Buildings
|
The Forensic Diagnostics Series Advanced Energy's seven-part series on forensic diagnostics is designed for HVAC contractors, home inspectors and others in the building trades who want to add building diagnostics to their current business. Successful completion of the series will ensure that the participant has the knowledge and skills to diagnose and repair even the most difficult home performance problems, including comfort complaints, building durability issues and health and IAQ problems. Who Should Attend
Description
Many home performance mysteries become clearly understood when illuminated by a few fundamental scientific principles. Most of us learned these principles in high school, but because no one ever taught us how to apply them in real life we forgot most of it. This course helps us re-learn those fundamentals that are critical to diagnosing problems in homes - and more importantly, it teaches how to apply these principles to real life, everyday problems being experienced by consumers. Principles covered in this workshop include:
Together, these principles explain 99 percent of the health, comfort, durability and energy we encounter in homes.
Pressure differences in homes can cause a variety of problems ranging from rooms that are difficult to heat or cool to back drafting of combustion appliances. It is not uncommon for an HVAC contractor who does not understand the effects of pressure differences to spend hours or days trying to solve a home performance complaint that was never his problem to begin with. This workshop teaches how to diagnose pressure-related problems and to design effective and profitable repair strategies. Note: The content of this course is fundamental to the remaining courses in the series. Many other issues covered, such as moisture and combustion safety, rely on a working knowledge of pressure diagnostics.
Over the past three decades, a major trend in residential construction has been tighter homes.
All these questions and more will be covered in this course. In addition, attendees will learn how to profitably use blower doors, duct blasters and other diagnostic equipment.
In many areas of the country, moisture is the number one cause of indoor air quality and health problems. The medical community is increasingly identifying mold and mildew as serious health threats. This workshop teaches the home inspector how to identify moisture problems and design effective moisture remediation plans for the consumer. Because of variations in moisture patterns and housing stock from one area of the country to another, the technical content of this workshop will change depending on the audience. In all climate zones, the course will cover:
This workshop presents a simple but comprehensive combustion safety checklist that home performance professionals can integrate into their business whether they are an inspector, an HVAC contractor or selling forensic diagnostics services. The combustion checklist guides the user through a detailed examination of homes with fireplaces, furnaces, fossil fuel water heaters, ovens and cooktops and other potential sources of combustion safety problems. It enables the user to:
The same checklist can be used after comfort and/or moisture repairs to ensure changes made to the home did not inadvertently create combustion problems. Technical content includes:
The course also covers the various types of diagnostic equipment that are needed to conduct this level of inspection.
Leaky ducts have been documented nationwide as a major cause of comfort problems, high bills, durability issues and even health and safety problems. This course teaches contractors to select appropriate sealing materials and provides supervised practice in actual duct sealing to ensure effective, safe and profitable repairs.
This course is designed to set attendees apart from their competition in the installation, troubleshooting and / or inspection of HVAC equipment. The techniques covered in this course may be applied in both new homes or in replacement, diagnostic or remodeling projects. The class will briefly review the basics of HVAC operation, including:
This is not a skills-training course, but focuses on teaching those parameters that are key in the operation of HVAC equipment and how to measure them. Research has demonstrated that relatively few parameters must be satisfied for an HVAC system to function efficiently and comfortably. But the same research also has demonstrated that very few systems perform anywhere near their potential. See our SEER Facts Bulletin for more detail. For More Information For more information or to register for this course, email training@advancedenergy.org.
|