What makes an HVAC Technician Successful

You know it’s funny. When many people consider a career in HVAC, their initial thought is that” I get to work with my hands and stay in the heat or air conditioning.” Sorry, but no. The truth is, you get to show up at a place that desperately needs heat or air conditioning and leave just when things start to get comfortable. I know it sounds a little funny, but that’s great news for the customer because the only people that last in this business are those who are willing to work hard and really want to make someone else’s day a bit better.

It’s no secret that the HVAC industry has to cover many of the traditional building trades to do its job. You are very often a plumber, electrician and even a carpenter before some jobs are done. Which, again, is good for the customer. Getting service from a company that can do all of these things well, makes your life a lot easier. Why deal with three contractors for your service, installation and renovation needs when you can rely on one great company like Robertson Electric?

We are not “jacks of all trades”, like a handyman, but rather masters at plumbing, electrical and HVAC work. Licensed, insured, professional plumbers, electricians and HVAC professionals at your service for scheduled or emergency work. If you’ve ever had work done by someone who was none of the above, you know what a big deal this really is.

All that said, if we can ever help you with any services we provide – please do not hesitate to give us a call. We’d love to help.

Indoor Air Quality

Again, while it may not technically be part of the official designation of HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) I definitely consider improving the quality of the air you breath as “conditioning” it in a positive.

So how does this work anyway? How does air become cleaned or purified as some say? Well, some of the oldest commercial methods go back to simple fans and filters where the air is forced through a filter (originally cotton fiber or a similar material) and then it comes out “clean” and ready to breathe. These became common in areas where fresh air was especially hard to come by (in other words, too expensive to pump in to the middle of a 250,000 square foot factory) and the need for recycled or re-circulated air was great.

As buildings got bigger and outside air quality got even worse (think Los Angeles in the 80′s) the need for better air filtration systems and purifiers increased. By the 1990′s even the lesser expensive units came equipped with micron filters that could take away particulates so small it would take a super-microscope to detect. But, technology moved on to even greater innovations with things the likes of ultraviolet treatments available from Aspen Clean Indoor Air.

As you may have seen elsewhere on this site “Toxic compounds such as formaldehyde, carbon monoxide, methylene chloride, pesticides and benzene can be treated effectively with oxidation methods from Aspen. Memory lapses, mild depression, lung dysfunction, headaches and lethargy are general symptoms caused by the above toxic compounds.

With one call to Aspen Clean Indoor Air, a team of specialists will come to your home for a free air quality evaluation. If they find a problem, they will recommend their services, which can include air purification, filtration systems, ultraviolet light, humidification, and ductwork cleaning or repair.”

In closing, just remember that the air you breath is the single most important aspect of your life.

Air Conditioning Systems

I’m going to go out of order here and bypass the “ventilation” part of HVAC so we can take advantage of some recent information gained on heat pumps. Again, the concept of the heat pump has been around for decades but the practical applications did not really begin until the 1940′s and wide-spread residential use did not begin until the 80′s for the most part.

But there’s more available than just heat pumps when it comes to AC systems. Many people, especially in older homes, still use window units; also called “through wall”. You will also typically find such units in large buildings with multiple tenants such as hotels and motels. These are usually combination heat/AC units designed to cool an area of less than five hundred square feet or five thousand cubic feet.

If you have a room to cool that was not part of your original “air conditioned space floor plan”, such as a previously unfinished garage, attic or bonus room, this is often an inexpensive and efficient way to air condition the area without trying to make your current heat pump do more than it is supposed to.

Along those same lines, you may have a need to keep a centrally located room, with no windows, cool. Although this would not be a bedroom, it may well be a computer server room that needs to stay cool or something similar. In this case, a portable AC unit can be put into place and vented appropriately. Then the only concern is how and how often a condensation tank, or drip pan, needs to be dumped.

I mention these things because a window, through-wall and portable units are often a more affordable option than expanding a heat pump system. But then again, most homes today have ventilation in place for expansion into likely areas such as garages, so you really need to weigh the costs and benefits both short-term and long-term (window units and especially portables can be very noisy).

Speaking of ventilation…

Air Conditioning Systems

Ventilation systems and ductwork has come a very long way in the past thirty years – especially in residential applications.

If you look at a home, in original condition, from the mid 1980′s or before, you are not likely to find any true ventilation ducts and only a hint of actual vents. many of these vents in fact, were merely grates that covered a hole between the first and second floors so the heat could rise upward. This was especially common directly over the fireplace and/or wood/coal stove. And it worked! It was not terribly efficient but those vents definitely helped the warm air get upstairs. Unfortunately, that usually meant that anyone in the family room was sweating it out and anyone upstairs was just warm enough to need only one heavy blanket when sleeping. That’s where improved ventilation found its sweet spot.

