shut down. The HVAC Guy approaches most problems with logic and intelligence and this makes him the local GURU. As a general rule GURU is a compliment but in other cases GURU means great understanding, really useless.
Most companies could care less if your certified if it saves them money. Well they think it saves them money but In the long run they usually spend more than they would have to just call someone out that knows what they're doing. And if a maintenance guy knows what they're doing they wouldn't me in maintenance for very long. Doesnt pay well enough for the expectations.
Well I mean they got half right. Just wired it up wrong.
I can't believe how many people don't replace the batteries in their smoke detectors. For God sake the chirp should drive them crazy. When I watch these my dog starts to shake so I turn off the volume.
859 thumbs up
All the negative comments about maintenance guys. I've seen so many bad installs and service calls from HVAC companies that I'm at the point where I'd rather haul window units up 3 flights of stairs for every bedroom until I can find the time to do things right. Its not even worth calling HVAC companies out even to save myself time. Brand new installs losing all refrigerant within a month. Putting in the wrong gauge wire frying everything up on new units. Lying to property managers. Upselling new units. Saying nothing can be fixed. And this isn't with just HVAC companies, put with pool companies, painters, flooring guys. My last property was paying a pool company $900 a month to maintain the pool. The thing was a ecosystem when I got called there. Couldn't see the the bottom. Frogs, tadpoles and snakes had taken up residence. In a week I had that thing cleared up. Their excuse was the pool pump wasn't working. Whatever. That's one of the roles of a maintenance supervisor is to keep contractors honest. Cause they will milk a property until there is nothing left. Even maintenance guys who are inexperienced are at least invested in the property and managers keep them around hoping they'll grow rather than put their trust in contractors.
I know how you feel man! I had to fix some Plumbing from the installers today. All the piping behind the shower wasn't fastened so you couldn't get the tub spout on correctly and the shower head was flopping all around because of the pipes being loose
Curtis, I know this sounds strange, but if there is a smoke alarm chirping, you should record yourself telling the owner that they need to replace the battery. I would personally have a fresh box of 9 volt batteries on the truck and contact cleaner, and change the batteries myself. Should there be a fire in a dwelling and the occupants get burned or killed, it is possible that a sleazy lawyer would make the point that you were on site, and you were the
" most knowledgeable person". Frankly, I dont think that point would be very hard to make, considering the fact that the dumb asses in this place just turn up the TV so they dont have to hear the chirping alarm.
Im a maintenance guy myself but I’m smart enough to know when I’m not smart enough. I hate getting hvac calls, because I’m extremely limited on that knowledge. Mostly I just go look at the problem, and say “yep, call the hvac guy”
When a furnace destroys a new transformer like that. My guess would be ether it was wired in wrong, or there's an underlying electrical issue persisting, like a low voltage short somewhere.
Low side is usually fused or has a breaker in case of shorts. Larger commercial rooftop units will fuse the line side also. With out knowing the original cause, I'm going with replacement transformer was wired wrong (as this case was).
What is the matter with people? Put a new battery in the thing.
I hear so many smoke or fire alarms sound low batteries!
Someone let the smoke out of the transformers.
Don't people know what that beeping means?
Chirp.... chirp... chirp...🤬🤬🤬
*beep*
Once again a maintenance man who thinks he knows what he's doing cost his employer more than if they had called an AC Contractor first....Easy money working behind the jack of all trades certified in none......They should invest $30 bucks in a 10 year battery smoke detector from the Depot.