< PreviousCOMBUSTION BRAIN TEASER By Jim Davis TECHNICAL N ational Comfort Institute (NCI) train- ing covers as many combustion prob- lems as possible on equipment in the field. They created diagnostic charts for many different types of equipment. Howev- er, there will always be situations in the field that don’t conform to these charts. When the measurements we get don’t fall into charted areas, what should we do? It is important to note that we are talking about measurements outside NCI and possibly industry standards. The following problem arises in this area. THE SCENARIO An HVAC contractor finds the following after servicing a condensing furnace and doing a com- bustion test on a two-pipe installation – The combustion test measurements are as follows: The NCI Combustion charts show that: zO 2 should be between 6% to 9% z Flue temperature between 100 and 140°F zCO should be less than 100 PPM. The O 2 and CO should be stable, as show above. The O 2 and flue temperature indicate an under- fired condition. The NCI diagnostic sheets show that the CO reading cannot specifically identify an underfired problem. This is because under- firing can cause CO to be high, over 100 PPM or zero PPM, or anywhere in between. So the con- tractor called me for help. Because the CO is above 100 PPM in this case, one way to determine if underfiring is causing the situation is to raise the gas pressure slight- ly. I asked the contractors to do that, and the new combustion readings were: These results show that it wasn’t underfiring, causing increased CO. The CO is over 100 PPM and stable. That only leaves a DAM problem – Dirt/Alignment/Mechanical. WHAT IS THE DAM PROBLEM? The contractor had just cleaned the furnace. He removed the burners, cleaned them, and careful- ly replaced them. But is it possible one of them might be off just a little? In this scenario, the furnace had a sealed burn- er box, so the cover needed to be removed to see the burners and flames. I asked the contractor to remove the cover and do a visual inspection. What happened next might be considered weird. Here are his next set of measurements with the cover off: The O 2 reading remained the same. CO dropped to an acceptable range and was sta- ble. No change in the O 2 reading indicates the HVACTODAY.COMSEPTEMBER 2023 11cover is on, you can’t see all the burn- ers. When the cover is off, everything is open to the same amount of air, and there is no problem. Okay, it was an educated guess. We know how draft hoods can pull flue gases from some heat exchangers, but not all of them. Why couldn’t a draft inducer create a similar problem with air? Back to the question as to why there wasn’t rising CO? Answer: There was enough draft through the heat ex- changer to remove all the flue gas- es but not enough to bring in enough combustion air to the burners. COMBUSTION AIR OR A MECHANICAL PROBLEM? Was this a misdirected combustion air issue or a mechanical problem? I would say it could fall into both cat- egories. On the other hand, I would consider this a design flaw and put it in the DAM category. So it doesn’t matter why this is hap- pening. What matters is what we do about it. After all the service work, the O 2 % is above 9%, and CO is above 100 PPM. The measurements are close and definitely within industry standards. Economically is it worth spending more time trying to get this furnace within NCI standards? The answer is no. We must realize that as contrac- tors, our job is to make the equipment do what it can do based on its own rat- ing. Therefore, in this case, we have done our best. Is it okay for the O 2 to be below 6% or for the gas pressure to be lower than 3.5-in.? Any measurement is ac- ceptable if that is what the equipment requires. amount of air entering the furnace stayed the same and eliminates com- bustion air as the problem. But wait! The NCI Diagnostic Chart already eliminates combustion air as a problem on a condensing furnace. How can removing the burner box door fix a DAM problem? When identifying combustion air problems, NCI defines it as a misdi- rection of combustion air, not the lack of it. NCI also says combustion air af- fects all burners and equipment in the same room, but that definition goes out the window in the case of sealed combustion. WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION FOR THIS CONDITION? The first time I saw this was also on a two-pipe condensing furnace. The difference was the outside combustion air was piped into the side of the burn- er box rather than the top and middle. The CO readings were near 1000 PPM! Adjusting the gas pressure lower di- luted the CO readings but did not low- er them to an acceptable range. After removing the burner box cover to in- spect the burners and the flames, the furnace came back on, and the CO readings were less than 20 PPM and stable. The contractor placed the cover back on the burner box while the fur- nace was still running, and the CO rose back up. He took it back off, and the CO went back down. What was happening? I determined that because of the combustion air location in the side of the furnace, most of the air was go- ing to the closest burners. Not enough air was getting to the farthest burn- er. How does this happen? When the Jim Davis is the senior instructor for National Comfort Institute (NCI). He has a long and storied career in the HVAC Industry. Today he is considered one of the foremost authorities on airflow’s impact on combustion and carbon monoxide safety. If you have questions. you can contact him, at