Beginning Air Testing and Duct Renovation
When a contractor learns of air testing and diagnostics, it usually makes perfect sense. If systems don't work as they're supposed to, the inventory of duct renovation is immense. The question is how to get started....
Consumer IAQ Checklist
When it comes to many indoor air quality (IAQ) issues, we're the specialists of choice and our primary goal is to provide top quality services and products to our customers. One way to call attention to your IAQ services is to offer your customers a checklist of preventative measures that they can take to improve the air quality in their homes....
Check Economizer Performance
Summer is coming and it's time to brush up on servicing rooftop packaged units with economizers. Better companies allow time to verify economizer performance during commercial spring service calls. Let's review the steps required to check economizer airflow and BTU intake....
How To Read Fan Airflow
Fan airflow can be easily interpreted for the manufacturer’s fan performance tables if you master static pressure measurement and record the fan speed. Follow these simple steps to add airflow to any service or diagnostic appointment. Quite often, you’ll be very surprised by what you will find....
Is There Still Room for Pioneers in Our Industry?
In our industry we have heroes like Dave Lennox, Willis Carrier, and others who sacrificed and paved the way to what we enjoy today. Most of us take these pioneers' contributions for granted and we rarely give them much thought. These days, things change so fast and frequently that we rarely slow down to look where we came from....
Training is a Process, Not an Event
I’ve been fortunate enough over the years to be involved in training many companies and have watched them apply new principles and skills to become very successful. I’ve also seen other companies receive the same training and then fail to have the training make any significant difference in the way they do business....
Learn the Air Changes Method of Calculating CFM
Some rooms present a real challenge when it comes to determining how much air to deliver. The problem is that heating or cooling load...
A Tale of Two Temperatures
One upon a time, in the land of heating and cooling there were two Delta-Ts that were often mistaken for one another. Nearly every technician in the land assumed they were exactly the same. But in fact, although they were related, they were very different....
How and Why to Write Testing Proposals
Most of us can whip out an equipment replacement proposal in minutes. The scope of work is often identical from one change out to another. Most of us have a few boiler plate proposals filed away in our computers so we can edit the date, name, and address and hit the print button....
Calculating Heating System Airflow
As winter settles in across the country, weve had an increasing number of tech support calls asking for a quick and simple way to calculate airflow in...
Duct Pressure Testing: An Air Balancer's Perspective
Testing duct leakage by pressurizing ducts can be traced back to SMACNA air duct leakage testing standards published in the 1960s. Commercial duct leakage...
Meet the Raters
We have some new players in our industry. Id like to introduce you to a group called the Home Energy Raters, (known simply as "Raters").There are more...
What Does a Flue Do?
As we approach full swing of heating season in most parts of the country, our attention is turned to making heating systems work as they should. A common...
Can You Solve the Muirbrook Case?
This article is quite different from those Doc usually writes. This is a short story about an air diagnostic test on a home. The story includes a service...
The Mysterious Muirbrook Case is Solved
This article is a continuation of a short story published in the last newsletter (Hotmail 10/3) where Doc described an air diagnostic sales call and challenged...
Pressure Made Simple
Recent articles have generated many questions and comments related to HVAC system and building pressures. Heres a look at some basic principles of pressure...
Sell a Well-Performing System, and Stop Swapping Boxes
There are two camps forming in our industry. There are contractors that continue to swap boxes, and there are contractors that take responsibility for...
Be the Best at One Thing
One of the best things about about the work I do is that I am in constant contact with others throughout our industry. I believe some of the best people...
When to Use Extreme Weather Duct Diagnostics
This summer has been so hot that Ive even entertained the idea that refrigerants might be contributing to a hole in the ozone layer. Not really, I was...
What's the Value of Various System Renovations?
More than 40% of the Btus that your customers are paying for don't make it from the laboratory, where the equipment is rated, into their homes. However,...
How Much Fresh Air is Enough?
Everyone knows its important to introduce fresh air into buildings. However, there are two questions to be answered: How much air does a building need,...
Why and How to Sell Heat Recovery Ventilators
Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRVs) have become mandatory, according to energy codes in several U.S. states, and many other counties and states have the...
The Many Benefits of Adding Fresh Air
Adding fresh air to a heating or cooling system accomplishes two primary indoor air quality goals: It pressurizes a building, and increases indoor air...
How to Measure Building Pressures
The heat is on. Summer is bearing down on us, and its bound to stick around for a while. As youre in and out of buildings day-to-day, could a five minute...
How (and Why) to Measure Return Air Grille Pressure Drop
You know the sound when the fan comes on and the filter in the return grille smacks the back of the filter grille housing? Is that good or bad for your...
