< Previous10 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYHIGH PERFORMANCE NEWSled to a partnership where Austin Ener-gy not only worked with NCI to educate local contractors, but also required NCI certification for any contractor partici-patng in their ratepayer programs.NCI’s highest award is the annual Chairman’s Award. This is presented to the one company that meets and/or ex-ceeds the following criteria:• Strong supporter of NCI and our shared mission• Implements all aspects of NCI’s meth-ods in service, sales, and installation• Excellent sounding board for NCI’s lead-ership – provides great feedback• Great contributor of ideas, energy, time.2017 CHAIRMAN’S AWARDWinner: Ball Heating and Air, Biloxi, MSNCI has watched Ball Heating step up their efforts over the years to really de-liver high performance HVAC systems. Guarino told the audience that “they’ve significantly invested in NCI training and coaching. In particular they have placed a major emphasis on putting togeth-er the right internal systems to support their focus on delivering and maintain-ing high performance systems.”Award, 11 years ago. “TM Johnson Brothers does all of these things which is why they received this professional designation. The company is customer focused, training focused, and service focused, and has been since its founding in 1964,” Richardson says.Next is The Vendor Partner of the Year award. The criteria are as follows:• This vendor partner exhibits strong support of the NCI membership with special pricing, discounts, or rebates• They seek to improve their member re-lationships and member benefits• They promote NCI training and mem-bership to their own customer base• The industry partner assists NCI training around the country by providing host-ing locations.2018 INDUSTRY PARTNER AWARDWinner: Austin Energy, Austin, TXAustin Energy is the nation’s eighth largest publicly owned electric utili-ty. Dominick Guarino says, “More than 15 years ago this utility contacted NCI to learn more about our training. That *Subsidized NCI training offered by Southern California Edison.Combustion Performance & Carbon Monoxide Safety Certification Program Apr 10-12: Chicago, IL May 15-17: Los Alamitos, CA Introduction to Hydronic Testing, Adjusting, & Balancing Apr 10-11: Cleveland, OH May 8-9: Los Alamitos, CA* Residential HVAC System Performance & Air Balancing Certification Program Apr 10-12: Los Alamitos, CA* Apr 10-12: Tulare, CA* Apr 17-19: Denver, CO May 1-3: Portland, OR May 1-3: New Castle, DE May 8-10: Northern, NJ May 15-17: Minneapolis, MN Performance-Based Selling Apr 17-19: Los Alamitos, CA* Duct System Optimization & Residential Air Balancing Certification Program Apr 17-19: Cleveland, OH Apr 24-26: Austin, TX May 22-24: Pittsburgh, PA May 30-June1: Milwaukee, WI Optimize Economizer Performance with Certification Apr 26: Los Alamitos, CA*Commercial Air Balancing Certification Program Apr 10-12: Dallas, TX Apr 24-26: Middletown, CT May 8-10: Nashville, TN May 15-17: Boston, MA May 22-24: Los Alamitos, CA* Commercial HVAC System Performance Certification Program Apr 24-25: Los Alamitos, CA* May 22-23: Richmond, VA Upcoming NCI Training & Event ScheduleFrom left: Dominick Guarino; Austin Energy’s Terry Moore, Residential Conservation Energy Manager and Tom Turner, Environ- mental Program Coordinator for Field Services; and Rob Falke.From left: Dominick Guarino; Jim Ball, Ball Heating and Air Conditioning; and Rob Falke.HVACTODAY.COMAPRIL 2018 11able and optional alkaline batteries, plus sensor protection and long warranties for key combustion gases.• Measures CO, NO, NO2, and SO2• Automatic sensor protection for quality measurements• Five-year O2 sensor performance and warranty for lower cost of ownership.For more information, go to ncilink.com/PCA400.DURABLE TOOL BAGGreenlee Textron Inc.’s Next-Generation tech-nician toolbag is built from a poly and nylon Ripstop fabric which contains any tear that might occur. Critical seams that receive stress from weight are reinforced with double and triple stitching to prevent separation. Next Generation bags are lined with a light green interior to increase visibility of contents. A durable, hard plastic bot-tom keeps dirt and water out and allows the bag to stand in an upright position for easy access.Other features include: • Padded lumbar support• S-strap shoulder strap de-signed for ergonomic form-fit to evenly distribute weight• 30 double-stitched pock-ets for tool storage and organization.Go to ncilink.com/Green-Lee for more information.PORTABLE COMBUSTION AND EMISSIONS ANALYERBacharach, Inc. recently introduced their PCA® 400 combustion analyzer.The PCA 400 provides efficiency measurements and combustion emis-sions data during the fuel burning process that helps facilitate improved system performance, a reduction in energy con-sumption, and decreased emissions impact on the environment.It is an industrial-grade product with features and benefits not typically seen in this level of instrument. The analyzer has 12-hour recharge-HIGH PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS12 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYjoined in 1972, his brother Scott in 1978, and youngest brother, David Getzschman, joined seven years later