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HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Building Performance for HVAC Techs w/ Stephen Rardon and Neil Comparetto

HVAC School - For Techs, By Techs

Bryan Orr

Training, Careers, Airconditioning, Self-improvement, Hvac, Business, Education, Refrigeration, Heating, Ac, Apprenticeship

4.8985 Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2018

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Stephen Rardon and Neil Comparetto join the podcast to talk about their headfirst dive into building performance as HVAC techs. They discuss jobs they do, how the transition has been, and important HVAC principles in building performance.

Addressing duct leakage can help with indoor air quality and home performance overall, but it can also even help reduce noise. Building performance and HVAC both require the serviceperson to give the customer options and inform them of their specific situation. In both cases, you would give the customer a chance to improve their living situation by offering a personalized set of offerings. However, building performance allows us to give the customer control over their comfort.

The main selling points of building performance solutions are health, comfort, and efficiency. Customer health is important because they want to make sure asthma, allergies, and other conditions won't be aggravated in their home. Comfort is important for many people, and efficiency is typically important for those with a green ethos.

If contractors and technicians want to get into building performance, it pays to take time to learn the business. It's even better if contractors put training programs together for their technicians. However, technicians need to be able to care about the material; otherwise, the investment in training may not be worth it. You must care about why we need building performance before you enter that side of the industry.

Stephen, Neil, and Bryan also discuss:

  • Bringing building performance into HVAC business
  • Blower door testing
  • Sales packages
  • System performance inspection
  • Challenges of growing a company
  • Precision manometers and other building performance tools
  • Zonal pressure diagnostics
  • Creating service departments within companies
  • Thinking of the building as a system
  • Expertise to combat automation

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

This episode of the HVAC School Podcast is made possible by generous support from our sponsors,

0:10.8

Rector Seal, Carrier, and Mitsubishi Comfort.

0:15.0

So I've talked a lot about this already.

0:17.0

I don't mean to beat a dead horse, but I had a great time at AHR.

0:20.0

And at AHR, I got a chance to demonstrate the Rector Seal Pro Fit, swedge, and flaring tools.

0:27.0

And since that time I've talked to a lot of technicians who have used them and used similar products.

0:32.0

And here's what I want to say about the pro fit. It's a great way to make a high quality

0:36.4

flare and swedge quickly. Like anything, it takes practice and it takes some skill to get it right.

0:42.8

It's not like you can just grab the tool and make a perfect flare the first time,

0:46.2

although you may, it's not hard to do, but you do have to use some proper technique.

0:50.8

So I still recommend reaming it and reaming it carefully so you don't

0:53.5

overem it or under-rem it. Making sure that you tap out any shavings that have occurred because of reaming,

0:58.9

which is true of a regular flaring tool or swedge as well. You want to make sure that you get that burr out.

1:05.0

And then when you actually position the drill in order to make the swagger flare,

1:10.0

you want to make sure that you get it straight in and you want to start it moving, so spinning to full speed before you start to apply pressure to it.

1:17.0

And you want to make sure that you use a good high RPM powerful drill.

1:22.0

The more powerful the drill, the better the results you're

1:24.8

going to get. So if you're trying to use a 12-volt impact while you may be able to

1:28.4

do it, it's not going to be as easy and the result is going to be a little less

1:31.7

consistent because it's going to take a little more work to do.

1:34.0

In the end, if you use a good quality tool and you use the proper technique, you're going to make a great

1:39.1

flare and swedge and I think the pro-fit flaring and Swaging Tool are a great fit for most technicians out there who find themselves in need of making flares and swedges.

...

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