Busted while trying to stealth charge my i3

[MsGoGoMoto]

Tuesday afternoon, 95° outside and 60% humidity.
I slow down while pulling out of the parking garage at work to glance my remaining charge. I forgot to charge the night before. Ain't enough fuel in the REx

I get a honk from behind and head on out to the surface streets. It was hot as hell in Atlanta yesterday. I turn on my A/C and the charge went to 10% remaining......[COLOR="DarkRed"]absolutely perfect[/COLOR]

I pull on over to a nearby strip mall and parked at the back corner. As I fumbled with the My BMW app to find a charging station, I prepared for the worst. I stared blankly ahead into the back of a laundry business. The rear door was open, an air conditioning guy was parked near the door working on the roof of the place.

Looked back at the app...Hmm, there's a ChargePoint station about 2.5 miles away.... I turn around and see the traffic......stacked!!

I stared into the laundromat and thought I spied a 240V receptacle.... I walked into the front of the place trying to find the owner. It was hot AF in there and empty. I walked all the way through the place out of the back to my car...

Out came the level 2 charger. I drove up and plugged in while continuing to look for the owners of the place to at least ask. I dressed up my cable so it ran neatly out the back door unnoticed and sat in the waiting area within line-of-sight.

A lady and a young man walk in. She was mad to the point of almost hitting the guy. They went to the back office, then the younger man went out the back door, his head dropping down looking at my cable before he disappeared out the back. FAACK.

The lady walks up to me and I stand up.. "We closed, why you here". Just as I was about to explain, the young man comes back through the door holding the receptacle end of my charger and box. The way she stared at me, I knew I was going to jail, something.

Just as she was going to blow her top, the A/C guy comes in and her attention flips back to him. While sloppily chewing food with an opened mouth, he explained why her rooftop A/C unit wasn't working. It was 2 years old and needed a new compressor???? (I have a refrigeration license by the way). I listened this guy for a while before slipping out the back to go up the ladder to check out the unit.

I'm up there on a hot tar roof in a blouse, my flats were sticking to the tar and almost came off when I stepped. What AM I DOING? Next to the unit, I see a camping style chair with an opened umbrella, a cooler, closed tool bag, and a Bluetooth speaker. The unit was off at the service disconnect.

I opened the unit filter door and .... DAMN!
The filters were clogged with bird feathers and dryer lint. They were so clogged that they were sucked inwards out of the frame, and pressed against the cooling coil. I went back down the ladder (tar on my hands now from the rungs) and peeked around the corner. The owner and A/C guy were arguing.

I grabbed the box of filters I saw under the receptacle were I was (borrowing electricity) and lugged them up the ladder and put them in the unit. Put the old filters back and the box. I opened the cooling coil service door and flipped on the unit disconnect. Unit came on and listened to the compressor load up, felt a cold evaporator coil in about 45 seconds.

I quickly buttoned the unit up and walked to the edge of the roof to peer over the back door. The A/C guy had climbed up 2 rungs before stopping. I tossed down the filter box and yelled MOVE.

I came down and walked past the owners who were on their way outside. They turned around and followed me in....... "COLD AIR" yelled the lady. Place was still hot, but that cold air was blowing. "WHAT YOU DID?" She yelled. I went back outside and opened the box with dirty filters, explained what I did. A/C guy just stood there, then went back up to pack his stuff.

"You fix it! You fix it"! She yelled. I was sweaty, nasty, partially stranded, and still thinking I'm toast for borrowing power. My goddamn left shoe kept sticking to the floor from tar. I had tar on my blouse. She says "you a handy lady, how you know this stuff". I then ask the younger man to pull out a dryer to check the lint trap. How is dryer lint getting up into the return air? They never had the exhaust ducts cleaned. Isn't this illegal?

A/C guy comes out and says "No charge for today's service" and tried to leave. She tore off after him "I want NAME and service paper!" I almost started laughing! The younger guy motions me to come to the back of the store. Back to reality, here's where I get busted.. faaack.

On the way back, he ducks into the office and rummages through a drawer and yanks out a key, gives it to me. TF? I followed him out back and he points to a small padlocked NEMA rated electrical box.....

He motioned me to open it, I did...........


240v receptacle.

"Dat key yours, what's your name and numba?"
I stood there for a second, and gave him my business card. "I have Tesla, I charge here when I drive it. When A/C break, we call you now."


My mouth said: "Ok".
My mind said: I really don't do this anymore and work in a high rise office building.... don't have an 18 ft ladder to get back on the roof.

Going back to charge tomorrow

[fiveohwblow]

Hahaha that’s a great story! Thanks for sharing.

[Frostynorth]

Wow, what scum of a service "tech".
Not really surprising on the plugged filters and lint though, it gets everywhere in commercial applications. Condenser coils too.

Cool you got a free charge at the cost of getting dirty. Saved them mucho dollars.

[overcoil]

That was well written.

[Buug959]

Cool story and welcome to the forum.

[leopard print]

Highlight of my Wednesday night. Thanks for the great story.

[M5Rick]

A/C super person.