in 1985. The company, which started in the ga-rage of the Getzschman home in 1960, now operates out of two facilities. The headquarters is located in a 20,000 sq. ft. former shopping cen-ter in Fremont that Getzschman bought in 2007.CURRENT OVERVIEWGetzschman enjoyed $9.7 mil-lion in gross sales in 2017 and accord-ing to Ron Getzschman, is budgeted to do about $9.9 million in 2018. Revenues come from the commercial (50%) and res-idential sectors (50%). They have 53 employees and field 16 service vehicles, six installation trucks on the residential side; 11 vehicles on the commercial side. Ron and Scott, and Roger Pannier co-own the business, with Scott focused on the residential ser-vice side. Ron handles the residen-tial installation business, David fo-cuses on commercial, and Roger oversees accounting.Since the beginning, this compa-ny always put the customer and the community first. The G-Force con-cept is part of a marketing campaign that pushes fast and reliable service and backs it up with measurable and verifi-able diagnostics. According to Ron, this is a key differen-tiator that sets the company apart from its competition. This requires technicians to be highly trained in what Ron calls, “G-Verify System Efficiency Diagnostics.”“We have the most extensively trained, longest tenured service staff in the area. Our technicians are trained to work on all makes and models of air conditioners, furnaces, and heat pumps,” he says.EVOLVING TOWARD A PERFORMANCE-BASED APPROACHRon Getzschman attributes G-Verify to their incorporating a Performance-Based Contracting™ approach to their business.“We’ve been focused on training and education for years and our move to-ward the NCI (National Comfort Insti-tute) approach was natural.”In fact, they kind of flowed right into In Nebraska there is just this feel-ing in the air. A powerful feeling. Especially in the greater Fremont area. Some call it a force. But those in the know understand that it is more than that. It is “The G-Force.”The G-Force is powered by a strong family commitment to the community, one that focuses on excellence and has since 1960. You see that is the year the G-Force came into being – sort of.What I am talking about is Getzschman Heating, LLC, a 58-year-old commercial and residential HVAC firm that has re-mained a family company since Rich-ard Getzschman started it. In 1960 Getzschman Heating was born, but it ex-isted in other forms before then. Rich-ard began his HVAC career working for a company called Nebraska Sheet Metal.He eventually left that firm and joined forces with a friend and, in 1958 their company, Smith and Getzschman, made its mark on the world. In 1960 Richard left and started Getzschman Heating and Sheet Metal. Eventually he dropped the sheet metal portion of the name and the current Getzschman Heating name came into being. The company still oper-ates a significant sheet metal operation.Richard had four sons and three eventu-ally joined the business. Ron Getzschman CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTBy Mike WeilMay the G-Force Be with YouThe Getzschman brothers from left to right: Scott, Ron, and David.The Getzschman team is ready to rollAPRIL 2018 13HVACTODAY.COMNCI. Getzschman explains that his com-pany originally joined Contractor Success Group (CSG) back in 1993 and never left throughout all the changes that occurred to that organization. “That is what really launched our res-idential growth,” Getzschman explains. “CSG specialized in business manage-ment training, including marketing. At that time, I was running our commercial department, but I dropped everything to focus on implementing what we were learning in the CSG training. “This really helped us grow our busi-ness,” he continues. “When we first start-ed with CSG, our company was at $1.8 million in sales. We began to grow at about $1 million per year based on what we learned at CSG.” Historically, CSG eventually became Service Experts. And then Lennox bought it. And then ISL bought it. And then ISL became part of NCI. “So, we never left,” says Getzschman. “But once NCI bought ISL, the training shifted to the technical side and that changed everything for us.”He explains the technical training is what really enabled Getzschman to set itself apart in their markets. “With our membership in NCI, we found ourselves always on the cutting edge.”IMPLEMENTING WHAT THEY LEARNEDSystem renovation and air upgrade work on new installations, according to Getzschman, happens automatical-ly today. “Thanks to NCI training, we now make sure everything is done properly. Still, when we first started we struggled. It was a work in progress. We needed to do a better job of finding problems, especial-ly in poorly sized and installed duct. “In those early days, no one really un-derstood the air side. The key for us was helping our Comfort Advisors under-stand and better communicate it to the customer.”And that is exactly what they did. That indeed, is the G-Force!Because so few others in the Fre-mont-Omaha market area measure, test, and verify system performance, it can cre-ate a difficult sales environment. Especial-ly if the consumer is led to believe that ev-erything Getzschman does is voodoo. But Ron says it doesn’t matter. “You almost always have