HIGH-PERFORMANCEHVAC TODAY TMIf You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing!™hvactoday.comJULY 2019IndustryInfluencersof High-Performance HVACALSO IN THIS ISSUE:Service Callbacks Are Expensive: And Now for the Rest of the Story . . .Improve System Performance Using the Two-Foot RuleContractor Spotlight: GV's Heating and CoolingDavid Debien, Central City Air ConditioningTom Turner, Austin EnergyDon Langston, Aire Rite Air ConditioningRob Falke, National Comfort Institute, Inc.JULY 2019 3HVACTODAY.COMJULY 2019 VOLUME 3 NUMBER 7HIGH-PERFORMANCEHVAC TODAY TMCOVER STORY:High-Performance HVAC Industry InfluencersIt takes a village to change an industry. When it comes to Performance-Based ContractingTM, who are some of the key “villagers” and why are they so influential? Read this to learn more. SERVICE:Callbacks Are Expensive: Now for the Rest of the Story . . .The cost of callbacks impact your entire business. So what should you do about them? Dennis Mondul shares his thoughts.TECHNICAL:Improve System Performance Using the Two-Foot RuleNCI Trainer John Puryear explains airflow and turbulence and its impact on overall system performance.161310 DEPARTMENTSToday’s Word .........................................................................................5High-Performance Product Reviews .............................................6Contractor Spotlight: GV’s Heating and Cooling ....................8Member Update ...............................................................................18Photo of the Month .........................................................................19HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................20Ad Index ................................................................................................21One More Thing ................................................................................22JULY 2019 5HVACTODAY.COMTODAY’S WORDBy Mike WeilIt’s no secret: Baby Boomers are facing that point in their lives where retirement is just around the corner. Yes, we are getting old and some of us are not going down without a fight. But the fact is, an entire generation is beginning to leave the marketplace and that exo-dus will become a gray tsunami unlike anything witnessed before.Plenty has been written over the years on the impact that this will have on businesses and in-dustries around the globe. Many have broached the subject of the impending technician shortage in the HVAC industry and plenty of people (me included) have stood on soap boxes crying out for the need to correct the situation.But how?Recently I spoke with Don Langston, presi-dent of Aire Rite Air Conditioning and Refrigera-tion about a related topic – lack of quality train-ing for field service and installation technicians, especially when it comes to doing system perfor-mance testing. He talked about how America’s de-cades-long push for young people to attend col-lege has resulted in the dismantling of most high school shop programs.“So many young people missed the opportuni-ty to get into the skilled trades where they could make more money and not be burdened by huge college debts,” he told me. It’s one of the reasons why Don got so involved in workforce development – at his company, in industry associations like the Air Conditioning Contractors of America, plus his work in Califor-nia with the Western HVAC Performance Alli-ance, as well as with national organizations.He even started an educational foundation called “Human Works” to provide training for people interested in the trades.This is an amazing amount of effort by just one contractor to better the industry.But is it enough? Europeans may have a leg up on us in this re-gard. There is a movement that began in 2017 by politicians and commentators to shift govern-ment funding and attention away from higher education and back toward vocational training.In an article published in June 2017 on the In-side Higher Ed website (ncilink.com/EU-Vo-Tech), the author cites a study done with over 9,000 citizens in eight European countries. It showed that “when forced to prioritize one area of education, only 17 percent chose higher ed-ucation, compared with 30 percent who want more vocational education and training.”This swing, according to the article, may be the result of what author David Matthews called “the enormous expansion of universities.” Well here in the U.S., we have that issue too. But more importantly, it’s the cost of that univer-sity education that is crippling young people to-day and burdening them with an enormous debt that they may never be able to repay.Isn’t it time that we look at swinging the pen-dulum back toward the middle? Isn’t it time that our educational system equally promotes both the trades and college as viable options for our young? As Dominick Guarino wrote in his Last Word column for Contracting Business in June 2019 (ncilink.com/LastWord0619), “It’s estimated we will soon have a 30% short-age of technicians in the HVAC industry. Un-less something drastic happens to change this course, one in three will be gone within the next few years!”The gray tsunami is upon us. Unless we fix our approach to education and make vocational training equally important as college, its waves will overwhelm and damage not only our indus-try, but also the future of our children.So what are you doing about it? I’d love to hear your thoughts. The Gray Tsunami Is Upon UsMike Weil is