Admit It - Are You an Airhead?

Posted on January 19, 2010

Airflow is often the primary concern of the HVACR industry, and yet it’s also the aspect that leaves many professionals cutting corners and using guesswork.

“We casually replace an old clunker of a furnace or air handler with a high-efficiency, variable-speed blower and assume that we’ve made an improvement to the existing airflow system,” says Jack Rise, one of the industry’s leading technical trainers. “We install air cleaners in a home or office and automatically claim that we’ve improved the IAQ. These assumptions can be woefully inadequate.”

To tackle some airflow myths once and for all, as well as expose some of the most notorious airflow problems in the industry, Rise will teach the “Diagnosing Airflow Problems” Learning Lab at the 42nd Annual Conference. His workshop will confront head-on some of the technical aspects of airflow that give technicians’ hives—including an explanation of the ACCA Wedge and the friction rate formula, the concept of total equivalent length, and a review of air volume, velocity and pressure as they pertain to distribution system problems.

He will explain some of the diagnostic tools contractors can use to isolate airflow problems, and walk through methods to mitigate challenges that might exist on a job site.

“A better understanding of how to choose a blower and avoid airflow problems after installation” will be the key take-aways from this session, Rise says, as well as a “better understanding of many of the airflow myths that are endemic in our industry.”

Rise’s Learning Lab is just one of many aimed to address contractors’ common concerns and challenges. For a full list of workshops, which continues to grow leading up to the March 7-9 event, click here.