NCI Article Library

High-Performance HVAC Resources

Flue Restrictors-Neutral Pressure Point

Let's say you are working on a furnace, boiler or water heater, and when you take a draft reading the draft goes off scale. This is a good sign you have plenty of combustion air but the excess draft can cause poor fuel-air mixture or increased loss of energy. Using...

Introducing NCI’s New Service Proposal

How many times in a week is your service technician placed in a situation where he or she finds a problem with a customer's system and when he approaches them with their options they're upset with the unexpected expense? You're stuck explaining options until they...

Include the Ducts in Your Service Agreements

Adding the ducts to your service agreements is one of the best steps you can take to move your company forward in implementing air diagnostics. It's a small thing that can bring great and immediate results. Spring is the perfect time to implement this new service....

If You Don’t Measure, You’re Just Guessing

If You Don't Measure, You're Just Guessing by David Holt, NCI Director Sales & Service Leadership I’m a huge college football fan. When the games begin in late August, I’m either glued to the TV or I’m visiting football stadiums around the country enjoying some...

Adjusting a Ball Valve on Intake of 90% Appliances

Adjusting a Ball Valve on Intake of 90% Appliances by Jim Davis, NCI Senior Instructor In our combustion diagnostics class, we discuss short flues on condensing equipment as causing possible venting problems. We recommend adding a plastic ball valve to the intake of...

How to Use Yellow CO Tags

Last month we brought you a red tag label that you can attach to an appliance when you disable it due to a safety hazard. This month we bring you its cousin, a yellow tag that is to be attached to equipment when you have made modifications or repairs to improve the...

How to Get Diagnostic Work

Nearly all systems are in need of air-side and combustion diagnostic, but getting permission to test the systems, and getting the customer to agree to pay for repairs requires more than technical genius. We asked a number of successful NCI Performance-Based...

How Much Cooling Can Your Fan Afford?

The quest for higher efficiency cooling equipment is hitting a barrier. Unsuspecting installing contractors are being handed hidden liability that is difficult to identify and resolve. Certain cooling coils are being built for the highest possible SEER rating, but...

How Change Orders Keep a Job Profitable

A substantial amount of the work many of us do is based on a fixed price quote, taken from a predefined scope of work. Plan and spec work has, just as the name implies, a set of plans and specifications that we are bound by contract to follow. But what happens when...

Home Performance Belongs to the HVAC Industry

There’s more hype and misleading information than ever out there with regards to what constitutes “home performance.” Today, you are faced with several important issues, including what role you should play with regard to home performance. Outside of some basic...