Stupidest Service Call you've run!!!

[kingkaiko2002]

Hi all,

I was wondering what is the stupidest service call you've ever ran?

Let me start with mine today.

Customer call for no heat.
When arrived, furnace has no power,
checked outlet, no 120v.
Checked breaker, breaker is good.
After running around for 40 mins and multiple phone calls to different tech I ask the customer if I can use the phone cause mine was out of battery. Customer said, the phone doesn't work because her utility was shut off for non payment. DUH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She paid her bill, but it wouldn't go through for another two days. Advise customer that the furnace should work once she has utility on. I felt so sorry for her that I didn't even charge for the service call.

[kdean1]

Wait a minute.

It took you 40 minutes to figure out you didn't have line voltage? Is that a new record?

[gravity]

wow! suprised you didnt figure it out sooner. ever get a no heat call and there gas is turned off?

[gravity]

can't say ive ran and stupid calls. i have had the usual ones where the furnace switch was off b/c they thought it was the light switch.

i went to a weird customer today. we set his ladder up in the rain and he had booties(plastic bags) to put on the feet of the ladder. i just shook my head

[iszell]

I once had to drive 50 mile one way to get model and serial numbers because previous service tech forgot to get them, and we needed to order a part under manufacturers warranty!!!!!!!!:gah:

[gravity]

F that. he would have been driving back....or he'd be calling the HO to make a fool out of himself and asked them to get it...haha

[JWB]

During air conditioning season. humidity control brings the ac on and the tstat is still set above room temp. Especially interesting in a zoned home, went to one and the kids had set the HW8000 humidity setting at 40%. The other stats were set for 55% and so that room at 40% was always cold. Dad had no clue that feature brought the ac on. Naw, it just dehumidifies with salesman provided magic.

[bja105]

In the big 3' of snow blizzard a couple years ago, a service contract customer insisted I come out at midnight. When I got close, I called and asked him to turn on his porch light. "But we don't have any electricity." He is on my personal Do Not Service list.

[hvac wiz 79]

no heat call generated by the monitoring company. discharge temp @ 115, RAT 72, but space hasn't been above 65 in past few hours with both heat stages active . . . . sensor a few feet away from garage type door . . . that's been open all day.

[billygoat22]

you don't have an a/c unit......

[JStar]

Finished the maintenance on a hot water boiler. Customer refused to turn the heat on until we did the check-up. House was 50F when I started. After 30 minutes of run time, the house climbed about 2 degrees. Pack up and leave. An hour later, I get the call that her heat isn't working anymore. I call her to try to resolve it over the phone.

-What's the temperature in the house right now?
-62F.
-That seems pretty good for running for only an hour.
-Well, it never did that before.
-Was it ever this cold before when it started?
-No. But it never did this before.
-Okay, I have 2 other calls, let me call you back in an hour.

Hour later....

-Did the temperature rise at all?
-I didn't think it was working fast enough so I shut the thermostat off.
- (silence)

[john_dixon29]

The unit outside started making funny noises and the fan shut off then smoke started rolling out of it.

The lady who has been smelling something and having headaches ever since the batteries went bad on her CO detector and woke her up in the middle of the night. ------ During cooling season

[wspascoe]

wow! suprised you didnt figure it out sooner. ever get a no heat call and there gas is turned off?

Had a few that the propane tank was empty. In the middle of the night is when its the most irritating :gah: :gah:

[martyinlincoln]

No cool call and they didn't have an AC...
No heat and the gas meter locked out for months...
No cool three years in a row because the only time the filter gets changed is while I'm there. Always a weekend overtime call.

[AC5096]

Had one years ago, new immigrants to the US. Had there caliente & frio mixed up.

Middle of the summer and the heat turned up as high as it would go.:grin2:

[vstech]

got a call no heat... in charlotte, it's a record cold spell around 5below zero... in charlotte, design temp is like 20F... anyway, I go out, and the door opens to let me in, and the heat POURS out of the house, I ask if the heat's been fixed, and she says no, it's freezing in here...

thermostat is turned to the max (mercury stat back in the day) temp in the house... 92F, she's got it on 100 and expects 100 in the house... I adjusted the temp indicator on the stat cover to show 100 and left...

[vstech]

another call, I go out on, middle of winter, I go out, and the flame is small, then HUGE, then small,... adjusting regulator, no change... I decide to pull the regulator, but there's no cock, so I head for the meter... no meter, just the gas line connected to a bicycle tube with hose clamps... looked like popeye's arm... I turned it off, and called the gas company... slowly walked to the truck...

[ch4man]

i remember a not enough heat call on a big shack on the lake. boiler systen running full tilt.

ahh sir i believe its not keeping up because your remodeling your house and two walls and part of the roof is gone and you only have a tarp covering half your house.

[ch4man]

and then theres the always great " i hope you have a flashlight, theres no electricity in the furnace room!:gah:

[2sac]

The daughter of a customer who owns 20 or so Taco Bell restaurants calls. PITA customer. A tech had told her a week prior that the t-stat is reading about 1 degree below display temp.
"Well I have a newborn baby and I need the house temp at 73 degrees or the baby will be too cold"
"Why don't you turn the t-stat up to 74, and it will be 73 in the house?"
"I need a new thermostat!"
The boss had me pick up a stat before I even went on the call. I get there and replace the thermostat. Only problem is she had just spent thousands of dollars having a faux finish painted on the walls and the painters painted around the thermostat rather than pulling it away from the wall and painting behind it.
"Ma'am, the thermostat you have has been discontinued, and this is the newest version. It's a little smaller than the old one. I can see if I can find a larger one to cover up the unpainted area."
"Ok, but it needs to be done by tomorrow because I'm going to Florida for 3 months":gah:

Spawned from her mother who wants to run the A/C when outdoor ambient is in the 50's. I quoted her to install a low ambient kit.
"That's awfully expensive"
"You could always open your windows."
That's unacceptable"

These conversations happened years ago and I can remember them as if it were yesterday.

[stickinit2thman]

Get called one saturday morning by a freind saying his A/C wasnt working.Him and his son are "electritions" by trade so I arrived and went to condensing unit and shuure enough want running. So I removed the access cover and had no power to the unit. Went to breaker panel and breaker for cond. unit was turned off! Not tripped mind you but just accidentally turned off. Sheez,

[GREGHVACGUY]

2009 no heat gas meater locked. husband said wife pays the bills.2010 no heat gas locked out he tells me wife pays bills.2011 no heat so when i pull in i check the meater befor i knok on the door meater turned on. a girl around 18 lets me in and she tells me this furnace goes out every year my mom always pays the the bills but she has past away 3 years ago.i tell here in the past the gas was locked out by gas company this time its not. let me go see why the furnace is not working. this time no gas found the gas line to the house went bad.

[Baloo2327]

I get a call 3 weeks ago of no heat. I find a furnace that hasn't worked in 2 years, (tenants have been getting by with electric space heaters) and in desperate need of being changed out. I get the approval from the landlord, and schedule the install. I advise the tenants to make sure there is propane in the tank, and that's when I get, 'Oh, we'll have to wait a day or two for hubby to get paid'. I'm still waiting to hear back from them, and their not answering their phone.

[mike3]

More then once I've gone to the wrong address and been let in. One call, they let me in, I cycle the furnace and the motor starts smoking and quits. Lucky it was an apt house and they called the mgr. Whew

[JWB]

we have a lot of Navy guys here. they always think they are smarter then me because there were in the Navy. No disrespect, sir. I got a 99 on your asvab in high school. I fix these things every day. your problem isn't that big of a deal, and no that HD/Lowes stat isn't defective. You either cannot follow written instructions or refuse to. Sir. Mr. Master Chief or whatever.

The reason it won't turn on is you blew a fuse. It is clearly labeled on the schematic you failed to read after you failed to read the wonderful RiteTemp directions. No, the service call is not free and there is a charge for replacing that simple fuse. Yes sir. No I think those tstats are crap. you asked what I thought and I told you. Oh that van out there and these shiney tools, they gave them to me with this mobile phone and told me to go out and drive around and see it I could figure this stuff out. Yup, started doing this yesterday. Pretty cool I figured it out in 2 minutes and just happen to have that Trane buss fuse in my pretty veto bag, eh? Nope never been to a class or read a book, got all my training in the pen. Yup, jail dawg.

[Cooked]

Probably not the stupidest, but....... About a month ago, a no cooling "emergency". I found this. Look closely.

232791 232801

[westval]

Had a call from a new resteraunt owner in town. Freezer won't keep up. Found that "freezer" was a medium temp unit. Helped move all the product one door over. All has been good ever since.

[fartbutstudly]

I have two;

Went on the days last call, No Heat, I find the oil tank in basement empty . I go upstairs and tell home owner "your oil tank is empty". She says to me condescending "Do you knowing what your doing, we have a gas furnace" No mam, you have a oil furnace, and the tank is empty. Just bout' then her hubby shows up, and she says "this furnace guy THINKS we have a oil furnace, ahh yes honey, we do. She quietly retreated upstairs...

Another war story...

Got a call, "I installed my own furnace, It's very noisey, and has little airflow. I start down the basement stairs, blower is growling. He actually did a decent job on the supply duct. Problem was he omitted the ENTIRE return duct. I said you need to cut into the side of your furnace { upflow} and install return air ductwork. He said "ARE YOU CRAZY" that's a brand new furnace. If they wanted a hole in it, they would've cut it in @ the factory. I said good luck with your project...

[2sac]

Chinese restaurant calls. Needs the cooler fixed. I show up and the best information I could get is they had the condensing unit and evaporator installed yesterday and it doesn't work. Evaporator coil was hung properly and had power going to it. Condensing unit on top of box has power going to it, and the owner says there's freon in it. I put my guages on and I have pressure. I take a second look. No line set. My boss says walk away from that one. His reasoning: Either someone else walked away becuse of non payment or they did the work themselves and as soon as we touch it we own it.

[Orangeheat1]

No A/c Call, Maam where is your condenser located, sorry its not located there now, its gone..

[jeremyhall.tech.sc]

wow! suprised you didnt figure it out sooner. ever get a no heat call and there gas is turned off?

or better yet , there is no unit?

[stickinit2thman]

Went to call one winter night and discovered she was a recently divorced blonde ex nieghbor of mine.(can ya see where this is headn)Soooo I proceed to troubleshoot and find empty oil tank. After telling her the problem we started talking and long story short I kept her warm that night but the oil wasnt delivered untill morning.Hey I had to bleed the lines right? anyway when I get to shop the next day the piping/electrical crew leader told me she was his ex-sister in-law! lol Small world huh? My only experiance of that kind. Thought id share.:cheers:

[John Markl]

Delta pilot calls the morning after a sleet storm, to report that his outside unit is making a horrible racket.

I'm thinking "fan banging on ice" ...no big deal....but on the way over, I'm thinking, "hey, he has gas furnaces and straight a/c".....

I get there, and sho-nuff, the upstairs condensing unit is running and the fan is knocking the crap out of the ice from the storm.

I go inside, and he's got a roaring fire in the fireplace. The house has an open staircase and a balcony on the second floor overlooking the living room.

His thermostat? An "auto changeover" model.....The fireplace was generating so much heat, that the upstairs stat was calling for "cool".....:gah:

[John Markl]

"Dis Jimmy Cheng wife at Peking Chinese Resarhant....My little box is hot, you come quick!"......:whistle:

[Chris_Worthington]

"Dis Jimmy Cheng wife at Peking Chinese Resarhant....My little box is hot, you come quick!"......:whistle:

Well did you? :angel:

[enb54]

Went out to check a boiler problem, but no boiler.. Heat comes on then dies after about 3 or 4 minutes... Discover it's a hot air furnace...
Not being a hot air furnace kind of person (I'm the manager/owner), looked at it with the voltmeter, etc, then looked at the return air filter (just a fluke)... Totally plugged (and I mean TOTALLY!!!...mostly dog hair). Replaced filter (they had a pack of them) and told them to keep an eye on it. Wished I'd have taken a picture, told my guys to always take pictures after that...

[2sac]

Delta pilot
Got alot of them here in Chi-Town

[anthonyac1]

i got a service call, unit not cooling. i show up and the old lady says oh this unit was working good.but i replaced the filter yesterday so that cant be the problem. i take a look and find the evap coil frozen solid with ice. the lady slid in the new filter with the plastic wrapping she never opened the filter. lol

[blownfuse99]

I had a guy call us and tell us there was no air blowing out of the vent. When I got there I pulled the filter out and it still had the plastic on it.....I called the office to see if I could cut him a break and not charge him the service call, and after checking the computer they told me nope we were there about 90 days ago for the same thing.....

[aggiechillertech]

Just got back from one tonight the store manager called and said the whole store was freezing cold. Got up on the roof only to find the lazy filter guys didn't put one single screw in any of the service panels. 10 rtu's had the doors blown off laying on the roof. I found one in the parking lot:gah:

Last week tenants called duplex owner said unit was not heating. The gas was not turned on and was the only thing in the house that used gas. So since they moved in during may could not understand why that had to get the gas turned on now since the a/c worked fine this summer. Geez some people. Explained how it works and she said they'd take care of it.

