How to Qualify an Air Conditioning Supplier
The air conditioning equipment shortage is real and has impacted contractors, businesses, builders, and homeowners. Until the supply chain bottleneck ends, technicians will have to adapt to work around it.
Find a supplier who has enclosure air conditioners in various thermal capacities. Also, check if they have units designed for corrosive environments.
Warranty
Most residential air conditioning systems come with a manufacturer warranty. These limited warranties provide repair and replacement coverage for a certain period of time. These warranties do not cover labor costs or installation of the equipment. However, these warranties do help to eliminate the need for homeowners to pay out-of-pocket repairs.
It is important to review a manufacturer warranty before purchasing a new system. Look for the length of coverage, what parts and components are covered, and any Air Conditioning Supplier exclusions or limitations. Also, check to see if the warranty requires registration of the product and whether there are any benefits for registering your equipment.
Some manufacturers offer a “parts warranty” that covers specific equipment components. These may include fan motors, compressors, blower motors, relays, transformers, contactors, and heat strips. Most part warranties cover only the cost of the parts, not the labor to install them. In addition, most part warranties do not cover damage caused by floods, hail, lightning or power surges.
Some manufacturers provide a labor warranty that supplements the manufacturer’s limited part warranty. This type of warranty covers the cost of service call charges and labor for a specified number of years. An HVAC labor warranty will typically exclude any work performed by someone who is not a licensed, insured, and bonded HVAC Air Conditioning company technician. This includes repairing or replacing parts such as capacitors, blower fans and motors, and refrigerant disposal.
Energy Efficiency
The Energy Policy and Conservation Act prescribes energy efficiency standards for several types of consumer products, including room air conditioners. Under EPCA, DOE must determine whether more-stringent standards would be technologically feasible and economically justified. DOE’s engineering analysis found that the proposed amended standard levels are technologically feasible, and the estimated national energy savings would be significant.
During the engineering analysis, DOE developed information on manufacturers and industry structure, market characteristics, existing product efficiency programs, shipment data, and technologies or design options that could improve the energy efficiency of room air conditioners. DOE also conducted a national impact analysis using spreadsheet models to estimate the potential energy savings from each of the proposed trial standard levels.
The NIA spreadsheet model estimates energy savings from each trial standard level in terms of site energy (i.e., the energy consumed by products at their installed locations) and primary energy (i.e., the energy used to generate and transmit the site electricity). Details of the NIA model and energy savings estimates are provided in chapter 5 of the final rule TSD.
Quality
Quality is a complex concept that differs depending on the stakeholder involved. As a result, there is no one single definition. Rather, it is a matter of meeting or exceeding customer expectations. In this sense, it is “in the eyes of the beholder.” However, this is not the only way to define quality. It can also be defined as the degree to which inherent characteristics meet requirements or as the absence of deficiencies. Whichever of these definitions is used, it is important to ensure that the quality of products and services is consistent with the expectations of customers. This can be achieved through effective ongoing communication.
