hvactoday.comOCTOBER 2022 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing! ™ ALSO IN THIS ISSUE: • System Performance and Indoor Air Quality • Balancing Hoods: Go-to Instruments for Air Upgrades • Selling to New Prospects Versus Existing Customers October is National IAQ Awareness Month! Improving Indoor Air Quality With High-Performance HVAC Solutions Allergens and Outdoor Particulates Lack of Air Movement Sick Building Syndrome Pressure Imbalance Carbon MonoxideOCTOBER 2022 VOLUME 6 NUMBER 10 HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY TM TECHNICAL: Balancing Hoods: The Go-to Instrument for Air Upgrades NCI’s David Richardson explains how a balanc- ing hood allows you to show the difference between what airflow is and what it should be. 15 DEPARTMENTS OCTOBER 2022 3HVACTODAY.COM Today’s Word .........................................................................................4 High-Performance Products .............................................................5 Contractor Spotlight: Bailey’s Heating & Air, Inc. ....................6 NCI Update .........................................................................................23 HVAC Smart Mart ...............................................................................24 Ad Index ................................................................................................25 One More Thing ................................................................................26 11 TECHNICAL: System Performance and IAQ Indoor Air Quality Specialist John Ellis shares six key principles to follow every day to help quick-start your IAQ journey. SALES: Selling to New Prospects Versus to Existing Customers Which group represents the ones more likely to do business with you? Drew Cameron explains. 19Factors that impact air quality include the lack of air movement, dirty or faulty heating or air conditioning equipment, damaged flue pipes or chimneys, unvented combustion from fossil fuel appliances, excessive humidity, and the presence of mold and mildew. With cooler temperatures coming, now is the time to make sure customers’ furnaces work properly, so that carbon monoxide is not an issue. The good news is that as High-Performance HVAC contractors, you actually play a pivotal role in the health and safety of people within in- door spaces. Because the high-performance ap- proach focuses on airflow through measurement, testing, and diagnosing potential problems, you can see and document issues based on facts, not rules-of-thumb or guesses. More High-Performance HVAC Contractors are becoming students of IAQ and go beyond ASHRAE Standards 62.1 and 62.2. If you ar- en’t a student, maybe its time to consider be- coming one, because IAQ is complicated and requires training and practice to get it right. As IAQ Specialist John Ellis states, “Pre- scription without diagnosis is malpractice.” One of the most important diagnostics you can perform is identifying root causes of the problem. Those culprits often are pressure imbalances drawing air into the home from a dirty attic, crawl space, or even a drop ceiling. So we dedicate this issue to the pursuit of high Indoor Air Quality. Read John Ellis’ latest article on selling the right IAQ solutions and David Richardson’s focus on accurate airflow mea- surements with airflow hoods to get an idea of what I mean. Make IAQ part of your service offerings and be sure to promote those services to your customers. Happy National IAQ Month. W hen it comes to indoor air quality (IAQ), according to the Nation- al Library of Medicine, “The modern scientific history started in the 1970s with a question: ‘did indoor air pose a threat to health as did outdoor air?’” Not too long after that, it became quite appar- ent that indoor air is more important, from a health point of view, than outdoor air. In those early days, the world focused on the IAQ impacts of radon, tobacco smoke, and lung can- cer. Later the U.S. targeted volatile organic com- pounds, formaldehyde, sick building syndrome, house dust-mites, asthma and allergies, Legion- naires disease, and other airborne maladies. Then, new issues came to light regarding damp- ness/mold-associated allergies and concerns with what the U.S. National Institutes of Health call “modern exposures-modern diseases.” Why do I bring all this up? Because October is National Indoor Air Quality Month where organizations like the American Lung Association and others want to focus our attention on the air we breath everyday in our homes and workplaces. When the pandemic was in full swing, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, more people began working from home than ever be- fore. So the need to pay attention to IAQ became and remains more important than ever. This month is all about broadening the public’s awareness and understanding of the importance of IAQ, as well as how to achieve cleaner air in- side buildings. 4 OCTOBER 2022HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY Did You Know that October is National Indoor Air Quality Month? OCTOBER IS THE TIME TO FOCUS OUR ATTENTION ON THE AIR OUR CUSTOMERS BREATH EVERY DAY IN THEIR HOMES AND WORK SPACES. TODAY’S WORD By Mike Weil Mike Weil is editor- in-chief and director of communications and publications at National Comfort Institute, Inc. Contact him at ncilink. com/ContactMe.OCTOBER 2022 5HVACTODAY.COM The best part of this product for us is that it is easy to use. You just plug the monitor in and let it run. Once the data is gathered, it pro- duces colorful consum- er-friendly reports that give our team third-par- ty credibility. Understanding how to interpret the data is a bit more involved. That is where outside training like that provided by National Comfort Institute (NCI) be- comes so important. By itself the M5200 connects the dots between what the monitor reads, and HVAC industry and government IAQ standards. Customers can see if their homes are in the green (all clear), yellow (potential danger zone), or red (immediate action required). If your team is trained and practiced at finding IAQ issue sources, plus they are good at air balancing, and testing for combustion