[Redwood650]

Yesterday. No heat residential. I go to the T-stat, room is 70, setting is 60. I turn it to 72, system turns on.


"How did you do that???????"

[billygoat22]

calls I didn't go on-

can I run my vacuum cleaner over the floor registers- it won't collapse the duct or damage the heater, will it? (kinda makes sense, they both suck air, right?)

I need you to look at the heat
sure, its more for after hours
but you have 24 hour service
yes, but its more at night
but you have 24 hour service...

[kls-ccc]

Here is several of the same one.

We installed a new furnace/heat pump system with the furnace in the crawl space. To make it easy we put a filter rack in the return duct so they didn't have to take off furnace doors. 3 months later we get a no heat call, nothing runs. They had changed the filter and not got the blower door back on right {they looked there before taking off the door to the filter rack in the duct}

Three months later, no heat nothing runs, same thing, tech tells them to leave the furnace doors alone the filter is in the duct.

Three months later no cooling, nothing runs. Can you guess?

We went on this same call 6 times before they finally figured it out.

[Georooney]

The fact that I had to use my flashlight to find the breaker panel would have been my first clue. :)

[jeremyhall.tech.sc]

Here is several of the same one.

We installed a new furnace/heat pump system with the furnace in the crawl space. To make it easy we put a filter rack in the return duct so they didn't have to take off furnace doors. 3 months later we get a no heat call, nothing runs. They had changed the filter and not got the blower door back on right {they looked there before taking off the door to the filter rack in the duct}

Three months later, no heat nothing runs, same thing, tech tells them to leave the furnace doors alone the filter is in the duct.

Three months later no cooling, nothing runs. Can you guess?

We went on this same call 6 times before they finally figured it out.

no amount of planning can overcome a ignorant attention-less handicap!

[madhat]

Had a call, the meeting room was freezing cold. Had 30 of our most brightest executives in the room, some with Ph'ds. Flip the little switch on the side of the thermostat from cool to heat.

Get calls when the temperature drops, that the AC is blowing cold air on them, find the top double hung window. they opened a couple of weeks ago, is open at the top.

My computer tripped the circuit breaker and now I can't work. We know they had a heater plugged into the surge strip.

Got a call in the middle of the night from security, Chiller was making a terrible racket. Get there and noticed a 1/4 of the street lights are on, they lost power and one of the Gen sets that is 15 feet away, from the Chiller, is running normally.

We are freezing / roasting, can we go home? The temperature is 72 F. Also it was freezing / roasting a minute ago, did you do something before you arrived? So can we go home because the temperature isn't right? The thermometer that's on this free calendar, is much more accurate than your + $400 worth of Fluke instruments.

Soda pop dripped out of the AC vent, after finding Sprite on the floor.

I wasn't Smoking in the private handicap restroom, the smoke alarm just decided to go crazy while I was in there!!

The top one, I have a medical condition and I have to burn scented candles in the office. "Haven't you ever heard of 'Aroma Therapy'."

[billygoat22]

Here is several of the same one.

We installed a new furnace/heat pump system with the furnace in the crawl space. To make it easy we put a filter rack in the return duct so they didn't have to take off furnace doors. 3 months later we get a no heat call, nothing runs. They had changed the filter and not got the blower door back on right {they looked there before taking off the door to the filter rack in the duct}

Three months later, no heat nothing runs, same thing, tech tells them to leave the furnace doors alone the filter is in the duct.

Three months later no cooling, nothing runs. Can you guess?

We went on this same call 6 times before they finally figured it out.


After the second, I would have written on the furnace, "no filter here, look in return grill".

[pacnw]

After the second, I would have written on the furnace, "no filter here, look in return grill".

and written on the filter rack door, FILTER HERE.

also, screwed the doors to the furnace, you know they had no tools with them.

[lmci]

I also do maintenance for apartments. I once went on a call that the shower curtain rod I shrunk. I went there and twisted the rod it stayed up. The renter asked me how I did that. I told them we had some rod stretchers.

[Hemi348]

I had a guy selling his house and the home inspector was there and said the furnace wasnt heating properly. I got there and dropped my thermometer in a few ducts and was like yup, no good! Grabbed the liquid line on the coil and said gee wonder why the ac is running. Walked downstairs and saw the aftermarket t'stat.. found out why.. Asked the homeowner.. so how long have you had that up there, he says about a year. After he explained some of his 1k dollar electric bills, I laughed at them both.

[stickinit2thman]

I also do maintenance for apartments. I once went on a call that the shower curtain rod I shrunk. I went there and twisted the rod it stayed up. The renter asked me how I did that. I told them we had some rod stretchers.I always say its a trick I learned in the war.Everyone immediatly says what war? Then I just laugh. Never been in military.When im training someone I use it alot.Ill say let me show you a trick I learned in the war.Gets their attention fast.

[hvac wiz 79]

having to drive an hour to a no heat call only to find the stat was "off" .. that was a recent one.

[Rob_in_WV]

Probably not the stupidest, but....... About a month ago, a no cooling "emergency". I found this. Look closely.

232791 232801

Hmmmmm, kinda looks like something might be missing here! :.02:

[chrldwlf]

So how many of us have written up 'repaired broken electrical connection' to cover for the employee that did not make sure the unit was plugged in before calling the service company????? I write that service ticket at least twice a year........

[hvac wiz 79]

So how many of us have written up 'repaired broken electrical connection' to cover for the employee that did not make sure the unit was plugged in before calling the service company????? I write that service ticket at least twice a year........

lol

[Some Dude]

So how many of us have written up 'repaired broken electrical connection' to cover for the employee that did not make sure the unit was plugged in before calling the service company????? I write that service ticket at least twice a year........

Rookie, thats a turned off disconnect after an inspection. :angel:

[madhat]

I had someone steal a brand new Carrier condensing unit from a Dr's office. Boss gave me a rash of S--- before I went out there. Found out it was gone and had a little fun with the boss trouble shooting the problem over the phone. He never did figure it out, had to finally tell him it was stolen. Always wondered what they did with a 3 phase, residential looking unit.

[Lightning_Boy]

This week,


1) Lady calls in a panic house is freezing cold and the unit just blows lukewarm/cold ish air.

Get there to find t-stat in the FAN ON position...

I then spent 20 minutes failing to explain to her the auto vs ON position.


2) Customer called saying there was heat but very little airflow then unit would shut off.
Get there to find no problems with the high limit switch or other safeties, motor, duct work is clean and spotless.
It even smelled nice...

Hang on a sec...


Yeah, I had to break open the filter grill, looked up the air box and found several years worth of dryer sheets wadded up together at the turn before the duct hit the furnace.
She then confessed to putting 1 sheet in a month to keep the ductwork smelling nice...

I ended up using my eletrical fishing pole to unclog the sheets.

15 minutes and $110 later and she was beetroot red from embarrasment.

[kevink1955]

The Ho Wah calls and says "Kenny, come quick. Air Crdishner sruck by rightning.

[kls-ccc]

After the second, I would have written on the furnace, "no filter here, look in return grill".

It was written on the slide gate "FILTER 16x25x1" Don't know how much planner than that you can get, especially after showing them.

[kls-ccc]

I remember driving for an hour to a no heat call. Got there to find an Adams Speed Flame power burner torn apart, no 2 parts left together, even the centrifical switch off the end of the motor. Put it all back together so I could diagnois it, found the thermocouple was bad.

[KEFCOPRES]

Years ago, had a customer call about a gas leak. Was sent out to check it. Walked in the basement to see some bad looking corroded pipe with a garden hose between it. The man said he knew it was leaking at the hose connection and wanted to know if I could put a new hose washer in it. Needless to say I happened to just use my last washer on another job and hadn't had a chance to restock that item.

[KEFCOPRES]

Also had a customer with no heat whose husband decided to save some time by venting the dryer into the chimney. I have never seen so much lint packed into a heat exchanger flueway before or since.
He had blocked off the flue diverter to stop the dryer exhaust backflow from it.

[moto823]

Last week I took a no heat call...turns out they had heat all along.


The most interesting was when we installed a wallhung at a hoarders house. She called back saying the home never warmed up...walking around the home was not possible or necessary, all the baseboard was blocked with boxes.

[cehs]

The most interesting was when we installed a wallhung at a hoarders house. She called back saying the home never warmed up...walking around the home was not possible or necessary, all the baseboard was blocked with boxes.

I find that the tenant thinks that FLOOR length draperies are NECESSARY for baseboard hot water heat.....
Oh and the beds and couch should be warmer against the wall also....
.

[airredlands]

Send tech to "no heat, thermostat is bad" call. Homeowner shows the tech that the outdoor sensor that reads 68 is broken because 'yahoo' says its 70 outside.

[BigBacardi]

lol....i had one similar to that last year....customer said tv temp wasnt same as tstat.....tv was reading airport temp.....15 miles away!!!!!

[Stamas]

Got to say the guy that defrosted his York Champion with a hatchet was in the top 10. Including the park when I went to clear the rest of the ice to assess the damage he came back out with the hatchet.
Whacked thru 3-4 passes with one good whack.

[ernestomartineziii]

got a call for a fire house in houston. ac not cooling as it should. went out to check. shot infrared on diffusers. sure enough, warm discharge temps. went outside to condenser. threw some gauges on, crazy pressures! you gotta step back and take a look sometimes. I asked chief when last service tech was here, about a week ago. what was the call? he said high temps. (houston is always hot!) okay, what did he do? Said something about a filter, but our filters are clean. see above comment on stepping back and taking a look...on the liquid line, i found three liquid line filters installed obviously in series, with three different install dates on them...need i say more?

[shaygetz]

1983, condo project had specially designed down flow A/Hs made by York that used off the shelf components. The coil boxes had York badges on them that, when installed, were upside down...no biggie. Buyer complained of no cooling, plaguing my boss for a week. Finally he sent me and my mech out to see what we could do, since the H/O wouldn't listen to any of our techs.

Got there to find he was a retired engineer and that he believed the problem was that the A/H was installed wrong. We left him in the LR, went upstairs and stood there looking at the A/H for a few moments. We looked at each other with that "you thinkin' what I'm thinkin" look, popped the badge out and turned it---and the spec sticker---right side up. After 20 minutes of rattling tools and thumping the cabinet for effect, we came down stairs.

My mech asks, "Notice any difference?". "Yes, you guys are the best...", walks upstairs, sees the swapped tags and says, "...I was right, wasn't I? Those guys (meaning me and Steve as we did the original rough ins and installs) didn't know what they were doing."

...sigh...

[2sac]

Got to say the guy that defrosted his York Champion with a hatchet was in the top 10. Including the park when I went to clear the rest of the ice to assess the damage he came back out with the hatchet.
Whacked thru 3-4 passes with one good whack.

Reminds me of a call I got from a movie theater on Christmas day. The ice machine is frozen and one of the kids deiced it with a screwdriver until it started hissing.

[trouble time]

A call, no heat on an oil fired Octpus furnace. Customer; "the pilot will not stay lit" ME" sir this is oil fired it does not have a pilot. Customer: "yes it does, I lite it all the time" Me " could you show me how you are lighting it?" Customer; "Sure......."
He proceeds to tell me how this had to be done quickly.
He lit a match, pushed the reset button, after a few seconds, opened the access door and through the match in....................
I dam near fell on the floor laughing.....

It did light!

[steveoo]

beer cooler down,found condensing unit missing.

[BigBacardi]

So far I gotta say.....This is my favorite forum....

and I know you guys arent lieing...cause i see it every day!!!!!!!!!!!!

[sdrees]

I don't know about the dumbest, but here is definitely the weirdest I've dealt with.
Someone calls in a no cooling. It's about 50F outside, the condenser is frozen solid, so I go to explain the basic limits of the unit to the tenant. Inside the apartment I find an over-sized homemade coffin complete with lid, mattress, and a ventilation system. The guy slept in it (beneath his huge wall painting of Dracula) and the coffins ventilation system just didn't do enough to keep him cool. His solution was to crank up the A/C.

[coolperfect]

Two15 ton splits,units started and running a few weeks,customer not happy many calls.I get a call on standby.Pressures crazy up and down low and high check condensing unit,see no problem.Go to check TXV's,not there liquid lines ran straight into distributers!

[hus]

No heat call, go there and right off the bat I notice no power at furnace. Home owner thought the furnace switch is a light switch and turned it off. Sigh had fun explaining why I have to charge for wasting my time.

[Williamsma]

I ran this no heat call on a oil furnace that was running a few days before. I asked the lady when the last time they checked the tank and was told that they got oil 2 weeks before. I check the furnace and found water in the oil filter. I went outside and found the garden hose in the fill pipe. I told the homeowner what I found and she yells upstairs for her two boys to get downstairs now. When questioned by Mom they fessed up that they were playing oil delivery guy since they saw the nieghbor get a delivery of oil earlier that day.