to prove what you say to customers anyway. And we can and do prove ourselves every day.”G-VERIFYHe adds that Per-formance-Based contracting pro-vides the proof not only for the cus-tomer, but for mar-keting as well. “Our marketing says things that none of our com-petitors say. We explain how most peo-ples’s HVAC systems waste 40% of their energy, even on brand new systems. Then we explain how our technicians identify inconsistencies in duct work, why we audit performance on the ex-isting system, and if we replace that sys-tem, how it must be properly installed and commissioned.”He says the Getzschman technicians do this on every installation. Then they recheck everything to make sure the up-grades and improvements have made a difference. On the Getzschman website, consum-ers see the following ‘definition’ of com-missioning, which is called G-Verify. It says, The Getzschman G-Verify testing and diagnostic methods are used on Air balancing and combustion efficiency test to measure the performance characteris-tics of the HVAC system compared to the collected manufacturer’s specifications.On average, 40% of energy that heating and cooling sys-tems provide is wasted. This in-cludes brand new systems! There are three steps that must occur to assure that a system is oper-ating at “High Efficiency”.n Pre-installation evaluation to identify current system efficiency performance.n Develop customized system configuration to maximize efficiency.n Post installation system testing and calibration to ensure comfort, efficiency and reliability.“Once that gets around to people in our community, competition becomes a non-issue. Plus, we conduct surveys on all our jobs. We receive reviews that rave about our technicians, especially how Ron (left) and Scott Getzschman won NCI’s Contractor of the Year Award during the 2018 NCI High Performance HVAC Summit in Austin, TX.Of the many training sessions conducted by Getzschman, this one focuses on Safety. Many sessions are done in the sheet metal shop.14 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYwork, processes will be inconsistent, and your customers will push back as well.” Enforcement also means better com-munications from management. Ron says he meets with his installation crews every morning. They discuss issues. They also talk about the process. Together they work out the kinks. “That is the best part. It provides buy in. If you’re implementing performance, be sure to always meet and communi-cate with your people. Remind them that the goal is 100% customer satisfaction.”IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMERAnother aspect of the Getzschman approach is their guarantee. Ron says they provide their customers a “two-year test drive.” If anything goes wrong, Getzschman fixes it. No questions asked.He says, “Sure, we’ve had to return grades are and why it benefits them. “It is up to us to make sure customers understand what we are doing and why.”He emphasizes that the performance process isn’t something that they are done with. In fact, Ron Getzschman says they have a long way to go.“There is always more training to do,” he says.CHANGE IS NOT EASY The process obviously involves change and, like companies everywhere, change can be difficult. At Getzschman, imple-menting performance meant changing how field service and installation crews operated and interacted with custom-ers. Ron Getzschman says some of his co-workers pushed back at first. “You have to enforce the changes,” he says. “If you don’t, implementation won’t they explain everything and made every-thing work better than ever before. It is word of mouth marketing, and that just makes a tremendous difference for us. “ IT’S A PROCESSSo just how do you implement all this good stuff into your HVAC business? By taking little steps.Getzschman adds, “When it comes to Performance-Based Contracting, try to find what provides you the biggest bang for your buck. And then make that a company policy. Write down what those policies are, what you want done on every job. “Make it part of the sales process as far as what your comfort advisor says to the customer. Then it is all about com-munications. It’s about talking with and explaining to the customer what air up-CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTAPRIL 2018 15HVACTODAY.COMside of the business, especially in the last three or four years. I know without the performance side of the business, prof-its would be going backwards. It will get better as time goes on.”He does say that the bigger issue is one of manpower. It gets harder each year for he and his brothers to find com-petent employees to work in both the commercial and residential arena. He be-lieves one of the biggest problems the HVAC industry has is attracting young people.