An honest HVAC guy will keep a customer for life, please stay honest and you would never be out of business. Thank for sharing

About 10 years ago, I had a local HVAC guy come out when the thermostat fuse was blowing. He had😢 no clue, as he clearly was not a technician at all .. but wanted to quote me a new system. The system was over 10 years old, but I still didn’t believe him. I worked on it myself, completely self teaching from scratch as I went (it took a couple of afternoons) .. and found the reversing coil grounding out. I replaced the coil and fixed it myself. It ran for about 3 more years until the R-22 compressor motor lost a winding. As with most repairs on things, I’m a staunch DIYer when I can & call when I must. Most vendors/contractors suck.

@AltimaNEO

2 күн бұрын

Contractors are just diy'ers with a license. Most of em aren't very skilled.

Some are scammers . Others are too lazy or inexperienced to analyze a problem and choose the easiest route , load up the parts cannon and keep pulling that lanyard till the system works again . This is where scammers and incompetents can intersect , by replacing the highest value components first .

MUCH respect for a guy who can call BS on himself [and the scammers].

I'm not an HVAC guy, but I've been told by honest HVAC guys and also mechanics that there is absolutely no reason to cheat or scam a customer because there is plenty of work out there to make a good living without trying to cheat anyone.

As an honest tech, I would say that 60% of second opinions that we give, wind up with a relatively inexpensive repair done by us. So many dishonest or inexperienced techs out there. At least I HOPE many of them are "inexperienced ".

I did these types of repairs and second opinions for years here in Alabama. So many dishonest companies cheating people just trying to get by. I can honestly say that in the 13 years I was in my on business I never cheated anyone. If we don’t have honesty and integrity in life we are pretty much spiritually poor individuals !!!!

Reversing valve wire isnt even connected in the thermostat. I bet the thermostat was not configured for heat pump

Thank you for having your integrity and morals intact. So many people's moral compass is so jacked up, I don't know how they walk straight.

The Company that "Fixed" our Heat Pump, which was just a service, removed the Orifice on the outdoor unit. The Guy said it's not needed and removed it. In Heat Mode, the outdoor unit sounded awful. I got confromation the Orifice (Piston) is required for Heating. The Company wouldn't come back as they said "You are wrong, I've been in the businees for 35 years so there is nothing to fix". I recovered the refrigerant into the Outdoor unit, disconnected the high side and put the Piston back in. Bought a Vacuum Pump and a Micron Gauge and drew it down to 45 microns. Sealed her up and opened the valves. So I turned into a DIY. Got advice from KZread what needed to be done. So far, all is good. The Heat coming out of the Ducts before the Piston was back in was 82 degrees. After my repair, 102 degrees, I didn't have a way to check pressures. R401a. It reallty sucks as a Homeowner when we feel helpless and seem to be the Victim. Love Ted's channel. Wish Ted lived nearby so I could get the System fully checked and serviced.

She will promote your business and you will get more business. 👍

Looks like they had the white wire on w instead of w2. The fact that they were trying to sell her a reversing valve over that is wild.

@sknight0391

8 ай бұрын

Yep, and I bet they had that thermostat configured for conventional / ac 1H/ 1C. That's why the electric heaters were on and there was no call on Y during the heat mode. And that's why orange was tied in with yellow outside. That way whenever the AC called from the thermostat it would power Y outside which would also power the reversing valve for cooling. 😎👍

@johnblaisdell2179

8 ай бұрын

I've had more than 1 of those T6 randomly change to default program for no apparent reason.

Just wonder how many crooks are in the business robbing customers?

thank you for helping that poor lady. us women get bamboozled all the time.

@kellyvcraig

9 күн бұрын

So do we guys. No one can be an expert in all things. Interestingly, I've found myself having to defend that I believe, as a pro in certain areas, it's my duty to both educate and watch out for customers because, if they knew everything about my trade, many would not need me in the first place.

@cyclopsvision6370

6 күн бұрын

Men get scammed too, it has nothing to do with gender.

@Vanned-UpComedy

2 күн бұрын

My elderly boss just paid $300 for a new capacitor in her furnace. They run about $10 on Amazon.

That was probably 1 of those Guys that Steve Lav says carrys a Tablet with them and wants to put in a New System.

God bless your heart! The hvac industry needs more people like you that’s for sure!! 👍🏼

Ted, I live about 90 miles East. I'd gladly pay your mileage and time to come work on my systems - you deliver such value to your customer. It's a shame - so many technicians are trying to pump their commissions up instead of actually fixing customers' issues.

