< Previousthe training we do in-house, and train-ing provided by our vendor partners. “The biggest internal impact of that is satisfaction. We are not just me-chanics. We are not just part swap-pers. We can actually go out and make a real difference in our custom-ers’ lives. Knowing how to do all this helps us feel really good about the work we do and inspires us to be the best,” concludes Ken Dean.For this and so many more reasons, High-Performance HVAC Today magazine has selected Dean Heating and Air as this month’s Contractor Spotlight. every customer wants us to spend time for testing, at least not upfront, so I try to give them what they want with op-tions that can make things much bet-ter for them. “People like that. Few of my other competitors do that. Then, when we solve the “unsolvable” problems, cus-tomers do talk about it. Other trades talk about it.“We couldn’t do any of that if we weren’t testing and diagnosing com-fort delivery performance.”“Air diagnostics and combustion analysis are the base of our success and that base depends on training from NCI, for them to use these processes and tools. The advantages it gives them. They really got on board with it, espe-cially when I could demonstrate it to them in the field. “The service guys took to it quickly, but I really want to impart more of this knowledge to our installers, so they see what their efforts at installing have yielded in terms of airflow.”Ken goes out after most installs to commission the systems. He says he does about 80% of them.THE ULTIMATE IMPACTKen emphatically says the perfor-mance approach directly impacts his company’s success and growth.“Our reputation is what drives our business and growth,” he says. “Not CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHTWE ARE NOT JUST MECHANICS. WE ARE NOT JUST PART SWAPPERS. WE CAN ACTUALLY GO OUT AND MAKE A REAL DIFFERENCE IN OUR CUSTOMERS’ LIVES. 10 OCTOBER 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYOCTOBER 2019 11HVACTODAY.COMThis is an excellent code and it has saved many lives. But the UL2034 standard allows 69 ppm (parts per million) continuous CO prior to the alarm sounding. Thus, a typical CO detector noti-fies occupants of deadly amounts of CO but does NOT protect them from continuous CO, or lower- level CO poisoning. Many medical studies show that low-level CO poisoning can be the root of dozens of serious dis-eases including Parkinson’s, heart and circulato-ry problems, many respiratory diseases, nerve and brain damage, and SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) — just to name a few. Every home should have at least one low-level CO monitor to protect all occupants from any lev-el of CO poisoning. I encourage you to tell your customers they need one on each level of the home and always near bedrooms.CONSUMER MYTH 2: “I had my furnace checked so I have no worries regarding CO poisoning”Fact: Every furnace manufacturer recommends yearly maintenance on furnaces. But, less than Unfortunately for many buildings and homes in North America, the answer is ‘NO!’ The problem is, most people do not really know if their home is safe from carbon monoxide (CO). In the following article, I hope to help debunk several myths and tell you some of the facts regarding CO.CONSUMER MYTH 1: “I have a CO detector, so I have nothing to worry about”Fact: It is part of the building code in several states that “all residential dwellings shall have a working CO detector that complies with UL2034 within 10 feet of every bedroom.” Carbon Monoxide: The Real Truth!By Tom JohnsonTECHNICALRecently when at the doctor’s office the admitting nurse asked me, “Do you feel safe in your home?” I immediately answered, “yes.” This question really got me to thinking… As a certified Combustion and Carbon Monoxide Safety Analyst, my question to a customer should be, “Are you safe in your home from carbon monoxide?”12 OCTOBER 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYbut poisonings can take place any time of year. For example, gravity-vent wa-ter heaters tend to have venting prob-lems in mild weather, especially if they have marginal levels of combustion air in the mechanical area. Gas ranges are installed all over North America with-out proper range hoods that ventilate to the outside. Even if they have a hood, rarely do people actually run the ventilation fan when they are cooking. Baking and broiling are the most dangerous. Home centers sell vent-free heaters that ignorant consumers use in their homes, potentially making deadly levels of CO in just minutes of operation.CONSUMER MYTH 5: “Public buildings are safer than private homes”Fact: Actually, there is NO Federal guideline for Carbon Monoxide mon-itoring in schools, apartment build-ings, hotels, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and churches among all other public buildings with the ex-ception of public parking garages. They are currently the only building type with