Some years ago it was common for air-cooled condensers to develop leaks, resulting in unpredictable shorter service life. By studying the causes, it’s possible to come up with solutions. It became obvious that vibration was the major culprit, and thermal expansion/contraction creates some specific problems where the hot gas first enters the coil.
The tough economy has led many contractors to hunker down, conserving resources and cutting expenses. Other contractors are taking the opposite approach, investing in their companies and expanding operations to include additional profit centers. While there are different ways an HVAC contractor can go, most look to plumbing or electrical as natural extensions.
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Department of Education have joined with the National Science Teachers Association to launch America’s Home Energy Education Challenge, a new energy education initiative. The goal is to motivate students across the country to learn about energy efficiency and help their families save money.
If you believe industry statistics, the future is bright for people interested in careers as techs and installers. If you believe in the current state of the economy, then optimism is tempered. Or you might be somewhere in the middle. These different viewpoints form the basis of what HVAC contractors are looking at as the summer 2011 hiring season heats up.
The “Implementation of National Consensus Appliance Agreements Act of 2011” (S. 398) bill, recently introduced in the U.S. Senate, would enact into law several consensus agreements that would set new federal efficiency standards for residential furnaces in two regions, for central air conditioners in three regions, and for central heat pumps in one, national region.
Extended warranties have long been considered another potential source of revenue for contractors, but many companies that offered these programs in the past have not succeeded in the market. Nowadays there’s a new player seeking to change the extended warranty market.
Randy Mathern has been in the business for 36 years. But it wasn’t until 2001 that he decided to start his own company. To get started, Mathern decided he needed to become an expert in a progressive technology, and since geothermal technology had been around for a little while, he decided to jump into it.
Some easy-to-learn sales techniques can help you sell zoning to your replacement customers. In addition, installing a retrofit zone system is much easier to learn than all of the techniques you had to learn to get certified. This article discusses how to identify good zoning prospects, how to sell zoning systems, and how to plan retrofit zones.
It is the time of year when, in many parts of the country, cooling system problems involving coils tend to become more pronounced. Foul odors are especially problematic, but still more insidious are coil failures caused by formicary corrosion. The NEWS interviewed members of the Copper Development Association (CDA) for their takes on how these problems are being addressed.
As ductless technology becomes more popular in the North American market, equipment manufacturers continue to introduce new units for both the residential and commercial markets. Read this roundup for a review of some of the latest ductless equipment on the market.
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