@natepeterson7145

8 ай бұрын

I did HVAC for almost two years and I never liked telling people even honestly that they're better off replacing a system. I don't understand how these companies can do that dishonestly just for a sale. There's plenty of systems to condemn ethically.

@CJRoe

8 ай бұрын

I agree with your statement, but the real "problem" is that the employer is giving low hourly wages and high commissions based on upselling. They have devalued the work ethic and incentivized the sale.

@nickname9377

7 ай бұрын

Bro, you hold a special place in my heart. You need to write a book about your tranquil life. I would appreciate a guide on how to keep my 50 dollar hourly job as an employee while not following your supervisor's directions. The Owner is not me. I am not responsible for it. I am ethically not allowed to interfere. I am not ethically towards the customer, as you stated, but I am ethical towards my employer. Which is the responsible POC in this case? We submit three suggestions to Dispatch. One is to replace the unit, while the other is for repairs. You can tell us about that because we are not permitted to provide recommendations to customers while they are present. You are Welcome@@natepeterson7145​

@nickname9377

7 ай бұрын

My work ethic is not devalued. I am ethical towards the business owner and his business. If I were to work for you and receive equal pay and treatment, I would comply with your wishes. If I end up running my own business, I'll do it my way.@@CJRoe

@kameljoe21

6 ай бұрын

@@natepeterson7145 I hate people who opt to replace than to just fix it. FFS I bought a house several years ago and while it sat empty the basement flooded and messed up the furnace. The company who installed it came and replaced the control board, pressure switch and that was it. Charged me 700 bucks and 500 for the control board that I found I could have ordered for 200 dollars. I also told them that they jacked the price up when they ordered it from the same Amazon I could have. I mean you do not leave your amazon box in my basement. They then charged me double of what one off those pumps things costs too. They tried to charge me 4 round trips to come out and repair it. I got them down to the 2 they needed. They came out and checked everything and then came back with the parts only to come back 2 more times because they did not have all the parts they needed. Either way they quoted me 6k to replace the unit and I told them to stuff it and made them fix it. I seen the guy at a local eatery and told him that you feel the need to eat in public when you full know you tried to rip me off. He ran like a child with out his food. Screw people who rip people off. I wont call them ever again. I also want to point out they did a very shoddy job with the install along with it not being sized right and just too small for this house.

Sad fact is, experienced techs don’t make as much money for a shady company as poorly-trained “inexperienced” techs do. If a business makes a “mistake” that keeps making it money… it will keep on making that “mistake”.

The thermostat was programmed for gas furnace, instead of heat pump.

Great job Ted, I appreciate your honesty. When I managed an HVAC company my mentor told me don't run the business during the week that would get you punched in the mouth Sunday. I don't understand the reason for dishonest tactics when you can make a great living doing it honestly.

@OneLeggedTarantula

7 ай бұрын

I think it was tech incompetence. many techs simple don't know basic electrical control knowledge beside the color codes for the thermostat and lack the troubleshooting process/logic.

Ted, excellent diagnosis. Before I retired from the HVAC service industry, I would have enjoyed working with you. You have ALWAYS been a person that operates with integrity. Doing the next right thing for the customer has always been and will continue to be the mark of a PROFESSIONAL such as you. I enjoy following your uploads every week or so and I wish you continued success. Please stay safe out there.

Glad to know there are good honest people out there. Thank you!

This is why I had to stop working for other people, they just wanted me to sell sell sell even when the customer didn't need it! I have a good heart and want what is best for my customers so I started my own business. I can't be associated with that half-assed-ness. Thanks for the video, got my sub and like.

Your gauges were set for r 22. You said you was gonna grab the 410. Could of been crucial, always wait at least 5 min of unit running before adding refer

*A quick disconnect for the high side hose would help. You lost a bit of the charge and the r410a when you took your hose off.*

That was really interesting to watch. I think we got scammed recently. Had a shiny new system in our house that had a feature I'd never seen before... a reusable/cleanable electrostatic dust filter! I thought that was really cool, but the AC wasnt getting cold enough and the full-color LCD thermostat was complaining about low refrigerant pressure, so the HVAC guys came out and claimed the compressor was shot and irreplaceable, so they scrapped the whole system and replaced it something clearly much cheaper (that had the old disposable filters in it...) "...but don't worry, we offer financing!" for this completely new but cheapo system-- for $2000. I later found replacement compressors for the old system online.

