Since the day ChatGPT was introduced to the world a little over a year ago, artificial intelligence has become part of work and life in a way that simply wasn’t the case before November 30, 2022. HVAC is no exception. Two technology companies — Bluon and Interplay Learning — have released AI tools designed specifically for HVAC technicians to use on the job, and among software providers, AI is now routinely used to simplify back-end work for contractors. And major manufacturers are now leaning into smart technology as well.
AI Analysis
Be it dispatch software, a coaching app, or HVAC comfort systems, data gathering and data analysis are what allow a system to be intelligent or responsive.
ServiceTitan has 17 aspects of its software that are actually AI-driven. One is the Ads Optimizer, which tracks ROI on a company’s ads to see which are generating the most calls for service. Another is the Dispatch Pro feature, which optimizes the puzzle that is the dispatch board.
“Every 10 seconds, it looks at the job value predictor — how much they think this job might be worth and which technician to assign to that job,” explained Angie Snow, principal industry advisor at ServiceTitan. Not only can techs with higher closing percentages be assigned to higher-ticket jobs, but it frees up time for dispatchers and lets the company schedule more calls.
Interplay, an online and VR skilled trades training company, won this year’s AHR Innovation Award in the software category for SAM. Short for Skill Advisor and Mentor, it’s an AI-powered training advisor that uses the Socratic method to encourage critical thinking. Its data is pulled from Interplay’s 450 hours of HVAC technical training courses. Similarly, Bluon’s AI tool, called MasterMechanic, is trained on Bluon’s log of 50,000 HVAC tech support calls. According to its creators, the app answers HVAC troubleshooting questions with 96% accuracy.
“In a nutshell, it's going to allow training and quotes to occur in real-time,” said Peter Capuciati, Bluon’s chairman and CEO. “For younger techs who are just wired to learn that way, it will give them a path to rapid experience, which currently they're in a tough spot, right? Because the system is broken. Mentors are gone; these guys are thrown to the wolves. So AI becomes the mentor in the future.”
A ‘Supplemental Journeyman’
Top of mind for Bluon and Interplay is providing HVAC professionals space to ask technical questions efficiently and in a way that works for them. Sometimes that means providing a safe space for checking details without the stigma of asking a question.
“Technicians generally go bang their head against the wall for 10 minutes before they call somebody because they're embarrassed to ask the question that they should know,” said Capuciati. “So there's this weird deterrence in actually getting the information they need. With the AI, they can ask anything. That's a big behavior change. That's a big time saver.”
Ken Midgett, plumbing market director at Interplay Learning, said another big complaint AI can assist with is manufacturer tech support.
“It’s hours on the line,” he said. “And a lot of the people doing that job, they're just reading a flowchart — they don't necessarily know the real deep meaning of what they're talking about. You get a better, faster answer if you can at least narrow it down before you call, and AI can help with that.”
Dan Clapper, commercial HVAC and facility maintenance expert at Interplay, called the AI tool a “supplemental journeyman.” And it’s scalable, he added; unlike a human coworker, who can only be in one place at one time (and probably has their own job to do, too), SAM can talk to 100 techs across the country at the same time.
That being said, Capuciati was quick to point out that humans will always be front and center in HVAC.
“HVAC is unique because you still need that boots-on-the-ground human to do the thing — always,” he said. “An AI is just going to be more augmentation, both in the training aspects and the service aspect.”
Younger technicians, he said, don’t want to learn their skill through memorization, the way HVAC has historically been taught. They’d rather look it up when the need arises.
“So I think it really suits their learning attributes a little better.”
ServiceTitan offers a similar AI-based coaching feature through a partnership with Rilla, a speech analytics software for the trades. When techs or CSRs talk to customers, it listens to their conversations and uses AI to automatically transcribe, analyze, and provide coaching to improve their close rates.
