Service How to stay ahead in the A/C season Christen Harm, Assistant Editor A conversation with ACCA Technical Services Manager Donald Prather Heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) maintenance is important to the sustainability of the home during the air conditioning season. However, homeowners often glance over or forget about maintenance service calls with the notion that if it isn’t broken, it doesn’t need to be fixed. Indoor Comfort Marketing Prather spoke to Donald Prather, Technical Services Manager of Air Conditioning Contractors of America Association, Inc. (ACCA) about the HVAC pre-season to glean information on what exactly should take place immediately preceding the opening of the HVAC season to ensure homeowners’ systems are in order. ICM: What is the best time for this pre-season maintenance to be done? Donald Prather: The best time for a seasonal HVAC system maintenance check to be done is after winter ends—any time in the spring before the cooling season starts. Customers probably don’t think about their indoor comfort system until it stops working and it becomes either too cold or too hot. It’s human nature to put something in the back of your mind as long as it doesn’t cause a problem and stays in the background. HVAC maintenance checks are important because the system has an impact on the air that homeowners breathe, on moisture and mold growth, the amount of energy that the homeowner uses and money that they spend, and most importantly, on their health. Ignoring the indoor comfort system means it will break down more, need replacement sooner, cost more money throughout its shortened lifespan and it might also impact health. ICM: What types of issues specifically should technicians look for during service calls? DP: Technicians will look for different things depending on the type of HVAC equipment the customer has. ACCA has a complete maintenance checklist that can be downloaded on its homeowner’s web page at https://www.acca.org/homes under the section “What ‘Quality’ Really Means.” The checklist provides homeowners with tools to evaluate maintenance proposals, which can be beneficial to technicians to ensure they are providing quality maintenance and service calls. The questions found in the “What to Ask the Contractor” column are designed to help determine whether or not the contractor is complying with the industry recognized standard maintenance practices and that their services meet the requirements in the Quality Maintenance Standard (ANSI/ACCA 4 QM). ICM: What testing procedures are put in place for the AC systems? What is tested? DP: Testing is based on the type of equipment and the manufacturer’s instructions, and should be spelled out for the homeowner’s specific equipment in a professional maintenance contract. Mechanical systems require routine monitoring, adjustments, periodic cleaning and eventual replacement of components. Regularly scheduled inspections and maintenance are often required to maintain the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) warranty. This standard prescribes basic maintenance inspection tasks and offers recommended corrective actions to maintain most residential HVAC systems. It provides checklists for the inspection of typical residential HVAC systems to meet the minimum maintenance requirements. These equipment checklists are divided by equipment type and provide the minimum visual inspections, performance tests and measurements. 10 ICM/March/April 2017
ICM March-Apri 2017
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