Equal ground…

When you compare one company to another, one product to another, one thing to another, you have to compare them on equal terms. You cannot sensibly compare a fast food hamburger to a gourmet blue cheese steak sandwich from an up scale restaurant; the whole experience is not the same. You cannot compare a 52” flat screen television to a portable DVD player, they are designed for different uses. You cannot compare one HVAC contractor to another without having a set of ground rules to compare them by.

Here then, is my equal ground list. Presented over several articles to keep it simple:

Do they all do load calculations on your home? Why? Because that is the ONLY professional way to determine exactly what your needs are. Over 60% of heating contractors still will not do load calculations on a clients home, because they feel they know better. Even though all equipment manufacturers require it for proper equipment sizing and all manufacturers demand it if there is a warranty issue with a new system. Would a doctor diagnose a broken bone without taking an X-Ray? Nope.

Do they all examine the equipment and measure the present system up? Why? Because the people that tell you they do not have to look at your equipment because “they have been doing this work for many years”, are just arrogant enough to miss the fact that every home is different. My home has four dogs, three cats and two kids with allergies; do you think I might need something a bit more for my filtration needs? But my house looks and was built at the same time as the houses on either side of me.