“If they aren't able to sell — maybe they present a good-better-best option and they're not able to sell the best — it's going to give them ideas and training and feedback … and help technicians improve their communication, presentation skills, and what they’re doing as well,” Snow explained.
Similarly, if a customer calls in and the CSR isn’t able to book that call, AI can detect why that call isn’t booked, then send them customized training. According to ServiceTitan, using this software leads to a 40% average increase in close rates and a 17% increase in ticket size, plus provides coaching to every tech, every time, eight times faster than in-person.
ServiceTitan also offers an AI feature called Second Chance Leads, which sends a notification about leads that get missed so someone in the office can quickly call them back.
“We had one company this summer, just in 30 days using this feature, bring in an additional $50,000 in revenue,” Snow reported. “They were able to book 50% of those calls that they called back. That was 50% of calls that they would have just missed.”
The Future of Learning?
Looking ahead, Interplay’s Clapper predicts HVAC’s AI will get so specific that it’s almost like calling a service manager. He also anticipates AI will be able to read technical manuals, translating “engineer-ese” into conversational language that’s easy to understand.
“I think you're going to be able to tell it the serial number, model, and it's going to give you the fault codes and then teach you the right way to do it, based on the manufacturer's requirements,” he said.
And trade schools should be teaching new HVAC techs how to prompt these AI tools, added Midgett, who is himself a continuing ed instructor. Midgett is a firm that believes that AI will make trades education better because of the insights the data will provide.
“When you start using this at scale, we're going to start to hear what the questions are that people are asking, and we can start addressing that in our content,” he said. For example, if SAM is constantly being asked about the color of a wire or size of a pipe, those can be addressed right in the course.
So, when will this technology be in the hands of the average Joe or Jane Technician?
“I think when the early adopters start to become successful, that's where you're going to see the change,” he said. “And there’s hard metrics you can look at, like job time efficiency. Once leadership figures out that there's a direct correlation of profitability, I think it'll pick up.”
Capuciati did the math.
“The average tech saves about five hours a week,” he said. “We talk about getting billable hours back to the contractor. So the ROI is like 50x, literally — for $1, $2 a day, or like $40 per tech per month [for Bluon’s MasterMechanic app], you’re going to make 25 to 100 times that that per month in increased revenue, because of the billable hours you get back.”
Smart Systems
On the manufacturer side, HVAC engineers are using data-gathering capabilities to introduce all kinds of innovations in indoor comfort. One of those is Mitsubishi Electric Trane HVAC US LLC (METUS), whose 3D i-See Sensor can thermally scan an interior space, analyzing the temperature profile of the room to detect cool and warm spots.
“With the ability to sense the space, you're gathering data,” said Mike Smith, senior manager of marketing and communications at METUS. “When it finds that heat signature, it decides how much energy do I need to put towards keeping the space hot or cold. It’s intelligent enough to even follow and track the person, [sending] the airflow towards that location where it's detecting the heat signature.”
Some of METUS’ advanced controllers, like the SmartMe, can even sense occupancy and lighting — for example, in a conference room, where there isn’t a lot of movement but the lights are turned on for a meeting.
Also on display at the AHR Expo was the Span smart panel, a collaboration between METUS and Span.io, which replaces the existing electrical panel and turns any home into a smart home. It’s anticipated to launch in Q1 of 2024.
SMART PANEL: The Span smart panel, a collaboration between METUS and Span.io, replaces the existing electrical panel and turns any home into a smart home. (Courtesy of METUS)
“Through the practice of electrification, you may want to have an electric car and have a brand-new heat pump,” said Chris North, program manager, residential product marketing, METUS. The panel can prioritize which systems get more power, when and where and why. Usage can be viewed and controlled by an app.
“If you're charging your car, you're going to slowly modulate your heat pump, because you want your car to charge fast,” he explained. “When your car is done charging, it can give the power back to the heat pump, or, in the case of an electrical grid problem [i.e., a brownout], the Span panel can prioritize my refrigerator, my heat pump.”