specified maximum levels of carbon monoxide allowed. Deaths and poisonings actually happen in public buildings as much or more than pri-vate homes.CONSUMER MYTH 6: “At Thanksgiving and Christmas it is the turkey that makes you sleepy”Fact: Residential gas ov-ens by law can produce up to 800 ppm of CO during typical operation. In many homes that don’t have a vent-ed range hood or don’t run the fan even if they do have a vented hood. An oven run-ning continuously for sever-al hours can produce danger-ously high levels of CO in a space. This combined with many people in that space using up the oxygen and produc-ing CO2 can exasperate this issue. So the next time you are at a holi-day gathering, pay attention to this and ventilate the space if there is a gas oven running for an extended period of time. CONSUMER MYTH 7: “I don’t hear much about poison-ings, so it must not be a problem”Fact: A huge majority of CO poi-sonings are never detected as such. Google reports that there are 72,000+ CO poisonings reported in the U.S. each year. An educated guess — after testing for CO in homes for over 10 years and talking to trained and certi-fied CO analysts from all over the U.S. and Canada — is that as much as 20% of ALL buildings suffer from some de-gree of CO poisoning in a given year. Also, our medical profession does NOT test for CO poisoning in patients who exhibit flu-like symptoms. In fact many thousands of these patients 5% of furnace technicians are trained and certified in combustion and CO analysis. Unless a technician has such training and certification, there is no certainty that a furnace is safe.Also, every combustion appliance in a home or building is a potential CO producer, so all water heaters, boilers, dryers, stoves, fireplaces, wood stoves, and kitchen ranges should be checked as well. In fact, more CO poisonings are caused by kitchen ranges and water heaters than by furnaces.CONSUMER MYTH 3: “If I suspect CO, I should call the fire department, gas com-pany, or any heating contractor”Fact: It is true that most fire depart-ments, gas companies, and many heat-ing contractors are buying the proper tools to detect low levels of CO in build-ings. But again, less than 5% (actually less than 1%) of them have ever com-pleted a training course and are certi-fied in the proper repairs to prevent the problem from re-occurring. That is why it is incumbent on you to explain to your customers that your technicians are trained in Combustion and CO safety, and are therefore well equipped to handle any combustion situation.With that in mind, your techs should always carry their current wallet card to show customers they, in fact, have been properly trained.CONSUMER MYTH 4: “CO poisonings only happen in really cold weather”Fact: CO does not care about the weather. We tend to hear about more poisonings in the middle of winter, TECHNICALOCTOBER 2019 13HVACTODAY.COMThere have been several successful companies that have completely paid for their entire training investment in just a few weeks after class with the in-creased sales from finding all the exist-ing problems in their customers’ homes.Trained and certified technicians are the most qualified to debunk these and other myths that permeate the HVAC Industry. a complete training and certification course that is recognized by the HVAC industry as proper and complete Car-bon Monoxide certification training?CO TRAINING: A MUSTIt’s time to look into attending one of these classes. Another little known fact is that NCI will actually bring an instructor right to your business to do this training for your people in-house. If you have eight or more people needing this training, it is often cost-ef-fective to bring the training right into your facility. You have no transporta-tion costs, you can train all your peo-ple, and keep your business operating. Plus, you can attend the class with your people to re-enforce the value of the training. actually experience symptoms of low- level CO poisoning.CO POISONINGS ARE PREVENTABLEIt just baffles me that here we are in 2019 and our industry and our society are absolutely ignorant of the dangers of CO in our buildings and preventions available to us to alleviate the issue. For example, we still build water heaters and heating appliances that are engineered specifically to hurt peo-ple if they are not installed and moni-tored properly (ie: the draft hood and the vent-free heater). So what is the an-swer? In two words: proper training! Are you aware that National Com-fort Institute (NCI) is the ONLY or-ganization in North America that has Tom Johnson is a Plumbing and HVAC contractor from Cambridge, MN. He is one of six nationally certified Carbon Monoxide and Combustion trainers teaching for NCI. He has 40+ years of industry experience and 10+ years of experience in testing and repairing CO problems in the field. He can be reached at tom@tmjohnsonbros.com.14 OCTOBER 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYgerous situations. When things go wrong, they go wrong in a catastrophic way. As contractors, we must prevent that from happening at all costs.BECOME EDUCATEDDuring my conversations with NCI, I learned about classes on the combustion process and CO safety that Jim Davis taught all across the coun-try. I decided our first step to becoming knowl-edgeable was through education. So we contracted with NCI to bring Jim Da-vis into our company. At the time we had 8 to 12 technicians, so Jim provided a two-day training class just for our people.During that class, which we held in our train-ing room, Davis hooked up his combustion ana-lyzer to our test furnaces and we watched as the CO levels climbed and climbed. It went exponen-tial on us. He told us he believed the cause was a dirty in-ducer motor. Everyone in the room was aghast in disbelief. So we opened the unit up and found the inducer motor was full of rust.This was a furnace that we serviced regularly, kept clean. How could this happen without our knowing about it? Jim Davis’ class showed us. Would we have otherwise known this was hap-pening? Not without the help of a combustion an-alyzer, the knowledge of where to place it, and the ability to interpret what its readings meant. That is one way we learned that everything we thought we knew was mostly wrong. We also learned what really caused CO issues and how to test and fix those issues. That got the team fired up to pursue certification and that is what we did. Since that first class, 100% of our techs are cer-tified in combustion safety and CO through NCI. We have them on a two-year rotation for renewing those certifications. We also established an annual We became involved with carbon monoxide (CO) testing and repair (at least the part where we under-stood its cause, symptoms, and repair) around 14 years ago after a series of con-versations with Dominick Guarino and Jim Davis of National Comfort Institute (NCI). During those conversations, I learned that I really didn’t know anything about CO – how it was produced, what caused it, or how to fix it. When it came to CO, we were operating not knowing what we didn’t know. We used indus-try anecdotes like cracked heat exchangers as the likely culprit creating CO. We also believed that if the flame burned blue, it burned clean. If it burned orange, it burned dirty. I decided that, as a company, we needed to re-ally understand it. It is in the best interest of our customers as well as our technicians. Let’s face it, gas appliances themselves are fairly safe – they’ve been around for more than a hundred years and manufacturers know how to build safe equip-ment. But anytime combustion is involved, oth-er factors can come into play that can create dan-Carbon Monoxide: Get PastNot Knowing What You Don’t KnowBy Steve MilesMANAGEMENTCombustion analyzers are key instruments for testing and diagnosing issues that can lead to CO production.OCTOBER 2019 15HVACTODAY.COMdraft is in the chimney. Did you know that you can have too much draft in the chimney? This can create an air cur-tain that prevents combustion gases from going up the flue as they should. It’s one of those things that you don’t know until you learn about it.So our process is to not only check the combustion gases and flues of ev-ery furnace we come in contact with, but we also check the draft to make sure it is within prescribed limits. To protect our team, we teach them to turn on their combustion analyzers outside and carry them into the home running to check for CO. This shows consumers how seriously we take combustion safety.THE MARKET RESPONSEAll the training in the world won’t be enough to overcome the reaction of the market. It’s hard enough to explain to customers what you’re doing and why in terms they can understand and ac-cept. But that gets even more difficult when competitors, who aren’t proper-ly trained or certified, tell customers that what we are doing is only a way to charge more money for the service. It is also difficult because we mon-itor and test for low-level CO issues when most cus-tomers have CO detectors that aren’t alarming and everyone feels safe. You have to be able to explain that. Further complicat-ing things are com-petitors who come in with Night-hawk CO monitors that don’t register low CO output. They tell the homeowner that the burner flame is blue and they don’t detect CO. All is well. The truth is they don’t know what they don’t know. They have no idea whether the furnace is producing CO or not.These scenarios can be hard to over-come. It is a challenge. Luckily, in our market area, we do have several com-petitors who are also trained and cer-tified by NCI. We can and do refer customers to these companies if they don’t believe us.Obviously, this can mean we lose the customer to that competitor. But we’d rather lose that business to a trained and certified professional than risk something bad happening to the customer