I have been in the field over 30 years and 80% of the second opinion calls I go out on end up being what I would call errors in judgement. Alot of younger techs are not really techs and make mistakes. Either way the customer pays the price I suppose. I tend to think ppl are mostly good and just can't do the job.

@RobertTuck-vo8cw

8 ай бұрын

I was in HVAC and then in industrial control systems for 41 years. I firmly believe (and I have found) that so many "technicians" cannot properly troubleshoot. They don't see the problem and they want to replace something. I have seen units declared bad due to broken low voltage wires, bad breakers, bad capacitors, contactors and thermostats. A HVAC is a fairly simple control system.

@kameljoe21

6 ай бұрын

@@RobertTuck-vo8cw Those young tech are now only do replacements and not repairs. There was a short where the guy pretty much said that he replaced the outside unit because he did not want to replace the fan motor. I mean he said it in a short that he charged the people 4 grand because he did not want to replace the fan for a few hundered dollars. FFS people bashed me because I called him a thief.

I like the T6 stats personally. Installed many of them.

I would have loved to of heard the ladies reaction. I suspect she'll call you from now on.

This dishonesty is driven by companies moving toward "performance" based pay, which is just another name for commission. In the end you and the rest of the honest companies will be the ones left standing.

In Ted we trust.

Ted its the white wire it should be at w2 not w for heat pumps that explains the condenser not getting a call for heat and only aux heat energized. We have these types of companies here too give high estimates tontry to push a sale.

Straight to the BANK SON !!!

Very Sad. My brother had an issue with gas heating kicking out on stage two, extremely cold nights. The company who had been servicing the equipment for several years could not find the issue, even rewiring the stat saying it was installed wrong from the start. ( I installed it correctly 2001 freedom 90) They eventually told him it was a board issue and that was no longer available. So wanted to replace the unit. I told him to find a local guy whom was a Trane/American specialist. The guy came out asked my brother what had changed with the property since last year (even before looking at the equipment) Brother replied nothing, only the roof. The Guy said that was the problem. And sure enough, the roofers had put silicon up under the air intake on the concentric roof stack, probably thinking it was a storm collar. Just a service call out price, problem solved lasted another 5 years. Until another company talked him into a new system. I doubt it really needed to be change even then. Excellent systems.

Ted watching many of your videos I know for a fact you're honest tec.great repair 👍

Imagine the song and dance when after having replaced everything, they ended up replacing the thermostat. Incompetence is always followed up with a lie. A scam is when someone knowingly rips a person off. Incompetence is what would have cost this customer. Great job by the way. As a professional tech of over forty years, I truly believe that dishonest and scam are terms used way too often. Diagnostic skills are developed over a lifetime.

Ted, great work doing the job the right and honest way. That customer will always call you for future repairs and maintenance from now on.

Been watching your videos for years, I left the AC industry 3 years ago and got into the construction industry and I still love seeing your videos!

I had a similar situation some 20 years ago. I had purchased an apartment complex. One of the ACs had failed. Called an HVAC repair outfit, they said it was shot, and the furnace needed to be replaced. I called somebody else, and he told me it was a miswire and he could fix it for $150. Done deal! Over the past 20 years, I've done about half a million dollars business with that guy. Sent him a check for $21K the other day...

Great diagnostic skills! Thanks for the lesson.

There are a lot of those type of contractors out there Theodore , these people are lucky to have found you. To be sure your now on there radar for future work. Honesty is always the best policy, tell the truth and you never need to remember the lies. Nice work sir.👍👍🇨🇦

@oldtimefarmboy617

8 ай бұрын

It is also possible that those technicians simply do not have the knowledge to do a proper diagnostic evaluation. Maybe a tech school graduate without much real world experience When they can not figure out what the problem actually is, replace the system is the easy answer. That is why most skilled trades require apprenticeships before you can be licensed to do work on your own.

7:58 you can see someone has hooked to w1 which says not w2 that’s a problem. See this a lot in my area

She should call up the other company and say it was just a thermostat

I've always liked the soft spoken Ted videos, so I would vote against the added music and stuff. Just plain Ted is hard to top. 😎

@phil29681

8 ай бұрын

I was going to add the same. The clips don't help either. Wonder who told Ted that was a good idea?

My local HVAC saying is "when a service call is just a service call and not a sales call".

