A Proven Approach to “Air” Upgrade Your Installations

The goal of an Air Upgrade is to achieve static pressure at or near manufacturer specifications, and fan airflow within ± 10% of required airflow. To discover Air Upgrade opportunities, you start with simple diagnostic testing that any service technician or salesperson can do. They simply measure static pressure and fan airflow. A visual inspection may reveal obvious problems, but field measurements put data behind these observations. The TEC and mQ apps take this one step further and codify a step-by-step process that’s easy to follow. 

Why is an Air Upgrade Important?

In a time when most HVAC contractors seem the same and use similar marketing approaches, Air Upgrades provide a unique way to differentiate yourself from other companies. They have no set market value, and the price cannot be shopped. The end-product results in uniquely high profits with no competition.

Since Air Upgrades solve fan airflow and static pressure problems, you will have fewer callbacks and much happier customers. It’s a lot easier to keep profits in your company than letting them drip away in unnecessary callbacks. Technicians can have the confidence to recommend the right solutions instead of trying to tweak the equipment or make excuses. It’s freeing when they know problems aren’t in the equipment, can confidently identify them, and then explain the results to the customer.

Air Upgrades remain hidden until your testing and diagnostics make them visible. You create the demand for this unique product. Most customers have problems that Air Upgrades cure, however, they often can’t make the connection until you help them understand. Since Air Upgrades allow equipment to perform as intended by the manufacturer, they also get the bonus benefit of brand and reputation protection. 

What Does an Air Upgrade Include?

Because Air Upgrades focus on improving static pressure and fan airflow, the air-moving equipment receives much of the attention. However, that shouldn’t stop you from making repairs to the duct system, as needed. Here are some of the most common Air Upgrade improvements listed by location.

Equipment:

• Rework filter system to reduce filter pressure drop
• Improve and enlarge equipment duct connections 
•  Increase return drop size
• Perform basic system cleaning
• Test, adjust, and set fan speed
• Readjust refrigerant charge
• Verify combustion safety.

Duct system:

• Add one oversized return duct and grille into a large open area
• Replace three or more six-in. supply ducts with eight-in. ducts and balancing dampers
• Seal accessible duct leakage to reduce airflow loss
• Add strapping to properly support the flex duct system
• Replace restrictive duct fittings
• Upgrade grilles and registers from builder grade.

There are times an Air Upgrade won’t be enough to do the job. Your customer may want a higher level of comfort that requires work beyond the pre-packaged repairs in an Air Upgrade. Don’t limit your offerings to the Air Upgrade package alone. Instead, use it as a solution to the most common airflow and duct system problems.

How to Find Air Upgrade Opportunities

You can find Air Upgrade opportunities using four simple steps. It’s likely you’re already doing many of these things anyway. You just haven’t structured them into a repeatable process that gets the results you want.

Start with a visual inspection. Look at equipment cleanliness, blower wheel condition, and any obvious duct system defects. You typically recognize the problems when you see them. Be sure to take lots of photos of potential problem areas. 

Next, gather basic equipment information. Look at the indoor and outdoor nameplates for model and serial numbers. On the indoor equipment nameplate, pay special attention to the rated total external static pressure (TESP). Other items to consider are fan speed settings, heating and cooling capacity, and fan airflow capacity.