HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYHVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™ hvactoday.comMARCH 2020 Coaching Coaching Your Team Your Team to Success!to Success! IN THIS ISSUE: A Fresh Overview: Static Pressure Diagnostics and Solutions How To Become a Servant Leader You Can and Should Create More Opportunities for Customer Connections MARCH 2020 3HVACTODAY.COM MARCH 2020 VOLUME 4 NUMBER 3 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYHVAC TODAY TM TECHNICAL: Static Pressure Diagnostics and Solutions Rob Falke provides a fresh look at how to forecast and eliminate high-pressure issues in HVAC systems. SALES: How to Create More Opportunities for Customer Connections Offering High-Performance Service Agreements is a key performance indicator for HVAC sales growth. Consultant Drew Cameron explains. 20 14 DEPARTMENTS Today’s Word .........................................................................................5 Summit Partner Showcase ...............................................................6 Partner Spotlight: R.E. Michel Company ..................................10 Photo of the Month .........................................................................23 Member Update ...............................................................................24 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................25 Ad Index ................................................................................................25 One More Thing ................................................................................26 LEADERSHIP: How You Can Become a Servant Leader Contractor Dave DeRose examines three types of leaders and explains how and why you should choose to be one. 17MARCH 2020 5HVACTODAY.COM Obviously I have a lot of help from the real pros — Dominick Guarino, Rob Falke, and our entire team of trainers. So what is our audience reading? In this fourth year of publication, statistics show they read this magazine for technical tips and how to imple- ment the necessary processes to serve their mar- kets best. For example, in 2019 our top four most-read articles were: 1. Avoid Four Common Mistakes When Mea- suring Static Pressure, written by NCI’s David Richardson (ncilink.com/FourSPMistakes) 2. Three Ways to Solve HVAC Return Duct Ob- stacles, by Vince DiFilippo of DiFilippo’s Service, Paoli, PA (ncilink.com/obstacles) 3. Combustion Efficiency Calculations: Are They Misleading? by NCI’s Jim Davis (ncilink. com/Calcs) 4. Driven to Revolutionize the HVAC Industry by Mike Weil (ncilink.com/GoodmanProfile). Interestingly, the last one was written and post- ed in 2016, but still made it into the 2019 most read column!!! The other articles in the top 10 all focused on how to measure, test, and diagnose HVAC and duct system performance issues. What does this mean? It means that High- Performance HVAC Today magazine is serv- ing the growing Performance-Based Contracting Industry and fulfilling our Servant Leader role in this industry. It also means that we want your continued input. So the question is, how can we best serve you? We are always open to ideas, suggestions, and contractor authors who want to help serve their peers. So what are you reading? Tell us what topics press your hot button, then let us serve it up to you. R eadership — the lifeblood of any mag- azine, newspaper, and blogger. In the trade press industry, it is of vital impor- tance for the writers and reporters to know exactly who their audience is in order to find the best ways to serve them. That is what I was taught as a young journalist. But it really wasn’t until later in my career that I was introduced to a different way to think about this concept. It was during HVAC Comfortech 2014 in St. Louis, MO that I was exposed to the idea of Ser- vant Leadership from my friends at the Service Roundtable. They presented their first Servant Leader Award to the extraordinary Tom McCart (ncilink.com/McCart) posthumously. You see Servant Leaders like McCart turn the entire idea of ‘power leadership’ on its head by putting co-workers and customers at the very top and the leader at the bottom. The leader is charged with serving employees and customers alike. This concept really works and has been an im- portant part of my professional and personal life ever since. So when I joined National Comfort In- stitute (NCI) in 2014 and truly came to under- stand the meaning of Performance-Based Con- tracting™, I saw immediate connections to the Servant Leadership philosophy. In a nutshell, Performance-Based Contracting™ is focused on providing the very best service in HVAC and duct system performance based on proper testing, measuring, and diagnosing. It re- quires training and understanding the best tools to use. Ultimately, this service delivery method puts the co-worker first. So when NCI launched this publication, my mission was to provide the best editorial serving the unique needs of the High-Performance seg- ment of the HVAC Industry. How Are We Doing? What Our Readers Are Reading Mike Weil is editor-in-chief and director of communications at National Comfort Institute. You can contact him at MikeW@ncihvac.com TODAY’S WORD By Mike Weil6 MARCH 2020HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY DUCT SADDLE FLEXIBLE STRAPPING SYSTEM Duct Saddle Strapping System (DS3) is a concave, rigid support that works with any type of strapping to quickly and easily install flexible HVAC ducting. The saddle measures 12 x 14 x 2.5 and is in- stalled on the existing strapping to straighten flexible ducts and im- prove airflow. DS3 will reduce wear and tear on the blower motor, compressor, and increase comfort in all rooms. Through reduced electric bills caused by the increase in airflow efficiency, the up- grade will pay for itself right away. The concave shape allows 930% more surface contact area with