Testing - Prime for Comfort
Starting at $5,000.00, Comfort Testing & Verification always starts with a Home Comfort Coaching Session, ideally in your home.
This is the option to choose if you already have an HVAC contractor.
Please understand why an HVAC contractor normally has an uphill battle to delivering your comfort:
For a brand new installation, your contractor may be required to provide a preliminary HVAC design for permitting (Manual J, S, T & D, or at least a few of those letters). It depends where you are. Your town may be more or less strict than others. These are actual Manuals published by the air conditioning industry that outline how to design an HVAC system. They take time to learn and then implement and the software that is run to produce the reports that the contractor hand over to the Building Department is expensive. But they may not REQUIRE this. If the Building Department doesn’t require a thing, and that thing is hard to do, what do you think will happen to your HVAC design?
You already know. So, if HVAC systems don’t have to be designed in your town, then they probably won’t be. That means that nobody is actually measuring your house beforehand to understand what you are going to need to be comfortable. THEY AREN’T DESIGNING FOR YOUR COMFORT. It’s a guess. Most HVAC contractors are going to guess bigger than the house needs. Why? They simply don’t want to hear from you again. Think where your HVAC system is. Do you even know? Basement? Crawlspace? Attic? You mean with all that insulation? Yep.
- It’s usually hot and miserable work no matter where the equipment is - there is no equipment set up yet.
- On top of that, the units can be heavy
- The space they are going into usually isn’t large enough for both the equipment and the installation team.
So, yeah, your HVAC contractor thinks that by giving you a larger system, they are saving themselves from future headaches. checking your house many Manual J reports are copies of boiler plate numbers. Rule of thumb rules!
- Infiltration (a metric used to quantify drafts into one big number) is a made up number, because it is not being measured.. Because HVAC contractors don’t have the right equipment or training.
- Glazing or other factors are inflated because doing that will allow the contractor to sell you a larger system because that's what the contractor has been taught is needed for comfort. It isn't.
If your contractor is simply replacing an existing system, they will normally sell you a like for like solution. No calculations of any kind even implied.
That's why we exist. Because comfort has eluded our clients despite best efforts of designers and contractors. Since the house systems all need to work together, one part can't be optimized over others if quality (comfort) is the goal.
We'll double check the HVAC Design numbers.
Ideally before the system is purchased, you will know if the quote you have from your contractor is likely to take care of your comfort needs, or if adjustments should be made. Even if the system is already installed, we'll let you know what issues may be stealing your comfort, whether they are HVAC related or not. HVAC contractors do not also claim to be specialists about moisture intrusion, drafts, insulation defects, or sweating inside the walls or roof. As the advocate for your comfort, we can coach you on next steps and provide real solutions to these elusive problems.
Once the system is installed, we will benchmark system performance.
This gives us a starting point towards your comfort journey and should answer the question: Did the installed system match the designed system? If not, is it installed properly? Most systems are never fully commissioned in this way. It is only later, when the homeowner is uncomfortable, is any data actually gathered. But if the starting point isn’t known, how will the homeowner know if the system is off track?
Rather than using subsequent data readings alone to make decisions about system performance, benchmarking allows us to properly track performance from a starting point. Without that data, any attempts at future improvement amounts to tampering with a stable (and still uncomfortable) system. As Dr. Deming noted many years ago, tampering never leads to quality (comfort).
Once we benchmark, we will install a few sensors that allow us, along with you, a window into previously invisible system.
Then, rather than trying to sell you a maintenance contract (yet another subscription), where we come out twice a year at a loss to us, trying to find enough problems when we get there to make rolling the truck worth it, we maintain your system as necessary and only with your approval.
- Maybe your filters need to be changed every month. Maybe two or three times a year is actually sufficient.
- Something feels off, but what? Is it JUST that the weather changed and its drier or wetter than before?
- Maybe you need your ducts cleaned, but maybe your comfort delivery system isn't sufficiently sealed in the first place, so cleaning them is temporary at best.
We will have this data, alongside your story to help you maintain your comfort in your home in the seasons to come.
