< Previous10 MARCH 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY buildings could lead to another economic crisis. “The longer the pandemic paralyzes hotels, re- tailers, and office buildings, the more difficult it is for property owners to meet their mortgage pay- ments — raising the specter of widespread down- grades, defaults, and eventual foreclosures,” writes Katy O’Donnell (ncilink.com/Odonnell). Another impact from a more permanent work- from-home scenario includes declines in public and private pensions. Say what? The issue is that most public and pri- vate pensions are heavily invested in commercial real estate. If workers fail to return to the office en- vironment, real estate values decline, and that will negatively impact pensions. Declining pensions will hurt a lot of Americans, not just the wealthy. Furthermore, apartment buildings, which have been an economic bright spot, could change dras- tically. O’Donnell points out this could change if unemployed people cannot get jobs and have to depend on future Federal COVID relief packages. Without this help, more renters will begin miss- ing rent payments. NOW FOR SOME GOOD NEWS It seems that many building owners and man- agers are preparing for a “re-occupancy” of com- mercial and retail real estate by redesigning space for social distancing and creating indoor environ- ments that should help workers feel safe returning to said buildings. Others are re-purposing their properties to re- place tenants who either went out of business or decided to continue as virtual entities. Mark Hawkinson, president of the Technical Solutions Group of ABM Industries (a national fa- cilities management firm), says that building own- ers’ strategies must recognize that re-occupancy of their buildings won’t happen all at once. It will be in phases, and owners must “prepare to scale.” T he COVID-19 Pandemic shook the U.S. (and the world for that matter) to its core. The nearly overnight switch from work- ing in public spaces (offices, factories, manufacturing facilities, retail, and foodservice) turned on a dime to a work-from-home environ- ment that left commercial office spaces empty or almost empty. What will the new normal look like once this country gets vaccinated and people can return to the office environment? Experts say that things may be very different from life before 2020, especially regarding downtown of- fices, hotels, and stores. Today, commercial build- ing owners are working hard to develop safe new Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) strategies to lure wary, re- mote workers back into office buildings. Fact: many businesses see remote workers as a financial boon, but building owners see them as a threat to the office market. For example, online meeting platforms can interfere with recovery in business travel. Also, retail management says that after a year of shopping from home, consumers fa- vor that approach over heading out to their local shopping centers and malls. In December 2020, Pew Research Center conducted a survey (ncilink.com/2020PEW) about returning to the workplace. They found that 64% of people say they would feel uncomfortable returning, with 31% feeling very uncomfortable. Being exposed to the coronavirus was a significant concern for 57% of respondents. So building owners need to focus on changing those concerns by working to create COVID-safe workspaces. But what if building owners don’t do this? EMPTY BUILDING SYNDROME In October 2020, Politico magazine ran an ar- ticle on how all the empty commercial and retail Bellwether Winds Shift for the Better By Mike Weil MANAGEMENT Commercial Market Review & Forecast:MARCH 2021 11HVACTODAY.COM building has proper air conditioning, heating, ventilation, and excellent air quality to protect and provide ideal comfort. Ventilation is key. The U.S. Occu- pational Safety and Health Ad- ministration (OSHA) states that “Adequate ventilation throughout the work environment can help to main- tain a safe and healthy workplace (ncilink.com/OSHA-COVID).” The building’s ductwork must allow for proper airflow throughout a build- ing because proper airflow removes contaminated air and replaces it with clean air. With clean indoor air so crucial during the pandemic, building owners and managers are keen to improve their systems, replace older systems, and bet- ter service existing systems. Commer- cial duct renovations as well as system testing and balancing bode well for the High-Performance HVAC contractor. Speaking of service, preventive maintenance is more important than ever today. Commercial HVAC con- tractors should see growth in their service agreement services. According to CMS NextTech (another facilities management organization) that advis- es building owners to “determine ex- actly what you have under the hood” before resuming the daily operation of HVAC systems. HVAC contractors can help with this by testing and measur- ing the systems and offering a menu of upgrades to improve and make them more COVID-safe. Energy efficiency also remains a top concern for commercial building owners. In