because we didn’t ad-dress the issue.CUSTOMER EDUCATIONConsumer education is so important. They only know about CO from what they read, hear, or see through the media or what others tell them. They mostly don’t know how many things can cause the production of CO that could be happening in their home.Our techs explain how many things can cause CO besides the furnace. Even in an all-electric house that has no gas-fired appliances, CO can be a problem if the car is left running in an open attached ga-rage or if they put a throw-rug with rubber backing into a dryer (yes, that can produce CO). Electric ovens can produce CO when in self-cleaning mode. Our training and ex-pertise enable our schedule for NCI to come in and exclu-sively train our field team for refreshers and recertification.We are a company that believes in training and we budget for our guys to get all kinds of it. We do most training in-house, but will send technicians to outside training to fill in the gaps. BECOMING A CO EXPERTLike anything else, to really be pro-ficient at combustion analysis and CO detection and repair, you have to put in the time to not only train but also to practice your art. Our culture has com-bustion testing as a standard part of the process we have in place for mainte-nance, service, and even installations. Your field team needs to understand the importance of and expectations for doing the monitoring, testing, and di-agnosis on every single call.TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTSAs in any technical profession, tech-nicians can only be successful when they are equipped properly and we are no different. Combustion analyzers are key in-struments we use when it comes to the testing and diagnosis of the combus-tion process and the amount of CO be-ing produced. For us, choosing the right analyzers has really been a game of trial and error to find the best ones to use. We look for those that not only hold up best in the field, but have everything our techni-cians need to make accurate tests and diagnoses.Right now our analyzers of choice are from TSI and UEI.Another key, relatively inexpensive instrument we prefer is the Bacharach draft meter. It lets us know how much 16 OCTOBER 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYMANAGEMENTTwitter, and others. We coordinate messaging with our PSAs.There is a really fine line when it comes to this kind of messaging. You don’t want to overdo it and make cus-tomers think you’re trying to frighten them into buying your services. The trick is to find the middle ground be-tween educating them and still creat-ing an environment where they want to do business with you.WHAT ELSE YOU SHOULD KNOWWhen it comes to combustion issues and CO, be aware there are more caus-es than you know. I find that what I think I know, is often wrong. So you need to always be learning. Training is not a one-and-done situation. It should be continuous. And the same goes for your customers. You have to talk about this stuff and be prepared to address their concerns and any is-sue you find in their homes.It is more than just using the tools and instruments. You need to under-stand what readings mean and the im-portance of combustion air. So don’t wait. If your technicians ar-en’t trained and certified in combus-tion safety and carbon monoxide, look into changing that today. Get involved in combustion training and certifica-tion. Become the expert in your area. It is good for your customers, your community, and your business. also have an educational approach to our community. I spend time talking with our police and fire department to teach them about the symptomology of CO poisoning.They, in turn, have asked for and re-ceived my contact information in case there is a situation and they need to call out an expert. Each Fall we send out public service announcement press releases to our local media – television, radio, and newspaper – to make CO awareness top-of-mind for homeowners.To do that, I set up Google Alerts to ping me whenever there is a CO poison-ing in the U.S. I gather those articles for use in press releases and public service announcements.Because of the training and our prac-tices, our reputation has grown. It is a trifecta – educating our technicians, our customers, and the overall commu-nity. All our promotion and sales mate-rials also describe our credentials, our certifications. In fact our sales literature, particu-larly the pieces that talk about CO mon-itors, explain the benefits of low-lev-el monitoring and the drawbacks of store-bought, UL-Listed CO alarms.SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATIONSocial Media plays a role as well. Re-member, the mission is top-of-mind awareness and your message needs to be in every media your marketplace consumes content. So we do maintain social media accounts on Facebook, technicians to put on their Sherlock Holmes hat and figure out what is caus-ing the problem.The key is to