[King Rudi]

Great story and well written! Multi-talented you are. I know stand-up comedians that don't paint a picture as well as you did here. Curious, what line of work are you in now?

[nyalpine90]

now you can make it into short film.

[twin fed]

that's awesome

[vreihen16]

I wanted to throw in a suggestion that you install the PlugShare app on your phone. It has way more charging location options than the BMW app, including free public ones.....

[Lady Jane]

Attachment 2629517 to another Beemer Girl !



Attachment 2629518

[TiMSport]

LOL. This was one of the best posts I've seen in a long time! You have a knack at creative writing and I could visualize exactly what you had encountered all the way down to the accents, well done! Oh and yes, welcome to the forum.

[MsGoGoMoto]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I wanted to throw in a suggestion that you install the PlugShare app on your phone. It has way more charging location options than the BMW app, including free public ones.....

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I wanted to throw in a suggestion that you install the PlugShare app on your phone. It has way more charging location options than the BMW app, including free public ones.....

Now you tell me. lol just kidding, relax. Lol. Got it downloaded. Thanks!!!

[Tommy-G]

I literally read this with in an Asian accent where needed.
If this story is true, YOU are amazing....
If it's not true, you're a great writer....

My old English teacher told me, stories don't matter if they are true or not as long as they keep your audience interested....and that you did!

[MsGoGoMoto]

Originally Posted by TommyG-inFlaNow

I literally read this with in an Asian accent where needed.
If this story is true, YOU are amazing....
If it's not true, you're a great writer....

My old English teacher told me, stories don't matter if they are true or not as long as they keep your audience interested....and that you did!

Originally Posted by TommyG-inFlaNow

I literally read this with in an Asian accent where needed.
If this story is true, YOU are amazing....
If it's not true, you're a great writer....

My old English teacher told me, stories don't matter if they are true or not as long as they keep your audience interested....and that you did!

You can't write this stuff. It is true lol!
I'm still on edge because I gave that MF my business card like a dumb ass. If I don't fix his A/C in the future, he has the luxury of calling my office and making life miserable…….. I didn't mention the google nest cameras in the place

[TiMSport]

Originally Posted by MsGoGoMoto

You can't write this stuff. It is true lol!
I'm still on edge because I gave that MF my business card like a dumb ass. If I don't fix his A/C in the future, he has the luxury of calling my office and making life miserable…….. I didn't mention the google nest cameras in the place

Lol. I wouldn't sweat it, you are under no legal obligation to repair their A/C. Besides that, it'll probably be fine for a while since you cleaned all that crap out of the unit. On the other hand, that so-called service tech is a moron.

[Tommy-G]

Originally Posted by TiMSport;

that so-called service tech is a SCAM ARTIST.

There I fixed it for you

[Efthreeoh]

Great story! Perhaps you should go back and suggest a pre-filter system inside the building to ward off trips to the roof.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by TiMSport

Lol. I wouldn't sweat it, you are under no legal obligation to repair their A/C. Besides that, it'll probably be fine for a while since you cleaned all that crap out of the unit. On the other hand, that so-called service tech is a moron.

Asian American culture has different views on "commitments" than our European-based American culture. They gave the OP a key... hummmmm.

It's what makes our country so great.

[MsGoGoMoto]

Originally Posted by Efthreeoh

Great story! Perhaps you should go back and suggest a pre-filter system inside the building to ward off trips to the roof.

Not a bad idea. I'm going back to charge this afternoon. I'll talk to them about a pre- filter on the return air grille. The real problem is, they neeever cleaned their dryer vents. This HAS to be illegal for a laundromat, got to be!

They have cheap aluminum tin foil type flex connectors at the back of the dryers. Holes in them heating up the place and spewing out lint. Lint clogged the only return grille in the center ceiling of the place, in which the duct will need to be shopvaced because all the lint trapped will loosen because of increased airflow and clog the new filters.

I might just grab the shop vac and 16ft hose extension and clean out their dryer vents for them- while I'm charging of course- they will be paying for lunch too… and a beer(s).

Thermostat is In the back office as well…. Like that's where all the heat is.:

They need to get the right flex attachments for the dryers…. You know what……. I'm bringing in my laundry!!!!!!!!

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by MsGoGoMoto

Not a bad idea. I'm going back to charge this afternoon. I'll talk to them about a pre- filter on the return air grille. The real problem is, they neeever cleaned their dryer vents. This HAS to be illegal for a laundromat, got to be!

They have cheap aluminum tin foil type flex connectors at the back of the dryers. Holes in them heating up the place and spewing out lint. Lint clogged the only return grille in the center ceiling of the place, in which the duct will need to be shopvaced because all the lint trapped will loosen because of increased airflow and clog the new filters.

I might just grab the shop vac and 16ft hose extension and clean out their dryer vents for them- while I'm charging of course- they will be paying for lunch too… and a beer(s).

Thermostat is In the back office as well…. Like that's where all the heat is.:

They need to get the right flex attachments for the dryers…. You know what……. I'm bringing in my laundry!!!!!!!!

Lol about the laundry.

I hope the fire marshal doesn't decide to take his clothes there. Sounds like a fire hazard.