its annual Energy Efficiency Indicator survey of facility managers, released in December 2020, Johnson Controls found that more than half of those surveyed plan to increase their in- vestment in energy efficiency, renew- able energy, and smart building tech- nology in 2021 and beyond. Johnson Controls Vice President of Global Energy and Sustainability Clay Nesler says, “The Covid-19 pandem- ic highlighted the need to improve the health and safety of buildings, partic- ularly by increasing their ability to op- erate under different conditions, both planned and unforeseen.” He adds that although the pandem- ic has changed how people are invest- ing in their buildings, “occupant health and energy efficiency continue to be top of mind, and we anticipate these invest- ments will be a priority in 2021 as more people return to shared spaces.” This survey shows that 79% of building owners either already have or plan to in- crease air filtration. Seventy-five percent are planning to or already have installed an air treatment system. And 72% have already or are planning to increase out- door ventilation rates. This is terrific news for the Commer- cial High-Performance HVAC commu- nity because all of these needs fall into their professional wheelhouse. They should see increased business as more building owners jump on board and begin prepping their facilities for the return of workers. SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES In 2020, while manufactured equip- ment shipments were up, commercial building construction was down. This certainly impacts the HVAC contract- In his article (ncilink.com/Facil- ityExec), Hawkinson points out that so much depends on the speed (or lack thereof) of vaccinations and people’s comfort levels for returning to offices. Building owners and managers need to prepare for eventual hybrid models where tenant employees work partly from home and partly from the office. Owners and managers need to ramp up resources to help comply with social dis- tancing mandates. They must work hard to develop reliable supply chains and main- tain a solid stock of cleaning supplies. Most importantly – they need to really update and upgrade their HVAC systems to assure proper air changes, air quali- ty, comfort, and energy efficiency. This is fantastic news for the HVAC Industry. COMMERCIAL HVAC OUTLOOK More good news: Grand View Re- search reports that the commercial HVAC segment of the U.S. market is expected to “register the highest com- pound annual growth rate (CAGR) during their 2020 to 2027 forecast pe- riod due to increasing urbanization and the rise of construction spending in the commercial sector. They state that “retrofitting and re- placement of these HVAC units with energy-efficient solutions to minimize energy consumption is expected to drive the segment growth.” Add to that, the state of the commer- cial real estate industry today provides even more opportunities, especially for High-Performance Commercial HVAC contractors. With building owners con- cerned about creating safe environments for tenants and their employees, the HVAC systems are more critical than ever. One of the easiest ways to create those safe environments is by making sure the 12 MARCH 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TRENDS AND PREDICTIONS For the HVAC Industry at large, technology waits for no one. The bell- wether winds of change are pushing advancements in smart technology, refrigerant development, and renew- able energy. All of these impact the progress toward building safety and control which bodes well for the entire construction market. Now is the time for more HVAC con- tractors to begin incorporating a more holistic view of system technology to include ventilation. They do this with better-trained technicians focused on testing, mea- suring, repairing, and balancing com- mercial mechanical systems to the point where they can prove to build- ing owners and facility managers that their HVAC systems deliver what they are designed to deliver. As a result of the pandemic and oth- er influences, the commercial HVAC market is on the edge of a terrific growth spurt. Add in the continuous aging of equip- ment, better technology, and better ways to test and prove that systems are operating as designed, and contractors can look forward to a much better year in 2021 and beyond. ing community. Many HVAC contractors faced shortages in crucial components during 2020 (mostly attributed to workforce issues cause by COVID-19 absences) in the distribution channel. General contractors also felt this. According to Associated Builders and Contractors Chief Economist Anirban Basu, many general contrac- tors experienced repeated interrup- tions in project work. “Acquiring key materials and equipment has also be- come more difficult, with occasional price shocks for certain commodities. “With vaccinations proceeding apace, many contractors will benefit from fewer interruptions going for- ward and the restart of many post- poned projects,” Basu says. MANAGEMENT Mike Weil is Editor-in-Chief of High-Performance HVAC