As utility costs – of all kinds – increased, the need to keep your heating and cooling dollars working as efficiently as possible really became apparent. That said; this opened up a whole new world of creative ways to manufacture and shape vents so they could fit into tight spaces yet still deliver all the airflow needed. It also started a whole new industry in research and development in the best, strongest and lightest insulating materials for fabrication. In fact, much of what sits nestled between the floors and crawl-spaces of your home, deliver air that is just the right temperature for your comfort, was designed for the Space Program.

Here’s a money-saving tip. One of the nicer advances for the Do-it-Yourselfer was the development of an easy to open grate and an even easier to replace air filter. If you are qualified and able to do the maintenance task of replacing this filter yourself, it can save you a great deal of money in service calls and add long life to your system as well as drastically reduce your energy spending.

Hybrid Heating Systems

A hybrid heating system is a recycler’s dream come true. It’s also a dream come true for people that happen to have an old oil or gas furnace left over after an upgrade to a heat pump installation.

Simply put, it allows you to use the heating system that is ideal for the circumstance you find yourself in. The heat pump will take care of keeping you warm and comfortable nearly all of the time, without having to over-tax it. But if you find yourself making return trips to the thermostat every hour on the coldest of days, your old oil or gas furnace can kick in to boost that heat up without working your heat pump too hard and without costing a lot of extra money to run that old furnace for a day or two.

Think of hybrid heating as almost like having a backup heating system that can not only act as a replacement when needed, but can pitch in anytime to make your home its most comfortable.

It’s a relatively simple procedure to set up a reliable hybrid heating system as long as you have a furnace that can be put into the mix. And, of course, the furnace is only going to be used on occasion so as long as it is in decent shape, and has been properly cleaned, tested and OK’d by an HVAC professional – you could have the ultimate home heating system in short order and with minimal cost.

Heating

OK, we all have at least a general idea of what heating is, but let’s dig a little deeper and get right to how you can maximize your heating comfort in the cold months and pay less thanks to your careful planning.

First of all, consider the type of heating system you have. If you have a home built in the 1960′s, that still has its original heating system in place, there’s a decent chance you have an electric baseboard system. This means that there will be small enclosed vents running along the baseboard of each heated room in your home; right where the floor and wall meet.

Back in the sixties, when electrical costs were considerably lower and heating technology had not advanced very far, such systems were extremely common. In some areas of the country, you would find electric baseboard heat in easily nine out of ten homes that experienced severely cold winter weather, such as New England. o course, you would also find a well-used fireplace and possibly a wood or coal-burning stove along with it to really amp up the heat when needed.

Later in the sixties and throughout the seventies oil furnaces became more and more popular throughout the United States. Crude was cheap in the 1960′s and early 1970′s (about $15 per barrel in 1971) but skyrocketed to more than triple that price by 1979. That’s when natural gas started becoming more common for whole-house heating instead of just for cooking and to fuel water heaters.

But wait, there’s more…

Heat Pumps and Beyond

In the early 1980′s, vast improvements in technology prompted the improvement of heat pump technology – originally introduced in the 40′s and 50′s – to become a more viable “everyman” solution. With people still feeling the crunch of the Arab Oil Embargo a few years before, the US was ready for a technologically advanced system that would allow people to both heat and cool their homes without relying on big bulky window units and floor-level heaters that costs a fortune to operate to the point where they really warmed a room.

Long story short; heat pumps made a big splash in to everyday life and started saving people a lot of money in heating and air conditioning costs. But, even more, a nice side effect was that the unit sat on a concrete pad in the back yard and there were no longer any sharp-edged metal baseboard heating vents (a danger to children and pets) or big bulky air conditioning units taking up premium window space.

So now, we’ve got heat pumps that keep the entire home at just the right comfort level 90% f the time. But what about the other 10% when it’s so cold you need to crank the heat pump into overtime just to keep mildly comfortable? And what about all of those oil furnaces and gas furnaces still sitting in the basement or garage? This is where it goes from smart to brilliant! Enter the world of the hybrid heating system…

HVAC Defined

The term HVAC has become a lot more common over the years. An abbreviation for Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning, HVAC is an easy way to convey the concept of room comfort, whether we are talking about a one bedroom apartment or a 50,000 seat stadium or arena. No, normally HVAC was used as a more industrial term that you would hear in a warehouse or factory type environment, but it’s come a long way from the old days of huge boilers and the giant silver ducts an army of maintenance men could crawl through like you might see in older movies.

The reason I want to talk about HVAC for a few minutes is to answer some questions we have received over the past few months and also to explain how much HVAC technology has expanded and improved over the past two decades. Most people don’t believe the the level of technology in their thermostat, let alone a modern heat pump.

To accomplish this, I will discuss four distinct topics and offer a little insight as to the skills required to be an HVAC technician with the skills to diagnose and repair or even replace existing equipment. As for the topics, they include heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (as you would well imagine) but also air quality which is one of the more overlooked, yet extremely important aspects of indoor health and comfort. And, after all, isn’t that what HVAC is really all about?