[John Markl]

I ran this no heat call on a oil furnace that was running a few days before. I asked the lady when the last time they checked the tank and was told that they got oil 2 weeks before. I check the furnace and found water in the oil filter. I went outside and found the garden hose in the fill pipe. I told the homeowner what I found and she yells upstairs for her two boys to get downstairs now. When questioned by Mom they fessed up that they were playing oil delivery guy since they saw the nieghbor get a delivery of oil earlier that day.

oh nooooooooooooo !! :Faint:

On the other hand, while an expensive lesson, you gotta give the kids credit for some imagination.....something sadly lacking in today's children.

[edward301]

Went on a no heat call, customer had a dirty trashed home. After
checking various items, I find he has no gas. Went outside to check
the gas meter, and there is NO gas meter. It was gone.

I told HO, and he says ..........., he fessed up that his gas had been
cut off for no pay, but he knew how to get gas back ok, said he
had done this twice.

I told him well they got you this time.

[ahiggins91]

About once a month we always get a call from some restaurant about some kind of freezer- "its too warm in there!!!!"

Ma'am, the unit goes into defrost every x amount of hours.

I have a love/hate relationship with those calls. Easy, but annoying.

[CoolRich]

Had to drive 45 minutes once to plug in an undercounter cooler at Starbucks that they called in as not cooling!

[fxb80]

After-hours call, answering service says no heat. I call the customer and have trouble understanding the man, I don't speak Spanish and he speaks very little English. After a few minutes on the phone at increasing volume I finally get the most clear answer I'm going to get to my "Your furnace isn't working, is that right?" when he says "Si, si, furnace no work, you come now? I pay cash!"

When I get there I ask to be shown the furnace and he leads me into the bathroom. There are three guys around the bathtub. They've taken the drain handle off and have cut a hole in the wall behind the tub and have a coat hanger wire snaked down the drain in the tub. I say "This is it?". The owner says, "Si, si, no drain, you fix?"

"I'm not a plumber, sir." And I went home.

[Redwood650]

Customer calls and says the T-stat makes a loud noise. I get to the house, no TV, No radio, nothing at all in the house is on(I can hear myself breathing)dead quite. I turn the Tstat on, and the relay clicks and she goes" THAT, right there, I can hear that clear across the house" Me: "Maam, that's normal" Turn on the tv and shut up!!!

[Redrocket916]

I was out for a tune up, put it in heat mode and notice the burners dont kick on, informed the client the burners wernt coming on and that I would have to change this into a diagnostic visit. he said Ok. I start testing gas valve. let him know the gas valve is opening but no gas is coming out. He says " oh yeah could it be cause the utilities are shut off?" DOH!!!!

[DOGBOY]

1/6/12- i go out to a, you changed my sisters t-stat and i want one like her's. I get to the house and it is 50* at the t-stat so i asked is your heat working, no i need a new t-stat. I said let me check the system out first t-stats don't fail that often. She says you put a new stat on and I gaurantee it will work. I say are you sure, yes i need a new stat. I put on the new stat turn it on and nothing. I look at the filter and it is plugged i go outside and find burned up wires above burners I repair wires furnace lights and when blower comes on center flame comes straight for me. 7 yr old goodman pkg furnace with hole in heatexchanger and homewoner wants new t-stat. :gah:

dogboy

[shhvac14]

Drove an hour to do a warranty call on a bread oven at a new Subway opening up. Get there and found a three phase unit wired up to single phase service - third power lead left unconnected. Call the electrician and after and argument (because I obviously don't know what I'm talking about) he comes out to the restaurant to have a look. He thought the three phase symbol meant he was supposed to use 3/O wire (which even if he was right he didn't do...)

Scary....

[Redwood650]

I was out for a tune up, put it in heat mode and notice the burners dont kick on, informed the client the burners wernt coming on and that I would have to change this into a diagnostic visit. he said Ok. I start testing gas valve. let him know the gas valve is opening but no gas is coming out. He says " oh yeah could it be cause the utilities are shut off?" DOH!!!!

What company do you work for? Im from 916...

[Rmauger]

Old customer, been there many times for P/M's, always the filter is clean, he changes it. Poor man forgot to take the plastic wrap off. 3M red/White Basic plete-filter, not like it was hard to see.... for me anyway.

[ductductgoose]

The homeowner was being nice since he had a large home and didnt wanna put his aunt into a old folks home. He made her a room in the basement of the house. He had a wall mount gas heater that she had been messing with constantly , so to prevent her from doing this he taped up the knob so she couldn't adjust it. He noticed the next day water all over the floor and wall where she had dumped a bucket of water on it to put out the fire!!!lol
needless to say out with the old and in with a new heat & ac system
:cheers:

[billygoat22]

had one like that, when the tstat didn't mind her directions, she wacked it with her cane.

[LsT-Heating]

Customer calls and says the T-stat makes a loud noise. I get to the house, no TV, No radio, nothing at all in the house is on(I can hear myself breathing)dead quite. I turn the Tstat on, and the relay clicks and she goes" THAT, right there, I can hear that clear across the house" Me: "Maam, that's normal" Turn on the tv and shut up!!!

Had that one a few times. Normally going from a Chronotherm 3 to a touchscreen 802. Yes, it clicks. It's a machine, it makes noise :gah:

Had a customer with a wood-shop and a temp-furnace wired directly into his 200 sub, complete with elect tape and wire nuts, and his two assistants are turning up the snap-action stat. "The breaker's on, furnace won't turn on."
"This thing is junk." "

Look at the furnace, clearly marked "OFF" on the breaker. Killed power, cleaned up the hack wiring, turned on the breaker, all while they're watching.


Turned it up, off she goes (No filter.) Elements have a fine coating of wood dust.. "Is it supposed to smoke like that? Yeah, if you don't replace the filter".. Sold em a case of filters, and told em to call us for a more permanent installation. Sawhorses aren't a suitable base... :censored:

[Failure2Comply]

Went to a new Jimmy John's sub shop for no heat. Checked York GRTU and found no gas at unit, checked and found no meter to store. I told the manager the problem and he tells me the heat was working fine. I take him outside and show him the space marked for his store's meter, no meter. I asked him if they had set up an account with the gas company and he says no. But still he insists the heat was working.

I went out on a residential no heat for an old Bryant gas upflow. The home owner is an electrical engineer. I arrive and the dad and son are sitting at the breakfast table looking over the wiring diagram on the back of the blower door. He proceeds to tell me that the "821" switch is bad that is why the fan is not running. I said I don't think so (even before checking) but he continues to argue that he needs an 821 switch. I ask him if the super strong smell of burnt motor windings wasn't a clue? Bad motor, 821 switch was fine.

[GREGHVACGUY]

Just to day. went to a restaurant friday after noon because it was 62 in there check thing out find lot of thing not right just get the heat on we have are diner starts in a hour. so I get it up to 72 after 30 min. tell manager will have to come back and get everything up and running.he said good can you come monday or tuesday I said yes see you then and your heat will be ok. Now it saturday 2:00am he calls and said the unit is making loud noise and its cold can you come back at 10:00am ok sounds good see you then.So iam not on call but i go out there walk up to the front door I hear this load noise out side. IM like what the f***. so i Walk over to the out side speakers and its from them. Manager opens the door lets me in mad as hell and said do you hear that its the unit you just worked on its make that load noise. I told him I did not work on his sound system (its in your office and you where in there the hole time) he said it cant be it has to be the unit. so we walk over and turn it down and the noise is gone. I just look at him with a big smile. He than said why was it cold in here at 2:00 am well you have all the thermostat going off at 1:00am down to 60. he told me to have a good weekend and he will see me later and told me to bring my wife back for dinner on him. Will have to before he get the 3 hour over time bill from the office..

[gravity]

A call, no heat on an oil fired Octpus furnace. Customer; "the pilot will not stay lit" ME" sir this is oil fired it does not have a pilot. Customer: "yes it does, I lite it all the time" Me " could you show me how you are lighting it?" Customer; "Sure......."
He proceeds to tell me how this had to be done quickly.
He lit a match, pushed the reset button, after a few seconds, opened the access door and through the match in....................
I dam near fell on the floor laughing.....

It did light!


AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

that is so funny but scary at the same time

[John Markl]

Apartment complex maintenance man calls me today, wanting to buy a pressure switch for his furnace at home.

Says the other maintenance man came over and replaced the limit switch, but now the inducer goes on and off and on and off and on and off.....but if they take the hose off the pressure switch, the inducer stays running but the furnace still doesn't light and run.

So, I go by the complex and he's there with the switch. I check it out and show him that it's working fine. So, he gives in and asks me to go to his house on a service call.

I get there, and it's a Lennox furnace. They've replaced the insertion limit with a CamStat FALT insertion fan/limit....and hooked the limit wires to the heater coil terminals !!

So, every time the inducer started and the pressure switch closed, the power thru the limit had to go thru the coil instead of the limit switch, causing the board to drop the inducer, and repeat the process over and over....

I KNOW that the camstat came with a paper with the connections, but it was nowhere to be found....wonder what they did with it? :whistle:

A few seconds with an ohmmeter would have done the same thing :angel:

Sheesh :gah:

[cdjones91]

1. I went to a no cooling call only days from the end of the 1 year labor warranty. Unit is frozen solid. I go inside and ask the HO has the filter been changed lately. After a few seconds of blank stares he says, what filter. I look and find the filter grill, in the hallway, with furniture covering it. Once I pry it out, I defrost the evap and check the pressures, all are fine.

2. HO call on Saturday with no A/C and outdoor unit will not come on. I ask have they checked the breaker, answered YES strongly. Arrived and found breaker tripped. Then he wanted to know why I was charging him.

Apartment complex call, back when HTPV first came out. No Heat, inducer would come but wouldn' close the pressure switch. Found several pine cones in the vent pipe where the kids discovered they could get the screen out of the T.

I can't count how many I have been to ones that had no oil or LP or gas meter was locked, and switches off in the attic or basement, or float switches hit while storing items in the attic.

[madhat]

I had one on Jan. 2nd. Put my ladder up, went to get my tools. This Old Lady was about to rip the front door off the hinges. She wanted me to let her in, said sorry I don't have the keys and it's a holiday for State agencies. She continued to beat at the door, and I told I'd call the State Police if she didn't stop. She then berates and threatens me, wouldn't even stop when I told her it is a felony to threaten a state worker, on the job. I asked who she worked for, Federal Gov. Why aren't you at work," it's a damn holiday." BTW the unit wouldnt heat because the thermostat was set on cool, not auto. Had to go back next day.

[gevans]

No cooling call on a backwoods bar and dance club. Boss says this woman's stiffed us before, get the money upfront.
I make her pay for the past and current service call. She says "can you fix it?" I say "sure, just hand me the money first."
Once I was paid I told her the entire blower was missing.
She says "Oh, that Mr. Hatfield". Apparently we weren't the only company she stiffed, but the competitor returned to remove his parts.

[Kevin Weaver]

This blog is great. story TOPPERS! OK I go out on a thermostat buzzing call.. We were out the day before and changed out the blower motor. I arrive and ring the bell. NO ANSWER. Then I knock and dog barks, obviously door bell doesn't work. Customer has me come through the garage door. I go to the stat and sure enough its buzzing loud. I think wow, never had this before! Then i realize its the doorbell a couple feet above the stat making all the noise. Customer doesn't believe me so I get a latter , remove a wire from doorbell and sound quits. I put it on/off/on/off and she now believes me. Then the MR. Crouch wakes up from his nap and starts screaming and pointing his finger in my face, cussing and rainting:gah::gah::gah: saying we broke the door bell. After a few minutes I thought , I am leaving. I go to the van and get in. He comes out and says where are you going. I told him I was leaving and I can't take being yelled at and finger in my face. He says he never did this and demands for me to check the A/C. I walk around back with him and I said yep, that a A/C and I left. I did get a call from the office!!!:angel::angel::angel:

[openclasspro]

When I lived and worked in south fla.had an apprentice with me.clogged underslab condensate line .had a 90 where it came up out of ground.I tell my helper to watch it snd let me know what comes out,10 lbs,then 20-30-40 lbs of nitrogen I blow through drain from ahu .says nothing,I put 50 in it,clog gets undone ,I hear a loud scream ,he was literally a ft above 90 when it hit him square in the eye,then the decayed water snake splattered all over him,he smelled horrific,never saw such a purple swollen black eye like that before.

[anthonyac1]

Two15 ton splits,units started and running a few weeks,customer not happy many calls.I get a call on standby.Pressures crazy up and down low and high check condensing unit,see no problem.Go to check TXV's,not there liquid lines ran straight into distributers!

maybe it was a cap tube system

[Toadempole hvac]

"Go to such and such address< they have a noise complant < they claim its coming from the duct work upstairs". Well after running around , up and down , turning the furnace on and off, and on and off, over and over, But still hearing the noise myself, I GO INTO THE BATH ROOM AND FIND THAT THE TOILET HAS BEEN RUNNING THE HOLE TIME !!!!!! I then wiggle the handle and reach in and re adjust the plug and made the noise go away!