ncilink.com/ContactMe . HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAY12 SEPTEMBER 2023HVACTODAY.COMSEPTEMBER 2023 1314 SEPTEMBER 2023HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYpartnership alongside National Comfort In- stitute (NCI) began. HARD LESSONS LEARNED The exit strategy that my parents followed left a bad taste in our mouths. The lesson that my brothers and I learned was that we needed to put together a better “retirement” plan. However, there was a bright spot from the orig- inal sale. We had the opportunity to form stra- tegic relationships with two other HVAC compa- nies who had weathered similar circumstances to ours. Every fall, we would come together to discuss and share insights on growth, personnel management, training, and marketing strategies. These sessions also laid the groundwork for tackling one of the most complex aspects of busi- ness ownership that we had yet to implement: crafting a successful exit strategy. FINDING OUR IDEAL PARTNER This time around we knew exactly what we wanted and didn’t want in a future buyer. In 2020, we turned to professionals for help and partnered with a Florida-based consulting company that specialized in mergers and ac- quisitions to guide us through every step of the process. After gathering all our business documents, fi- nancial statements, and organizational charts, we were ready to start negotiations. We wanted to sell to a company with similar market approaches, business philosophies, and a service mentality to those held by Getzschman Heating. We were fortunate and blessed to have found such a company early in our search, and ultimately, we entered into an agreement with TurnPoint Services. F or more than six decades, Getzschman Heating has been an enduring pres- ence in the heart of Fremont, Nebraska. My father started the HVAC, plumbing, and electrical company out of our garage back in 1960. Since then we’ve kept the focus on putting our customers and community first. As any business owner knows, there comes a time when you need to plan for your retirement while also considering the importance of the leg- acy and team you will leave behind. Ready for the next chapter of their lives, my parents sold the business in 1998. In my opinion, the sale didn’t end well. The company that bought us was backed by Wall- street investment firms only focused on quarter- ly earnings statements. As a result, every quarter felt like a fire drill to ensure we put our best fi- nancial foot forward, which meant sacrificing our core values in the process. This wasn’t the legacy my parents envisioned for Getzschman. In 2004, my brothers Ron, David, and I re- purchased our business with a renewed focus on bringing the company back to its roots and finding a partner committed to seeing it flour- ish. With our sights set on growth, our pivotal Getzschman: A Tale of Business Succession and Partnerships By Scott Getzschman MANAGEMENT Left to right: Ron and Scott Getzschman HVACTODAY.COMSEPTEMBER 2023 15there’s been minimal variance from the original plans. And that is the most important part to us – keeping prom- ises. That is what a successful partner- ship is all about. CULTIVATING A COHESIVE PARTNERSHIP One of the things we like about TurnPoint is that their intent is NOT to change a company after acquisi- tion, but rather play to the company’s strengths and give it the resources it needs to grow and succeed. To do that requires them to team up with the existing owners and man- agement team. For us, this meant selling the business wasn’t an auto- matic retirement. The other promise TurnPoint made to us is that they will not change our branding. We’re still the G-Force team, and we’re Getzschman Heating. If we need to add something to en- hance Getzschman’s and the G-Force team’s brand, they want us to be part of those conversations. Keeping our identity also means our training programs remain the same. Our alignment with NCI and the high-performance HVAC approach to contracting remains strong. But now we have the resources to hire a training manager and en- hance our growth through training. The best part is that this deal still allows me to have a role in the company. We’re partners with TurnPoint in this process and still have a financial stake in the com- pany. But it’s taken the pres- sure off us. We no longer hold all the risk and I believe After a year and three months, we closed a deal in March 2021, and a new partnership began. CREATING A PATH FORWARD After finalizing the sale, we began transitioning our business to align with TurnPoint’s standards. This in- cluded using new software for oper- ations, finances, and HR, then mi- grating all of our assets into the enterprise. Two to three months after a transac- tion like this, it feels like you’re drink- ing from a fire hose. It takes a lot of time and patience to get through it but like any major change, we knew the journey would be worth the trip. Telling our employees about the sale was the next challenge. We reas- sured them that nothing would change and Getzschman’s would operate un- der the same values it had for the last 61 years. We felt confident in making this promise because Ron and I plan to stay in place for the next few years to help transition the company. The good news is that TurnPoint has done what they said they would, and 16 SEPTEMBER 2023HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYMANAGEMENT you must clean up your house. You can’t blend personal and business spending. You must run the company as a busi- ness. This