I had great experience with the local Heating and Air Conditioning place out in Kalona here . My unit began icing over 1 year, so I cleaned the coil etc, which was in fact dirtier than hell. Those mobile home furnace/ACs don't "require" a furnace filter and I was running one anyway, but I mean it probably hadn't been cleaned in like 15 years. Next year it was icing up and weak -- it was low on refrigerant. The place got me charged up (and leak stop, which must have worked because it was like 10 years ago and the thing is still ice cold). I was shocked at the bill, the R22 was already around $150 a pound by then, so I was expecting a big bill, they'd stocked up when it was still cheap and were giving it little to no markup, they charged like $20 a pound for the refrigerant, the total bill was under $200!

Great methodology in tracking down the root cause. Too many so-called pros just start replacing parts hoping that it will work instead of putting in the time to isolate the root cause. All modern day appliances are complicated due to code regulations and once the tech goes down the rabbit hole of replacing parts, there is an infinite loop that there is no going back when things doesn;t work.

Yeah I noticed the pressures were there but the Fieldpiece Digital Gauge was set on an R22 refrigerant setting with your R410A Condenser. Not really a big deal if you just going off the line pressures learn to mentally calculate 😅

@basketballjones6782

2 күн бұрын

Believe it or not, 100psi in an R-22 circuit is exactly equivalent to 100psi in an R-410a circuit.

Replaced my unit in a 12 condo building, as it was 15 years old, and i was worried about no cooling here in the south, just wanted piece of mind at that time.., paid $3200, others wanted $6000 for same unit, some neighbors have their original unit still going at now 24 years old! - same guy still charging $3400, and others now up near $9000 same unit…crazy….a friend worked for a local big company and he said he gets 60% of all upsells and he refused to do that, they told him he needs to meet a minimum sales requirement or he can leave.. so he did .. had that company quote a fix on another unit, it was $691, my friend I mentioned bought the part for less than $20 and popped it in…and it took 15 mins..whats up with the HVAC world?

Goodman will take about 10 15 minutes sometimes to come up to speed on pressures

2:15 You a brave man. I never use my fingers to energize a contactor. Bad habit if some day you move to really high voltage/ three phase. I use an insulated magic wand.

I'm not an HVAC guy, but not too dumb either. Checked a gas furnace as a favor for a widow living with her mother. She had been told the "blower motor was seized and the board was not distributing electric properly". I don't know how much she was quoted for the repair, but I replaced the hot surface ignitor for $30 (ignitor not on the repair quote). Still running fine more than 2 years later, original board, original motor.

That is what happened to me when I called Smith Heating and Plumbing in Colo. Springs, they tried to sell me a whole unit two years ago and we are still running with the same old unit.......scammers!

I'm shocked at the number of 'reputable' service companies that are quick to pull quotes out of the flat rate sheet before analyzing the actual problem. Labor costs are one thing , but crazy charges for minor repairs are another !

Never forget that this is America. The mighty dollar is more important than anything else

The best thermostat is the WIFI type that way you can check on our home away from home.

They must have gotten their training at the auto stealership service department.

Enjoyed that Ted, I like the ones that aren't super easy And especially when you fix one rather than replace it when it's not needed

Hey Ted you should give Pro1 thermostats a try. Have had extremely good luck with them. T705 for conventional 1h/1c T725 for Heat pump with Electric backup T755s for dual fuel applications They are fantastic.

Intro music and all stepping up there Ted.

Feel like I’m watching Steve laviniere with the gloves.

Great job!!!! Keep up the honesty.

"First thing I'm going to suspect here is gonna be the thermostat..."

Neighbor just had the same BS done by a large, heavily advertised company(TV, radio, internet, etc) They were told that the R22 was $1000/lb, if they could find some since it's illegal to sell/use in Calif...

excellent video i enjoyed the commentary and camera angles showing your work

The white is not in the proper connector for heatpump operation.

Lol-Goodmans-“ i’ve thrown away more than I fixed”. Just another day in the life of an honest HVAC tech.

They are so many scam in the HVAC field. Glad to see you doing good to customers!

Cowboy, you need to wear a white hat, because you are one of the good guys

My youngest sister had this Honeywell Thermostat programmable was the Problem. So I changed it and everything is bad to running fine 👍

It is said that central AC units should be replaced every 10-20 years depending upon how hungry service technicians are. I would have to budget $150-$200/mo to cover the eventual cost of two AC units in my home. My daughter's AC unit cost $8000 to replace. Both my systems are 20 years old and working fine. The most expensive component to fail would be the compressor which could justify the replacement of the whole system. The rest of the system is plumbing, electrical components and motors which are, in my opinion, less expensive to replace than the whole system due to age only.

