TECH SERVICES
HVAC Tech Tips
Boost your knowledge of HVAC maintenance, calculations, standard operations and more with our archive of technical insights and work tips.
- Discover the techniques to test, verify, and calibrate your diagnostic equipment to ensure pinpoint accuracy on every single service call.
- Learn the formulas and setup to calculate Cubic Feet per Minute (CFM) using basic field measurements like voltage, amperage, & temperature rise. Perfect your diagnostics, eliminate airflow guesswork, and ensure your system is hitting that target.
- This PDF explains how HVAC technicians can accurately calculate total heat transfer in an airstream by measuring both sensible and latent heat, providing the essential formulas and step-by-step methods needed to evaluate overall system performance.
- This PDF teaches HVAC technicians how to safely combine capacitors in series or parallel to match microfarad ratings on a service truck, and provides the standard formula to accurately calculate operating capacitance while a system is running under load.
- This PDF highlights the critical safety dangers of carbon monoxide (CO) in residential buildings, detailing how incomplete combustion in heating equipment generates this odorless gas and outlining the essential detection and venting protocols technicians must follow to protect homeowners.
- This PDF outlines the systematic diagnostic procedures for identifying electrical and mechanical compressor failures, detailing how to interpret ohmmeter resistance readings across windings and troubleshoot internal pressure relief valves before condemning the equipment.
- This PDf explains how to properly test HVAC contactors by measuring voltage drops across closed contacts and checking coil resistance, giving technicians a reliable method to identify pitted, worn, or failing electrical connections.
- This PDFprovides a comprehensive duct sizing chart that helps HVAC technicians determine the correct duct diameters and dimensions needed to deliver precise airflow (CFM) while maintaining proper static pressure throughout a residential system.
- This PDF addresses the root causes of sweating ductwork, explaining how ambient air temperature dropping below the dew point triggers condensation on uninsulated or poorly sealed distribution systems, and outlines the proper insulation and moisture-barrier techniques needed to prevent water damage and mold growth.
- This PDF walks technicians through the proper way to measure and calculate Total External Static Pressure using a manometer, explaining how to add the negative return pressure and positive supply pressure together to read the blower performance chart and verify exact system CFM.
- This PDF guide explains how a furnace flame sensor uses flame rectification to convert AC voltage into a tiny DC microamp current, highlighting the critical role of proper grounding and offering maintenance tips like cleaning the rod with steel wool instead of sandpaper.
- This PDF guide breaks down how a heat pump's reversing valve uses pressure and a pilot coil to switch between heating and cooling modes, offering crucial troubleshooting tips for identifying internal leaks and safely resolving incomplete valve shifts.
- This PDF explains relative humidity by explaining how temperature directly alters the air's moisture-holding capacity, demonstrating why the same volume of water vapor can trigger wildly different humidity percentages as indoor and outdoor temperatures fluctuate.
- This PDF outlines how to properly measure the temperature drop across an indoor cooling coil, providing technicians with a quick and reliable diagnostic method to evaluate airflow and verify system performance.
- This PDF explains why managing dew point rather than relative humidity is the real secret to indoor comfort, revealing how rising regional moisture levels make whole-home dehumidifiers an essential tool for maintaining dry, efficient building structures.
- This PDF reveals the ideal indoor relative humidity settings for balancing occupant comfort with structural health, explaining how maintaining moisture levels between 30% and 50% prevents mold growth, controls allergens, and protects residential building materials.
- This PDF guide provides a breakdown of how to measure and calculate superheat and subcooling, giving technicians the precise diagnostic baseline needed to accurately verify refrigerant charge and protect compressors from failure.
- This PDf guide walks technicians through the essential mixed-air formula used to calculate the precise blend of outdoor air and return air entering an HVAC system, ensuring accurate ventilation rates and optimal energy efficiency.
- This PDF guide explains how the number of magnetic poles inside an HVAC motor directly dictates its operational RPM, providing technicians with the core formulas and reference charts needed to identify motor speeds during field diagnostics.
- This PDF contains HVAC motor operations by explaining the fundamental differences between permanent split capacitor (PSC) and electronically commutated motors (ECM), helping technicians diagnose common electrical failures and optimize airflow performance..
- Superheat and subcool readings tell you a lot about what's happening inside a refrigerant system.
- This PDF details how proper duct design and balanced airflow impact indoor comfort, offering troubleshooting tips for homeowners to identify restricted vents, leaky ductwork, and uneven temperature zones in their homes.
- This PDF explains the operational logic and efficiency benefits of two-stage gas heating, explaining how systems switch between low and high heat capacities to deliver consistent indoor comfort while reducing energy consumption.
- This PDF breaks down the operational logic and efficiency benefits of two-stage gas heating, explaining how systems switch between low and high heat capacities to deliver consistent indoor comfort while reducing energy consumption.
- This PDF explains how the R-22 Replacement Dilemma (RDS) impacts older HVAC systems, offering technicians a clear strategy for evaluating whether to retrofit or replace equipment as chemical phase-outs tighten.
- A legacy thermostat doesn't prevent communicating equipment from doing its job.
