Combing Coils and Efficiency

Some manufacturers have fins that are made with a side baffle when these are combed the fin is flattened which causes the efficiency to be severely affected and lose its effectiveness.  When inspecting these coils I always recommend replacing the coils even if they are not ripped due to the ability or lack there of to get the coil to a pre-loss condition.  The only exception is if the hail damage is so shallow that it would not need to be racked with fin combs more then 1/16th to 1/8th of an inch.

Normally if the coil has a rip in it then the coil must be replaced.  The exception is if the coils has a rip thats a preexisting damage that is not from the hail, or if it is a previous repair.  In this case as an inspector I make sure to document the fact the the coils hail damage can be combed and I notate that the coil has some FOI or other damage not caused by the hail.

As for condenser coils if they are 70% damaged or more then even if combed completely the unit still has effects to the units efficiency and the unit would not be able to be brought to a pre-loss conditions.  See (Hail effects on air-conditioning performance) performed by the Haag Engineering, Co, University of Texas at Arlington, the people involved were Matthew J. Sitzmann, Frank K. Lu, and Steve R. Smith its an excellent body of work and research document performed November 11th thru the 15th in 2007.  See (IMECE2007-41518)

Another thing I always check for is direction of the hail damage to see if there are multiple hail events that occurred.  This can tell me if I am looking at a recent event that the claim pertains too or if a percentage of the damage is from previous hail strikes that could have occurred before coverage by the current insurance company.

Last is refrigeration that has the coil located on the bottom of the condenser I find that if the roof is a rubber roof that the bounce from the hail can cause to the underside of the coil.  I find that most inspectors miss looking for this.  Also there is always damage from the top of the coil where the fans are located and require additional funds to first remove the fans then comb the coils.

Glen

   

HVAC Inspection’s are Needed

I truly feel that HVAC inspections are needed and very necessary in the world today.  I in my humble experience inspections are not only needed but they are needed not only for the insurance company but the insured as well.  I have seen time and time again inspecting equipment that the homeowner or business owner was told one thing and the truth was far from what they were told.  I have had many lightning damages that were not only not lightning damage but the only thing wrong with the unit was a shorted capacitor.  This happens most times when the unit is not maintained properly and the unit has a very dirty coil.  Then it rains and the unit being outside and exposed to the water the dirty coil gets wet and the unit is literally water board tortured causing said failure.  This can in sever cases also cause the compressor to fail.  Well since it happens during the “Storm” the home owner is under the assumption it must have been lightning.  This is even when 70% of the time there was not even lightning it was just a rain storm.

Now we come to the “Public Adjuster” like most things it sounds good in theory but in practice it is ripe with dishonesty and abuse.  I cannot tell you just how many times I met a public adjuster that was claiming the entire unit needed to be replaced due to hail damage when the unit can easily be combed.  The public adjuster who states that the few dents on the top of the unit are from hail and not the real reason someone (most likely a service technician) placed a pump, tool bag, or tank on the unit causing the dent.  Our job really is more about observation then testing which is something a Manager at HVACI still hasn’t seemed to figure out.  If I test a whole unit and submit the reading with some very bad pictures for reference then the true reason for the loss can be missed.  To be a really good inspector you have to have the experience as well as the observational ability to see the root cause.

This brings me to a pet peeve in most technicians I have trained or hired they seem to look for what’s broken and fix what’s broken but never look for what caused the breaking to happen.  Considering that a conservative estimate that 90% of all HVAC equipment is installing improperly in some form or another you would think service technicians would be able to determine the root issue better.  If a 4 years old furnace has a failed draft inducer, bad igniter, grounded motor, bad gas valve the chances of this being a defective part is slim at best.  There is 99.999999% chance that this issue is due to some underlined problem from installation, lack of maintenance, changes to the building sense installation or all the above.  However technicians routinely replace parts without fixing the root cause of the failure.  I used to think it was because they were trying to cheat the customer knowing that the new part would fail in a few years so steady work.  In my experience this is not the cast it is simply the technician not being thorough or just not caring and/or worse not being a true troubleshooter.  No amount of testing will replace the ability to see the obvious signs of issues that caused the failure instead of just seeing the failure itself.  

Glen 

Using Ladders

Inspections are paid a certain amount for residential and a higher amount for commercial inspections.  This rate includes travel up to 70 miles one way and the inspection which should take no more that 15 minutes which is the average service call.  However, there are claims that require a ladder which involves travel with a ladder (extra Gas from the weight of the ladder) and time to set up the ladder and take down the ladder and re-secure back on or in the inspectors vehicle.

In my humble opinion we should be given a ladder charge of $150.00 when we need to bring a ladder but until that happens I will simply turn down all inspections that require me to bring a ladder unless compensated properly.  After all it also adds a danger factor to the job and in most areas OSHA requires two people when using a ladder over 8’

Glen

The New Portal or APP is a hot mess

Very Time consuming to say the least, it seems the new app or portal still has to many bugs.  It is very time consuming and difficult to navigate.  I was hoping for a more of a drop down format with the inspectors in the drivers seat.  As it is now it os to long, to complicated, to disorganized.  

I find it impossible to use the app with the current configuration and the current format for the same money that we get paid for a regular inspection.  It takes the human out of the equation and makes us just data entry technicians.  There is an art to service, diagnosis, and investigations.