Thanks for the video. Its cool to see other trades expertise in their fields.

thank you for your video. It's good to be honest. One thing, your audience would appreciate it if you do NOT add music to your videos. Super annoying and unnecessary. I think everyone would rather hear you talking to us with relative information about what we're watching. I know a lot of KZreadrs feel the need to add the music but in most cases it definitely takes away from the video.regardless thank you again for taking the time to make this video.

Did you happen to check the thermostats internal set up settings make sure it was probably set up for a heat pump and actually make sure that the reversing valve is set correctly between O and B. Additionally, as regards to the charge, did you check the evaporator foil? Make sure it wasn’t dirty. Do you happen to check the air filter? Additionally, the fan speed settings with the high head pressure and they’re gonna have a high head pressure anyways due to the smaller indoor coil acting as your condenser and heat

I do like that lineset hide. Wish I had that on my install.

Love your channel and your integrity. Not all that wild about your new theme song and intro..

@georgebrabec1749

7 ай бұрын

Ted, as always a super educational video. Like they way you have put in the short TV show responses blended in to your videos. Music is great. Have a Happy Thsnksgiving.

If you don’t wanna wait for the delay on that tstat hold the middle and plus button and go to test mode saves you 5 mins

Good job!! Thank you very much.

It’s getting bad out their. The big next star company in my city is looking for service people. In their advertisement, they called their service technician sales technicians.

You know who she's gonna call first when the Goodman turns into a Badman! Had a guy try to rip my parents off over a bad fuse in the disconnect. And his boss was a friend of mine. BTW, that was the last day he worked there!

@bertellijustin6376

7 күн бұрын

More likely the tech didn’t know the disconnect had a fuse. Most don’t in the region I work in.

I had a failure to cool consistently, and they tried to sell me $12k to 18k of equipment, I replaced the thermostat, and it has had none of the old symptoms for several months now.

TED.............YOU always do the right thing for the right reason!>>THANK YOU!

Every time I see a contractor truck pull up, my first instinct is to reach for my shotgun! Seems everyone is out to scam you these days. Honest people are hard to find.

excellent video, loved the nacho libre clip.

2:23 When you turn the AC on cool, the thermostat is giving dictation to the compressor how to run, THEN sends the 24v pulling contractor down. if you only push the contactor down the compressor will heat up every time if the thermostat is not also set to COOL. The sound at 2:37 sounds like it exiting cool mode opening the TXV.

Honest people are becoming harder and harder to find these days.

Way too many scammers in the HVAC biz. It seems to attract them like flies to an outhouse.

@ronniebuchanan6575

11 күн бұрын

Most customers are clueless about HVAC its a complete mystery to them its very complicated from their prospective therefore makes it easy for the scammer to manipulate. I educate my customers as much as possible.

This is a minor issue: they just did not wanted to do the work and a lot more profit in replacing. Sometimes I see a system - thinking why in the world would I be repairing this...

Thank you for your integrity sir.

You're wondering about colors of wires and if unit has a pressure switch and there is a schematic right under your tools.

When a lot of these newer techs can’t figure it out. They condemn the unit so they can move on to the next call and hopefully it sells a new system, end of story.

@MrStatic101

8 ай бұрын

Bingo. Add a bonus structure into your equation and you have your problem.

I hate that thermostat too. Its slow and not very good at triggering when you want it to. Also heating-cooling is in manual mode by default, almost as if its designed to force you calling the HVAC guy just to program it into AUTO.

Ted you said let me get 410, but I see your gages were on R22 … just looking at Big Picture..

I made a very long career out of repairing systems that “needed to be replaced”. You also will have a customer for life when you are honest and treat them fairly.

Your a Good Man and I bet you sleep very well at night. I still like to believe that there are more honest people in this world like you, than dishonest people. Cheers

Airbnb belongs at vacation spots not residential neighborhoods

Dam shame I c the same from 1 of our locals ripping customers off they don't care 4 me cause I'm like u I tell the truth that job had 2 b a con. Good job hvac man

Honest HVAC techs are rare where I'm at in Phoenix. Most try to up-sell like adding a hard start kit for $500-800 which should cost no more then $120-200 at most.

I’m a service technician down south in East Texas . And I have these calls every year on a second opinion. And almost everytime they tell me the others recommended a change out . I find a little thing like that or nothing wrong other than age on the unit .

Those thermostats work well , but maybe they weren't setting the right way. But I don't know if you checked the thermostat settings for heat pump.