[xpuser357]

Went on a ice machine not working call. At a old folks home, maintenance person had flaker torn apart (Scotsman.) had water in gear case, auger on table with all the rest of pieces. I was asked what is wrong with it? I did find water reservoir sensor open, bearings were good no water in them. No scalds on side of evaporator.

[btack]

Love when electricians decide to install an interlock. They think if you break the coil voltage to the blower contractor when ever the exhaust fan is turned off is a good idea. 2 service company's later we figure out why is locked out every morning

[jamessnevets]

No heat call from a new customer at night. H/o claims blower won't work, he tried to oil it, but it's stuck fast. Told him I'd be there in about 2 hours b/c I was already on a call and about to finish. He was ok with that. Within the next 20 minutes he called 3 times demanding to know how soon I would arrive, I asked him to be patient, I would call when I was en route. I did call soon after, and his wife said she would tell him I would arrive soon. When I turned onto his street, an ambulance went screaming in the opposite direction I was traveling. I parked at the house and walked up to find a note on the front door:

"Going to ER, (name withheld) got his hand stuck in the fan when it started, we don't need you anymore, sorry for the trouble"

Found out later that the guy stuck his hand in the wheel, with power applied, to try to free it. The fan started, caught his hand, and tore off all digits along with mangling his wrist and forearm, leaving a bloody mess. Our company installed a new furnace by request (and payment from) his insurance company.

[jamessnevets]

No cooling call, I arrive to find a double-bit axe lodged in the side of a condensing unit, no refrigerant left in it. The lady of the house said her husband did it the previous night after they had a fight. She didn't know if the axe was hurting the a/c.

[AirServiceCo]

A Pa.Yank in Cowtown, No Heat, No speak English. :) LOL I Love my spanish customers, just smile alot to them and get thier Heat on and they love you. Upon arrival at the home on Newark St in the East Ft. Worth section of "PollY" (off Rosedale St) I found 3 families of hard working Mexicans living in a VERY COLD house. Nobody spoke English. I saw that the Closet door was open and the Furnace door was off like someone had tried to fix it. The gas Valve had a deep "dent" in it and the plastic cap was cracked. It looked like someone hit it with a hammer out of frustration. I smiled at the Lady and made a motion with my hammer like I was hitting it to explain to her how i thought the problem happened. "No", She says, and points outside to the front of the house. I took down the numbers, turned off the Gas, and put the furnace door back on. I noticed a perfect "hole" on the furnace door and continued thinking WTHeck? I shut the Closet door and there was another hole. I Looked accross the room to a Curtin by a window. I got close and saw a hole in the Curtin and the Sheet rock. I walked out to the street and found 3 bullet caseings in the street. I turned arround and thier were 10 Mexicans smileing and muttering..."Yes...Yes." Now He got it. The Gas Valve was a victim of a "Drive By". Just like the Lady had told me. I still have the Gas Valve and a caseing on my Desk.

[Chuckg222]

Got a after hours call from a home owner, said his A/C was not cooling.
He had checked it all over and everything was running but not cooling.
He found two things that looked like tire valves and one of them was full of frost, he let it all out but still not cooling. I quoted him overtime rates and said I'll be right out. Replaced clogged filter and recharged unit. :whistle:

[artdavila]

Best Thread Ever!

Had a call the week of Christmas, 'furnace will not stop, we are going to florida now, come you come out?' Sure, even gave them a lower rate since the house was only down the road from mine, i mean i could have walked there and saved the gas.
Get there and the HO is stressed out, about to go on a trip, can hear the fan, but no heat......
Ask to see the stat.....Heat cool set to off, ......wait for it................................
Fan on ON.
didn't charge him but he insisted so i gave him a further discount for my troubles.......

[BoatMechanicMatt]

I had a houseboat owner who said that his AC unit kept freezing up. He had been down for the weekend and it had been frozen the whole time. He had just left the dock and asked if I could take a look or get someone down to take a look at it.

Knowing this customer, and knowing how often he is incapable of functioning anything else on the boat I wondered if this were operator error or something simple. So I went over to the boat and stepped on the back where the unit was located, sure enough still frozen. I go inside to see what the tstat is set at 50* probably been there all weekend. So I shut the unit off to at least let it defrost.

So then I go to check the air returns. One return has a couch presses against it (owner just bought the boat, new furniture) Slide the couch out and pull the filter out. It looked like it had NEVER been changed, you could see where air was being sucked in around it. So I proceed to check the next return, should be somewhere around the middle of the boat I thought. Walked around trying to figure out where it is at, couldn't find it so I figured I would go to the back to find the third and final vent. Sure enough it is all clogged up as well.

Now back to where is that middle vent, then it dawns on me where it should be at. It is under that huge painting they recently hung. Remove painting from wall, and sure enough there it is.

Call the customer to tell him what I have found and he responds. "Oh yeah we noticed that they got blocked off, is that a problem?"
"Um.....yeah...."

[Isaac3384]

Best Thread Ever!

Had a call the week of Christmas, 'furnace will not stop, we are going to florida now, come you come out?' Sure, even gave them a lower rate since the house was only down the road from mine, i mean i could have walked there and saved the gas.
Get there and the HO is stressed out, about to go on a trip, can hear the fan, but no heat......
Ask to see the stat.....Heat cool set to off, ......wait for it................................
Fan on ON.
didn't charge him but he insisted so i gave him a further discount for my troubles.......



I ran a call similar to this a few months ago...

They shut the unit off over night since it was fairly cool. The next day the house began to warm up, so the Mrs. got up to turn the unit on but turned the fan mode to 'on' instead of the system to 'cool'...no charge...lol

[ColdAirMan]

I worked at an apartment complex when I was getting my feet wet and we had a call that a lady was feeling electricity shoot out her duct work when the AC would run. She was probably in her 70's and when i went over, I turned the system on to check it over and she just went HYSTERICAL..... running around like someone was tasering her. She said she kept seeing flashes of electricity shooting at her from the vents.

I just watched for a minute and left and told the girls at the office that they need to pay attention to her cause "she not right".

:couchhide:

[doc havoc]

I may have pics posted in wall of shame for this one. No cooling call last summer. About 90 degrees outside. Get to house and find one of those LP Gas turkey friers sitting in the middle of the kitchen with the gas tank connected to it. It's sitting on some of that reddish colored rosin (?) paper to keep the grease off the floor and the ceiling above is a splattered greasy mess. This is a hmong family that is renting the place and nobody speaks English. Did my best to explain that the AC was running fine, it just couldn't overcome the added 30,000 btuh the frier was adding to the home. Contacted the landlord and explained.

Also ran a "furnace making loud screeching noise" call. Expecting to find a failed bearing. Went downstairs and fired up furnace. Nothing. Go upstairs. Nothing. Talk to elderly homeowner and she says "Can't you hear it? It's plain as day." As I get closer to her, I do hear it. Matter of fact, the screeching was coming from her ear. I said "I think that's your hearing aid ma'am".

[kdean1]

A customer called and said their Lennox air handler beeped every 30 seconds. The air handler is mounted horizontally near the ceiling so I climbed my step ladder trying to think of anything in an air handler that could beep. Once I got up to the level of the unit I could tell the sound was coming from a box on a shelf 3 feet from the unit. In the box was an old smoke alarm with a drained battery. Mystery solved.

[madhat]

Love when electricians decide to install an interlock. They think if you break the coil voltage to the blower contractor when ever the exhaust fan is turned off is a good idea. 2 service company's later we figure out why is locked out every morning

Our Electricians were working with the Exhaust fans, no meters any where in sight. Bypassed the relays, next morning when kitchen crew started the fans via the fan / wash control, two transformers caught fire, fire department called. Then they tried to put the blame on me. Boss didn't buy it when he saw the Full color wiring diagram beside the starters, that I made. Safety told me last week starters are illegal, as there is no power lamp, only a run lamp. Told her sorry, not my problem, talk to the electricians, and BTW its been that way for over a year.

[markvilleman]

I got couples of calls last year, and all the calls came form one big rental complex. tenants complaint "no heat".got there N checked. All electrical switches for the furnaces were off. Turned them on,done.

[Rob_in_WV]

I got two calls about a month or two apart same home, same problem.

No heat call on a fairly new American Standard 90% furnace, I get there, pressure switch not closing, so I hook up the manometer and vent is blocked. I cut it and looked down it and find her kids(assumed) dumped lava rock into it. I remove the obstruction and test it out all is well. Called a few weeks later, go back same song and dance, but this time they got trickier, MUD! I poke and prod and run water through the drain into a bucket at the other end of the vent and all is well.

[Turbull40]

I get one or two a year customer has no heat or cooling just bought a new tstat from a box store. Pop goes the fuse they always hook the blue wire to the B terminal. Our buy a h/c stat for a h/p system.:gah:

[beshvac]

I get one or two a year customer has no heat or cooling just bought a new tstat from a box store. Pop goes the fuse they always hook the blue wire to the B terminal. Our buy a h/c stat for a h/p system.:gah:

Just got back a couple of hours ago on this same call! A couple of new fuses, the old stats are now back up and the new ones are being returned to lowes. :cheers:

[chrisnorris]

Dumbest for me was a no heat call, the thermostat was in "off" position.
Was also one of the sadder calls I did. Guy was a good customer in his 80's with Alzheimers coming on.

[jamessnevets]

Got a call today for too much heat. H/o thinks furnace runs too hot, furnace was operating when I arrived. I replaced the mildly dirty filter, verified blower wheel was clean, pulled blower to check secondary hx, no a/c coil to plug, checked heat rise, told h/o all is well. He's still not convinced. Then he tells me there is a basement window that is not properly weatherized, it's allowing cold air seepage. He is certain this window leak (which is so minor it's nearly non-existent, I checked it, and filled the space with silicone per his demand) is making his furnace run too hot. Also, during my testing time I turned the stat up to 80*. He also says this makes the furnace run too hot. I told him it's all running fine and corrected his illogical stat theory. On my way out, he says he's going to call my boss and complain about my terrible service. FML.

[kchest4063]

Had a customer that said her furnace was shaking really bad when the blower was running. Told her to shut if off asap. So I get out to the house, and sure enough, it was shaking worse than any furnace I had ever seen.

Turns out one of their Gerbils escaped from his cage, got into the bottom of the furnace and mistook the blower wheel for the toy he had at home. It was probably kind of fun....until the the blower motor came on. That was one dead Gerbil!

[gasguy]

It was probably kind of fun....until the the blower motor came on. That was one dead Gerbil!

Kinda like this guy:

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/3246/img00373201112301443.jpg

:oops:

[Rob_in_WV]

Had a customer that said her furnace was shaking really bad when the blower was running. Told her to shut if off asap. So I get out to the house, and sure enough, it was shaking worse than any furnace I had ever seen.

Turns out one of their Gerbils escaped from his cage, got into the bottom of the furnace and mistook the blower wheel for the toy he had at home. It was probably kind of fun....until the the blower motor came on. That was one dead Gerbil!

I went on one last winter and pulled a dead bat out of a blower. I was like how the heck did this get in here?

[artdavila]

[QUOTE=kchest4063;12280331]Had a customer that said her furnace was shaking really bad when the blower was running. Told her to shut if off asap. So I get out to the house, and sure enough, it was shaking worse than any furnace I had ever seen.[QUOTE]

Had a shaker once, but the blower was off hub ruining the motor and housing, breaking the transformer mountin clip and the rail the blower slides in...

[bja105]

Turns out one of their Gerbils escaped from his cage, got into the bottom of the furnace and mistook the blower wheel for the toy he had at home. It was probably kind of fun....until the the blower motor came on. That was one dead Gerbil!

"Poor little guy, probably kept up for a mile or so."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3LrFEbxWzXI

I had a "noisy blower" call where they changed the filter, and the filter wrapper got sucked into the wheel, through the filter slot. I don't know how he didn't notice.

[tinknocker service tech]

couple years ago major snow storm 2 ft already ten at night get a call no heat and frezing so go out a few miles and walk in to three furnaces and one not working so replace the ignitor and hand him the bill. He walked over and turned the stat down to 55 and shut it down said it is to warm at 60

go back to my van and find the plow burried me in. two hours getting unstuck
decided to move down here LOL

[mpayne076]

recieved call for no heat from a new customer. Upon arrival check tstat, stat set for heat. I have customer show me the furnace found several toggle switches on the wall next to furnace ask h/o what the switches are for. He informs me that he has installed tstat in every room and sets switches for the room he is in. Found that he had switch set for another room with tsat turned to off

another call was for no cool walk behind house to the ac customer was having a new roof being installed and had put a tarp over ac to protect it removed tarp and reset high pressure switch all was good

[coxmech]

Went on one that had "No Air Conditioning" listed in the complaint section.
When I got there, it was a very easy diagnosis. There was NO UNIT! Just the concrete pad and ductwork sticking out from under the house.

I called the customer and told her about the problem.
Her response, "That's what I told your dispatcher - NO Air Conditioner - somebody stole it.

[joey6339]

Probably not the stupidest, but....... About a month ago, a no cooling "emergency". I found this. Look closely.