“For decades the push has been to prepare high school kids for college. But in today’s reality that option is becom-ing un-affordable and the jobs just ar-en’t out there. Up until very recently no one paid attention to the solid living you can make in the trades, especially in the HVAC business,” he says.money to customers because some-thing wasn’t done right, or just for any reason. We’ve had customers who didn’t like air coming out of the register, so they want us to remove the system. “We don’t complain. We give the cus-tomer their money back, and we remove the system. We’ve had to do that maybe six times over the last 20 years. If a cus-tomer is unhappy, you must make them happy or give them their money back.”He adds, “Reputation is everything. Our family name is on this business and that is something we take very seriously. So, we work hard everyday to keep our reputation high.”IS PERFORMANCE PROFITABLE?Ron Getzschman pondered that ques-tion for a minute. Then he said , “We’ve seen steady growth on the replacement “There does seem to be a small move-ment toward changing this, but not enough. No one will help us if we don’t try to help ourselves. Get involved. There are programs that you can participate in to attract young people to your company.”He says the world of Performance- Based Contracting also helps. Because now, thanks to modern test instrument and tool technology, HVAC is becoming more attractive. It is about using not only your hands, but your brain as well. And that can be the G-Force in your market.Except you may have to rename it to better reflect your own company name. Congratulations to Ron, Scott, Roger, and David and their entire team on being the April 2018 High Performance HVAC Today Contractor Spotlight.16 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYFor an example, when I was a service techni-cian performing maintenance calls, my biggest complaint was that I couldn’t make any money. I thought service agreement calls were a waste of my time, so I would blaze through them as fast as I could to move on to the next job. My typical day consisted of four service agree-ment calls. I figured I was making about $25 per service agreement, which totaled $100 for the day. During slow periods I made roughly 50% less than I often made during busier times. This was based on doing those mind-numbing check-list agreements I referred to earlier.Unfortunately, I was not alone. Today I hear similar complaints from other technicians who share the frustration I once felt. These grumblings might be occurring within your company as well. From a business standpoint, we all understand the need to be profitable. On some level techni-cians know the company also needs to be compet-itive. By pricing service agreements slightly high-er or lower than the competition, no one gets rich. The idea is that service agreements keep our com-panies top-of-mind with customers when there is an equipment issue. THE COSTS OF SERVICE AGREEMENTSMost techs don’t think about the costs for per-forming service agreement work. For example: • The company must pay someone to sell the maintenance: usually a Customer Service Representative (CSR) or a Technician• The company must provide phones for CSRs • The company pays for technician vehicles and tools • The company provides insurance for vehicle• The company pays for fueling vehicles• The company pays to maintain vehicles • The company pays technicians for the job.The list goes on, but you get the idea.If you are not adding performance into your ser-vice agreements- you could be missing a huge revenue stream. But first, your technicians must understand the importance of service agreements, particularly focused on performance.Typical service agreement jobs include clean-ing the condenser coil, checking capacitors, con-tactors, and compressors. They also include inspec-tion of evaporator coils and heat exchangers. Technicians check the re-frigerant charge, change filters, and complete their check sheet giving the homeowner a thumbs-up. But is that enough?WHO BENEFITS THE MOST? Ideally, everybody should benefit. Home-owners win if the agree-ment keeps their systems running smoothly, effi-ciently, and safely. Tech-nicians benefit, because a strong service agree-ment base provides con-stant work for them year-round. And contracting companies benefit be-cause service agreements bring in a constant reve-nue stream and tie customers closer to them. But everything is not ideal. Many service tech-nicians misunderstand how much revenue they should produce. This can lead to poor attitudes and a ‘wrong’ mindset. PERFORMANCE Should be Native to Your Service AgreementsBy Casey ContrerasSERVICE AGREEMENTSCarbon Monoxide testing is a great addition to a performance agreement.APRIL 2018 17HVACTODAY.COMrenovated. For example: n When filter pressure drop is high, increase the filter surface area or in-stall a less restrictive filtern When coil pressure drop is high, clean the coil or increase the coil size n When supply duct pressure is high, add more supply duct capacityn When return duct pressure is high, increase return duct capacity These airside renovations are called “Air Upgrades.” You won’t find these defects unless you measure. COMMUNICATIONAnother aspect of Performance- Based Agreements is communication. Technicians need to present the infor-mation to customers without getting technical. Explanations must be in terms the customer can understand. There are many resources available to help technicians with this.For one, they can download the Air-maxx app for their smartphones. This app puts the measurements in col-ored scales that helps customers see what components are in a poor oper-ating state. Almost everyone will un-derstand green means