Have you ever purchased a product or service only to be disappointed after the fact? Sure, we all have. This blog is going to be an insight into the world of HVAC as to what is happening behind the scenes that you may not know about and the things that can hurt you financially, emotionally, and in some cases your health!
I read posts all the time on Facebook community pages where people are looking for a "deal". What is a deal? Is it the cheapest price? Is the best quality without compromise? What are we looking for? The answer to that question can only come from within and typically it's a defense mechanism we put out there when we don't understand something. If you're not an ASE certified auto mechanic with 10 plus years of experience, it's hard to know what goes into properly rebuilding an engine or how much that costs. So our only recourse is to shop for the cheapest price, that is if we don't have an established relationship with someone we trust and price is not an object in that relationship right? It's no different in the HVAC world and just like in the automotive world, we have crooks, hacks, professionals, and everything in between.
I go back to when I first started my business and the ideology that drove my pricing and practices. I had no established social network other than family which wasn't going to support a newly formed HVAC business so I had to rely on home warranty companies and extremely low prices for EVERYTHING! When it came to installing new equipment I priced myself so low that the only way I could turn a profit on installs was to cut corners and do a bare minimum job. I didn't have the time or money for materials to exceed code and really turn out a great product for my clients. I hate to even admit it because it wasn't what I wanted, but it's what my company needed for me to establish a name and grow my clientele base.
Very seldom do I see companies ever transition away from the mindset that the cheapest price and the cheapest quality are the only way to survive. It's scary to raise your prices knowing that you will be more expensive than your competition as you know that will lead to a lower close rate and less income. The little things that I couldn't afford to do are some of the most important to ensuring the equipment will perform to it's life expectancy without major issues.
The first practice that comes to mind that I can now afford to do is when we pull an older system out that had R22 refrigerant and mineral oil to install a newer system with POE oil, we flush the refrigerant lines with a tool designed to get all the old incompatible oil out of the lines. This is very important as old oil can be contaminated with acids that could damage the new system slowly from the inside out and because mineral oil in not miscible with the newer refrigerants leading to lubrication issues inside the new system.
Another little thing that adds up is added layers of protection for the occupants. Code only requires the installation of 1 condensate overflow safety device here in North Carolina. We utilize a minimum of 2 devices, 1 of those can prevent water from ever flowing into an auxiliary pan which can hold up to 30 gallons of water suspended over a finished sheetrock ceiling. There was a time when chasing the lowest price just to get work that I was only installing 1 safety because that's what code requires. This was another practice I wasn't proud of, but the added materials increases the price of installs. You might be thinking that 1 safety device can't raise the price that much and you'd be correct. This is only 1 of many things that I wanted to implement to do a better job.
It's no secret that manufacturers purchase the cheapest materials possible to keep the cost of production down. One component that most homeowners are familiar with is a capacitor. Factory installed capacitors are typically designed to last the minimum warranty period of 5 years and then go out. I hated the idea of clients having a failure within the first 5 years, so we started taking the factory capacitor out of new installs and installing a capacitor we know will last closer to 15 years. This adds more cost, but more value in my eyes as it alleviates up to 3 service calls in the life of the equipment, thereby saving my clients money.
Speaking of saving money, would it surprise you if I said up to 90% of you reading this have up to 30% higher energy bills in an average year because of the installation practices of HVAC companies? You will never know this to be true unless you either trust me or get a properly sized and sealed complete duct and HVAC system. I'm here to tell you that statement is absolutely true and it's supported by studies performed by the Environmental Protection Agency. That means if you pay an average electric bill of $200 every month, you could have that reduced to an average of $130 per month (averages based on a full year). I was afraid to talk about duct work and equipment sizing with my clients in beginning as I thought the price would scare them away. Now, I make it a point to address those issues knowing that it not only protects my clients but me as well. Undersized/leaky duct systems lead to callbacks and dissatisfied clients, a lesson I had to learn the hard way. I'm going to put oversized/improperly installed equipment in that same category. It's a disastrous combination that causes problems for everyone involved which is why I now have those uncomfortable conversations with clients. I've adopted a new train of thought that the price is what it is, and if I can't do a job right then I don't want to do it at all. No amount of money is worth the headache of worrying if a job is going to come back and bite me or not.
The biggest impact on the operating life of a system without major failures is something done during the commissioning process and it's often called the vacuum. This is done just prior to releasing the refrigerant for operation and it's where we use a vacuum pump to remove the non condensable vapors from the refrigerant line set. This is done because non condensable vapors such as oxygen will mix with POE oil an formulate inorganic acids that WILL destroy the new system, especially the compressor. Manufacturer's produce metrics for this step and typically require a vacuum below 500 microns which can be measured with a vacuum gauge. Pulling and measuring a proper vacuum is the most imperative step that I can't stress enough and must be done without compromise. In my earliest days I would pull a vacuum to industry standards which is time consuming, but now instead of below 500, we target below 200 microns which is a very deep vacuum and a target that we demand not shoot for.
The extra time and materials that goes into these practices certainly add cost, but at the same time I feel they add value which to me is a "deal". The next time you're looking for services, take time to educate yourself, ask questions to industry professionals, and be engaged. It could save you thousands later!
Kenneth Casebier
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