232791 232801

ROTFLMAO

[billygoat22]

was sent across town on a callback- put 6" pc tape on insulation in basement ceiling. that's it.

[vapourman]

got a call for a "strange smell" coming from the furnace..... found a dead parrot in the ductwork stuck up against the filter..... I took it out and she said she never owned a parrot.... Turns out she bought the house 6 months ago and previous owner lost the bird.....

[charleshudson]

When mid eff. First came out one call I used to get a lot of was the vendor motor not coming on , it was usually a bird stuck in the wheel.(until code changes required us to install liners).

[ironpit]

wasn't a service call, but was so stupid i have to tell it. A HO called today for a price on installing a new furnace he had purchased. I gave him a quote that he liked, but he decided to go with a guy who said he was going to install the unit with an under-sized flue. The HO said he knew the guy was under-sizing, but he was $200.00 cheaper and he was a"good" referral. He said I was a good referral also and I was the only one out of four people to recommend running both pipes outside. AS w were talking on the phone I quickly came to the point of recommending he use the other guy, but check his insurance.

[pacnw]

just over a month ago we went on a no heat call and only issue was a plugged air filter. we did a complete service and recommended monthly filter changes.

I went back because "... it is doing the same thing as before. it blows heat for a while then cold air. we have to go and reset it by turning power off and back on."

You guessed it, plugged air filter causing high limit to trip, just like before.

this was a landlord tenant thing. to add to it, the father let me in, he lives next door, was there last time and does the property maintenance.

[enb54]

Plugged air filters... What do people think? I do believe we are living in a place where we don't do any maintenance any more because we are not taught to look out after ourselves...

Yet another $0.02 worth from me...

[sunway0924]

A dad bird &gerbil in the old furnace offered bitter smile...but how come a newly purchased furnace offers burnt gas smell or an exhust smell off it? which is causing my nose and eyes to burn... this does not happen when the wind is blowing...

[Icefixer]

I had one years ago. No heat call. They had no gas meter.

[22nomo]

I don't know about stupid, but one of the first calls I ran back in the early 80's. It was just to do an inspection on a roof top unit. Put up ladder, walked up to unit, saw the wires hanging out of the disconnect......and a set of automotive battery jumper cables connected straight from the disconnect right to the power line feeding the main panel. Thats right, someone connected them hot to the power line by stripping the insulation off....I went back down the ladder and put it away told the customer i wasn't touching this and left. you can't fix stupid.

[gmb]

no heat call, stat turned off. At least once a winter

[Indoor Comfort]

Sunway get your installing contractor out promptly that could be a very serious if not DEADLY problem

[Northfloridatech]

Got a call one night about 12:00 lady says her "system stopped working" I told here the after hours fee she ok'd it, show up at her front door she leads me to the back yard to the pool pump, and says "It stopped working two days ago" I said too bad wheres the ac? She says (But nothings wrong with the ac its the pool pump thats not working).....

[kls-ccc]

WEnt on a call, no cooling. Got to the A/C, the wires were cut to the motor, fan blade laying in the bottom, end bells and armature gone fromthe motor. Didn't have the right motor with me and thought this was vandalism so I went back to the shop and told the boss. He said go back and get some pics and put in a new motor. So I get back, everything is running just fine. Origional motor is working. Turns out the husband call us the wife calls another co. They got there first and found bad bearings. The guy takes the motor apart there, takes the parts he needs to put bearings in, leaves the rest and goes to get bearings. This is a 1/4hp motor. Apparently he cut the wires so he didn't have to cutthe power. Go figure.

[gasguy]

Maybe not the stupidest call, but one of the stupidest customers! Woman calls @ 4:00 friday afternoon saying her oil furnace is puking black smoke into her basement. Told her to shut it down and I'd be right over. When I get there, she told me it had been doing it all week but started getting worse today!! :eek: I asked why she didn't call right away and she said she said it started doing it after she had run out of oil and just had the tank re-filled on monday. She never had oil before (bought the house a month ago) and thought 'it would get better after a while'! I told her to go out right away and buy a lotto ticket because she was lucky to be alive! (No CO detector in the house either!)

[fv_tom]

Drove 2.5 hours each way after hours for a walk in cooler at a grocery store. Find it's a water-cooled condensing unit. Press the manual reset high head pressure switch, watch it run for a while, everything is fine. Ask the store owner if they had any problems with their water earlier in the day, he tells me the city had the water shut off to the whole building!

AC keeps freezing up...I ask the HO how often they change the filter, he says every 2 months. Too bad he was putting a 16x25 filter in a 20x25 opening.

Also had lots of furnace switches off and also had the filter still in the plastic wrap too.

One of my all time faves was a no cool, find the filter plugged solid, condenser coil plugged solid, and the dog chewed through the low voltage wires.

[robinair]

Late night call 110 miles into west Texas countryside , client happy to pay $289.00 just to show up by midnite ! Arrived to find a trane variable speed system from the early 90's (variable speed compressor and variable speed fan coil ) house smelts smoke ! Looked in attic ICM motor was a molten mass ! Went outside and braker was tripped , what the heck I reset the breaker and the variable speed compressor made a sounds I have never heard again to this day , it sounded like a old fashioned telephone , DRR, DRR ! And then Kaboom the terminals blew !
Never took more than a nut driver out of my truck , by 12.15 we where talking about a new system , the client stated that he never had the system touched since the day it was installed 11 years earlier ! Spines fin coil 100% blocked , evap coil 100 % blocked , original trane electronic air cleaner 100 % blocked .( he did not know the EAC existed ! )
Sold him an infinity system , when we called after the first year to renew the service , he said he didnt need a service agreement ! Can you believe it , the trane would have run 15 more years if it had been taken care of ,
I called him and told Hume we would see him in 5 years to change out the system , he laughed at me

[akelesis]

thats so far my favorite one (-: cx's are sooo smart haha

[akelesis]

the same thing happened to me in 2010. The customer told me that the fireplace isnt working. got there didnt know there was a remote for it. i started it by hand ( going up to unit and turning it on manually) then i told the customer its working fine...... she said, how did u do that. and then looked at me and said but this doesnt work. i removed the back and popped out the old batteries and popped in my batteries from my flashlight and then there was a awkward silence 5 secs smiled and said all done checked the system out CO and visually the unit and recommended to her she needs a maintenance done....... so lucky i wasnt busy that day after my first few calls.so i called my boss and scheduled a cleaning that same day after i had other calls to go to first. she was extremely happy so she called in and said i was the best tech she ever had and she only wants me back for her annual maint for her furnace/ac and fireplace (-: Boss was very happy Sometimes you as a tech have to put out the charm for customers sometimes its not all bad i guess. she was a very attractive lady
(9 out of 10)

[Rob_in_WV]

the same thing happened to me in 2010. The customer told me that the fireplace isnt working. got there didnt know there was a remote for it. i started it by hand ( going up to unit and turning it on manually) then i told the customer its working fine...... she said, how did u do that. and then looked at me and said but this doesnt work. i removed the back and popped out the old batteries and popped in my batteries from my flashlight and then there was a awkward silence 5 secs smiled and said all done checked the system out CO and visually the unit and recommended to her she needs a maintenance done....... so lucky i wasnt busy that day after my first few calls.so i called my boss and scheduled a cleaning that same day after i had other calls to go to first. she was extremely happy so she called in and said i was the best tech she ever had and she only wants me back for her annual maint for her furnace/ac and fireplace (-: Boss was very happy Sometimes you as a tech have to put out the charm for customers sometimes its not all bad i guess. she was a very attractive lady
(9 out of 10)

Attractive huh? I'm sure being a gentleman you didn't though right? :angel:

[landolb]

Had a no heat call. Temp would not go over 68 got there checked the gas furnace had no gas pressure, the rest of the house is all electric. So went and to see tge gas meter and was turned off with a lock on it..Ho never was told they had to get gas on!!

[keeplearnin]

WEnt on a call, no cooling. Got to the A/C, the wires were cut to the motor, fan blade laying in the bottom, end bells and armature gone fromthe motor. Didn't have the right motor with me and thought this was vandalism so I went back to the shop and told the boss. He said go back and get some pics and put in a new motor. So I get back, everything is running just fine. Origional motor is working. Turns out the husband call us the wife calls another co. They got there first and found bad bearings. The guy takes the motor apart there, takes the parts he needs to put bearings in, leaves the rest and goes to get bearings. This is a 1/4hp motor. Apparently he cut the wires so he didn't have to cutthe power. Go figure.

what an idiot. not the op the dude replacing bearings

[keeplearnin]

the same thing happened to me in 2010. The customer told me that the fireplace isnt working. got there didnt know there was a remote for it. i started it by hand ( going up to unit and turning it on manually) then i told the customer its working fine...... she said, how did u do that. and then looked at me and said but this doesnt work. i removed the back and popped out the old batteries and popped in my batteries from my flashlight and then there was a awkward silence 5 secs smiled and said all done checked the system out CO and visually the unit and recommended to her she needs a maintenance done....... so lucky i wasnt busy that day after my first few calls.so i called my boss and scheduled a cleaning that same day after i had other calls to go to first. she was extremely happy so she called in and said i was the best tech she ever had and she only wants me back for her annual maint for her furnace/ac and fireplace (-: Boss was very happy Sometimes you as a tech have to put out the charm for customers sometimes its not all bad i guess. she was a very attractive lady
(9 out of 10)

to bad in the brain dept she was 1 out of 10

[conditionedhvac]

Maybe not the most stupid one I've been on, but up there.

I go to a modular duplex(only six months old) on a complaint from the tenant that they have a high electric bill and they work out of town and set the stat on 50 while not home (heat pump unit). I notice that the air volume kinda sucks coming from registers (ductwork in attic). I get in the attic space and work my way over to above the air handler and find that the installer had installed a wye instead of a 90 degree elbow off the top or the A H, and they didn't even cap it! They HAD connected some flex to it and connected it to the existing modular trunk duct, but never capped the one side...

I guess the thing that amazed me the most is that the tenant hadn't had an outrageous bill before. Good thing for them its been a mild winter!

One more fantastic thing to relate. Upon removing the attic access, i got a face full of blown insulation. They probably could have done a better job there, but it didn't help that the attic was in a positive pressure and living space in a negative. D'oh!

About a year or so ago, we bid on this job. But according to the builder we were "too high". Now the property owners are gettting the money for the call and our correcting the problem back from the builder... Should've just had it done right the first time. Go figure!

[37bluebird]

I think my best ones are that the fan runs all the time you get there and the t stat is on Fan on or I just changed my air filter now the furnace doesn't work and you find they put the door on wrong and isn't making the door switch.

[Rob_in_WV]

I went on a call last winter, The homeowner was complaining that her electric bill was very high and was upset because it was a new heat pump. I get there and she had the stat set to emergency heat and had been running it like that for a month or two.

[shavedneon]

I went on a call last week, new construction, ICF house, Dual fuel heat pump. Home owner acting as own contractor. One of the systems had blank stat and wouldn't work, I thought of the pack rats that had chewed up low voltage wires after install. No power at furnace, breaker was good had power, rechecked outlet, had power. The homeowner had installed tamper resistant recept. and the plastic covers were not allowing contact to furnace plug, took 15 minutes to diagnose and replace with standard recept. He argued for longer, about me charging him.

[pacnw]

UPDATE:

the call I posted before, they called again and it was the same thing, plugged filter!!!!

:Faint:

:deadhorse:

[Tech it out]

You dont know stupid until you have worked around "educators" for 28 years. I could spend all day ranting here but the number one stupid call I went on when I worked for the schools was,,,,

It was close to lunch time but it was August and school had just started so my partner and I decided to catch one more call before going to eat. We rolled up to the classroom (it was a portable classroom) and started checking the unit. Everything seems to be running fine so we go inside to check with the teacher. The room feels comfortable and the class has gone to lunch so after turning the stat down some we go eat lunch. When we come back we notice the unit is off. We go inside and ask the teacher if she was having any problems with her A/C as we figured the wrong room # may have been put on the work order. But she says "yes, its not cooling". So I go to the stat to learn it has been turned up from where I had left it. I ask her about it and she says "it was cold when we got back so I turned it up some". I just stand there looking at her and she figures out what she said then says "but I didnt get as cold as I normally would".

These are the people that educate our children!

[madhat]

Had a meeting room full of PhD's, our elected community leaders, and some off the smartest people in the county. They were freezing, after enduring comments about, "is the heating system broken, can you fix it, this is totally unexceptable." Went to the thermostat, and flipped the little lever from cool to heat, and heard the blower kick on. BTW, I had a FocusPro in the room, and had already put the Mercury stat back on the wall, because it was too complicated. These are the people that are planning our future in the county and state.

[D15HVAC]

No AC call. Crummy access in attic, of course.
Found unit switch off.
I think I was the second guy out there.

[kenny3412]

2yr old 90% furnace customer complains of smoke outside of building she never seen before turns out it was her original chimmney with water heater still connected argued that she never saw this before and its our fault lol some people r just ignorant

[diverdan]

I've had some no brainer furnace calls but in the service business I made a lot of money going on a service call for an electric light doesn't work and put in a new bulb for the customer.