good, and red is bad. You can take it a step further and compare static pressure to blood pressure. Anyone who has visited the doctor’s office understands the impor-tance of proper blood pressure.For example, say you measured TESP at .82-in wc. and the system is rated for .50-in wc. You could say, “Mrs. Smith, measuring static pres-sure on your HVAC system is like a doctor measuring your blood pres-sure. “I measured a .82 on your system, that is considered high. If your doc-tor measured your blood pressure that high, you would be in stage three hy-pertension, which is very bad. The doctors would be scrambling trying to figure out how to relieve that pressure. Your HVAC system is currently oper-ating under conditions like that.” Then you can provide the customer options that fit their budget to address the issues. For your Performance-Based Agree-ment you could, for example, offer a customizable ‘Premium package’ that includes quarterly or monthly visits where you perform standard checks and cleanings combined with stat-ic pressure measurements. You could also offer a monthly or bi-monthly fil-ter replacement, add in a 25% discount on parts and service, and include same day service if something fails. For basic packages, remove some aspects from the premium package and create your introductory levels. I recommend sticking with two or three packages at most.The goal here is to train techni-cians on the importance of Perfor-mance-Based Agreements. Once they look beyond the equipment side of the system to the airside, new oppor-tunities will emerge. Technicians love it when they can improve the quality of their work life, their revenue, unique market position for the company, and happy customers. A LOOK AT PERFORMANCELet’s convert these checklist-style service agreements into performance agreements and introduce a new ap-proach to every service call. All you need is to add static pressure mea-surements to your existing service procedures. It typically takes no more than five minutes to perform the test, and the issues you will dis-cover will lead to more opportunities. You no longer must wait for equip-ment break downs. For this to happen, technicians need to install four test ports: entering the filter, exiting the filter, entering the coil, and exiting the coil.Add the exiting filter pressure to the entering coil pressure. This provides Total External Static Pressure (TESP) and lets you know if airflow restric-tions exist. To discover the source of any re-strictions, add in the following pres-sure measurements. The highest pres-sures indicate the most restriction to airflow.n Find filter pressure drop by sub-tracting the entering filter pressure from the exiting filter pressuren Find coil pressure drop by sub-tracting the entering coil pressure from the exiting coil pressuren You can determine return duct pressure with entering filter pressure n Exiting coil pressure also doubles as the supply duct pressure.With a performance-based approach, technicians can discover invisible issues that have plagued customer comfort for years. When static pressures are high, they tell us we need to renovate (make a bigger opening). Static pressure pro-files help determine what needs to be Casey Contreras is a field coach for NCI. He is based in Southern California, where he works alongside southern California Edison’s Quality installation contractors. He has 10 years of residential, light commercial installation, and service experience. He can be reached at CaseyC@ncihvac.com.18 APRIL 2018HIGH PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYinclude the cost of testing and diagnostics. All upgrades needed carry an additional cost. Stat-ic pressure and temperature are two of the basic test and diagnostic services included in a super-charged service agreement. Static pressure profile – This test sweeps the duct system into the standard service agree-ment. It also elevates your level of service high above your competition and adds about five min-utes to each service call. • Pressure measurements quantify airflow re-strictions caused by the filter and coil• It identifies changes in the duct system per-formance• Pressure measurements detect decreases in airflow • Pressure measurements also will find any new restrictions or disconnects in the duct system.Temperature measurement added to your service agreements uncovers hidden losses not found using normal service protocols. • Measure and record temperatures entering and exiting the equipment and at the farthest supply register and return grille.