HVAC Assessments

Problems with HVAC and ducting systems can lead to vast amounts of wasted energy and money. Building Performance Professionals conducts specialized HVAC testing to determine if your home’s heating and AC units are operating effectively. Our assessment begins with a basic visual inspection of your home’s heating unit, AC, and ducting work. After the visual inspection we use state of the art testing equipment to find hidden problems with your HVAC system. We test for air leakage, pressure flow, and AC refrigerant superheat & subcooling.

In our experience almost every home will have easy-to-fix problems. However, these small problems often lead to huge amounts of wasted energy and money. We have found that many homes we inspect have portions of ducting work rotted-out or disconnected. This means that when you crank the heater or AC, you are pumping most of that air directly into your attic or crawl space. A leakage rate over 15% indicates that a redesign and replacement would save you money and improve comfort. We have found many homes with leakage rates over 50%! A new system with well-sealed ducts will leak less than 0.5%.

Inspections often uncover that your home’s heating and AC units are oversized (often to make up for air leakage from poor ducting). Testing results show that in California, on average, currently installed systems only deliver 55% of their rated capacity, indicating oversized units. By reducing the capacity of these units you can reduce energy use, create a more comfortable living environment, and reduce noise.  Another cause for oversized heating and AC units is improper installation. The air flow and refrigerant superheat tests are important because they show us if your system has been installed correctly.

When assessing your home’s HVAC system, we look for the main causes of energy inefficiencies;

• Duct air leakage
• Duct conduction losses
• Insufficient air flow across AC evaporator coil
• Inadequate or excessive refrigerant charge
• Inadequate room-by-room air flow, delivery velocity and delivery location
• Excess cooling and heating capacity
• Equipment efficiency

If you would like more information about scheduling an HVAC assessment of your home, please Contact Us. The following video also provides an excellent overview of how an HVAC assessment is conducted.