< PreviousBy Dave Squires LEADERSHIP 10 MAY 2020HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY DO YOUR JOBS Because almost everyone is stuck at home, their HVAC systems are being used more. Because they are at home, they are beginning to pay much more attention to their comfort levels. And they are cer- tainly looking to be assured that the air in their home is free of contaminants, in- cluding viruses. People are searching online for services to help them in this quest for safety, efficiency, and com- fort. Some keywords that are being used more often today include “indoor air quality” and “fil- tration.” They are calling and trying to find out if these companies are open. They want to know what contractors are doing to keep people safe. By increasing your communications to cus- tomers and the community about how you can help them with these needs, to assure them, you can also keep your lights on and keep your peo- ple working and getting paid. Tell people you are open! Tell them how you can help. For example, tell them that repairing duct leaks, changing filters, testing, and monitoring for prop- er combustion in gas-fired equipment, fine-tuning air conditioning units, using UV decontamination systems, and so on will certainly help keep them safe, save energy, and be comfortable. Of course, this means you have to keep your people safe while they are working in homes. That means proper personal protection equip- ment (PPE) must be provided and social distanc- ing practiced. In other words, your people need to wear facemasks and gloves, and wash their hands regularly. PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT I have written many articles on how to get cre- ative with your marketing – traditional and using social media. You can read those here https:// A s of this writing, the government is maintaining its “shelter-in-place” and social distancing rules to help the country get through the Coronavirus pandemic. The media across the country – from local news to the national networks – are all reporting doom and gloom. People are isolated, working from home, and looking for things to do. Of course, this has wreaked havoc on the econ- omy. With so many small businesses shuttering down and hunkering in place, the struggles both financially and emotionally increase daily and the fear of going out of business becomes stron- ger each day. But don’t let it!! Your community needs you. Your local first re- sponders need you. The HVAC industry has a vi- tal role in helping keep people safe in their homes and elsewhere. We can offer peace of mind for those trying to help our sick and injured. How? By doing our jobs. And by being creative in how we offer help during such a time of crisis. Turn to Helping During Times of Crisis! By Dave Squires LEADERSHIP Working for the community: Vincent’s staffers cutting Merv-13 filter media for use in cloth-sewn face masks.MAY 2020 11HVACTODAY.COM tractor customers who found that pleated pocket-style masks work well with a Merv-13 inserted in the pocket. MERV 13 is the minimum-rated fil- ter efficiency you can use to stop virus nuclei contained in droplets. Because the design does not incorporate plas- tic, the masks can easily be sterilized in an oven and then reused. The oth- er thing that makes the masks ideal is that most contractors have easy ac- cess to MERV-13 material in the fil- ters they sell. Obviously, this type of mask is not medical grade, but it is probably the best protection currently available for your team and the public. The biggest benefit I discovered about providing masks for your team, is that by wearing one, you become hyper-aware that you are wearing it. This keeps you focused on the sit- uation and the potential dangers of contamination by touching things around you. As an added benefit, it keeps the wearer from inadvertently touching their mouth or nose should they touch an object the virus has contaminated. By the way – these masks can be cleaned and sterilized!! The fact is, vi- ruses cannot survive at temperatures over 145F. So by putting the entire cloth mask with the filter inside, into an oven preheated to 170F for 30 min- utes should sterilize it without damag- ing any of the material, filter or elastic. Imagine the looks on your tech- nicians’ faces when you deliver two masks to their homes – one for them and the other for their spouse. That is what Vincent’s did and trust me, it went a long way toward building em- ployee confidence, dedication, and loyalty. GETTING CREATIVE But why stop there? You can also share the “recipe” for making these masks with your entire community. Check out how Vincents’s Heating and Plumbing has done this on their web page: www.vhpinc.com/masks. Vincent’s is providing two free MERV-13 mask inserts per family. They are using an online sign-up form and also providing step-by-step in- structions on how to make the masks as well as how to sterilize them. The website also includes contact in- formation for local seamstresses who can sew the cloth parts of the masks if the homeowner doesn’t feel they have the skills to do it on their