Crossroad or Access Ramp;

There are so many things happening in our industry that we are surely at the beginning of major shift in how we do business. At a recent trade show I saw and heard more new things than I have in years. I’ve been trying to acquire the knowledge to pass on the information one topic at a time. I’ve come to realize that it’s just not out there in the main stream arena yet. So for now I want to just throw out a couple of what we’ll call future topics for later posting.

IEER, Inverter Energy Efficiency Rating is a new standard that will be the acronym for the coefficient of performance for equipment with variable capacity compressors. We all know that these units consume less electricity than standard units but the realization of how much is going to drive demand. IDC’s, Inverter Duty Compressors in package units will help technicians get comfortable with the technology. Variables are removed with a package unit that allow a technician to experience how these systems are going to function under varying load conditions. A package unit with a factory charge will give them a chance to see what to expect with problems like dirty coils, low refrigerant and restrictions. The numbers floating around for the energy savings are 40% less than a standard unit. The new mentality will be the price difference between major repairs and unit replacement will be realized in few years with the energy savings.

Variable Refrigeration Flow Systems with air and water cooled refrigerant plants. To date we’ve been hesitant in our area to get behind them as design build and direct to owner upgrades. However they're getting in more plan and spec jobs every year. There are currently 3 big players and a 4th is on the way. As more systems are installed and we get comfortable servicing them the market will grow in direct proportion to people’s desire to save money on installation and operating cost. These systems have so many advantages they seem too good to be true. We can’t deny how they should be the first choice for many installations. If they work as intended without being a high maintenance hard to troubleshoot and repair system they’ll corner the market.

The quick wrap up is as follows, cast boilers are out, burners are out, and cooling towers are going down with big chillers. High efficiency tube boilers with modulating outputs are in. Air cooled chillers with several small circuits and plate heat exchangers are in. Packaged equipment from standard heat/cool to chilled water/hot water plants are in. Reciprocating, screw and centrifugal compressors are out, scrolls and inverters are in. Expect more on all these topics as the information becomes available.

An Alternate Way to Save;

Last year ModernControls approached a long time customer that operates 7 facilities with a request to increase the scope of work in their preventive maintenance agreement. After performing a review of the repairs from the previous year we identified the 3 locations that had the most potential for savings. We showed the Facility Director what we had found and laid out a detailed plan to reduce the cost of service. We found that the 4 facilities where we did the most preventive maintenance the costs were the lowest. In the other 3 facilities the cost of service calls to complete routine maintenance, general repairs, and overtime to service units was the highest. The Facility Director agreed with the analysis and we increased the scope of preventive maintenance.

This year he requested an analysis to justify the additional money he spent on maintenance the previous year. ModernControls provided a detailed cost breakdown that showed a 30% reduction in the total expense for HVAC repairs and preventive maintenance in the 3 buildings. That 30% amounted to more than $ 75,000.00 in savings. The facilities director was recognized in a recent board meeting for his overall reduction in the cost of maintaining the facilities. We all knew we had done the right thing but the dollar figure was over the top. Our industry has been so focused on reducing energy consumption that we haven’t tried to quantify the potential savings of preventive maintenance. Until now.

ModernControls recently invested in a software program that will allow us to build a database over the next few years that will perform this type of analysis automatically. Our hope is that the information we started collecting will be the beginning of a long term commitment to our customers. We changed our standard Work Orders to start collecting more information and we update the repair status and resolution as we go. It added a few steps to the process but the information should allow us to zero in on problem pieces of equipment so that we can provide better advice to our customers. When factoring in the operation efficiency of existing equipment to show a payback for replacement it also helps to factor in the cost of repairs and maintenance. If you’d like to learn more feel to stop by our office.