To understand airflow, one must have a firm grasp of the rules driving its characteristics and behaviors. Many of the most complicated issues a tech encounters often tie to an airflow problem, so let's look at five airflow rules that can help anyone in the industry master the airside of the profession.
The transition from winter to spring brings with it one of my favorite sports — baseball. Baseball is one of those games where memories are made and life lessons are learned. In the HVAC profession, we can learn a valuable lesson relating to HVAC system performance testing from the game of baseball.
With duct systems gaining more public attention than ever before, why not capitalize on this growing opportunity? Let’s take a look at airflow upgrades and how they might fit into your company.
Measuring the pressure drop over an air filter reveals valuable clues to its influence on a system. This simple test will help a tech determine whether the filter is adequate for the system it is installed in.
If you have questions about your installs, don’t ignore them. Questions lead you down a better path, and opportunity often disguises itself in the form of adversity. The day you’re getting beat up the worst may be the lesson that prepares you for something far better.
Diagnosing airflow problems in an HVAC system can be a frustrating and intimidating task. When airflow problems arise without a defined troubleshooting approach, you’ll likely end up guessing at the cause. Real airflow troubleshooting begins with hunting down static pressure problems.
Guesswork often leads to customer complaints, poor system performance, and frustrating callbacks that can be avoided with a little bit of upfront planning, preparation, and testing. Let’s look at how to set fan airflow based on the needs of the equipment in both cooling and heating mode.
Start testing the right way and make sure you have a complete list of possibilities. Otherwise, you’re guessing at the solution and possibly creating more problems. Remember: if you don’t measure, you’re guessing.
Since Halloween is right around the corner, I thought it would be a perfect time to take a look at some of the ghosts in duct systems that are often tracked down by progressive HVAC companies. Some of these issues are directly caused by the duct system itself while others are an indirect result of its influence.
As common as this installation method is, it has some unintended consequences that can plague the safe and efficient operation of an HVAC system. Let’s look at why open filter racks can be a problem and the issues they might be creating in the systems you install, maintain, and service.