Frozen propane tank regulators have been problematic but it's usually easy to determine that over the phone then have the customer thaw the regulator with a pan of hot water then cover it in newspaper and have the gas provider replace the regulator in the morning.

No charge for a 15 minute over the phone fix and I've got the client for their service needs forever.

[Rob_in_WV]

I went on one last summer, it was a new install and the complaint was there was water on the floor of the basement workshop type area. I go out and find that nobody turned on the breaker for the condensate pump.

[freefall]

cooling noise/

find a tree branch in the condenser, charged the customer after hours diagnostic,

"Im shocked you are going to charge me"

"im shocked you didn't walk out to your condenser before calling me"

[koolkahuna]

True story.
It actually didn't happen to me but to one of the guys I worked with, Doug, who got a call to a restaurant, freezer not working, product warming up. He went there, climbed up onto the top of the walk in freezer box, observed the situation, climbed down, says to himself "NooooooooooWay did I see that right!". Climbed back up, sure enough, a plumber had somehow decided that the suction line was where he was supposed to install a backflow preventer valve.:eek2:
To this day I wonder what that plumber actually thought when 8 plus pounds of refrigerant (R502) was released into atmosphere when he cut into the 7/8" suction line with his tubecutters. Sewer gas?

Another one worthy of mention - I used to run all the HVAC/R DDC etc. equipment at our hospital, about 450,000 square feet of building in total. I was the second HVAC/R maintenance man to ever be hired in that position, first was fired for stealing parts to run his outside company, previously they hired contractors or it went without proper servicing. Anyways, about 2 weeks after I get there, I work my way through a bunch of work orders to one from the stenography department, 30 women who sit and type out doctors orders and notes for patient files. Complaint of temperatures inconsistent in the large room. Cold air dropping on their shoulders, giving them headaches etc.
It's October, about 20F outside temp.
Right away I find the perimeter hydronic heating is providing 130F heat from the convection heaters offsetting heatloss through the wall and windows, and the air conditioning system is providing 50F cooling out of the ceiling mounted diffusers. I go to adjust the pneumatic thermostat that controls the cooling/heating from the multizone ahu, only to have several of the women tell me "Oh, you can't touch that thermostat, we're not supposed to adjust it".
Turns out that the previous "Tech" didn't understand the system and had the nerve to tell all the women that they were going through menopause, that was why they "thought" the temperature was all over the map. Made me look like a hero, that guy did.

I love following behind hacks. Easy money.:callpro:

[Allen8808]

Went to a commercial call. Heat pump blowing cold air. Turned out that the back door was open and return was right there. It was 36 out and the unit was undersized

[rufus819]

my first company i worked for last summer we had a "t-stat not coming on" call and it was one of those fancy handheld all touch screen stats, batteries were dead, changed them with batteries the homeowner had, charged them for the call and went about my way

[supertek65]

dont know about stupid but
when i was a plumber i went to snake a drain/ main drain house trap!

i took a gad and a hammer to bust open the old brass cleanout !

hit it a few times and off it came!
a 4 foot iguana jumed out at me out of the sewer line!
scared the carp out of me!

iguana was the clog!

[jvillehvac]

How about no heat on a straight cool and they never had heat strips to begin with! maybe they forgot!?!?!

[supertek65]

had a no heat in the vestibule at the mall 2011
million square feet mall!
done the service there forever
built in 1977

the heaters were never wired and it is 1000 feet to a panel!



How about no heat on a straight cool and they never had heat strips to begin with! maybe they forgot!?!?!

[allan38]

A dad bird &gerbil in the old furnace offered bitter smile...but how come a newly purchased furnace offers burnt gas smell or an exhust smell off it? which is causing my nose and eyes to burn... this does not happen when the wind is blowing...

Sounds like someone didn't connect the vent pipe to the furnace or it has a break in it. Call and get it looked at before someone is killed.

[riderman]

The guy takes the motor apart there, takes the parts he needs to put bearings in, leaves the rest and goes to get bearings. This is a 1/4hp motor


what an idiot. not the op the dude replacing bearings

Keeplearnin,
in today's age, with labor costs such as they are, you are correct. On the other hand, the man is a true tech, not just a parts replacer. How many techs are even able to replace the bearings of an electric motor? :) I just rebuilt a 5 hp motor that is no longer available for about $ in parts and an hour of my time. The cheapest new replacement cost was $$ due to its old frame. Outdated tech skills can be a good thing. :))

[jpsmith1cm]

Guys,

Please watch pricing in open forums.

[coilcleaner]

The guy takes the motor apart there, takes the parts he needs to put bearings in, leaves the rest and goes to get bearings. This is a 1/4hp motor



Keeplearnin,
in today's age, with labor costs such as they are, you are correct. On the other hand, the man is a true tech, not just a parts replacer. How many techs are even able to replace the bearings of an electric motor? :) I just rebuilt a 5 hp motor that is no longer available for about $ in parts and an hour of my time. The cheapest new replacement cost was $$ due to its old frame. Outdated tech skills can be a good thing. :))

Please forgive my ignorance for I am new in this feild but isn't it cheaper to buy a quarter horse motor as opposed to rebuilding it? Also wouldn't you be doing a costomer a favor by replacing an outdated 5 hp motor with a new more effeicent motor with a warraty on it instead of taking a chance on your well intentioned repair that may fail prematurly? Your right the days of a tech changing bearings are comming to an end unless it is in house repairs.

[rufus819]

another stupid one I ran, last summer with the first company I worked for I had a customer who did ALOT of homework on his unit before calling us, too much and not in the right kind of way homework. Compressor was shot on his system and he told me he knew that when i talked to him about it, he then told me he purchased a compressor on Ebay and had it in his garage and wanted me to replace it. I was very reluctant in doing so I didn't want to put my name on that kind of work had anything happened to it. I explained to the homeowner we don't do that we replace with our own parts especially compressors in case it has a warranty etc. After about a half hour of him going back and forth with me about it, I called my boss and even told him I didn't feel comfortable replacing it with a part we have no knowledge on where it came from, if it was used or not etc. My boss said replace it and if there is anymore problems with it he would personally go out and deal with it. It was partially part of the reason i left the company because I felt pressured on both sides to do a job I didn't feel comfortable doing, I ended up leaving the company shortly after and I heard through the grapevine they ended up going back to this guys house 5 times to fix the compressor eventually just replacing it completely with a brand new one (which they should of done from the start!)

[akelesis]

ur right. the compressor should have been replaced... and yes your boss was a shoemaker at that..... but sometimes u are pressured to do something your not comfortable doing... Glad you did what you did. we all need some sort of boss that actually will do the right thing doesnt matter if your going to lose the customer. Doing what has to be done and only once....

[akelesis]

I remember when i was just starting out in school (full time) i was working on the furnace trying to see how the furnace works. and i couldnt figure out why my furnace wouldnt turn on... i was there for at least 1/2 hr and everyone was laughing at me. and then the teacher came to my unit and said .. see someone messed around with your door switch and then i got talked to by my teacher saying you should have gotten your meter to check the voltage and whispered to me this is a learning experience. It sure was....

[rufus819]

it seems like in any field noone in their right mind would replace something with a part a customer provided them, i cant believe how crooked that company was!

[RobFarns]

Dead Batteries in t-stat

[akelesis]

yes your soo right about a customer buyin something and asking if you can install it for them. i personally wouldnt, how about if the part becomes defective right off the bat... !! like a Boiler Pump or a thermostat. Ive ran into so many calls where the customer says that he wants a new thermostat put in and i get there and he has the crappest tstat that you can ever buy and something of course im not fimilar with... and the kicker is that the customer agreed with the price over the phone with our tstat and installation cost.. but by the time i get there. he says i mentioned to the office that i had my own thermostat (which is never the case) so im at the customers house waiting for 1/2 hr for the conversation to end and not able to do the job so i ended up wasting almost 1 hr doing nothing and not getting paid. which gets me steamed off. that has happened a lot unfortunetly! and then when i get back to the office.. its my fault that i wasnt able to do the job? because i wasnt convincing enough my boss says? stubborn customer? not wanting to argue and make the company look bad. and of course im leaving there with a smile didnt convince the customer ? what the hell.

[mason]

Here's just a few off the top off my head.
1) get a call for t-stat problem, get there and the guy explains that he is an engineer he made sure he put on his new t-stat exactly the right way but now nothing works and he has checked all the wiring schematics and it's all perfect in the unit too... I pull a 3amp fuse out of my pocket and swap it, put the door back on and the unit fires up, he looks at me says how did you know that... Just had a feeling : ). The next fall he calls again, furnace runs for about a minute and then shuts off, when I get there I ask him if he's been messing with the unit. He says he had checked the pilot and decided it needed adjusting but that he got it dialed in perfectly... I tell him his unit needs to have the gas valve regulator dialed down, he looks at me says how do you know that, I say because your pilot doesn't have an adjustment screw. Go down and sure enough he has cranked his valve as high as it goes, turned it down and unit stopped going off on limit.
2) Many times, no heat/ac call, get there and say "see this switch on the stat that is set on off.."
3) no heat call get there and furnace is going off on limit, I pull the filter out(3m super no allergy static drop killer) and check temp rise... Perfect. Show the home owner and he asks what I'm trying to pull on him because there is no way at all the filter could cause a unit to have problems and he knows this because he is an engineer, I show him the temp rise with and without the filter he says he is not buying my tricks because he knows I'm just trying to sell him a new unit(haven't said anything about a new unit). I let him know that we could look into decreasing his total external static pressure by looking over his while system and that he might just need a little duct reworking or something to be able to use his 3m filter and he looks at me like I'm completely crazy he did pay the bill though.
4) go back on a new install for no heat, unit is locked out for failure to prove flame, check incoming gas pressure 0, check it at low regulator 0(propane), check at tank 0. Look at tank gauge and it says 50% full. Tell customer she is out of gas before I can continue she says "no your wrong we checked it's 50%" I say ma'am your gauge is broken, she says "well that's convenient to say and how can you prove that" I say it's not putting out any pressure, she says "well I don't know how your fancy tools work so I can't understand that". I say ok ma'am your tank at 50% weighs about 1000lbs you think I can move 1000lbs, she says "well no", I say come with me and push her tank off it's concrete blocks all of a sudden I went from sketchy tech to hero ! The gas company came out and wouldn't even use the tank because it had structural leaks and broken gauge.

[Blueberry120]

I was sent to a national guard light house outpost on Warwick Point in Warwick, RI. The call was for no heat. When i arrived there were 3 national guard mechanical engineers waiting for me. They were there to escort me into the facility and show me the area of the light house that was down. I walk into the room and they show me the thermostat. It was a programmable cheap one that ran on batteries. It was blank and had a big picture of a Battery taking up the whole screen. ....:gah: .... i said to myself, "that explains why our infrastructure is falling apart... these numb nuts are the ones designing everything!!!!!!!!!!!

[19characterusername]

Years ago the first job I ever designed, thru wall splits in a historic coop building. I went over to do the punch list and the GC complains about poor cooling/humidity control in the bedrooms. I find almost no airflow at the diffusers. Check the unit, sounds like the fan is surging. The suction line at the condensing unit was iced up. I said, "assuming the charge is right seems like ductwork blockage." He says "Must be your design. I don't hear any fan surge, and I'm not moving the furniture to access the unit." I suggest that one of us will be inspecting the unit and running a camera through the duct work and there will be trouble for him if it's me. He moves the furniture, reaches in to the return ductwork and pulls out a 32 gallon trash bag. I'm just going to assume that was to comply with the spec of "protect open ends of sheetmetal ductwork with plastic film during construction".

A colleague of mine had something similar happen on a 10,000 cfm unit, "pulsating pressure fluctuations in a return duct causing oil canning". Plastic sheeting was waving over a massive return grille in a core and shell retail space. No one thought to remove the protective sheeting before trying to start up the unit.

[Hirschowl]

No Heat. Upon arrival, the house had no electic power. Had to explain to the homeowner that his furnace needed electricity to run. Then he was upset that I was charging him to come out...

[tstcstu]

Car dealership in Gatesville Tx I had to drive drive from Waco Tx on a Saturday for water leak. They said was from a packaged unit on the roof. I didn't even get out a ladder cause it was burning hot water, sorry sign the ticket and call a plumber.

[Mr Clean]

Had a Sunday afternoon call several years ago. New Customer, no A/c call. I happened to be out and about w/my girlfriend that day, in my truck because I was on call. Drive 15 minutes to get there. Pull up and another tech is knocking on the front door. I just sit in the truck and watch, and when he turned around and looked, i realized it was an old friend of mine from high school. We had known each other for years and often hung out at the supply houses and BS'd when it was slow.

So he turns to the lady and asks why I am there, not letting her know that we knew each other. She tells him she'd called three companies and whoever got there first got to do the work. He told her that she was paying his minimum charge for the trip he made, and that he figured I'd want the same thing. She said something to the effect of, "that other guy can take a flying leap". He told her to have a nice day, turned, and started walking to my truck. We talked about it, my girlfriend (wife now) was laughing about it. So we decide to scram just as the third technician is pulling up. We fill him in on what just went down, and he never took his van out of drive. He laughed, told us to have a nice day, let off the brake and drove away. As we got in our trucks, the lady was screaming at us from her porch.

