Document the test results – You need to write test results down to show what areas of the system need to be focused on.
Also, use the numbers to show and explain to the customer where the greatest system concerns are.

How to Diagnose

To diagnose each potential problem, you need to teach your team how to compare what they measured to either a rating the manufacturer gives the equipment or a percentage they can apply in the field.

Your technicians will use the measured TESP and compare it to the manufacturers’ recommended TESP rating. When measured TESP is over the rating, there are components restricting airflow. Knowing this, technicians can begin measuring components throughout the system to find the problem(s).

It’s important to coach your team about the NCI static pressure budgets. This will give them the ability to create percentages based on the fan’s maximum total external static pressure rating. Once they achieve this in the field, they’ll compare each pressure drop measurement to the budgets they’ve created. When their measurement is over the budget, that will tell them renovation is needed.

In addition to finding airflow restrictions, you’ll coach your teams on how to plot fan airflow. You do this using the actual TESP, fan size, and fan speed.

By using the manufacturer’s fan table they have everything they need to plot fan airflow. The fan table is provided by the manufacturer but sometimes is hard to locate. When the manufacturers’ table is not accessible you can use the NCI Generic tables.

Your technicians can now compare the fan-plotted airflow to what the equipment required airflow is supposed to be based on the outdoor tonnage. When fan-plotted airflow falls under or over 10% of the equipment’s required airflow, renovations will be needed.

Renovation Presentation

Testing and diagnostics have very little value to your customer or to you if you don’t share the results. It’s important to stress to your team that these presentations should not be too technical. Your customers will not, for the most part, understand what you’re talking about. Remember, their main concern is whether the problem can be fixed.

You can always find a way to explain to your customers the problems with the HVAC system by relating it to something they can understand.

For example, most customers have had their blood pressure taken and know what it means if the reading is too high.
Compare static pressure to blood pressure. High static pressure in the ductwork is the same as high blood pressure in the human body. The higher it goes, the more risk of failure.

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