It's your home. We empower you to make guided choices for your success.
Testing - Prime for Comfort
Starting at $5,000.00, Comfort Testing & Verification always starts with a Home Comfort Coaching Session, ideally in your home.
This is the option to choose if you already have an HVAC contractor.
Please understand why an HVAC contractor normally has an uphill battle to delivering your comfort:
For a brand new installation, your contractor may be required to provide a preliminary HVAC design for permitting (Manual J, S, T & D, or at least a few of those letters). It depends where you are. Your town may be more or less strict than others. These are actual Manuals published by the air conditioning industry that outline how to design an HVAC system. They take time to learn and then implement and the software that is run to produce the reports that the contractor hand over to the Building Department is expensive. But they may not REQUIRE this. If the Building Department doesn’t require a thing, and that thing is hard to do, what do you think will happen to your HVAC design?
You already know. So, if HVAC systems don’t have to be designed in your town, then they probably won’t be. That means that nobody is actually measuring your house beforehand to understand what you are going to need to be comfortable. THEY AREN’T DESIGNING FOR YOUR COMFORT. It’s a guess. Most HVAC contractors are going to guess bigger than the house needs. Why? They simply don’t want to hear from you again. Think where your HVAC system is. Do you even know? Basement? Crawlspace? Attic? You mean with all that insulation? Yep.
It’s usually hot and miserable work no matter where the equipment is - there is no equipment set up yet.
On top of that, the units can be heavy
The space they are going into usually isn’t large enough for both the equipment and the installation team.
So, yeah, your HVAC contractor thinks that by giving you a larger system, they are saving themselves from future headaches. checking your house many Manual J reports are copies of boiler plate numbers. Rule of thumb rules!
Infiltration (a metric used to quantify drafts into one big number) is a made up number, because it is not being measured.. Because HVAC contractors don’t have the right equipment or training.
Glazing or other factors are inflated because doing that will allow the contractor to sell you a larger system because that's what the contractor has been taught is needed for comfort. It isn't.
If your contractor is simply replacing an existing system, they will normally sell you a like for like solution. No calculations of any kind even implied.
That's why we exist. Because comfort has eluded our clients despite best efforts of designers and contractors. Since the house systems all need to work together, one part can't be optimized over others if quality (comfort) is the goal.
We'll double check the HVAC Design numbers.
Ideally before the system is purchased, you will know if the quote you have from your contractor is likely to take care of your comfort needs, or if adjustments should be made. Even if the system is already installed, we'll let you know what issues may be stealing your comfort, whether they are HVAC related or not. HVAC contractors do not also claim to be specialists about moisture intrusion, drafts, insulation defects, or sweating inside the walls or roof. As the advocate for your comfort, we can coach you on next steps and provide real solutions to these elusive problems.
Once the system is installed, we will benchmark system performance.
This gives us a starting point towards your comfort journey and should answer the question: Did the installed system match the designed system? If not, is it installed properly? Most systems are never fully commissioned in this way. It is only later, when the homeowner is uncomfortable, is any data actually gathered. But if the starting point isn’t known, how will the homeowner know if the system is off track?
Rather than using subsequent data readings alone to make decisions about system performance, benchmarking allows us to properly track performance from a starting point. Without that data, any attempts at future improvement amounts to tampering with a stable (and still uncomfortable) system. As Dr. Deming noted many years ago, tampering never leads to quality (comfort).
Once we benchmark, we will install a few sensors that allow us, along with you, a window into previously invisible system.
Then, rather than trying to sell you a maintenance contract (yet another subscription), where we come out twice a year at a loss to us, trying to find enough problems when we get there to make rolling the truck worth it, we maintain your system as necessary and only with your approval.
Maybe your filters need to be changed every month. Maybe two or three times a year is actually sufficient.
Maybe you need your ducts cleaned, but maybe your comfort delivery system isn't sufficiently sealed in the first place, so cleaning them is temporary at best.
We will have this data, alongside your story to help you maintain your comfort in your home in the seasons to come.