Today magazine as well as director of communi- cations for National Comfort Institute. He has served the HVAC Industry for nearly 40 years in various editorial positions. He can be reached at ncilink.com/ContactMe.MARCH 2021 13HVACTODAY.COM W hy is live duct leakage testing important? What problems does testing resolve? The first question can be answered by considering that since the dawn of man and the invention of the chimney, improper venting and leakage have caused energy, health, and safety problems. Efforts to resolve these issues are codified. Still, without measuring and testing, you can only guess where the leakages are and the damage they are causing. In new federal construction projects, the Whole Building Design Guide (ncilink. com/WBDG) sets the standards. It requires Duct Air Leak Testing (DALT) on new federal construction projects. In addition, the Sheet Metal and Air Condition- ing Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA) outlines DALT in their HVAC Air Duct Leakage Test Manual (ncilink.com/SMACNADuct). During construction, portions of high and me- dium-pressure duct systems are isolated and capped off. This practice is HIGHLY impractical after the system is installed and operational. Ductwork must be isolated and sealed before completion. The sections are then pressurized using specialized equipment, such as the duct leak test machines made by TSI/Alnor (ncil- ink.com/TSIducttest) or McGill (ncilink. com/McGill). The pressure drop across a calibrated orifice is then checked against the instrument manu- facturer’s flow conversion table to determine the leakage rate. AIR DON’T CARE The Department of Energy (DOE) defines Resi- dential Duct Air Leak Testing under the following guidelines: ncilink.com/DOEductguide. Just remember, a duct system doesn’t care where you install it. The same rules of physics apply to airflow for both residential and com- mercial construction. There are plenty of resi- dential-type installations in commercial build- ings all over the country. In 2016, the Building Commissioning Associa- tion surveyed approximately 300 facility profes- sionals. The survey (ncilink.com/2016BCA) showed that 74% of respondents believed that duct leakage was a significant factor in increased energy consumption. A study was conducted of NCI Certified con- tractors, then verified through ComfortMaxx™ (ncilink.com/CMaxx) software. It found that out of 847 commercial systems tested, the average System Performance Score (ncil- ink.com/ICYMI1028) was 48% of manufacturers’ rated unit output. The testing included diminished delivery due to restrictive and under- sized duct systems, as well as thermal loss or gain. Duct leakage was a con- sistent factor in the testing. THE TESTING PROCESS You should also consider the ASHRAE/ANSI Standard for testing duct leakage in operating systems, “Method of Test to Determine Leak- age of Operating HVAC Air Distribu- tion Systems.” In summary, the method of testing outlined in ASHRAE 215 states that the technicians should read total air- flow from a unit or fan via duct tra- verse with a calibrated instrument, then read the inlet/outlet flows with a How to Determine “Live” Duct Leakage By Scott Fielder TECHNICAL Using an air balance hood, this commercial HVAC technician tests airflow to discover whether there are duct leaks in this live system.14 MARCH 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY brated balancing hood 5. Traverse any inaccessible inlet/out- let with a balancing hood 6. Subtract the inlet/outlet readings from the duct traverse 7. The difference is the amount of duct leakage 8. Divide the inlet/outlet readings by the duct traverse to determine the per- cent of duct leakage. DUCT SEALING NCI takes the following four-step approach towards duct sealing: ● First, Test the duct system ● Second, Renovate/upsize the duct system ● Third, Seal the duct system where testing indicates ● Fourth, Add insulation where testing indicates. Duct system renovation, sealing, and insulation by themselves only ad- dress some issues. You must consider how all of these aspects work together for the best results. ASHRAE 221 proves that duct leak- age only addresses one-third of HVAC problems. Thermal loss, or heat loss/heat gain, is another major issue attributed to duct leakage. The first law of Thermo- dynamics is that heat flows to cold. Hence the terms “Heat Gain” in sum- mer HVAC operation and “Heat Loss” during winter HVAC Operation. Because duct leakage is often only PART of the problem, it takes compre- hensive, surgical, yet simple testing to indicate which issue is the criminal el- ement at play. COMMUNICATING PROPERLY There are a few notes that every contractor should be aware of when determining live duct leakage. When talking about duct leakage, no matter how you present the data, all the in- stalling contractor hears is “the Test- ing, Adjusting, Balancing (TAB) con- tractor is saying I did not do my job.” For example, you tell them, “I took a duct traverse with a calibrated instru- ment, and I am reading 1,000 CFM leaving the unit, yet I am reading 