HVAC Resource Center

One of the most critical (and sometimes overlooked) aspects to a complete and thorough VRF installation is the layout, preparation, installation, and subsequent insulation refrigerant piping. Three keys to a proper install are: Proper brazing techniques (adequate flow of nitrogen, full penetration of the brazing filler, etc) Accounting for expansion and contraction of the pipe

We discussed in a previous article that raising your Prices is the easiest and best way to increase your Profit.  And increasing your Profit will allow you to have a better, more professional company that remains solvent for years to come.  But, most HVAC dealers are very afraid of raising their Prices because they feel

There are only three ways to increase the Profit in your company. You can increase your Total Sales, you can cut your Direct Costs and Overhead Costs, or you can raise your Prices. We will examine each of these to determine which is the most effective and easiest to accomplish. In order to do this

Changing out a custom air handler may require a lot of attention to detail, but with the right checklist handy it should be no big deal! Here is a short step-by-step process to help you with your next custom air handler change out.  Step #1: Gather all the physical dimensions  Here is a list of

The financial constraints of your company are simple: you must cover your Direct Costs and your Overhead Costs and you must have some Profit. If you don’t do these three things you will either lose money or not make money. So let’s fill in the chart below to see if our example covers these financial

We were recently called out to a job site visit because the commons area and hallways of a multi-million dollar condominium building had humidity issues.  These areas were being served by a chilled water make up air system; an air handler with a chilled water coil connected to a 20 ton split chiller (a 20 ton chiller barrel

$2000 Is 62% of the Right Price Therefore: The Right Price X 62% = $2000 The Right Price = $3226 Critical Point!?! What did we divide the direct costs by to get the right price? 62% And where did we get the 62%? By subtracting the sum of the Overhead % + Profit% from 100%.

The Right Price Must Cover Direct Costs, Overhead Costs and Profit The Whole Pie Chart Below Is the Right Price The Whole Pie = The Right Price = 100% Assumptions: Direct Costs = $2000 Overhead Costs = 28% Profit = 10% The Right Price = Direct Costs + Overhead + Profit The Right Price (100%)

In Part One of our discussion on Profit, we established that the successful HVAC companies strive for a 15% Profit. But, in reality, Profit is not the same on every job you perform. Some jobs have more risk than others and those jobs should be priced with more Profit in order to cover the increased

For this solution to be successful, you will need to REDUCE the system airflow in addition to installing the Rawal valve.  Lowering system airflow does TWO things: It lowers the evaporator temperature, which allows the evaporator coil to remove more moistureIt reduces sensible capacity which lengthens run time, which will remove more moisture CAUTION: A

One of the most common reasons for rooftop service calls is incorrect airflow.  Low airflow will often lead to frozen evaporator coils, low pressure trips, sweating ductwork and low capacity.  High airflow can lead to condensate blowoff, high pressure trips, high humidity issues and more. As you can see, setting airflow properly at startup (and

We get asked this question often. And for good reason, DOAS equipment is expensive.  If a building owner needs makeup air, in most cases a DOAS will be required. In a SMALL number of cases, however, it may be possible to use a unitary rooftop unit (or split system) for 100% makeup air. But beware, there are

Did you know: hot gas reheat operation (for dehumidification) provides NO benefit on a summer design day? This can be an easy mistake to make. (to clarify from the start, this is NOT a discussion about DOAS, but rather a standard return air rooftop unit). If you have a customer that would like to maintain a specific space temperature

If you’re installing a split commercial DX system, how do you know what kind of circuiting you need? And how do you install the piping and refrigerant specialties if there are more indoor circuits than outdoor circuits? The two most common circuiting options are a single circuit system (known as 2-pipe) or a dual circuit

When It Comes To Three Phase Equipment Did You Know: Three phase power distribution requires smaller conductors for transferring the same amount of power as compared to single phase power.All York 3phase equipment is phased for clockwise rotation.Changing the direction of rotation of the motor is as simple as swapping any two wires. Three Phase

This is an easy calculation if you know the cfm (airflow to be conditioned) and have a psychrometric chart handy.  The formula for calculating total cooling is: Qt = cfm x (Hf-Hi) x 4.5 Where: Qt = Total capacity in btu/h Hf = Enthalpy of the leaving air Hi = Enthalpy of the entering air 4.5 = constant 

If you’ve been in the HVAC industry for a while, you probably have some “Rules of Thumb” that you use throughout your day. Here are a few that you may not have used before and could prove to be useful!  The 1.7X rule This rule of thumb states that the MAX heating capacity required for

When possible, it makes life easy to have a separate DOAS system from the space HVAC system. In this case, each system has one specific job: -The DOAS’s job is to bring in 100% Outside Air, when the space is occupied, and delivers neutral temperature air. -The main heating & cooling system can be (in most cases) 100%