• This test can reveal temperature losses through the duct system that often cause efficiency loss-es of 30% or more during extreme temperatures• The difference between the equipment dis-charge air temperature and the supply register air is degrees of temperature loss through the supply duct • The air temperature difference between the equipment inlet and the return grille is degrees of temperature loss in the return duct. Your customers buy service agreements for peace of mind and to discover new or ongoing defects. When these defects are found and re-solved, your customer receives better perfor-mance and peace of mind in exchange for the A service manager reviewing the week’s service records, called me to report a tell-tale pattern he discovered. He found most technicians consistently repeat the same 10 to 15 repairs. Let’s take a look at the impact on your customers and company when technicians slip into autopilot and fail to search for performance-based solutions.PERFORMANCE-BASED SERVICEMany performance-based contractors have ful-ly implemented testing and diagnostics into their sales and installation departments. However, many have not yet infused measurement and di-agnostics into their service departments.Performance-based service agreements offer additional features that go beyond the box to in-clude the air distribution system. These advanced services distinguish you from your competitors and give you access to profitable new services you can offer your customers.Performance-based service agreements only Supercharged Service with Performance-Based DiagnosticsBy Rob “Doc” FalkeSERVICEAPRIL 2018 19HVACTODAY.COMthe symptoms can be solved by repairing these issues. If the customer understands, the repair is priced and agreed to.Your customer will soon be free from the grips of an issue that may have been bothering them for years but has gone undetected with-out performance testing. PRICING SERVICE TESTING AND UPGRADESBecause the impact of these repairs usually carry a significant impact on the building’s comfort and ener-gy cost, the value of the upgrade de-mands far more than the usual time and material rates. It’s doubtful heart surgeons price their work at time and material rates. When solving problems, you step into a role far above the typical service tech and deserve to be paid for the value produced by a highly effective repair and the improvement it delivers. The value and cost of these solutions are typically 2 to 3 times normal service rates and are worth the cost. Compare the value of a 40% increase in efficiency to the retail cost of 40% more efficient cooling equipment (if you can find equipment that much more ef-ficient.) Remember, the traditional cost-plus markup doesn’t apply here, you’re selling solutions, not labor and material.Consider expanding your service agreements to go beyond the box and provide advanced services that distin-guish you from your competition. It also opens doors to badly needed and profitable services you can offer your customers. Just today I spoke with two com-mercial balancing companies expand-ing the diagnostic portion of their air balance businesses. Both are moving a large portion of their work away from tradi-tional balancing to assess-ing HVAC performance in buildings. The profits are much higher, and customers appreciate them even more.TWO VERY DIFFERENT SYSTEMSA review of the manufacturer’s recom-mended service and maintenance pro-tocol makes it clear there is an assump-tion that the system being maintained performs as designed and to specifica-tions. That’s one kind of system. The big question is, ‘what percent of HVAC systems perform at this level?’ Maybe one or two out of 10 systems?By including performance-based testing in your service agreements, you can produce solutions and opportuni-ties undetectable by equipment-only maintenance procedures. Talk about an untapped and undiscovered market! Consider adding the performance- based testing and diagnostic culture into your service and maintenance de-partment. Do what both you and your customer will benefit from the most and supercharge your service. cost of a system upgrade. You receive additional income that your custom-ers are happy to pay. WHAT TO DO WHEN A PERFOR-MANCE DEFECT IS DISCOVEREDEvery defect discovered through performance-based service diagnos-tics carries with it symptoms your cus-tomer is most likely to identify with.The best way to approach a custom-er is to ask if they have noticed any of the problems associated with the de-fect you discovered in their system. When their answers confirm your di-agnostic, describe what you found in terms they can easily understand. When you have taught them the cause and effect of the problem, your cus-tomers natural response is to want the problem fixed. Here is an example of this low-pres-sure problem-solving discussion that will greatly benefit both parties. The technician includes a static pres-sure profile in the service agreement. The static pressure of the return duct is only .02” w.c (inches of water column). This may indicate an extreme return duct disconnect. Summertime tem-perature testing reveals 102F air tem-perature entering the equipment. This indicates a massive amount of hot attic air pulled into the duct system.The technician asks the customer if they have noticed if the unit runs con-tinuously when the temperature is hot outside. The tech also inquires if utility bills have been excessive. Both these questions refer to symptoms of massive return duct leaks.When the customer confirms they are living with these issues, then the technician describes the defects dis-covered from testing and explains how Rob Falke is president and co-owner of National Comfort Institute, Inc., (NCI). He has dedicated his career to devel-oping improved methods of measuring the performance of HVAC systems. His quest is to advance others in their skill and ability to apply these prin-ciples in their various roles in the HVAC industry. Next >