800 CFM at the supply outlets.” They don’t hear that. I’ve dealt with this HUNDREDS OF TIMES, and sometimes the issues are due to poor installation, sometimes not. The point is as the TAB contrac- tor; you need to be careful how you present your data. Sometimes the installing contractor performed their job correctly, but other trades used the ductwork as load-bear- ing scaffolding. When you have a 250-pound electrician, or building au- tomation guy walking on the ductwork, it won’t function the same, will it? If someone insists you’ve dampered the system down from 1000 to 800 CFM, you should know that is phys- ically impossible. Yet, it’s often per- ceived that way. If airflow goes into the unit, it comes out of the unit. If it isn’t making it out of the supply regis- ters, airflow may be above the ceiling. If your inlet/outlet readings are higher than your unit duct traverse, recheck your readings. SO, YOU HAVE DUCT LEAKAGE. NOW WHAT? Test the Duct System: Multiple national surveys indicate that hun- dreds of contractors conduct audits. They test thousands of systems and have documented and proven that most duct systems are undersized. calibrated balancing hood. That’s an over-simplification. The standard states that to ensure accura- cy, the technician performing the test must take 20 balancing hood readings at one-second intervals at every inlet or outlet on the tested system. Let that sink in. One requirement of the ASHRAE Standard that I agree with is all equip- ment in use is in current, NIST-trace- able calibration. To simplify the duct leakage testing process, use the following eight steps: 1. Find an appropriate duct traverse location. Ten duct diameters are text- book. However, in the real world, that’s hard to find. The next best op- tion is 80% downstream from any transition, regardless of how much straight duct is available 2. Take a duct traverse using either the Equal Area (ncilink.com/EqualA- rea) or Log-Tchebycheff (ncilink. com/LogDefinition) method. Both National Comfort Institute and Na- tional Balancing Council recommend the Equal Area method for simplicity and repeatability 3. Assure your data meets the ASHRAE 111 “75% Rule.” That is when 75% of the readings are between the highest read- ing and 10% of the highest reading 4. Read the inlets/outlets with a cali- TECHNICAL Using a vane anemometer, this technician measures air velocity, volume flow, and temperature as well as airflow at registers.MARCH 2021 15HVACTODAY.COM you can find many problems using static pressure testing and measure- ments, you also need airflow readings from a balancing hood to find which ducts don’t deliver the right amount of air. You can surgically repair a duct system from these results in- stead of tearing it out and starting over. Seal the Duct Work: Once you renovate/upsize the ductwork, THEN you can seal it. Following are some rules for sealing the duct system: n Be professional. Don’t slather it on as if it were a rack of ribs. Apply the sealant surgically and pro- fessionally. Tape off areas not being sealed. Whether you call it Mastic, pookie, goop, or my favorite from our Canadian professionals, Goose Crap, Many installations have To- tal External Static Pressure (TESP) that is so excessive that it can damage or short- en the blower motor’s life. If ductwork on these systems is sealed arbitrarily, without re- placing restrictive fittings or upsizing under-sized runs, this can further increase the TESP and do more harm than good. Evaluate duct systems via static pressure profiles and upgrades. Any upsizing should occur before duct sealing. Renovate/Update the Duct Sys- tem: Take the test results to identi- fy the duct system sections that need renovation and/or upsizing. While HVAC technicians testing airflow, velocity, and temperature in a commercial duct run.16 MARCH 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY ings where the ductwork needs to be sealed, let the owners or tenants know the system will need to be “down” or shut off for a short period. Add Insulation Where Testing Indicates: Although this article is about duct sealing, I would be remiss as a professional if I did not address another issue that was proven and dis- cussed by ASHRAE/ANSI Standard 221 – Test Method to Field-Measure and Score the Cooling and Heating Performance of an Installed Unitary HVAC System. Temperature is the missing piece of the puzzle that assures the heating and cooling capacity from the equip- ment makes it into the building. If temperature changes through the duct system, comfort and efficien- cy issues result even if air delivery is correct. Accurately determining live duct leakage is a critical skill for TAB, HVAC, and facilities professionals. Keep in mind duct leakage must be kept in context with other essential elements — such as temperature and Btu delivery — that determine HVAC system performance. duct sealant is expensive and should be used both sparingly and cleanly n Ensure the air handling unit/ fan is turned off when sealing, and leave it turned off for at least 24 hours after. If the sealant is applied while