communicate with cus-tomers, listen to what they tell you, and then use your skills and training to work out the problem’s cause and find a solution. Our communication also includes providing brochures we create in-house using information from the NCI website and other places. These bro-chures explain the hazards and caus-es of carbon monoxide poi-soning. They also explain why we perform CO test-ing, and what that testing can do.Furthermore, we always recommend that our cus-tomers buy low-level CO monitors that read as low as five parts-per-million (ppm) of CO. These moni-tors should have alarms to let people know they have a pending problem.BUSINESS IMPACTThe results, for us, have been two-fold: we have grown our company over those 14 years, and our reputation is very strong in our marketplace. I believe that part of the growth can be directly attributed to the empha-sis we place on CO safety for our cus-tomers and our methodology for find-ing issues and resolving them. And the reputation of being the CO experts in our market area is important to that growth as well.CREATING A SOLID REPUTATION WITHIN YOUR COMMUNITYBesides the one-on-one with cus-tomers, here at Jerry Kelly Heating we Steve Miles is the vice pres-ident and CEO of Jerry Kelly Heating and Air Conditioning in St. Charles, MO. He has been with the company since 1994. He and his entire cadre of field technicians have main-tained their CO training and certifications since 2005.Most store-bought CO detectors do not read low levels of CO.OCTOBER 2019 17HVACTODAY.COMThe High-Performance HVAC Contracting approach to delivering comfort and ener-gy efficiency to customers is a movement that began more than 25 years ago and represents a small, but growing percentage of the overall HVAC Industry. It is a delivery method that differs from traditional HVAC methods because it involves exact measurements, testing, diagnosing, and repair solutions.Furthermore, it requires a commitment to con-tinuous education, process improvements, and a do-it-right attitude. So, we spoke to four HVAC contractors who have made that commitment and asked them why and what it means to them, their companies, and their customers. The contractors are: z Jim Ball, general manager, Ball Heating and Air Conditioning, Biloxi, MS z Mike Greany, service manager, All Pro Plumbing, Heating, Air, and Electri-cal, Ontario, CA z Greg Vickers, president, GV’s Heating and Cooling, Inc., Glenview, IL z Kevin Walsh, president, Schaafsma Heating and Cooling Co., Grand Rapids, MI.WHAT DOES HIGH-PERFORMANCE MEAN? Says All Pro’s Mike Greany, “Performance- based contracting means having the training and ability to perform magic. This is done by testing and measuring the actual results of the system and comparing those numbers to what the system should actually be delivering. “This unlocks the secrets to engineering or im-proving the total system performance, which ab-solutely improves the health, safety, comfort, and energy efficiency all customers want and deserve.”It also reinforces the idea that contractors are providing the best work they can. So says Kev-in Walsh of Schaafsma Heating. “I chose this path for our compa-ny not only because we want to be the best, but because doing things in this manner helps to separate us from everyone else. “There are honest contractors out there who only want to swap out equipment. But I am convinced that is not in the best interest of customers.”Jim Ball of Ball Heating concurs. He says, “I like being certain that we are pro-viding systems and repairs that perform at peak efficien-cy. Period. Few of my compet-itors can say that. Being a Perfor-mance-Based Contracting™ firm enables us to not only claim this, but we can prove it with numbers as well.”Greg Vickers of GV’s Heating says that since implementing Performance-Based Contracting, “we have seen and heard responses from our clients about how we helped them over-come many obstacles with their HVAC systems. “For our customers, this is honest, no-BS work. We show them what needs to be done based on measurements, then prove we accomplished what we set out to do based on measurements. “We can diagnose their system issues and en-gineer real-world solutions to enhance comfort in their homes. I get jacked up knowing that we solve real comfort problems that so few others in our industry can,” Vickers adds.By Mike WeilLEADERSHIPPerspectives on Performance: The Contractor ExperienceGreanyWalshBallVickers18 OCTOBER 2019HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYLEADERSHIPstallers, and select office staff to all re-ally understand what it is to test and measure and what it can mean regard-ing improving any system. ARE YOU ON THE FENCE?With regard to advice for fellow con-tractors who may be on the fence about whether to start down the Performance Path, all four of our participants say that training is the absolute key. “It is the only way to ensure your team is prepared and capable,” says Jim Ball.