I dunno about the third tech, don't know who he was. But my boss thought the whole thing was funny. My buddy's Dad owns his company, and they got a good laugh out of it Monday morning too.

[Shur]

1) Furnace hitting high limit. Found someone had dry fit a small brick wall inside the duct work to try and force air through specific runs. I pulled 8 bricks out of there.

2) Thanksgiving evening I'm on call. I've just finished dinner and still sitting there with my plate in front of me when I get a call about a leaking tankless water heater. I get there to find that the HO (engineer) had been reading the manual and discovered that the inlet filter should be cleaned. He opened it up and cleaned it properly but didn't notice that he had dropped the rubber washer in his dark purple bucket. 30 seconds with a flashlight was all I needed for that call. Was a 40min drive (one way) and my employer was only paying for time-in-call back then.

[ptemko]

First call today. Customer complaining about high hydro rates with new system. Get on site Air handler with 4 heating banks. 3 ton Heatpump sitting outside in the backyard off the deck. Well let's see what is going on with this new system. Call for heat 1* to get Heatpump on and working. Go outside and contactor humming. Open panel no power to unit. Go inside and ask for the electrical panel. Why he asked. I told him he had no power outside to Heatpump. Well I did turn the breaker off in the fall for the air conditioner. He looks at me and says don't tell my wife :)

[turkey]

Got sent out on a bad smell coming from registers. Pull in the drive way very nice house about 5000 sq feet knock on the door lady greets me but when she opens the door all I can smell is poop she tells me to go to the back door. Meets me at the back door I step in and there's dog crap everywhere she has two pocket dogs and it's to cold for the poor little things to go outside. I look around and ask if the furnace is behind the bi folds on the other side of the room she looks at me like I'm stupid um yea. Told her to have a great day and walked out she couldn't believe I wouldn't go in and look at the furnace. Guess she thought using the basement as a dog run was perfectly normal and in no way would be unsanitary or make her house smell like dog poop.

[ptemko]

Got sent out on a bad smell coming from registers. Pull in the drive way very nice house about 5000 sq feet knock on the door lady greets me but when she opens the door all I can smell is poop she tells me to go to the back door. Meets me at the back door I step in and there's dog crap everywhere she has two pocket dogs and it's to cold for the poor little things to go outside. I look around and ask if the furnace is behind the bi folds on the other side of the room she looks at me like I'm stupid um yea. Told her to have a great day and walked out she couldn't believe I wouldn't go in and look at the furnace. Guess she thought using the basement as a dog run was perfectly normal and in no way would be unsanitary or make her house smell like dog poop.

I have walked out on many calls just for that reason. Told customer when you have it cleaned up call us back. Went to one last year dog crap all piled up beside AC unit and spilled over and buried service valves. Yea I don't think so.

[Samshawn]

THAT WAS SO FUNNY.

[chaard]

Got a call in middle of night for no A/C. I get there and find a single family 2 story home turned into a 2 family. I go to the t-stat and turn it to cool. 24v at unit. No 240v. Upstairs unit vacant. Wiring looks new. Downstairs A/C unit wired to upstairs breaker. Electric co. finally shut off power to upstairs unit after tenant moved out 2 mo. ago.

Because there was no power and door was unlocked I was roaming around with a flashlight expecting to find squatters. I was nervous. Only thing live i found were a bunch of mice eating left over dog food. Those mice sure can jump.

[smurphy]

I had a call once to come and light a pilot light. I get there and it turns out to be a electric air handler. I kindly told the homeowner that it was electric and It didn't have a pilot light or even has gas. She then started to yell at me and tell me I didn't know what I was talking about and she has had the pilot light lit in the years past. I told her I needed to make a phone call, I got in the van and left. I still remember her face as she was watching me though her window, priceless.

[pghtech]

Got a no heat call on a Saturday from a customer who's house I had been at 4 years earlier & cleaned the Goodman flame sensor. She figured it needed done again since the flame wouldn't stay on. Open up the furnace, and see a brand new vacuum switch hanging off of the tip end of a tapping screw. She told me she had just paid the big guy with all the billboards $$$ for that new vacuum switch 2 weeks earlier, cause she thought I only worked on flame sensors! Cleaned the sensor, collected my modest fee, and she was happy. She called me 2 hours later in panic cause the furnace quit working again. Before I left to go back there, she called back to tell me it mysteriously came back on and was ok. She calls me again 20 minutes later, in a panic again cause the furnace was not working. I was putting on my shoes to head back out there, and the light bulb came on-called her back and asked her what the thermostat was set at? 74; and what was the temp? 74. She argued with me that I needed to come back out, but I told her if the house got cold overnight, I would come back next day..............DUMB

[jeremyhall.tech.sc]

I had a call once to come and light a pilot light. I get there and it turns out to be a electric air handler. I kindly told the homeowner that it was electric and It didn't have a pilot light or even has gas. She then started to yell at me and tell me I didn't know what I was talking about and she has had the pilot light lit in the years past. I told her I needed to make a phone call, I got in the van and left. I still remember her face as she was watching me though her window, priceless.

http://thumbs.newschoolers.com/index.php?src=http://www.gifbin.com/bin/052009/1243271414_black_guy_laughing.gif&size=400x1000

[Spyder Consultants]

Had a contract with an elderly housing community...Where they live independently in little apartments.
Service call- No heat. Early fall. Lady was complaining that it was incredibly cold in their.
Show up, and she never turned the stat to "Heat"....
Or
Service call- No heat. Turned "Fan Only" on instead of "Heat"

[bmac]

Went to a rental house no heat and couldn't find anything wrong. Went back again, no problem found. Third time there, customers pissed, running perfectly. After trying to not make myself look too incompetent and explain that there just wasn't anything wrong i could see, as i walked up the stairs i turned off the light switch to the basement and heard the furnace shutoff.....

Some bonehead had wired the furnace into the basement light circuit!

[socotech]

what about when the customer has the thermostat set at 40 and thinks the unit should be supplying 40 degree supply air.

[tstcstu]

beeping noise started after a service agreement, customer was pissed until I told him that the sound was from the smoke alarm battery then he was nice trying to not get charged for the OT.

[manny2326]

a couple of years ago i had a call in miami beach after a big storm. every street was flooded. there was no power anywhere. I walked in the house and all the lights where off and this stupid lady wanted her a/c working. this call came in while i was on standby on a sunday. you could imagine how upset I was.

[e2012]

been called to a few that were a/c not working, found the problems to be 18 degrees C on heating to cool or 30 degrees C on cool to heat.

[craig1]

I was working in a supermarket and one of the owners asked if it could take a look at one of their cash drawers, sometimes it wouldn't open sometimes. Figuring it probable just needed oil I said sure I'll take a look. I pulled the drawer out of its housing and found the problem. There was so much cash jammed in the back that the mechanisms could no longer function. At least $200 worth.

I should have told them I would fix it for free if I could keep the problem :)

[ADillon]

I had a guy call me after hours once. Power was out to his home yet he still wanted me to come out...

This is always a classic:
You knowck on the door, introduce yourself and say that you're there for a no A/C problem. The you ask if the home owner can show you where the unit is. The lady (it has always been some *****y lady in these scenarios) looks at you like you're an idiot and says 'it's around the side of the house' in this voice that lets you know she thinks you're as stupid as she is.

Then you say 'yes but there is an indoor section tha i will need to see also. Can you show me that?'
to which she replies 'there is no indoor section'
you insist that there is and finaly determine that it is in the attic. 'Do you know where you attic access is?' you ask.
'No.' is the reply
'how long have you lived here?'
'5 years'
At this point you get your just payback and charge her a hundred or so dollars for a 16x25 throw away filter.

I get these women all the time and i guess becasue they have never had to work a day in their lives, they think they are better than you. Not a stupid service call, just a stupid home owner.

[trippintl0]

Last year got sent out to a 24hr fast food restaurant at 2 AM for walk-in-freezer down, all the food thawed. Sure enough, all the food was soft. Obviously the freezer had been off for a long time.

Check the breaker, its turned off (not tripped!) I tell the manager what the problem is, she said they usually turn it off for inventory. Sad thing is, it was already labeled "DO NOT TURN OFF" on the breaker! I wish I could've charged them double labor instead of just time-and-a-half!

Another one more recently, restaurant called, "Walk-In-Cooler at 65*f" emergency. Ask if they checked breaker, "Yes, breaker is on, fans are running!" They didn't realize the condensing unit had a separate breaker.... Craziest part was, the freezer and cooler condensing units were on the same breaker. What happened is, they had turned off the freezer breaker that morning for inventory and failed to turn it back on. They didn't even realize the freezer was at +35*F and all the ice cream was melted... duhhh..

[slr07]

How long have you been in the trade? That is ELEMENTARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[manofmanyfish1990]

here is my strangest service call: so i get to this ladys house on a no heat call. She comes running out of the house and says "I hope you brought your lime." i'm thinking what do i need lime for? i procced to go the basement door, turn on the light and see about a foot of raw sewage floating around in the basement. "i said ma'am not only do you have a plumbing problem......you still have a heating problem" and walked out of the house.

[1332conn]

My stupidest call had to have been the one where the H/O told me that the fan has been running continuously for five days and would not shut off. The first thing i did was to check the tstat. wouldn't you know it, the fan was set to the on position. the h/o had someone that had come over to help change the filter and had turned the fan switch on but forgot to turn it off. unfortunately for her it still cost a service fee to turn the fan off

[kaptnkirk]

I pulled up to a Chinese Restaraunt to work on a Ice Machine and a worker was hosing down the building. I have to leave to get parts and return 2 hrs later. Same worker standing in the same spot hosing down the building. (I thought he had been washing the walls) I asked him what he was doing. He said it was too hot in the kitchen and he was cooling off the building..

[bja105]

I pulled up to a Chinese Restaraunt to work on a Ice Machine and a worker was hosing down the building. I have to leave to get parts and return 2 hrs later. Same worker standing in the same spot hosing down the building. (I thought he had been washing the walls) I asked him what he was doing. He said it was too hot in the kitchen and he was cooling off the building..

That guy is brilliant! I'm gonna steal that. "You guys finish this attic install, I'll stand outside and play with the hose, I mean cool the building."

[turkey]

That just reminded me of a call I had at a Chinese restaurant no cooling while I'm working one of the rtu I see the owner a couple units away walk up to my toolbar bag and grab a meter and a wrench out of it. I stop what I'm doing hit the disco on every unit grab my tools go down and tell him to give me back my stuff he plays the language barrier card until he sees I'm getting really mad and gives me my stuff back. He then asks me if the unit is fixed I laughed as I got in my van and drove off

[zipscrew]

i was told by dispatch to go to a business for a no cool. it was a warehouse type building they moved in a few monthes before. it was a rooftop so i get my ladder out climb up there and guess what? whoever owned the building before took the roof top with them.

[pmapsa]

Went on a no heat call customer put filter in furnace and never removed the plastic wraper

[chaard]

Went on a no heat call customer put filter in furnace and never removed the plastic wraper
I've had that call. Old guy.

[chewbacca]

last year I went on an a/c noise complaint. Old lady says when she stands in one particularspot in her kitchen, her a/c sounds like a telephone busy signal. I check out a/c, all is fine. Turns out she just got a new hearing aid. She still thought the noise was from her a/c, and that her husband and I couldnt hear the noise because we didnt have super hearing like her.

[chaard]

last year I went on an a/c noise complaint. Old lady says when she stands in one particularspot in her kitchen, her a/c sounds like a telephone busy signal. I check out a/c, all is fine. Turns out she just got a new hearing aid. She still thought the noise was from her a/c, and that her husband and I couldnt hear the noise because we didnt have super hearing like her.

Was it this woman?

http://www.kspr.com/news/kspr-ozark-neighbors-say-a-noise-is-making-them-physically-ill-20120327,0,5609259.story

[chewbacca]

Was it this woman?

http://www.kspr.com/news/kspr-ozark-neighbors-say-a-noise-is-making-them-physically-ill-20120327,0,5609259.story

thats hilarious. some people have nothing to do but find something to complain about. And it usually involves us:gah:

[Gignacmechanic]

Once drove over an hour for this service call and while there another condo owner tells me her a/c is not working properly and tells me its too loud but then let me in her condo and leaves . So i go into her condo do the usual ( discharge temp , checking vibration from blower , superheat and the whole shabang and im starting to think that weirdly enough there is nothing wrong with her system so i get out of her laundry room where the unit is suspended and she gets back so i asked her about what she meant when she said the unit wasnt running properly. Well well here it comes let me say first this is at most 1000 square feet condo and she has a properly sized unit . She proceeded to tell me when she has allday baking session with her friends(all 8 of them )on a hot summer day her a/ c wont shut off for the whole day when they are baking. After i internally laughed my ass off i tried to explain to her that the oven load plus the having 9 people inside such a small place would drive the a/c on most of the day to keep up she told me that was nonsense and was mad i didnt fixed anything. Pfffff people : )

[vstech]

similar issue...

customer wants me to estimate ductwork in 1/2 below grade basement... approx 1800Sq ft....
one bedroom, one laundry room, small mechanical room, big open room, with twin sliding doors, and a large view of the lake...
oh, and the 2.5 ton air handler is already in place...
average number of occupants during cooling load...?
50... plus hot buffet table...

