Wrongly Installed Units Don’t Help Save Money
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[Editor’s Note: This letter is in response to the article “HVAC Is Key to Saving Cash,” April 6.] I read your headline story “HVAC is Key to Saving Cash” [April 6] with much interest. I’ve been screaming this from the rooftop of every house we’ve serviced for the last 10 years since I’ve become a performance-based contractor.
My excitement quickly died once I read the results from the survey performed by the Shelton Group. This is the problem with any survey you read about quoted in any press.
First, who is surveyed? I’m assuming from the article it’s the homeowner who purchased the equipment. Do the homeowners know what the “measured efficiency” (not rated, but measured) of their old system was, or their new system is? I’ll bet my business the installing contractor doesn’t even know.
Second, do the survey performers know their target is constantly moving? Was last year’s season colder or warmer than this year’s season and how do you correct for that? The price of energy is constantly changing during a season and how is that factored in?
Asking consumers if their bill went up or down, granted, is the consumers’ perception of whether they saved money. But this is far, far from the whole story.
The Shelton Group’s three theories for 32 percent not seeing a reduction in their utility bills was right from Comedy Central. Performance-based HVAC contractors all across the country are banging their heads on their properly designed duct systems.
The first theory of rising energy costs I’ve already discussed. This is the excuse I used to use before I knew better. It was easier to say it was the big bad utility company than to admit I didn’t know why the bill didn’t go down after installing high-efficient equipment.
The second theory is that consumers now have more devices to plug in. They didn’t have these devices last year? And how does that affect their gas bills? This just seems like another lazy excuse to blame the problem on something or someone else.
The third theory, that consumers set their thermostats lower now because they have higher-efficiency equipment, is a new low (pun intended). Blame the consumer! Of course! Blame the big bad utility, the manufacturers of electronic equipment, and blame the customer. Blame everyone but ourselves.
It wouldn’t, it couldn’t be us. The manufacturer’s label says the equipment is 90 plus.
A recent survey of over 100 homes in middle America showed that the average home furnace delivered only 59 percent of its rated capacity because of the way it was installed. Regardless of the rated efficiency.
This one fact, alone, calls into question the remaining 53.3 percent of consumers who said their bills went down. Did they go down as much as they could or should have?
Understand delivering 59 percent of rated capacity was the average of all the homes tested for “measured performance.” That means that 50 percent of the homes were less than a delivered capacity of 59 percent.
James Coleman
President
The Metro Group
Chicago
