Jim Wheeler: HVAC

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At each AHR Expo I look forward to meeting with the people from Airgas — an important supplier of refrigerant reclaim services to our industry — because I can rely on what the company tells me.

This year was billed as the largest AHR Expo in the Northeast to date. The impressive turnout to the Javits Center occurred despite the record cold and snow that brought New York City to a virtual stop on the second day of the show.

The purpose of an A/C “preventive maintenance” or “tune-up” call is to clean up a system after a year of wear and tear, and to make sure it is working at peak efficiency.

If you needed a tool that would best describe an HVAC technician or his company, it would be his manifold and gauges. Other than hand tools, that’s the one most technicians carry. So, it would be unusual to think of a tech going on a “preventive maintenance” or “tune-up” call without connecting this device.

Service agreements and tune-ups or “preventive maintenance,” as is required by most A/C equipment manufacturers to fulfill warranty obligations, too often is poorly done by servicing dealers. Frequently, more harm is done than good.

A good friend of mine called the other day and told me: “I had my regular A/C spring tune-up last week and this week it stopped working. So I called my A/C guy and now he says I need to change out the whole thing!” 

The common industry thinking is that offering risky credit is a bad idea. However, that rule may not always be the best one to follow when you consider actual potential losses vs. potential benefits.

 I recently read an article in a local HVACR magazine that somewhat addressed this problem, which I guess we all should have foreseen coming because R22 is getting very scarce and its price is skyrocketing. 

 The supply-house business always is hazardous due to the chance of losses when your contractor customers file for bankruptcy. However, if you know the signs, you can minimize the risk. 

One of the biggest mistakes any supply house management team can make is to force its customers to buy from a competing supply house or hardware store.