editor- in-chief and director of communications and publications at National Comfort Institute, Inc. He can be reached at MikeW@ncihvac.com6 JULY 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYDWYER 490A HYDRONIC DIFFER-ENTIAL PRESSURE MANOMETERThe original Dwyer 490 hydronic ma-nometer has been around for more than a decade. Back then, it wouldn’t read in feet, and the resolution wasn’t where it needed to be. But its size and weight were perfect for when balancing dozens to hundreds of chilled and hot water coils above the ceiling on large commercial projects.The 490A today has fantastic resolu-tion, accuracy (±5% FS accuracy), and a handy back-lit screen which is a bonus when you are up in a ceiling. It comes in several packages with or without the manifold, in ranges from 0-15 PSI, up to 0-500 PSI. Not only does this device meet the re-quirements for most TAB certifying or-ganizations, it comes with a NIST trace-able calibration certificate (ncilink.com/NISTCert), plus many of the parts and fit-tings you’ll need. Besides being a great tool for longtime hydronics pros, it is also the perfect FIRST hydronic meter for professionals just starting to explore hydronic balancing.Another bonus for when you need to travel to a job across the country: a trav-el-friendly soft case version of the 490A. This soft case enables me to fit the en-tire 490A kit into my computer bag. This specific soft-case kit is ONLY available through National Comfort Institute (NCI) and National Balancing Council (NBC).Of note is the fact that the 490A is the result of input from hundreds of profes-sionals holding certifications from multi-ple organizations, union, non-union, TAB, mechanical, residential HVAC, Federal government, and facilities managers. Learn more about the 490A and the soft case on the NCI website (ncilink.com/Dwyer490A). If you are interested in the manifold version, go to Dwyer’s website for more information (ncilink.com/DwyerHyd).By Scott Fielder, Director, NBC HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT REVIEWSWritten By HVAC Professionals for HVAC ProfessionalsJULY 2019 7HVACTODAY.COMFIELDPIECE SDP2 DUAL IN-DUCT PSYCHROMETERThe Fieldpiece dual wand psychrom-eter (SDP2) is quite a versatile instru-ment when it comes to multiple tem-perature measurements. Because it has two wands that attach to one hand-held unit, equipment tem-perature testing has never been any eas-ier! Just place one wand in the return plenum, the other in the supply plenum, and the instrument displays both read-ings simultaneously. When you need dry bulb or wet bulb measurements, relative humidity, or dew point readings, the SDP2 can do it. It even has a built-in psychrometric chart which will convert wet bulb readings to enthal-py, so us airheads don’t have to look at enthalpy conversion tables anymore. Put the calculators away – the SDP2’s programming will calculate the tem-perature differentials in any tempera-ture parameters. It even has a function that will sync with the correct set of Fieldpiece gauges for proper refriger-ant circuit charging. Other pros of the SDP2: it’s a very rug-ged instrument with a protective rubber case around the front, back, and sides. Its keypad is easy to use for changing pa-rameters, and having two wands instead of one is huge! By the way, the SDP2 has a great display screen with a blue back-light feature.There are only two cons to this instru-ment: One is the wand tips can become damaged pretty easily if you aren’t care-ful. The second is that the protective cov-ers for the wand tips are black. When working in dark areas they can be hard to locate when testing is complete.If interested in learning more about the Fieldpiece SDP2 Dual In-Duct Psy-chrometer, go to ncilink.com/SDP2.By Casey Contreras, NCI Field Coach and Instructor8 JULY 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYwell educated in the systems they in-stall, maintain, and repair, as well as the tools and methodologies necessary to do that.The family business grew – not only from the perspective of sales and profits but also from the addition of family to the ranks – namely son Scott in 2003 and daughter Dawn in 2004. Scott works as a ser-vice technician and Dawn is one of two company HVAC comfort specialists. Vickers says that his journey to-ward high performance really began in 2008 or 2009 when he learned about National Comfort Institute. He took his first class (taught by Rob Fal-ke) in 2010 for air balancing and air diagnostics. His mission after that was to follow the performance way of life.“We sell value,” he says. “It’s re-ally how we do business and that plays nicely with the idea of Perfor-mance-Based Contracting™.”Was making it work easy? Not by a longshot. He will tell you that in the beginning, he faced more internal issues than external ones.CHANGE IS HARD“When we first began moving to-ward a culture of performance, there was pushback from our people. They mostly couldn’t wrap their heads around the ‘why’ of it,” he says. “It’s about doing the right thing. It’s also about learning. Gaining knowl-edge. It probably took us a good four to five years to get everyone on board. Today, the entire team is on board.”One thing Vickers does is to regu-larly remind GV’s field personnel that because of the company’s culture and all the training, they are the best of the best. More importantly, Vickers says customers are telling the technicians the same thing. “Really that is the answer to the ‘why’ of what we do,” he says, “and that is how our team finally got it. They get so jacked up, so excited now.”SURPRISING CUSTOMER REACTIONSWhen it comes to selling High-Per-formance HVAC, Greg Vickers says customers have been very receptive to it. “In fact, they are often floored by the data we show them,” he says. “But we don’t lead with measure-ments. We lead with a discussion. We call this Show-and-Tell. We ask them questions about their health, comfort, as well as where they see the hot and cold spots in their home.”Then they perform their testing and diagnostics. Vickers says people are generally very receptive to seeing ac-Chicago’s North Shore stretch-es between the northern edges of the Windy City itself to just south of the Wisconsin border. The area is a collection of affluent communities located in Cook and Lake Counties – a swath of real estate that is home to both Northwestern Univer-sity’s ivy-lined campus and to the only Bahá’í House of Worship in all of North America.The city of Glenview is part of the North Shore area and is home to GV’s Heating and Cooling. The 29-year-old residential and commercial HVAC maintenance and service company was founded by Greg Vickers and his wife Pam. GV’s cares for clients throughout Chicagoland and offers a full range of services that include air conditioning, heating, hot water systems, snow melt systems, and clean air systems.His modus operandi is to provide customers with the highest integri-ty and honest service, based on being CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTBy Mike Weil“We Sell Value and Performance”Greg VickersThe GV’s Team from left to right: James Hamelberg, John Mroczek, Dawn Mroczek, Nathaniel Brand, Pam Vickers, Scott Vickers, Greg VickersJULY 2019 9HVACTODAY.COMers take advantage of our financing pro-grams. The costs for duct renovations and equipment are not obstacles.”So pricing is NOT an issue. By doing the show-and-tell approach to mea-suring and offering financing to help make payments reasonable, GV’s clos-es around 70% of their sales, accord-ing to Vickers.PERFORMANCE BEGINS AND ENDS WITH TRAINING “We wouldn’t be where we are today had we not started training with Na-tional Comfort Institute more than 10 years ago,” Vickers explains. “It goes beyond that. We took what we learned and used it, implemented, made it part of our daily routines. “Have we implemented everything we learned? Absolutely not. What we focused on were nug-gets – small bits of infor-mation learned in every class we took, every Sum-mit we attended, and we came back to the office and we worked on it.“NCI has the total pack-age. Other training orga-nizations focus on maybe one thing – whether it’s on the business side or the technical side. NCI covers technical training, business training, customer service training – it’s like an endless fountain of knowledge. There is always something you can learn.“Our success with the Performance- Based Contracting approach begins and ends with training,” Vickers adds. “It is enhanced by networking. And I know that there is no end to the train-ing because technologies change, ap-proaches improve, and new things are being discovered each day.”Though training is key, he also says the performance method will not work well if you aren’t consistent in its im-plementation and use. He confides that may be the toughest part of the process. THE RECOGNITION FACTOREarlier this year, GV’s Heating and Cooling was recognized by National Comfort Institute with the presentation of its Contractor of the Year Award (ncilink.com/2019CofY). Winning this award is, in Vickers’ opinion, a tremendous honor and proof that what they are trying to do is absolutely the right thing. “Our employees can really see the importance and value of what we’ve been pushing. Being rec-ognized by NCI means the world to them.”For these and many more reasons, High-Performance HVAC Today selected GV’s Heat-ing and Cooling as our July 2019 Contractor Spotlight. Congratula-tions! tual numbers. He says on calls where they can answer customer questions with facts, his salesperson (Dawn) can close the sale most of the time.He says, “The interesting thing is, once people see the numbers, their re-action is usually something like ‘I can’t believe we’ve been living under these conditions for so many years and no one said anything about it!”TOOLS OF THE TRADE To provide customers with the re-sults they promise, GV’s makes sure their technicians are equipped with the right tools and instruments to get the job done. Every contractor has their own pol-icies, but Vickers says it makes sense for his company to provide the larger, more expensive tools including flow hoods, vacuum pumps, traverse tools, digital manometers, as well as an in-frared camera and particle counter. “We expect the techs to have their own hand tools and gauges,” he says.Another tool of the trade that Vick-ers says is key to successfully selling air upgrades and duct renovations is to offer financing packages. He adds that in most cases, when they find the problem and offer customers choic-es in solutions, the customers WILL choose one. “Financing is a key component of this because it takes a sometimes-pricey project and breaks it down into afford-able monthly payments. Today every-thing is financed. It’s to a point today that between 85 to 90% of our custom-Dawn demonstrates using a flow hood during in-house training.GV’s installation box truck on a jobsite.Next >