is- sues, then the M5200 is a fantastic tool to help them highlight IAQ problems and provide consumers solutions. The more knowledge- able contractors are and the more tools they have to help communicate clearly to customers the better. AirAdvice monitors are such a tool. Learn more about the AirAdvice M5200 IAQ monitor by visiting their website at ncilink.com/AirAdvice. — Ben DiMarco, president, DiMarco & Associates, Cleveland, OH AirAdvice™ M5200 IAQ Monitor The Model 5200 is a full-featured in- door air quality (IAQ) instrument for measuring dust/particles, chemical pol- lutants, CO 2 , CO, temperature, relative humidity, and more. The AirAdvice for Home platform includes a monitor, soft- ware, and unlimited reporting. At DiMarco and Associates, we use this monitor on every call every day. Air mon- itoring is part of our preventive mainte- nance contract. The M5200 collects IAQ data continu- ously, stores it in one-minute intervals, and sends that data to the AirAdvice servers using a built-in cellular modem. When not connected, the monitor can store data for up to 14 days. HIGH-PERFORMANCE PRODUCT Written by HVAC Professionals for HVAC ProfessionalsSOME HISTORY Bailey says he grew up in the busi- ness as an employee with no special privileges. By taking on more respon- sibilities, he slowly began moving up the ladder. During the 1980s, 90s, and early 2000s, the company averaged 2,000 HVAC installations in new con- struction homes each year. In 1992, he bought the company from his father. “We also did residential add-on-re- placement and service on existing homes, but that was never our main concern. After taking over, I got out of the refrigeration business alto- gether and concentrated on residen- tial new construction and residential add-on-replacement and service.” He says that the commercial refrig- eration business required extremely long hours that often started at 3 AM because a walk-in freezer was down. “The client would lose food product if we weren’t there before they opened. Then those same techs had to put in a full day. That was too much stress on them and me. In the mid-2000s we left residential new construction and changed our focus to residential ser- vice and replacement, which remains our focus today,” Bailey says. THE COMPANY TODAY Today Bailey Heating and Air em- ploys 19 people, including six full-time service technicians, four installation techs, and four office personnel. They also operate their own sheet metal shop supporting the company’s field teams. “I also have an installation manager who is an all-around person who can do pretty much anything needed.” With 16 vehicles on the road, Bai- ley says the company does around $3 million in gross sales, 60% of which is residential retrofit and replacement work. He says they still do some (less than 2%) new construction, mostly in the custom home industry. The rest is all service work. A PHILOSOPHY BASED ON TRAINING Bailey explains that the changes he implemented could not have hap- pened if it wasn’t for his focus on learning and training. “I believe we, as HVAC contractors, do a great disservice to our customers if we put technicians in the field with- out the best knowledge and skills. The only way we can avoid this is to train them. It’s plain and simple.” Bailey takes that a step further. Not only does he invest in getting his crews trained, but he also invests in giving back by providing training to other contractors and technicians within the Central Valley area. “I not only preach training,” he says. “I also teach it. I teach through IHACI and have been doing that for around eight years.” He says he strongly believes in get- ting third-party certifications for him- self and his field team. He sets goals M odesto, CA, is located on the Tuolumne River and is home to the world’s largest, fami- ly-owned winery: The E&J Gallo Win- ery. The city and its surrounding envi- rons are within the vast San Joaquin Valley – a fertile area which is home to a very large agricultural industry. Founded in 1870, Modesto was a rail- road stop connecting Sacramento to Los Angeles. It is also home to a family-owned HVAC company called Bailey’s Heating and Air, Inc. Mitch Bailey is the sec- ond-generation owner of this res- idential-focused company that achieved gross sales of $3 million in 2021 and is on its way to surpassing that in 2022. According to Bailey, the company was started by his father in 1976 af- ter he retired from the military, then moved back to Modesto from Texas. “In those days,” Mitch Bailey says, “the company focused mainly on re- frigeration in the new construction market. I was 14 or 15 years old at the time. My dad would pick me up after school, drop me off at a job site, and I’d install ductwork. Then he’d pick me up when the sun went down.” 6 OCTOBER 2022HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT By Mike Weil Leaving Customers’ Homes Better Than You Found Them Mitch Bailey, ownerOCTOBER 2022 7HVACTODAY.COM training options for their techs as he does because they fear those guys will leave and go to a competitor. “That doesn’t worry me too much. I’ve had people go through classes and begin using the new techniques, only to receive offers for more money else- where and leave. I had two techs leave this year, but they both wanted to come back after less than a few months. “And I did take them back. These techs are good employees. The compa- nies they went to couldn’t keep their promises. Furthermore, the techs told me that the new companies didn’t do things the way we did with all our test- ing and our focus on doing things cor- rectly. They told me that they couldn’t deal with that.” CALIFORNIA DREAMING Of course, Bailey’s Heating and Air, like every other small business in Cal- ifornia, is subject to the regulatory whims of the government in a state that prides itself on cutting edge for just about everything. As such, Bai- ley takes advantage of training op- portunities offered through the in- vestor-owned utilities such as PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) and SCE (Southern California Edison). In addition to training, Bailey has participated in all of the offered