round, flexible HVAC ducting compared to strapping alone. No more “strap strangle.” For more information, visit the Duct Saddles NCI Partner page at ncilink.com/ductsaddles, or call the Customer Care Line at 800-633-7058. You can also visit them during the show. BAKER DISTRIBUTING TO FEATURE HOUSECALL PRO Housecall Pro is mobile software for use by home service professionals to run their entire business on the go. Through a native mobile application and complementary web portal, Housecall Pro offers users the opportunity to streamline pro- cesses and forego paperwork in favor of digital automation. The platform is equipped with features such as online book- ing, job scheduling, dispatching, estimating, automated receipts and invoices, payment processing, reviews and reputation man- agement, customer database and communication, automated HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC PRODUCTS Summit Partner Showcase Following are just a few of the products and services that are being exhibited during the High-Performance HVAC Summit in April in Scottsdale, AZ. Be sure to register and attend the NCI Summit event. Learn more at gotosummit.com.MARCH 2020 7HVACTODAY.COM postcard and email market- ing capabilities, and more. To learn more, visit the Baker Distributing booth at the show. DWYER WIRELESS HYDRONIC BALANCING KIT Discover an easier way to water balance with the Series 490 Wireless Hydronic Balancing Kit. Known as the 490W, it uses wireless transducers and is a versatile handheld, single-opera- tor device that can monitor and balance a hydronic system in less time than traditional hydronic balancers. The Series 490W uses mobile tech- nology to communicate via a Bluetooth connection with the transducers to monitor differential pressure and flow on up to three different valves. Being wireless means there are no hoses to carry, snagging on equipment, or needing to be drained. The 490W in- cludes the Dwyer Hydronic Application Software that contains valve charts for numerous manufacturers, which con- verts differential pressure to flow directly on the screen. Typical applications you can use this device for include: ● Refrigerant pressure testing ● Hydronic valve balancing ● Measuring pressure drop across pumps ● Measuring pressure drop across chiller/coils for freeze protection. For more information, visit Dwyer on the NCI store at http:// ncilink.com/490w or call the Customer Care Line at 800-633- 7058. Or you can visit them during the show.8 MARCH 2020HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC PRODUCTS COMFORTBRIDGE™ AND COOLCLOUD™ TECH HELPS HVAC CONTRACTORS IMPROVE THEIR BUSINESS ComfortBridge™ communicating technology and companion CoolCloud™ smartphone/tablet app are powerful tools designed to help HVAC contractors grow and improve their business. Providing intelligent control and peerless performance ben- efits, ComfortBridge allows dealers to install high-efficiency HVAC systems about as easily as installing a standard efficien- cy system. That’s because the ComfortBridge circuit board is securely mounted in the indoor unit of select Goodman® and Amana® brand high-efficiency heating and cooling systems – not inside a wall thermostat. This approach allows Com- fortBridge to work with any single-stage, 24-volt thermostat, or by upgrading to smart home automation. Using ComfortBridge and its companion CoolCloud app, dealers can use more technicians for installing high-efficiency, higher-margin HVAC systems. After installation, service and maintenance can take less time using the convenient CoolCloud app, available for free in the Apple and Google app stores. ComfortBridge gathers data constantly, making au- tomatic adjustments for peak performance – using the minimum energy required to create consistent, custom- ized indoor comfort. CoolCloud reduces manual effort to diagnose HVAC units; saves time by quickly identifying potential issues; provides historical system data, including interactions with the home- owner; and allows customizable select system settings. For more information go to Comfortbridge.com and Cool- Cloudhvac.com . Or visit the Goodman booth during the show. CI WEB GROUP SHOWCASING 12-STEP CONTRACTOR MARKETING ROADMAP The 12-Step Roadmap is a system designed to create accel- erated results for service contractors who want to market their business on and off the Internet. Their digital marketing strate-MARCH 2020 9HVACTODAY.COM gies revolve around one main premise: Doing the right things, in the right order, at the right time! Stop by their booth and learn about their performance- driven market- ing strategies that can improve your business. For more infor- mation on CI Web Group visit the NCI Partner page at ncilink.com/CIWeb . Or visit them at the show. BACHARACH SHOWCASING COMBUSTION MOBILE APP FOR IOS & ANDROID Bacharach, an industry expert in gas detection and analysis instrumentation for the HVACR Industry will highlight its mo- bile app for its hand-held combustion and emissions analyzer portfolio, including the PCA® 400, Fyrite Insight® Plus, and Fy- rite InTech®. The app allows technicians to easily generate and send cus- tomizable combustion reports from their Apple and Android devices. It’s ideal for when you’re conducting combustion tests on furnaces and boilers in residential, commercial, and industrial combustion systems. Users should find that combustion testing and reporting is easier and more efficient with the new app. For the InTech® and Insight® Plus combustion analyzers, the app features a QR code scanner that obtains combustion data from a QR code that appears on the analyzer dis- play screen and generates a re- port. The user simply scans the QR code with a mobile device and all the data is available for reporting and data sharing. For more information visit the Bacharach booth during the show. You can also go to ncilink.com/BacharachMobileApp.Next >