Articles by Nick Kostora

For better or worse, several HVACR contractors across the country are now installing products for homeowners who have purchased their own HVACR equipment — even if they don’t sell that product line.

An iced evaporator is a common problem encountered by technicians servicing medium-temperature refrigeration systems. A visual inspection of the coil will show this obvious problem. Most technicians will install their low-side service gauge, find the running pressure to be lower than normal, and conclude the system has a low refrigerant charge. However, an iced evaporator can be caused by a totally different system issue.

Manufacturers of all sizes across the spectrum of HVAC are getting involved with demand response, and they are participating because the technology within thermostats has made doing so relatively simple.

In the last decade, solar has experienced an average annual growth rate of 68 percent. This has been spurred, in part, because the cost to install solar has dropped by more than 70 percent since 2010, which has led the industry to expand into new markets and deploy thousands of systems nationwide.

Thermal energy storage has been a proven commodity for years in Europe, but the technology has seemingly been on the peripheral of the HVAC industry in the U.S. Now, energy storage is gradually stepping into the industry spotlight, and manufacturers are ready and willing to showcase their offerings in this important space.

Knowing how, when, where, and why to perform an HVAC system evacuation is an essential component of any technician’s repertoire. No two situations are exactly alike, and properly addressing the needs of each individual system is critical.

On June 15, as part of a White House event, President Donald Trump signed the Apprenticeship & Workforce of Tomorrow executive order, which designates resources to go to vocational training programs and aims to remove restrictions that have prevented industries, including HVAC, from creating apprenticeships.

The EPA estimates the annual emissions reductions from this rule will be approximately 7.3 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MMTCO2eq) and 114 ozone-depletion weighted metric tons (ODP tons).

The Marathon® Motors UlteMAX™ Motor from Regal Beloit Corp. earned the gold in the HVAC Commercial Equipment category of The NEWS’ 2017 Dealer Design Awards.