may be the most challenging part of exit strategy preparation. And finally, be honest with yourself and your partners. Decide what your endgame looks like and work back from there. For us, ensuring our team and customers are taken care of to the best of our ability was first and fore- most, and that meant not only part- nering with our buyer, but taking time to make a successful long-term transition. In the end, this has truly been a very rewarding experience. In our situation, we’re blessed that we found a partner like TurnPoint Services, and we foresee a strong future for Getzschman Heat- ing long after the current management team retires. in them and the direction they’re tak- ing the company. With TurnPoint, Getzschman has a partner to work with and discuss all the challenges. But partnership is a two-way street. If you’re going to make this work, you must be willing to continue to work in the business for at least a few more years after the sale to make the tran- sition successful for your entire team. This includes the buyer. I plan to stay with the company for another five or 10 years. My brother intends to remain involved for three to five years. With TurnPoint’s help, this plan gives us time to put sys- tems and people in place to guarantee Getzschman and its employees suc- ceed and continue to prosper when we finally do step down. GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR SUCCESSION My takeaways from this experience are that owner retirement requires a lot of planning and a solid strategy. No contractor should try to do this entire- ly on their own. Always find a profes- sional to help you put that plan togeth- er. In our case, our consulting firm was a godsend. The next bit of advice involves the business itself. To prepare for a sale, Scott Getzschman and his brother Ron recently sold their HVAC contracting firm — Getzschman Heating LLC. , Fremont, NE. Both will remain part of the management team to help the company transition. Getzschman employs 86 people and serves the HVAC commercial, residential, service, and new construction markets. To reach Scott, go to ncilink.com/ContactMe . HVACTODAY.COMSEPTEMBER 2023 1718 SEPTEMBER 2023HIGH-PERFORMANCE HVAC TODAYSEPTEMBER 2023 19HVACTODAY.COM Doing these things has shown an average of 15 to 20% improvement on almost every job. We find that contractors who don’t have this focus have issues with the systems they install. Many of these issues are airflow-related, and we get calls to correct them. Without our testing and measuring processes, we wouldn’t discover things like having a wrong air cleaner application that chokes airflow at the air handling unit. In fact, many calls involve correcting issues with how coils were originally installed, fan speeds that were set incorrectly, and more. At DiMar- co and Associates, we call these issues “near-fur- nace” problems. We haven’t even begun looking at the overall duct system. Doing the right thing means learning what that is. Most of the time, installers for many of our competitors don’t know or understand the im- pact of airflow on system performance. Why? Because most have no training in the im- portance of airflow. And if they are trained, they’ve never entirely held themselves account- able by testing after they finish an installation. Testing in and testing out on every system you encounter is the only way to prove your work and ensure the system is operating correctly. That is how I define doing the right thing. THE ‘WHY’ BEHIND OUR BRAND At DiMarco and Associates, we pride ourselves on helping our team understand the why behind performance testing. Frankly, if the installers don’t know why you want them to do something, they won’t do it. In my experience, the one thing the HVAC In- dustry seems to be dialed into is the “why” be- hind the refrigerant circuit. Over the decades, most HVAC equipment manufacturers have beat A s a High-Performance HVAC Contrac- tor, one of the most challenging things we do is try to educate the public in our marketplace on what that means. For years we have tried to market the testing and training we do to differentiate ourselves from our many competitors in our market area. Our lead generation from this approach was not great. Furthermore, many of our competitors went out of their way to tell customers the ser- vices DiMarco and Associates provides are just a way for us to boost prices and make more money. But as a company, we are focused on total sys- tem performance. That is all about quality control and quality assurance. But how do you tell your customer base about it? This is particularly an issue for a contracting firm that does both commercial and residential work. That’s two different audiences and two dif- ferent messaging approaches. For us, the key is for clients to get results they want without facing a lot of technospeak by our technicians. This is primarily true on the residen- tial side of our business. Commercial customers tend to be more engineering-oriented and may want to hear technical details and all the options available. DO THE RIGHT THING Our focus on the business’s commercial and residential sides is to do things right the first time. It’s to eliminate taking shortcuts and look for problem solutions that provide customers with the most value for the dollars they invest with us. This approach means ensuring we have the right return duct drop, the right filter set up, selecting the right coil, then programming the fan properly. High-Performance HVAC IS Our Brand By Ben DiMarco MANAGEMENTNext >