[BigBacardi]

3 times now in the last 5 yrs. i have come across a lo pressure meter with 2 lb gas regin mech room.....original contactor had told gas fitter its gonna be 2 lb...and gas company supplied lo pressure.....and it was comisioned....2 of them were 15 yrs old.....and i am the first guy to figure out problem.....WTF????????

[mojotyque]

recieved call -No Heat- complaint unit could be heard running but not heating- upon arrival and inspection found t-stat in off position with fan switch in on position- quick inspection of unit operation (since I was already there) and politely went over thermostat operation with customer......dumb call:whistle:

[St. Freon]

This is automotive, but anyways this lady brings in her car and says my ac doesn't work. So I hit the switch and it turns on, I let it run for awhile and it's blowing cold and cycling as normal, so I call her and say I dont find anything wrong, come to find out she did not know that the snowflake button on the dash was the ac on/off switch.Gotta love it.

[George Fernandez]

One I have been to. No Heat call.
Receptionist, "Did you check your thermostat,customer emergency switch?"
Customer, "Thermostat is turned up and no one touched the switch?"
Arrived saw that painters were in the Kitchen where the emergency switch was located. Saw that every outlet and switch cover was removed. Turned customer switch back on.
Oh look you heat works fine.
Customer,"Am I going to be charged for this call?"
Duh!!!
Stupidity is not a crime, but our time is valuable.

[George Fernandez]

After running around for 40 mins and multiple phone calls to different tech I ask the customer if I can use the phone cause mine was out of battery.

It didn't occur that there was no lights to use, no digital clock displays, no TV's on?
Not trying to slam just making common sense observations.

[VgFrank]

I went to a call, unit was not turning off. Found thermostat set to fan on.

Went to a courtesy call for a old lady who couldnt change her tstat from het to cool. Found it on auto changeover and calling for cooling, turned off and on and still no cool. Told her problem was somewhere else prob outside, customer said it was my fault for messing with tstat , lol. Told her i had to leave for another call, came back later and found high press safety tripped due to a bad cond motor.

[nubbin]

A scarey night, smelled odors, a 60% up flow furnace with the blower and burner doors swapped.

[nubbin]

In my younger do everything days, Dairy Queen called. The tomato slicer is throwing the slices on the ceiling. 3 phase motor, moved to a different electric outlet.

[nubbin]

The AC/Appliance guy across the street said you got to see this! Condensing unit shot with a shot gun. Boy friend was mad, wants to know if he could fix it.

[nubbin]

Boss called one day. Said I needed to help one of our techs. Get there and main tech is afraid of rats, and ride along helper on first month are standing around by the fan coil. I gabbed a trash bag like a glove and put the big critter in the trash. Some days it is easy to look great!

[nubbin]

for two summers all I did was replace bearings. only the Century motors with undersized bearings came back until 1st year warranty expired. and I did it in less time than our parts chaser takes to go to the parts house today.

[ar_hvac_man]

Breakers turned off..not tripped just turned off. Quite a few times.


Another that sticks in my mind is a no cooling call. 120v at the condensor and disconnect. Start tracing backwards and find only 120 at the breaker panel as well. I figure its a transformer problem and tell the HO she will need to call the electric company. She seems extremely nervous. I notice the meter has no lock on it. Pull the meter and see that the HO had pulled 3 of the 4 plastic caps off of the meter. She missed one :)

[rookietech311]

No heat call. Turn the stat up, furnace begins going through its sequence of operation. Gas valve opens and nothing happens. I didn't smell gas and from past experience I immediately think that the meter has been shut off or pulled. HO assures me they have gas because the furnace had been working that morning. I go check the meter anyway. I find the meter pulled. They used a bicycle inner tube and hose clamps to hook the gas back up LOL. Needless to say that with full utility pressure the inner tube didn't last long. It was split and gas was leaking. I shut the stop valve and filled out my service ticket. They through a fit over the bill because in their words "I didn't fix s$it"

[Rob_in_WV]

No heat call. Turn the stat up, furnace begins going through its sequence of operation. Gas valve opens and nothing happens. I didn't smell gas and from past experience I immediately think that the meter has been shut off or pulled. HO assures me they have gas because the furnace had been working that morning. I go check the meter anyway. I find the meter pulled. They used a bicycle inner tube and hose clamps to hook the gas back up LOL. Needless to say that with full utility pressure the inner tube didn't last long. It was split and gas was leaking. I shut the stop valve and filled out my service ticket. They through a fit over the bill because in their words "I didn't fix s$it"

Priceless! They were the one who was using an innertube instead of getting the gas turned back on, but they want to act like YOU'RE a crook! ::DD:

[vstech]

No heat call. Turn the stat up, furnace begins going through its sequence of operation. Gas valve opens and nothing happens. I didn't smell gas and from past experience I immediately think that the meter has been shut off or pulled. HO assures me they have gas because the furnace had been working that morning. I go check the meter anyway. I find the meter pulled. They used a bicycle inner tube and hose clamps to hook the gas back up LOL. Needless to say that with full utility pressure the inner tube didn't last long. It was split and gas was leaking. I shut the stop valve and filled out my service ticket. They through a fit over the bill because in their words "I didn't fix s$it"

I thought I was the only one to see something like that...
see post 17

[illdoit]

because i work in a supply house, my customers are a little different than most of yours. you would think that this would be a good thing. i like the ones, and there were a few, that brought in the tops of the condensors that had been smashed when ice fell off of the roof, then get mad at me when i tell them that that is not a warranty issue.

[kingkaiko2002]

George,
The furnace was located outside. I typically don't go inside because I can jump the furnace with a jumper wire instead of turning on in the house.


It didn't occur that there was no lights to use, no digital clock displays, no TV's on?
Not trying to slam just making common sense observations.

[DNMechanical]

Got a service for unit not making Ice.. found out, water valve was shut off.. loll...

[jimmyed]

Had a call last summer for a condenser with the fan not working. Customer went out and confirmed the fan not working. We get there, tv antenna next to ac unit had a wire come off and get into the fan. Pulled it out and been working fine every since. Not sure how he didn't see it.

[George Fernandez]

George,
The furnace was located outside. I typically don't go inside because I can jump the furnace with a jumper wire instead of turning on in the house.

So if it were a bad thermostat? Or broken thermostat wire? Mis-wired thermostat? (i have run into customers changing their own t-stat and mis- wired them, resulting in a no heat call.) I have gotten away from just jumping out the furnace. Used to do that as a newbie. Now,I usually verify operation of the thermostat, with a no heat call. Time is valuable, once it is gone you will never get it back.
When all is said and done this should have been fixed from the dispatchers chair. Simple questions that are asked before sending someone out can save your company on wasted trips.
Surprised to see this happen at a few companies I have worked for. Common Question not asked.
Is the t-stat above room temp? Are switches turned on? Are circuit breakers tripped/ fuses blown? Do you have fuel in the tank?(oil heat/propane). Even have heard people calling about no heat in the middle of a area power outage do to a storm.

[wormy]

Had a customer with no heat
When I walked in the house, I smelled burnt paper and saw the ceiling kinda blackened.
Asked about it, and the lady said...

We were cold... my husband decided to start a fire
then proceeded to point out the fireplace in the middle of the living room floor.

http://www.outdoor-fireplace.com/images/productimages/ch066_tn.jpg

[Redwood650]

Had a customer with no heat
When I walked in the house, I smelled burnt paper and saw the ceiling kinda blackened.
Asked about it, and the lady said...

We were cold... my husband decided to start a fire
then proceeded to point out the fireplace in the middle of the living room floor.

http://www.outdoor-fireplace.com/images/productimages/ch066_tn.jpg

:censored:

[techbill11]

No cool call on Christmas night a couple of years ago 40 degree night.Hello

[kls-ccc]

No heat Christmas morning. He shut the furnace off because the electronic air cleaner was snapping because the humidifer was leaking on it.

Never heard from him before or since.

[hvac wiz 79]

ice machine yesterday. no production & empty bin. with switch "off" it's kind of hard to produce.

Sent from my HTC Sensation 4G using Tapatalk

[gasguy]

Just yesterday: High eff. furnace leaking water all over the floor. Un-plugged the extension cord for the impressive model train set (older couple, no kids in the house) and plugged the condensate pump back in. Husband slipped me $20 to tell the wife that 'a hose had come loose'. :D

Ended up doing a full service/tune-up as it hadn't been touched since his friend that 'used to do furnaces' put it in. Also booked for venting corrections and duct/filter upgrades. Husband dodged a stay in the doghouse, wife was impressed by my professional workmanship and understandable explanations of the issues I found with proper instruments to prove them. She wouldn't let me leave without taking some homemade butter tarts.

Why can't all 'stupid service calls' turn out like this! :D :D

[Crkdbateman]

I had a call awhile back. It was a no heat call, the power switch to the furnace was flipped off. Mom wasn't happy to find her little boy thought it was a light switch!:censored:

[ldmth44]

Had to drive to Secaucus, NJ from Philadelphia, PA for no heat while on Saturday on-call to check an oil furnace that was just worked on Friday by another tech. Evidently, he did a "tune up". I don't do much oil but do know that the oil supply line check valve has an arrow on it to show flow. Tech put check valve in backwards...S**t hit the fan at office the following Monday morning!

No cooling call at 5:00 pm on a Friday in center city Philadelphia at a ritzy dress store, 90 degrees outside...both 5 ton condensers stolen from racks out back of store. "Can you fix today?" Sure, I carry them on my truck.

New Lennox residential system not cooling well, freezing up. Get to call and found that HO had partially blocked the main return grill with a magnetic cover. Complaining that family room diffusers were always wet and that drywall around diffusers had mold. Return was covered because the HO could not stand the rush of air noise the blower was making as unit was flush against other side of wall. (You could see blower if you removed grill--not a ducted return). Nevertheless, removed his cover, checked delta-T across coil and verified blower speed, checked charge, etc.--all ok. Since unit supply temps were so cold (42 degrees and dropping) due to blocked airflow, excessive moisture built up on warm diffusers and leached onto drywall. It took me an hour to explain to HO that you can't choke off the airflow without causing damage to system (and voiding his warranty).

Have had some calls for frozen walk-in cooler evaps because employees were turning off fans while loading cases, but the OD condensers were still running. "It's cold in there!" Wear a coat!!!

Sent out to install 4 new t-stats in a high dollar home on the Main Line. Customer wanted new Aprilaire communicating t-stats with flush-mount remote sensors. Man of the house didn't tell his wife we were coming. Sensors needed to be mounted where old t-stats were located, but AFTER new, expensive wallpaper was hung. Wifey didn't like that idea, left sensors hanging at location after HO signed-off on issue. House was being renovated and we were the last to be told. Evidently, the wallpaper contractor had to redo the areas where the new sensors were installed (ceiling to floor).

Convenience store in Chester county needed walk-in cooler service...a car had crushed the condenser up against the wall overnight and was not noticed until 11:00 am the next day (manager parks her car next to condenser every day--she did not see it at 6:00 am).

Had my NEXTDOOR neighbor come to my home during an area-wide power outage one summer wanting to get his AC working...I shut the door in his face!!!

[ldmth44]

I had a call awhile back. It was a no heat call, the power switch to the furnace was flipped off. Mom wasn't happy to find her little boy thought it was a light switch!:censored:

:angel:Its so easy to blame the kids!!!:grin2:

[chaard]

I go out on a no hot water call. Asked the HO if they had a problem with the heat. No problem.
I find the W/H pilot out. Figuring a bad t-couple I replaced it. While changing the t-couple I rested my hand on the cast aluminum gas cock and the handle snapped off. :oops: Great now I have to change the gas cock.
Lit the pilot. Pilot lites. Burner lites for 2 sec. then goes out as well as pilot.
Figure gas valve is bad. Call Dispatch and tell her I need a generic W/H gas valve. She calls Rheem the mfr of the W/H and they tell her it would be days before they get one and BTW there is no such thing as a generic w/h gas valve.
UGGH!
I know better. I run over to Lowes and pick up a generic w/h gas valve.
Get back to the home and I need to shut the gas off to the home to replace the gas cock I broke while changing the t-couple as well as the gas valve.
Walk around back and find a brand new gas meter and the gas shut off to the home.:censored:
Gas company came out the day before and replaced the meter and didn't bother to tell the HO, leave a note or turn the gas back on. :gah:
Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.

[CountryBumpkin]

Got a call from an office building that has a little over 40 water source heat pumps and the lady said "every unit in the building has shut down!!" and when I get there they were doing fire shutdown tests..... DUH!