Articles Tagged with ''Repairing HVACR''

Nationwide, this summer has been one of the hottest in recorded history. Per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the June temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 71.8°F, or 3.3° above the 20th century average. The busy summer season has seen its fair share of ups and downs so far, but overall, HVACR distribution is in a good place.

Advancements in technology have extended the life cycle of virtually every product in the industry while at the same time are creating a need to replace equipment more frequently in order to take advantage of the most efficient offerings in the marketplace.

While making the decision to replace a condensing unit instead of repairing it may be a difficult one, some contractors have guidelines in place to help homeowners make such a decision a little less difficult.

Bob and Tim had just arrived at the house of a new customer who explained that the air conditioning system was not working. The homeowner said that they had just had a warm day and the air conditioning system did not come on when they tried to cool the house down yesterday.

Some contractors have used leak-stop agents successfully for years and consider them practical and cost-effective ways to seal small, hard-to-find leaks in systems. Other contractors feel strongly that only two things belong in a system: refrigerant and oil.

The latest report from HARDI shows that average sales for HARDI distributor members increased by 8.2 percent in December 2015, but annualized growth for all of 2015 registered a bit lower at 5.7 percent. This compares to the 6.1 percent gain in 2014, the second consecutive year of slower growth since a 7.3 percent increase was reported in 2013.

Sales of HVAC equipment were somewhat flat in 2015, according to AHRI, which reported year-to-date combined U.S. shipments of central air conditioners and air-source heat pumps decreased by 0.6 percent, and shipments of gas warm air furnaces increased 2.9 percent. 

Verifying a diagnosis will take additional time, but this is time well spent. It will actually save time and money for both the technician and the customer by reducing the amount of callbacks and reducing the replacement of non-defective components on the job. It will also allow the technician to leave the job with peace of mind, knowing he has made a correct diagnosis.