the unit is running, air will blow through the leaks preventing proper setting. Here is an experiment you can try at home: Take two drinking straws – slice each one about one inch with a razor. Apply duct sealant to both slic- es. Immediately blow through one and let the second straw sit for 24 hours, then blow through it. You’ll see a dra- matic difference n As stated above, conduct your own experiments with sealing at your office. Train your employees to do it properly. When working in occupied build- TECHNICAL Scott Fielder is the director of National Balancing Council (NBC), an operating unit of National Comfort Institute (NCI). He is an instructor and course developer who works closely with appli- cants for NBC certification and provides both technical and administrative support to NBC Certified Professionals. He can be reached at ncilink. com/ContactMe.MARCH 2021 17HVACTODAY.COM How To Market Performance By Jose Montes MARKETING W hen it comes to marketing your Performance-Based Contracting™ services, it is so important to con- tinually educate your customer and show them how you can solve their comfort and efficiency problems. When your technical team is trained in testing, measuring, and diagnosing total HVAC systems (including the ventilation system), they will discover issues your customers and your competitors never knew existed. One of the most significant issues we hear about is uneven temperatures in different rooms in peo- ples’ homes. Most people think that is just the way it is. It’s normal. But it shouldn’t be. So at Ken- nihan Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning, we’ve developed a strategy to market our services to help customers overcome these deficiencies. We have two approaches to our strategy: First and most importantly, we target most of our mar- keting to our existing customer base. They al- ready know and trust us. Our first line of “attack” is through our technicians, from whom custom- ers receive information on our performance ap- proach. We then follow up on that through our various marketing channels that only target our existing customer base. TRAINING We work hard to train and instill pride in our work ethic and workmanship with our techni- cians. All our technicians understand what the High-Performance approach is and how it differ- entiates us from competitors. It is ingrained in our technicians. When they perform maintenance on a furnace, air conditioning unit, or any other system com- ponent, part of our protocol is for technicians to fill out our inspection form. This form is where they record their measurement numbers. It is our manual version of the AirMaxx Lite™ app (ncilink.com/AML0118). We use colors to highlight what the numbers mean. We give this inspection form to the cus- tomer. The form helps explain to customers what the numbers mean and opens the door to further discussion. It helps the customer ask the right questions. One side benefit of doing this is that if the cus- tomer shares this form with other contractors, those contractors won’t be able to answer the questions. It can lead the customers back to us. IT ALL STARTS WITH OUR TECHNICIANS When we go into peoples’ homes, we have an opportunity to talk to them about how our ap- proach is different and what that can mean to them. Our techs open with that conversation be- fore they do anything else. This conversation is part of how we educate the customer on the importance of static pressure. They then see us as professionals who know what we are doing. In other words, everything starts after our technicians do the perfor- mance check. When they finish test- ing and measuring (and recording their results), they share what they discovered with the customers. During that conversation, they explain our performance ap- proach, what they found, and how those results impact both the equipment’s functionality and the customers’ comfort. They will also explain how Kennihan can help with the variety of services we offer. When they speak with customers, our techs use simple comparisons to help custom- ers “see” the measurements. They use blood- pressure-to-static-pressure comparisons, which allows the techs to become more comfortable having these discussions with customers. Part of the Kennihan market- ing strategy uses print in the form of newsletters and direct mail pieces. Pictured here is one of their direct mailers.18 MARCH 2021HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY technicians. They are part of the cul- ture of performance, so they start the conversation. And even during the jobs, they are talking about HVAC per- formance issues with the customers. WHO HAS THE TIME FOR ALL OF THIS? In a word – nobody. That is why Kennihan uses third-party vendors to help. On the digital side, we use a company called iMarket Solutions (ncilink.com/imarket). We meet weekly to go over our schedule. On a spreadsheet, I create a plan for the entire year. It’s broken down by month and week, where I plug in gen- eral relevant messaging for the time of year. Then I sit down with my rep at iMarket each week to