ener- gy saving measures through PG&E’s different programs over the decades. These programs sought to incentivize homeowners to increase home energy efficiencies with goals of 30% or better in energy savings. “PG&E’s TECH Clean program of- fered two levels — Advanced and Ba- sic. Bailey says, “They were totally dif- ferent. The basic program was more prescriptive and required high effi- ciency equipment be installed, while the advanced program required the contractor and participants to mod- el the home, replace windows, insula- tion, and other things. Then they had to show how much energy savings the customer would achieve as a result,” Bailey explains. “The amount of in- centive was based on the modeled sav- ings and rebate dollars paid according to the model. Some models promised energy savings up to 50%. “PG&E switched to a pay-to-play program a few years back so the util- ity could monitor energy use and look at prior year usage of the homes that participated in the advanced program. After several years, PG&E found they were only getting a 3% return on their money. Because of this they dropped the advanced program.” Bailey says his company participat- ed only in the basic program, and most of his replacement and renovation jobs saved around 30% energy which PG&E was not getting from the advanced pro- gram. He says they were told that they for techs to get trained and earn cer- tifications and even pays spiffs if they attain NATE certifications (among others). Today more than half of his technicians are certified. Furthermore, more than two-thirds of them have also taken airflow testing and diagnostics classes from Nation- al Comfort Institute (NCI), and several have also been through that organization’s combustion classes. Bailey says that he knows some HVAC contractors don’t offer the same Using a balancing hood helps to make air visible in each room of a home. Bailey Heat- ing and Air uses these instruments to test airflow before and after they work on a system.The goal, according to Bailey, is to get involved. That way he can help utilities understand that a high-per- formance approach, like the one he uses in his company, would benefit the customer with a more comfortable home and lower bills. Results would also help utilities by reducing the en- ergy needed to run the home, and help the entire state because they are lack- ing power for the grid. END BOX SWAPPING “Contractors can help consumers save so much more energy if they just sized even standard efficiency equip- ment properly,” Bailey continues. “Then take the rest of the money saved from not replacing it with an expen- sive higher-end unit and put it toward other improvements. “We must stop swapping boxes. Our industry needs contractors to test in and test out. They should measure the house before they do any work on it. Once again, by measure, I am talking about taking static pressure readings, measuring airflow – total system and room-to-room, and doing load calcu- lations. Help the customer see how their system operates before you make any changes and then show them what it is doing after your changes.” SYSTEM PERFORMANCE AND AIR UPGRADES From what Bailey talks about, he and his team take high-performance contracting seriously and are success- ful in their marketplace in providing his customers the comfort and effi- ciency they want. But it’s not easy. Bailey says his com- petitors are the biggest impediment to his company’s approach to testing, measuring, and doing air upgrades. “These are the guys who tell custom- ers something totally different from what we do,” Bailey says. Competi- tors will ask a customer who has had a four-ton unit in their home forever why they’d want to replace it with a three-ton unit. Some will even say that a three-ton unit won’t provide enough air for their home! “I tell customers, based on my load calculations, system tests, and mea- surements, they only need a three-ton unit. Who will the customer believe? If the competitor is a better salesman or doesn’t price their work right, we can lose that sale.” IT’S A WRAP Ultimately, Mitch Bailey says the se- cret to his success is hard work, train- ing, and partnering. “NCI has some of the best train- ing. They not only train people, but they also show you why a system is operating the way it does. Then they show you how to fix what’s happening, where to look, and what to do. “I think it’s the best training out there. It’s better than any trade school you can send your techs to because it addresses real-world problems every day in this business. “NCI training helps you be a better contractor doing a much better job for your customer. The whole goal of this is not only to make money, but also to leave the home better than we found it from a comfort and efficiency stand- point,” Bailey concludes. For these and other reasons, High- Performance HVAC Today chose Bailey’s Heating and Air as its Con- tractor Spotlight. Congratulations to the entire team. consistently achieved the biggest ener- gy savings in the program. “They approached us and wanted to know how we did that,” he says.” IT’S ALWAYS ABOUT THE DUCTWORK “My key message to PG&E (through their third party implementer, Fron- tier Energy) was that it is always about the ductwork. I explained how we start every project by looking at the house, doing a load calculation to get the cor- rect equipment size, and then measur- ing the existing system to see how it performs before we do anything else. “This includes how much air the sys- tem delivers, how many Btus it puts out, and how much energy it consumes. “Only after completing all that do we recommend changes,” he continues. “For example, if a room is supposed to have 180 CFM but is only getting 130, we know there is an issue. We need to either run more duct, fix the duct, bal- ance it, or whatever else is necessary. “And then we usually add attic in- sulation to most homes if it’s lacking, and some other things we’d suggest. We don’t do windows.” 8 OCTOBER 2022HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY CONTRACTOR SPOTLIGHT Bailey’s techs are trained to test and measure HVAC systems on every job.OCTOBER 2022 9HVACTODAY.COMNext >