According to Ignacio Monteros, Carrier’s controls product
manager, perceived installation complexity and resulting callbacks have made
HVAC contractors reluctant to install residential zoning systems. With the manufacturer’s latest Infinity™ system and
control, such concerns should be a thing of the past.
Go to a customer’s home with Jeff Weinberger, service manager for Sedgwick Service Experts, and you will get a warm welcome. That’s because Weinberger has been able to solve problems for these customers that other contractors, frankly, walked away from.
Why hasn’t zoning caught on more in residential work?
According to several manufacturers, there has been a certain
amount of contractor trepidation about the technology, that really goes back to the design and installation of the systems
themselves.These manufacturers have started taking notice of contractors’ needs.
HVACR contractors have been telling themselves that to be truly successful, the brand they need to sell is really their own company. Some contractors and manufacturers have started putting their money where their mouths are, by putting the contracting company’s name on equipment provided under a private label agreement.
Mini-split HVAC systems have been gaining acceptance for residential add-ons, as well as commercial space reconfigurations. Their increasing efficiency and recognized flexibility is also making them more accepted in applications that typically go to central HVAC systems.
The trends in the ductless market are similar to those affecting the rest of the industry, said Aaron Thomas, duct-free split systems product manager for Carrier Corp. In reference to the company’s EEZ™ duct-free system, he said those trends are higher efficiencies and changing refrigerants.
A saying has been gaining a lot of popularity, and it can be applied to many areas of life: It is what it is. It’s a statement of acceptance, and maybe one that expresses feelings of futility at fighting an inevitability, but it does not necessarily apply to HVAC system design, at least not for McGrath Refrigeration, Knox, Ind.
HVACR
contractors who don’t necessarily want to learn all the ins and outs of
room-by-room heat loss-gain calculations - you know who you are - can still
improve their installation and service results by using an energy-rating
company as a subcontractor. This, in turn, can reduce callbacks and unbillable
labor.
To
the rest of us, it would seem that California building owners would probably lead
the country in wanting to do the green thing. It might be a relief to know that
these consumers are just as heavily influenced by energy savings as the rest of
us - and, unfortunately, just as strongly swayed by first costs.
Trane just announced it has a study in hand that shows its CleanEffects™ IAQ product can remove up to 99 percent of the Influenza A virus. This is helping to expand contractor opportunities still more at a time when consumer interest in protecting their indoor environments is higher than ever.