07/24/2026
Some days go exactly as prepared for.....those days are very few and far between them!!
Sometimes you have to admit you misdiagnosed something and take it on the chin.
That day was Today. Luckily I'm seasoned enough to overthink things....the things that usually keep me up at night...running scenarios in my head.
To make a short story of how I messed up turn into a career autobiography, I can definitely do!
I was quick to find a refrigerant leak on the condensing unit of a walk in freezer. Freezer full of over 100 customers dead trophy animals, this was critical job. A leak turned into a no compression -Compressor was bad. A short Stern conversation with the client turned into -Do whatever it takes situation. I understood how critical it was to him and his business, I promised I'd have it back freezing the next day.
Spent the most part of my morning trying to track down a Compressor with no luck of finding one in stock -But! A brand new unit was only $1500 more than the Compressor AND in stock! Figure that out?!
As I said before Client said do whatever it takes, but called him with the news and for approval anyway, reluctantly approved it.
Fast forward to mid Afternoon getting back to the job with the new unit.
Start the process of reclaiming the refrigerant when it dawns on me about certain components within the refrigerant system that I overlooked or did not check for the day before. I start questioning my diagnosis the entire process of reclaiming the refrigerant and disconnecting the electrical.
So there I Stand, what do I do?
After talking to a couple other professionals, they too agreed it was odd scenario and didn't make sense. So I went with my best judgment and put refrigerant back in, wired unit back in and rechecked my diagnosis.
Then...There was arcing and a FIRE. YES A FIRE!
Apparently the client failed to mention that the breaker was tripping beforehand. Anyway, this arcing and fire caused a somewhat inexpensive part to not work properly causing the entire issue. I was able to temporarily fix the problem with a magnetic tool.
Had to eat crow and confront the customer... that didn't go as I anticipated! The man praised me, did a little dance, praised me some more, called me 'The Man'....whilst I felt bad about misdiagnosing the problem!
All in all, wasn't a terrible day... just glad I didn't have a full day of other customers backed up.
If I hadn't of trusted my intrusive thoughts I would have changed out a Several thousand dollar unit and have the same issue on startup.
If you're still following along my rambling, thank you. Sometimes you have to grin and bear it, trust your gut feelings, and act on them.
