Manifold Cloud Services Ltd. received the 2020 Gold award in the Contractor Services and Software category for its measureQuick app.
The product is a universal Bluetooth application that allow tools from multiple manufacturers to be used on a single platform. Beyond displaying measurements, measureQuick collects measurements; aggregates data; diagnoses air conditioning, heat pump, and gas furnace faults; analyzes systems; measures efficiency and capacity; and educates technicians. All of the measured data is evaluated, normalized, and collected into extensive reports for equipment owners.
As of March 2020, measureQuick allows contractors to build an internal support system with Virtuoso, a remote data viewing feature that allows data to be sent from the field to an internal support technician. Also new, Sensi and measureQuick are integrated to ensure the commissioning process is performed correctly initially and returned to that condition at all future service. Cloud data storage eliminates fear of data transfer across personal devices.
The standard measureQuick application is engineered to assist a technician (residential or commercial) during service, installation, or auditing.
Prior to the technician’s arrival on site, the home office would already have loaded the details of the job site from the measureQuick cloud or through the CRM ServiceTitan (such as equipment location, model numbers, customer information, building information, etc.), which saves the technician time on-site. Once the technician gets to the site, they start the equipment, deploy their wireless probes, and pull up the pre-populated project. During this time, the system will stabilize and the app will run a full system diagnostic, flag potential issues, explain the nature of the issue and what can happen if it is not resolved, and often show how to perform the repair. If an issue arises, technicians can contact the home office or another tech, and both can view the system data independently and remotely.
The app includes visualization of measurements with target zones, including a display of an analog gauge set. From the Virtuoso portal, managers can monitor the accounts of technicians and add credit to their account. Twelve years of HVAC education experience, focus groups, surveys, and customer feedback went into designing the product.
“MeasureQuick saves us so much time by helping techs come to diagnostic conclusions more quickly, and it also allows them to easily share a lot of information quickly with managers and other technicians,” said Bryan Orr, president of Kalos Services in Clermont, Florida. “This results in less wasted time and more accurate diagnosis, which leads to fewer callbacks.
“The just-in-time training and instruction built into the app allow techs and installers to learn more about the system as they take readings,” Orr added. “When the app gives a potential fault, it also provides info on what to check and why it’s important, which helps close the loop on training.”
Reftekk Inc. was awarded the Silver medal in the Contractor Services and Software category for the Reftekk Bend Designer app.
The app is a simple yet dynamic CAD (computer-aided drafting) piece of software for mobile phones that allows contractors to quickly design and dimension a custom tube configuration with multiple bends from a single stick of tubing. It is designed to be used with the Reftekk Digi-Bender and its H55 rigid bendable copper stick tubing (ACR Type-L and ASTM B280 compliant) to accurately bend the tubing either on the job site or as pre-fab.
The app is not limited to preconfigured designs (any two-dimensional configuration can be quickly designed), nor is it limited to just center-line reference points. The user can also reference dimensions to the edges of the tubing or one of many insulation thicknesses.
“This app makes precision bending a relevant option versus the traditional brazing of elbows,” said Nate Phillips, vice president for Reftekk. “There are significant advantages to using the Reftekk bendable copper system, including significantly reduced potential for leaks and significantly less time finding/fixing leaks, both initially and with callbacks.”
Get My Parts won the Bronze award in the Contractor Services and Software category. Get My Parts is a new method for those repairing HVAC equipment to obtain parts for equipment, and also anyone selling those parts, to work with a wider network of buyers. Get My Parts functions as a broker that facilitates the process, connecting buyers of who need specific HVAC equipment parts for repairs with the appropriate sellers, based on the buyer’s parts requirements.
Get My Parts is mobile-friendly and easy to use and includes the ability for a technician to upload a picture and description of products when the part number is not known, for a local supply house to help identify. Instead of technicians needing to call various supply houses to find a specific part, vendors will individually be able to offer prices and lead times.
“Get My Parts streamlines the process of hunting around for parts, as it makes things easier and opens up the network of the entire country for local technicians,” said Chris Wisniewski, CEO of Get My Parts.
