trainings, free lyric opprotunity, and another geothermal thought

TRAININGS:

In the next 6 weeks we have 3 classes coming up that I want to highlight for you: 

August 6 & 7^th – Geothermal Applied Service & Installation - $99 – Instructed by Jeff Johnson from Tetco

This two-day seminar is geared towards installation and service technicians who already have a basic understanding of HVAC systems and refrigeration.  Topics include packaged unit installation, split systems, water to water units, combination units, controls, operation and troubleshooting, flow center installation and flushing, equipment start up, performance checks, servicing the system, and refrigeration system troubleshooting.  Cost includes geothermal service tools, training materials, and lunch.  Class qualifies for 16 NATE continuing education hours.

                                Class is at our Grand Rapids Training Facility and is all day from 8a-4p both the 6^th  and 7^th.

August 22^nd – Michigan Mechanical License Prep Class - $199 – Instructed by Ken Corwin

Emphasis:  Prepare for the law portion of the exam; Construction Code Act; Forbes Mechanical Contractors Act; International Fuel Gas Codes for gas piping and vent sizing; become comfortable with the Mechanical Contractors Code book; using formulas, charts and tables in the ACCA Manual D; ad go over basic heating and cooling exam questions to find your strengths and weaknesses. 

                                Class is at our Grand Rapids Training Facility and is all day from 8a-430p

August 26^th – Hands On Basic HVAC Electrical - $59 – Instructed by Dallas Strong from Johnstone

Learn how to use wiring diagrams as an effective service tool.  Series and parallel circuits are discussed.  Symbols used on wiring diagrams are reviewed in detail.  Circuit components, their characteristics, what they do and how to check them is also covered.  Hands on exercises will be included.  You will need to bring the multimeter that you use in the field to class with you for the hands on learning portion.  Class is limited to 12 students.  Class qualifies for 4 NATE continuing education hours.

                                Class is at our Grand Rapids training Facility and is from 730a-12p

On a side note, NATE (North American Trade Excellence) is a way to differentiate your company as well as to set a standard that your can hold your employees to, both leading to increased profit.  You can learn more at natex.org

FREE HONEYWELL LYRIC OPPROTUNITY:

Honeywell wants to get its latest, greatest product into the hands of contractors, so they are giving 1,000 of them away.  All your company needs to do is complete two online training modules and be signed up for the Contractor Pro Program (you will need your PRO # to get the free sales kit).  Head over to http://www.forwardthinking.honeywell.com/lyrictraining and get the videos completed as soon as you can.  If you want a refresher of my thoughts on the Honeywell Lyric, head this way: http://jswmi.blogspot.com/2014/06/technology-is-ready-to-revolutionize.html

ANOTHER GEOTHERMAL THOUGHT:

                There was some really great feedback from last week’s email about where Geothermal can fit into your business.  Most of the questions had to do with the payback of Geothermal in comparison to a Dual Fuel Air Source Heat Pump system.  One of the tools that we have used for a very long time at Johnstone to assist our contractors is Wrightsoft and their Cost Analysis feature.  (We can help you with these or teach you how to do them once you buy the program)

In order to compare the systems side by side I fabricated a house with a 60,000 btu heating load and a 3 ton cooling load.  With LP cost of $3.00 a gallon and an electrical rate of $.15 per kW we would be looking at something like this on a typical year.

The Base System is a new 13 Seer AC that would run $3000 installed.  Investment 1 is a 13 Seer ASHP tied into their existing 92% furnace for a dual fuel system at $5000.  Investment 2 is an open loop water to air geothermal at an install price of $12000.  Investment 3 is a closed loop geothermal, complete with loop field, at $25000.  Our cooling load is 3 ton, so all these systems are 3 ton systems.  (I personally do not suggest over sizing any heat pump more than 25% than the cooling load allows)

The Costs and Returns fields are the ones that I am hoping you are noticing there.  Those are the costs for one typical year.  In the Returns section, the Payback is the amount of time it will take to recoup the difference between our $3000 ac system and the other option we choose.  ASHP, only 1.5 years to recoup that.  The $22000 between a closed loop geothermal and the base system, just a smidge over 6 years…and that is without any tax credit figured!

So what does that look like over 15 years?  Glad you asked

A closed loop geothermal will only save $58,000 in 15 years over an AC system.  And if we are only half right with this, we still would save a homeowner nearly $30,000 over what the life of their AC system would be.

The numbers are staggering when we slow to think about them.