own. Remember, this is a FREE service. It is a terrific way to help consumers ease their worries and it keeps your com- pany at the forefront of their minds when they need help. It’s also important to remember that your messaging to the public is critical at this time. Vincent’s Own- er Daniel Squires also posted a vid- eo that highlights his facemask pro- gram and he even demonstrates how to wear the masks! You’ll find that on the same page as the mask info, just scroll down. Armed with these Merv-13 masks, your team can be safer, and you can help your customers feel safer too. Now you have to pump up the com- munications and let everyone know about it. Send out newsletters. Do so- cial media campaigns. Send out direct mail. In other words, don’t stop run- ning the business. If anything, pick up the pace and let the community know you are there for them. Part of this can include creating a Corona Virus Company Statement. news.online-access.com/. However, with the pandemic still in full force, that creativity should also include how you protect your techni- cians in the field and your customers in their homes. Personal protection equipment is in such high demand by our frontline medical profession- als that there is a severe shortage. So how do you protect your people and customers? In late March, early April the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended Americans begin to wear non-surgical medical masks in public. These include the use of “do- it-yourself cloth coverings” as a way to continue flattening the Coronavirus infection curve. Almost overnight the Internet ex- ploded with articles, blog posts, and YouTube videos showing you how to create cloth masks. Most of these just aren’t protective enough, certainly no- where near as good as the masks worn by medical personnel. As an HVAC contractor, how can you procure truly safe masks for your people? Well, here’s a thought -- how about making them out of MERV-13 filters? I got this idea from one of our con-12 MAY 2020HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY LEADERSHIP technicians do their jobs correctly. Your trained and certified technicians should properly test, measure, diag- nose, and repair customers’ HVAC is- sues and then assure customers they are safe in their homes. When things finally get back to some semblance of normal, you will be he- roes and experts that your community remembers and turns to in their hour of need. and that you are looking out for their well-being. For your community, you can become a hero. You are demon- strating how you are stepping up while at the same time moving your compa- ny up to the center of the conversa- tion. And in the end, the benefit to you is the continued operation and success of your HVAC company. If the comments we’ve received from members of our community are any indicator, the idea of MERV-13 masks is catching on very quickly. Within the first few days of posting on our Face- book pages and some PSA time our lo- cal radio stations donated to us, we’ve had more than 700 requests, includ- ing requests from nurses and other caregivers. The next step is to be sure your Here is a free editable template you can download to do just that: ncilink. com/C-19Statement. Also, here is a sample Public Service Announcement you can customize for use in any local newspaper, television station, or radio show: ncilink.com/C-19PSA. Finally, you can even help custom- ers keep sane during these trying times with helpful tips and FAQs they can use right now with their families at home: ncilink.com/C19SocialPosts. You can do similar things on your website or you can link to these. BE THE HERO Being creative with a program like this does several things for you, your team, and your community. First, it shows how much you care for the team Dave Squires is the president of Online-Access, Inc. – a subscription-based company that works with HVAC and plumbing contractors across North America to help use the Internet as more than an electronic refrigerator magnet. He is also co-owner, along with his brother Daniel Squires, of Vincent’s Heating and Plumbing in Port Huron, MI.MAY 2020 13HVACTODAY.COM However, each time building practices and codes change, the rules-of-thumb should have changed along with it. They didn’t. By the 1990s, 650 sq. ft./ ton could be used on many houses. It wasn’t. After the year 2000, major code changes drove that ratio up to 750 sq. ft./ton. Yet 500 sq. ft./ton still ruled the design world. Who knows? It may rule longer than Queen Elizabeth. How do you guess the size of equipment for a 1500 sq. ft. house built in the 1970s, upgraded with foam in the attic, and all new windows? You shouldn’t. LOCAL CODES HAVE EVOLVED Many local codes now require Manual J and Manual S calculations for every new home and every remodel that changes the house loads. Sadly, very few contractors know how to properly execute either calculation. The typical HVAC con- tractor still selects an air conditioning system for a home based on their trusty 500 sq. ft./ton rule. Unfortunately, most contractors are afraid to change this long habit of ‘guesstimating.’ This ‘fear factor’ holds many contractors in design paralysis. They are more comfortable with a familiar problem I was sitting back in my office jawboning with my friend Bob about the weird Central Texas weather we are having when he suddenly blurts out, “It’s raining in my house.” I lean forward into the phone. Bob continues, “Our house is brand new, 2500 sq. ft. in size, and has a high-efficiency five-ton air condition- ing system. “We’re putting towels under the tall windows and French doors in the living room to keep the water off the hand-scraped walnut flooring. The doors are swelling, plus our forearms are sticking to the arms of the leather couch,” he adds. I’ve lost count how many times I’ve heard the same kind of story. I’ve become a first responder. In fact, my first response is, “Bob, did anyone do a Manual J Load on your new house?” “I read about that on your Manual J Design website,” he answers. “So, I asked my builder if they had one. He asked the HVAC guy for it. A couple days later the builder calls me and he says the HVAC guy did a modified Manual J, but now can’t find it. His computer crashed. So, I thought I’d better call you,” Bob continues. “The things that you say about Manual J and the problems with over sizing make so much com- mon sense. Would you be willing to help us out?” To avoid this scenario, every HVAC contrac- tor should design HVAC systems using Manual J load calculations, Manual S equipment selection, and Manual D duct design methods. We began performing computer-based load calculations at our service company 27 years ago. Over the years basic design methods haven’t changed that much, but the housing stock has. RULES-OF-THUMB NEED TO EVOLVE Good design methods from the 1970s gave us a reliable rule-of-thumb for houses built in the 70s. Why Design HVAC Systems Using Manual J Load Calculations By Paul Wieboldt TECHNICAL14 MAY 2020HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY those heat load calculations don’t make sense. If we fail to accurately describe the essential elements of the house that affect the load, our re- sults won’t make sense. Manual J is a building science-relat- ed engineering calculation that helps put value on a structure’s ability to resist the loss and gain of heat under specific climate conditions. The information we input describes structure design elements such as win- dow energy efficiency, insulation val- ues, orientation of the house, etc. Cal- culation output tells us the rate of loss and gain of heat measured in Btuh’s (the building load). BUILDING LOAD VS. EQUIPMENT CAPACITY It is an all-too-common mistake when completing a Manual J load calculation to look at the results and say something like, “It looks like the house needs a three-ton unit” Howev- er, you are only looking at the build- ing load NOT the equipment capacity. When you complete the load calcula- tion you are not even halfway done with the design process! If we don’t know how to select the right equipment, the perfor- mance of our installed system won’t make sense. In the human body, the rate of en- ergy we burn is related to our metabo- lism. We need a certain number of cal- ories to keep up with the rate we burn energy, or we gain unnecessary weight, or lose it too fast (I should have such a problem). Your heating and air con- ditioning system works the same way. We measure the Btuh’s of heat the house is losing or gaining (the house’s metabolic rate) and we find the right machine to remove or produce just the right amount of heat for best efficiency and comfort. The Manual S calculation is the part where we measure the calories (Btus) of the machine we put in to match the house’s rate of energy transfer. All air conditioning equipment is listed in nominal tons, but that’s just a number on the label. The manufacturer pro- duces what is called a “detailed cool- ing performance” or “extended rat- ings” chart for each combination of indoor and outdoor equipment that than an unfamiliar solution. For example, the effective R-value of a building envelope is dramatically in- creased by using spray foam and oth- er high-efficiency insulation measures such as SIPs, ICFs, and dense pack cel- lulose. It makes sense that the size of the air conditioning equipment should decrease, right? We’ve spent decades redesigning, testing, measuring, and rescuing home- owners from their poorly designed HVAC systems. We’ve seen how stuck our industry is on silly traditions. Folks are will- ing to spend tens of thousands of dol- lars to have a quiet comfort system in their home. But we aren’t willing to spend half a day to design the system right, or several days learning HOW to do it right. MAKING SENSE OF MANUAL J HVAC contractors are in the envi- ronmental air conditioning busi- ness. This is defined as treating air to control temperature, humidity, clean- liness, ventilation, and circulation to meet human comfort requirements. It is the responsibility of the HVAC con- tractor to properly match equipment size to the heat load of the house, then design the necessary dehumidification functions, and