Staying Ahead in HVAC

Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) has gone from being an occasional luxury to an almost daily necessity. With this ever-increasing demand comes many challenges, obstacles, and advancements to keep top of mind.

One of the biggest challenges facing the HVAC industry is staying on top of the constant changes in regulations. Many of the regulation changes are in regard to sustainability standards set by the government. For example, the EPA phase down of high-hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) towards more environmentally friendly coolant options. Property owner changes also frequently occur with changes to energy-efficiency standards, monitoring and reporting of emissions levels, and more.

Along with the regulation changes also come technology changes requiring constant education and training. Today’s systems require precision installation and setup to properly commission the system to deliver the intended efficiencies.  Installation experts have expressed a need for a better understanding of how to properly size the equipment configuration to meet jobsite needs, how to install the system to deliver peak efficiency, and how to effectively use the tools and instrumentation to “tune” the system to meet residential and commercial building setup and use.

The HVAC industry is becoming ever more customer-centric focusing on the needs and wants of consumers. Consumers are focused on improved energy efficiency, especially in how it relates to savings on energy bills. With increasing rates of diseases, pollution, allergens, and air quality indoor air quality is another area of focus in the HVAC industry. Similar to many other industries customers are also interested in improved convenience through integrated technology and mobile apps that allow adjustments to their HVAC system from anywhere, at any time.

Along with the increased consumer interest in integrated technology, there is also an increase in smart technology integrations within HVAC. Improved and advanced automation allows for HVAC systems to centrally manage climate, ventilation, and indoor air quality (IAQ) removing the need for manual tracking and adjustments. Motion-activated HVAC systems improve energy efficiency by turning on energy savings measures when a building or space is unoccupied helping companies avoid running their HVAC systems when not necessary. Remote HVAC monitoring uses wireless sensors to check on the HVAC conditions such as temperature, leaks, power outages, humidity, and more. These features that come with remote HVAC monitoring allow for easier detection of issues and the ability to fix something before it becomes a larger problem. Smart thermostats allow users to program a custom schedule and temperature settings based on specifics like wanting it cooler at night or on high efficiency during the day when no one is home.