“Just do it,” says Mike Greany. “Yes, it’s scary to learn something new and explore the unknown. However, you have at your disposal a brotherhood of Performance-Based contractors who are always there to help and teach at times of need. My only true regret is not starting earlier and waiting so long to open up to the others for coaching, guidance, and peer networking.”Greg Vickers says Performance- Based Contracting has opened up a whole new world and the possibilities to grow are endless. “This separates you from companies that just change boxes,” he says. “Per-formance-Based Contracting helps you think out of the box.”Kevin Walsh says changing boxes is certainly easier. “If someone’s goal is to be a high-volume sales company then I don’t know if that is achievable as a Performance-Based company. “For me it came down to taking the easy road to profits but doing less than great installations, or taking the tougher road selling a higher price, providing higher quality installations, and having happier customers. We chose the path less traveled.” formance works. We got better at ad-justing systems, design, and installa-tions with measurable results that we were very proud of,” Greany says.CHANGES NEVER STOPHVAC Consultant Charlie Greer of HVAC Profit Boosters says change never stops so you must evolve or die. Charlie was never one to mince words.One way Jim Ball does this is to fo-cus on measuring how his team is do-ing. “If you don’t know the score, how do you know if you are winning?”He uses scoreboards to measure everything from sales and leads, to training status.“We have a moral obligation to cus-tomers to provide the safest and most comfortable system possible. We can’t do that without measuring.”Greg Vickers also says their big-gest change is the adaptation of con-sistent training. “Through training we hone our pro-cesses and procedures to help define the path for our staff. There are no gray areas,” he says. Major changes at Schaafsma include conducting static pressure testing on all service calls, maintenance visits, and new equipment commission-ing. “Airflow is everything,” Kevin Walsh says. “Understanding it begins with this.”At All Pro, Mike Greany says they changed their entire approach to maintenance and the way they per-form systems checks. “As a result, we use maintenance to collect the necessary data for talking points regarding needed improve-ments. Furthermore, we now train not only our techs, but our salesmen, in-THE IMPACT ON BUSINESSAll four contractors have had to work through the difficulties of implement-ing Performance-Based Contracting and say there have been some amaz-ing benefits to their investment in it. In fact, Vickers says his company is ex-periencing more work as a direct result. “Implementing and sticking with the program is the hardest thing to do, but the benefits are priceless,” he explains. “We are experiencing more work and profits as a direct result of creating extremely happy customers.“Sure, the High-Performance ap-proach constantly challenges us to im-prove, to up our game. I find that the entire team works with me to achieve a higher level of service.”Likewise, one immediate impact on Schaafsma Heating, according to Kev-in Walsh, is happier customers. An-other benefit: employee retention.“The performance approach inspires our employees,” he says. “They believe in what we are doing. This creates a stronger bond and we have very little employee turnover as a result.”However, Walsh says Performance- Based Contracting™ is harder to sell. “Our price is typically higher and other contractors aren’t even discussing the same items. Homeowners get confused between what we tell them and what the “me-too” crowd says.”Mike Greany says that change is hard. It creates doubt of the unknown. “Plus, we saw increased training ex-penses, higher-cost tools and instru-ments. Our initial struggle was con-vincing the guys and ourselves this process really works,” he explains. “Once we overcame those hurdles it brought ‘instant’ satisfaction that per-OCTOBER 2019 19HVACTODAY.COMPHOTO OF THE MONTH“Why won’t my house cool?” — Edward Kline, Klines Kustom Heating and Air, Inc., Duarte, CA The customer liked the way it looked, but didn’t like the comfort levels indoors. Wonder why? Ed Kline of Klines Kustom Heating is the October 2019 winner of our Photo-of-the-Month contest, in the “What-the-Heck” category, as voted on by the subscribers to the High-Performance HVAC Today magazine (ncilink.com/Htoday) and visitors to the website. He will receive a $50 gift card.You can too – submissions are always welcome. If you’d like to submit a photo for consideration in our Photo-of-the-Month contest, click here (ncilink.com/POMSubmit) and fill out the information as requested.THE NOVEMBER CONTEST OPENS ON OCTOBER 11, 2019. That gives you plenty of time to submit something in any of our three categories: The Good, The Bad, or WTH (What-The-Heck).Next >