provide adequate me- chanical ventilation for today’s tight- er, potentially more “toxic” indoor en- vironments. It’s not that hard to do. Part of the problem, and I hear this a lot, is that the results of a heat load calculation don’t make sense. As my friend and colleague, David Rich- ardson is known to say, “When you know the truth, you will understand the confusion.” So, let’s look at several reasons why TECHNICALMAY 2020 15HVACTODAY.COM peak design days that we must address as HVAC system designers? They are: 1.) Peak summer sensible load 2.) “Off-peak’ or ‘shoulder season’ peak latent load. But maybe we should save that dis- cussion for a rainy day. Outside. ers 25,200 sensible Btuh to lower the indoor dry bulb temperature. This makes sizing a tricky deal. You don’t want to do 500 sq. ft./ton be- cause you will likely oversize a typical system. But you can’t order equipment with the 750 sq. ft./ton that the load calculation suggests. Both are wrong. You must match the real Btuh load without any added fudge fac- tors to the real adjusted equip- ment capacity for this process to make sense. Now we’re talking comfort. Oh, did I mention that if you size your equipment right for sensible cool- ing in July, you will most likely have humidity problems in any humid cli- mate in the spring and fall shoulder seasons. Did you know there are two allows us to de-rate the nominal ton- nage for our local climate conditions. WHICH IS HEAVIER: A TON OF LOAD OR A TON OF EQUIPMENT? The house load is based on real Btuhs. The standard is 12,000 Btuh make one ton. It takes more than one nominal ton of cooling equipment to match the 12,000 Btuh load. HVAC equipment is rated in a lab- oratory at indoor (80°F) and outdoor conditions (95°F) that don’t match our real-world definition of comfort or capacity. In the simplest of terms, one ton of output capacity adjusted for my home in Texas is 11,200 Btuh at best. A typical three- ton unit puts out 33,200 Btuh in the field. We absolutely need to know that the same unit only deliv- Paul Wieboldt is a principle with the Manual J Design Studio, which provides a nationwide residential HVAC system design service. They also train contractors on how to make sense out of Manual J, D, and S. Training is available at their Texas Training Center as well as via online webinars. Check out their website: www.manualJde- sign.com. Contact Paul for more information at paul@manualJdesign.com. To get started with a custom design for your project, send an email to info@manualJdesign.com or call 888-799-1326.16 MAY 2020HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY W hat is ComfortMaxx™? In a nut- shell, it is cloud-based software to help HVAC contractors speed up and simplify their testing process- es in the field. It is a repository for and calculator of static pressure, airflow, temperature, and Btu test readings. The software also helps customers understand what those readings mean to them, to their home, and their comfort. This cloud-based platform makes it ideal for use in the field or in the office. Finally, it runs on any device – mobile phone, tab- let, or desktop computer. ComfortMaxx works as follows: First, the technician measures and records four key system measure- ments. Next, he or she calculates air- flow based on manufacturers’ ta- bles or National Comfort Institute (NCI) generic airflow charts. This helps determine whether there is How ComfortMaxx ™ Enhances Performance-Based Contracting ™ By Mike Weil MANAGEMENT Dawn Mroczek of GV’s Heating uses Comfort- Maxx in the field and in the office. enough airflow being moved across the equip- ment. As a result, you can see if the system per- forms as designed. Finally, ComfortMaxx cre- ates a powerful visual report that helps explain the findings to customers. And it does more than that. But don’t take my word for it. Contractor Greg Vickers of GV’s Heat- ing and Cooling in Glenview, IL says, “Comfort- Maxx is a great program that is easy to use and doesn’t take a lot of time to generate on a sales call. “We’ve been using this for some time now and it simplifies the data making it easier for customers to visualize what is going on with their systems,” he adds. “You just plug in the numbers from your diagnostic readings and you get real-time perfor- mance ratings. “This is the simplest and most effective pro- cess that we’ve made part of our sales approach. We now add the ComfortMaxx report into our proposal packet, which provides customers with more collateral material. We do this on every sales call. This sets us apart from our competi- tion because we show customers real-time re- sults, no bobble-head stuff,” Vickers says. COMFORTMAXX AND THE PERFORMANCE-BASED CONTRACTOR The software was designed and built by NCI to provide a process for not only taking measure- ments, but for storing them and doing calcula- tions. As the saying goes, “If you don’t measure, you’re just guessing.” ComfortMaxx helps re- move the guessing part for Performance-Based Contractors and their teams. For consistency, the software not only pro- vides the guidance as to what