At www.achrnews.com, The NEWS’ Extra Edition page is home to hundreds of online-exclusive service and maintenance, technical, and business-management articles. Here are some of the best.
Operations and Maintenance Focus Lowers Cost, Increases Efficiency
There are numerous measures that may improve fuel-use efficiency and reduce energy consumption and the accompanying cost. The office of Federal Energy Management Programs, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), offers the following tips for federal facilities, which are also applicable to commercial facilities: check and adjust combustion efficiency of natural gas-fired equipment, lower setback temperatures in buildings during unoccupied periods, optimize morning warmup and night setback controls, and more.
Btu Buddy 19: Compressor with Low Oil Level
The first cool weather of fall has prompted a service call to a commercial building that has a 100-ton split system with a single compressor. There are three evaporators — one on each floor — and an air-cooled condenser in the parking lot behind the building. The building maintenance man called and reported the oil level was low in the compressor. It was way below the sight glass where it had normally been, so he shut the system off.
Obtaining Employee Input with Urgency
To turn around the performance of a troubled company, a new leader or change agent must gather information as quickly as possible. For the financial side of a business, there are numerous ways to analyze the situation. Cash flow, profitability, and key ratios are obtained and verified by the controller, the outside accountants, auditors, and lenders. What about “the rest of the story?” Why did the numbers fall? When management first became aware of a downward trend, what action was taken?
Electric Motor Brake Horsepower Calculations
The motor calculations presented here apply to changing conditions of a blower motor when pulley adjustments are made. However, these calculations are useful wherever electric motors are used. These simple calculations can be used to solve motor installation and troubleshooting problems in a variety of applications. These motor formulas and related information are also essential to understanding energy consumption, power consumption by motor-driven devices, and the motor side of performing energy audits.
Publication date: 5/18/2015
Want more HVAC industry news and information? Join The NEWS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn today!