discuss what items to talk about in those emails. I provide the general idea of the marketing message, and my vendor creates the actual, professional mes- sage based on that. Our email blasts go out 3X per month. This strategy helps Kennihan continue to build trust-value with ex- isting customers. In addition, our company uses out- side supplier EB&L marketing (ncil- ink.com/EBL) for print newsletters. I believe that no matter what promo- tional or marketing medium you use, your messaging must work together. You must coordinate the message be- tween digital and print. The only dif- ference for us is the print newsletter. The newsletter allows me to elaborate more on our promotional topic while still being congruent with the digital messaging. As we strive to educate customers on the superior benefits of a performance approach to maintaining, repairing, and even replacing their home com- fort systems, the importance of con- sistency stretches across all the differ- ent ways they could read that message. HOME SHOWS Before the pandemic, we also mar- keted our performance capabilities at live events like home shows. The pan- demic has put a stop to that, for now. Home shows allow us to see custom- ers face-to-face and provide a real op- portunity to distinguish our company as a Performance-Based Contract- ing™ firm. We offset some of the costs of home shows by using vendor co-op money. EMAIL FOLLOW-UP After the tech visit, we follow up with the customer using a series of emails from our marketing team that touch on all the different services we offer. The emails explain how the ductwork is part of the overall system and cannot be ignored if we are to tru- ly get at the heart of whatever prob- lems the customer is facing inside their home. The emails explain everything in medical terms. For example, we talk about how if someone has heart prob- lems, doctors don’t just look at and repair the heart. They always look at the entire circulatory system. In the HVAC universe, ductwork IS the cir- culatory system of a home. The emails go out once or twice a week. PRINT AND SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING We also send out a monthly print newsletter and direct mail campaigns that address the High-Performance Contracting approach. The newsletters can go into more detail, are more per- sonalized, and are essential parts of our ability to gain more business and prof- its from our existing customer base. With so many young people and fam- ilies owning homes in our service area, we also strive to educate them using so- cial media. I believe in delivering con- sistent messaging in whatever medium customers want. That not only includes having a Facebook page, a website, and more, but we also use newspapers and local magazines, as well as word-of- mouth to get our message out there. But as I said, it all begins with the MARKETING Having a marketing strategy and budget is essential when planning and promoting your brand and High-Performance services.MARCH 2021 19HVACTODAY.COM the numbers with me (another advan- tage of using third-party partners). Right now, for Kennihan Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning, our cost per lead hovers around $57. That is our year-to-date digital number. We have various benchmarks that we measure email blasts against, in- cluding things like open rate. When it comes to tracking leads from our print programs, I look for a ratio of leads per marketing piece. In an ideal world, that would be a 10 to one ratio. In other words, for every dollar I spend in print marketing, I see $10 in sales. However, in my experience, it’s only three to four dollars in sales. Our strategy isn’t to shotgun the en- tire market area to people who don’t know us. When you key in on your ex- isting customers, it’s not a hard sell. You’ve already built trust with them. Because of that, we’ve already start- ed educating them and helping them understand what we do and how we can use Performance-Based Contract- ing to improve their homes. Add in the pre-established trust, and they are open and willing to make the neces- sary upgrades and changes. Again, this is part of our objective to help educate customers on what we do and why it is so important. It remains crucial to keep the mes- saging at live events the same as the messaging in other marketing. Consis- tency is critical. TRACKING RESULTS As National Comfort Institute teach- es, “If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing.” This truth goes beyond the HVAC side of the business. You need to measure everything, and that includes marketing results. Digital metrics are much easier to track and measure. One such measure we track closely is the cost per lead. I discuss this with our content cre- ators in our meetings when they share Jose Montes is the office manager at Kennihan Plumbing, Heating, and Air Conditioning, in Valencia, PA. His industrial engineering background propels him to always look for improvement. As a contractor, he enjoys sharing what he has learned with others. Feel free to contact him at ncilink. com/ContactMe.Next >