Heat Pumps on Scary Rooftops!

[turtles24601]

It seems amazing un-practical to have the unit on the roof! Do they not have gardens? And what if the unit eventually needs replacing!

I live in England, and the air conditioner condersers we have here are much smaller, and usually bolt onto the wall! I should imagine they are much smaller tonnage but still there must be a better option than this great big lump on a roof!

[Larizona]

hackfreevac...Thanks for the Video, and the info. My Heat pump quit tonight. (No Strip). It's an older unit, but this has not been good year finincially so it will stay until it totally quits. I'll see what's up tomorrow when it's warmer & lighter out. (And safer) I have an easy roof. I can scrounge parts off old units as my neighbors replace them. I watched you travel down Grand on your Video. Those are the Bradshaw mountains with the snow on them. I'm almost your neighbor.

[Larizona]

Find another occupation. They are on the rooftops for 2 reasons. Less Dust. Less noise. My Evap cooler is right next to refrigeration & I service it myself. My 79 year old neighbor does his own too. Try climbing a Radio Tower for a living, "Wimps".

[hackfreehvac]

@Larizona

Well that's not really a fair comparison. HVAC guys don't get into the field knowing that there are life threatening installation until they find an area like this that has building corruption.

There are codes that are not followed. THAT is the point. Just like I'm sure you have codes and safety gear to climb those towers.

I grew up hanging around repairmen who climbed and repaired towers in Arizona.

Rim Country where it snows.

[hackfreehvac]

@hackfreehvac

Oh yeah. I don't work in the "field" doing this residential sh*t anymore.

I work in house and don't have to feel unsafe anymore.

[fixinggrace]

My boss expects me to work on any rooftop within reason. Unless it's a dire emergency, never at night because of the dangers you make mention of. Glad we don't have these type of units in Michigan, but I'd do 'em if I had to.

[smdmmj]

If you think it's unsafe...Refuse to work on it!!!!!

[hackfreehvac]

@smdmmj

That's what my FIRST BOSS said to me.

He even came and held the ladder for me on a few jobs.

Then I moved to the valley where there are entire building tracts like this all with death trap pigeon sh*t infested rooftops and not even enough room to set a ladder.

[catatonicable]

Looks dodgy and have vertigo delux, why dont they put them on the side of the house like aircons.?

[DaveTheyCallme]

Edit all the F words. Thanks.

[demmylowther]

I can't figure out why they install package units on the roof of a residential property.

Is the space inside that much of an issue ?

[384xray]

I believe ur name is Shawn and known for being a hardcore winer. Nobody makes you do your chosen profession. I agree there is a ton of hack jobs and installs out there but your way of exposing it seems to serve no purpose other than your own self interest. You should join your local ACCA or run for some political office to create positive change. Wining about the way the houses are too close together only makes you sound like a p-ssy. By the way your filming on company time is theft of co. theft

[steburton]

I'm glad that I haven't had to run into this problem in Omaha, NE. There is no excuse for such poor planning. Too many techs get hurt on the job.

[lallemik]

what is so Scary about this try working on an oilrig and have 2 maintain the pipe then you know what is Scary, it makes this seem like a walk i the park, Scary my ass ROFL

[eggman9713]

Have these people never heard of split systems? Why are packaged units used in residential in the first place?

[randyflyjr]

would you wanna get in an attic in Phoenix in July

A roof is hot as hell but the attic is an oven

[erd675]

im just starting in the industry here in cali and sum of these old timers hate having to train enrty level techs.I worked for a company for two fucking days and got laid off because old fuck head hated the way i did things.BTW anyone trying to get a job here in palm springs good luck companies are picky around here.

[V8Jagnut]

fuck that. no one would do that hear.

[stmanion]

that roof isnt even that bad, i live in vegas and on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being worst) this is about a 3 on my scale.

[hackfreehvac]

Ah, some of these are pretty bad.

Oh, while I was in Vegas i saw the same shit. I have a video of those too.

Maybe the same retarded builder has designed houses in Phoenix AND Vegas?

[RSMMANRSMMAN]

How about doing a coil cleaning up there?.

I am glade I live in california..

[hackfreehvac]

That's the scary thing right there. Once you used water and cleaners up there, the roof is now slick when you walk back down to your ladder. Because most are TILE roofs with a strip of shingles directly below the units for your ladder, you always get your walkway wet!

[ZackMcLeish13]

thats the thing with new houses....they make them so damn close together.

[koplayer420]

To be honest with you, If I ever came across a job like that I would call my boss and tell him I wasnt doing it lol. Luckly we dont have that type of stuff in S.E. Alabama

[roadwolf2]

i helped a sparky mate of mine fitout a house and we had to rewire half of it due to crapy work

[roadwolf2]

we get the same kinds of fuckarse builders over here

[hackfreehvac]

Damn, sorry to hear that! Don't you want to find who designed this shit and slap their face with the bitch side of your open hand?

[jeromejl]

compressor change-out...ouch!

[hackfreehvac]

Oh yeah. I've done a few of those on them homes. NOT an easy thing to do. Just think of all you have to bring up onto that roof and hope it don't slide off: Recovery Machine. Recovery Tank. Vacuum Pump. Nitrogen Tank. Torch Set. Tank of R-22. And other assorted tools not too mention a 80LB Compressor. Luckily at the residential company that installed these POS units, they used a 2 man crew to do compressor change outs so I didn't do many of them when I worked for them. But I fixed many leaks.

[DrZarkloff]

The building code needs to be revised to make it mandatory that a roof rail needs to be installed if the air conditioner is placed on a pitched roof. I feel your pain, dude.

[hackfreehvac]

From one HVAC tech to another, Thanks!!! I think code DOES mention a rail for roofs of this pitch, etc. The pipe and conduit "trip wires" strategically placed around the unit doesn't help my nerves either. But thank gawd my days doing residential are over.

[avistahvac]

Man I see why you guy's have so much trouble!!! Your inspection dept is inadequate! Where I'm from if it remotely look's like a liability, the inspection dept. jump's in and they make it right!!! We had to put in two unit's twenty foot in the air on the side of a church and we built two 8x10 Deck's with three foot guardrail's with twenty foot 6x6 treated post and more diagonal braces bolted together than really needed but it was solid and safe!!!!

[hackfreehvac]

EXACTLY why I post this for all to see. I want eveyone to know how corrupt the inspectors/city/builders are in the Phoenix, AZ area! Maybe something can be done to stop this madness!

[OghamTheBold]

"Deitz Crane" - there's the clue - they designed them so you simply need to 'crane' yourself over the roof Mission Impossible style - surely you've repaired one upside-down before

[hackfreehvac]

Yeah, I've hung upside down on a few other brands through the removed condenser fan to reach a reversing vlave or filter dryer! But none of that was THIS scary! :(

[33sjw33]

Just wear a motorcycle helmet and pray the homeowners insurance will cover some of the medical.You would think they would mount at least one handle near where the top of the ladder rests so your first step down wouldn't be so frightening,after all this a machine that requires service from time to time.

[hackfreehvac]

The builder is "Deitz Crane". They must have flunkies who couldn't hack it in California designing these homes! Yeah, it really sucks to risk your own life to fix someone's a/c!

[darladawg73]

Wow....that does suck. Why in the hell would they do that? They look like PHK/PHKJ Goodman packaged heat pumps. I couldn't tell, but I didn't see the downflow "doghouses" for those things. They didn't cut out the bottoms did they?

[hackfreehvac]

They have elbows behind the units. These rooftops do SUCK!

These are Goodman Package Heat Pumps. The cheapest thing the builders can have installed!