Author Archives: David Richardson

With the end of the heating season there’s a tendency to forget the dangers of carbon monoxide (CO). As you transition to the cooling season, be sure to keep your awareness for CO high even though it’s likely to be the last thing on your mind. Let’s look at five summer CO issues you should …
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Four Ways Filtration Effectiveness is Reduced

April 20th, 2017 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home | Technical Blogs - (0 Comments)
HVAC Air Filter Media

If you’ve been in the HVAC industry for any length of time, you’re familiar with complaints involving dust and dirty equipment. As a result, most technicians target the air filter first when they receive such calls. As you investigate these problems, keep in mind how the following ways reduce filtration effectiveness so you can more …
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Equipment Connections that Kill HVAC Heat Exchangers

March 29th, 2017 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home - (0 Comments)
Heat exchangers

The connections between a furnace and duct system are rarely considered as a cause of cracked heat exchangers. Commonly repeated mistakes with return and supply duct connections significantly impact airflow and the length of time before you’re back for repairs. Let’s look at some these issues that may be killing airflow and the heat exchangers …
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Carbon Monoxide: What Do You Know?

February 14th, 2017 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home | Technical Blogs - (0 Comments)
CO - What Do You Know?

Many HVAC professionals assume the leading cause of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is a cracked heat exchanger. This assumption leads to inaccurate test methods that pass on from technician to technician. They try to assure customer safety, but unknowingly rely on misinformation. No one wins in this scenario — both the contractor and customer have …
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Four Steps to Better Flexible Duct Installations

January 19th, 2017 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home | Technical Blogs - (0 Comments)
Avoid sharp turns

Flex ducts could be in imminent danger. A few months ago, I wrote about a recent proposal to severely limit the use of flexible (flex) ducts. Due to poor installation methods, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO) is proposing to limit use of flexible duct to only five feet in length. How …
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Carbon Monoxide: What Do You Know?

January 11th, 2017 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home - (0 Comments)

Carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning is one of those scary issues that most HVAC professionals hope to never encounter. As with many frightening things we want to avoid, this doesn’t make those issues go away. The threat is very real even though contractors often turn a blind eye to it. With all the stories and reports …
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Be Aware of Proposed Flex Duct Length Restrictions

October 18th, 2016 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home - (0 Comments)
Flex duct cost savings

Flex duct versus metallic duct: for decades many considered duct material the key to how well an HVAC system delivers airflow to the conditioned space. You should start paying closer attention to this discussion. Events unfolding over the next few months could ultimately determine how much flexible duct you will be allowed to use when …
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The Bermuda Triangle of Airflow

September 22nd, 2016 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Home | Technical Blogs - (0 Comments)
Airflow has its own Bermuda Triangle

Airflow. It’s in our ventilation sytems. It’s the media through which our weather works. Off the South-Eastern coast of the United States, bounded by Miami (in Florida), San Juan (in Puerto Rico), and the north-Atlantic island of Bermuda, is an area known as the Bermuda Triangle. For years many ships and planes inexplicably disappeared when …
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When I was a kid, I didn’t know what my beliefs were, so I had a habit of constantly asking why. I questioned my mom and dad repeatedly on the things I didn’t understand. They patiently answered my questions and encouraged me to keep asking. If you’re a parent, you’ve no doubt experienced this with …
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Carbon Monoxide (CO): What Do You Know?

June 13th, 2016 | Posted by David Richardson in David Richardson | Technical Blogs - (0 Comments)

Picture yourself troubleshooting the following CO call and think about the pattern that’s followed. Remember, you’re going to be the hero on this call! The Call Long-time customers of yours, the Smith family, have recently moved into a new home. The previous homeowners replaced their old furnace with a direct-vent 90% efficient condensing furnace before …
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