Whether an owner/operator, service or sales manager, you are probably under constant scrutiny to ensure peak performance from your HVAC contract sales reps. This is no more apparent than under the current uncertain economic times.
In regard to conventional HVACR systems using either energy from fossil fuels, such as natural gas, or utilizing the energy from the ambient air surrounding a building, geothermal technology uses energy from the ground to ultimately condition the space.
The NEWS approached several manufacturers of dual-fuel HVAC equipment with some questions about this burgeoning technology, such as functionality, challenges, and obstacles in implementing it, and what it means, overall, to the future of the HVAC industry at large.
Phil Wilbur originally went to community college with the intent of becoming a chemical engineer. But he would sometimes hang out in a friend’s classes, and the guy was taking an air conditioning course. “The next thing I cancelled all of my chemical engineering classes and signed up for air conditioning,” he said.
John Ferraro, HVAC instructor at Manatee Technical Institute, Bradenton, Fla., got started in the industry like many others: helping a friend. Around 1985 he started working with his friend’s company in New York. The transition to teaching happened after Ferraro moved to Florida.
In these tough economic times, contractors can find themselves going out of business, and their customers then will need to find another trustworthy contractor. One company offering a solution is Smith Services of Vero Beach, Fla. Its objective, according to an item in Inc. Magazine, is to “buy up HVAC competitors who are struggling because of the economic slowdown.”
We all know that the industry keeps talking about getting students interested in the industry at a younger age; Larry Ball, the HVAC instructor at Foothill High School, is doing it. By working in conjunction with the local college, he is able to not only bring students in younger, he is able to give them credits that apply at the College of Southern Nevada (CSN).
Building owners trying to get Silver, Gold, Platinum, or even Certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) recognition know that HVACR contractors play a big part in getting there. But it is also important to know that the way to get the rating is changing as demonstrated by the arrival of LEED Version 3.
There is an estimated 900 million pounds of HCFC-22 installed in refrigeration and air conditioning systems in the United States. This article covers one of the leading refrigerant blend candidates for retrofitting R-22 systems for both a/c and refrigeration applications.
Thermistors are one type of temperature sensor used on electronic control systems. Technicians servicing these control systems need to be able to test the operation and accuracy of these sensors. A defective thermistor can easily cause a controller to not operate correctly.
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