measurements to take, but it also tracks those measurements. This helps contractors and technicians follow their progress as they learn how to test and MAY 2020 17HVACTODAY.COM DOES COMFORTMAXX HELP WITH SALES? For Vickers and his team, using ComfortMaxx has had a definite posi- tive impact. “By adding ComfortMaxx into our sales process, we have seen a closing rate of around 80 to 90%!” He adds that part of the reason for such success is they provide custom- ers a proposal based on those mea- surements. This includes what must be fixed right away to resolve their pain points, as well as other things that can be looked at down the line that will further improve the custom- er’s comfort, energy efficiency, health, and safety inside their home. Not everyone will see those kinds of closing rates, but Vickers says by focusing on performance and doing es at the time. When they ARE ready, we can just pull up our measurements and findings and immediately follow up with them.” He adds that he sees more referrals coming from those customers where GV’s used ComfortMaxx when diag- nosing systems. “In the past, our customers saw us taking static pressure and tempera- ture measurements. They often ques- tioned us about what we were doing and why our competitors weren’t. “With ComfortMaxx, we can show them why we do it and they can see how data is so important. I’m talking about real-time data on when we test- in versus when we test-out. This cre- ates true ‘Ah-Ha’ moments for the customer,” Vickers says. present their findings. For GV’s Heating, a residential HVAC contracting firm dedicated to the Per- formance-Based method, this software is pivotal in helping them implement processes and procedures that allow them to discover and truly solve cus- tomer issues. Plus, the software helps contractors identify hidden system issues and im- provements that benefit the custom- er. It also provides leads for future work and documents test-out results to prove your team has delivered what they promised. Greg Vickers says, “Using the Com- fortMaxx record-keeping feature, we have archives we can refer to if the customer chooses not to have us make duct modifications or system chang-18 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY MANAGEMENT “ComfortMaxx helps us to increase our bottom-line profits,” Greg Vickers concludes. “It enables us to sell more higher-end equipment. And we can prove to customers that our work truly delivers what we promised. “We are true believers in the mot- to, If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing. By using this software, we have real third-party information that backs up our work. This process puts GV’s leaps and bounds above our com- petitors. This is no smoke and mir- rors. There is nothing else like it on the market.” If you are interested in learning more about ComfortMaxx software, please visit the NCI website (ncilink.com/ CMaxx) or call NCI’s Customer Care line at 800-633-7058. Maxx Air™ (ncilink.com/CMAir). It allows contractors to test system pressures and calculate airflow to gen- erate sales leads for duct system reno- vation projects. ■ The next level up is called Com- fortMaxx Pulse™ (ncilink.com/ CMPulse). It includes everything from ComfortMaxx Air and adds tem- perature testing and delivered Btu measurement for initial system per- formance analysis. ■ Last, but certainly not least, is ComfortMaxx Verify™ (ncilink. com/CMVerify). This is the full level of the software which enables contractors to conduct full system performance testing before work be- gins and after completing any HVAC system renovations. what is right for customers, you will see improvements. He will tell you that it’s not an over- night process. It requires knowing how to test and how to interpret the test re- sults. And then you must know how to communicate those results to custom- ers in a way they can understand. That requires training. In fact, though ComfortMaxx is available to the industry, the prerequisite is that your team needs to be NCI certified to input test data from their field measurements. THREE LEVELS OF SOFTWARE ComfortMaxx comes in three ‘fla- vors,’ if you will, and its licenses are issued on a subscription basis. ■ The first level is called Comfort-MAY 2020 19HVACTODAY.COM PHOTO OF THE MONTH “Let’s Get Creative!” – Nate Miller, Campbell & Company, Yakima, WA “Downflow won’t work? Upflow won’t work? No room for horizontal? Let’s get creative! We fabricated this custom metal to enable awesome airflow in this very difficult application.” Nate Miller from Campbell and Company is the May 2020 winner of our Photo-of-the-Month contest, as voted on by the subscribers to the High-Performance HVAC Today magazine and visitors to the website. He will receive a $50 gift card. You can too! If you’d like to submit a photo for consideration in our Photo-of-the-Month contest, go to ncilink.com/POMSubmit and fill out the information as requested. THE JUNE CONTEST OPENS ON MAY 11, 2020. That gives you plenty of time to submit something in any of our three categories: The Good, The Bad, WTH (What the heck). After BeforeNext >