Field Diagnostic - Customer Experiences

Capitol Mechanical is “always looking for better ways to do business, but is not always the first one to jump on the bandwagon.” In the case of the Service Assistant however, Capitol Mechanical was one of the first contractors to adopt it in their area.

Capitol Mechanical purchased Service Assistants to participate in the Wisconsin Focus on Energy. Prior to the purchase, Dave was introduced to the Service Assistant at a couple of vendor-sponsored seminars. “At the time I thought this thing is really great. I saw some real value.” When the Focus on Energy provided an opportunity to actually use the tool, Capitol Mechanical decided they would “jump at the chance.”

Dave characterizes their initial purchase as exploratory. “We wanted to see exactly how it works, how it would fit into the business, and how things would work out with it.” Now that Capitol Mechanical has some experience, they are making additional purchases and plan to use the Service Assistant with all their customers in 2003.

No financial analysis has been done to predict what the payback might be. Instead, Capitol Mechanical is focusing on the competitive advantages. “We are telling customers - this is what we do, these are the tools we use, and this is why we do it. Regardless of the price, it is a valuable tool. It’s a clear winner. The cost of it? – I think we’re going to get that back many times over.”

The bulk of the work at Capitol Mechanical’s Capitol Air Systems Division is maintenance service agreements, troubleshooting, and repairs. “I saw the Service Assistant as being a real helpful tool in providing a higher level of service to customers.” Dave likes being able to show his customers how their equipment is operating, and how Capitol Mechanical can improve it. In the past, technicians would typically take readings and make observations during an air-conditioning inspection, and write all the data down on paper. The data would have to be translated back at the office, and then someone would have to go back to the customer and present the results. Sometimes errors were made. “Just for a simple thing like coil cleaning”, this is what the process was. The Service Assistant allows Capitol Mechanical to “be more professional”, more easily gather the data, and automatically keep a record.

The energy savings estimator is used often to help customers understand the potential savings of maintenance or the cost of letting things go. Capitol Mechanical finds this valuable. Before the Service Assistant, customers would be skeptical of claimed benefits to doing service. “Now we can show them –your condenser coils are dirty. But if we clean them, potentially you’re looking at saving this much energy. We can show where we are providing some extra value to them, where maybe ABC Contractor is not.”

One of the main benefits to Capitol Mechanical provided by the Service Assistant is that it helps set them apart from other contractors. “It allows us to be more professional. It’s just a better way of doing business.”

The Service Assistant is also promoting more interaction with customers. When data was written down on paper, there was less interaction – sometimes none, if people were busy. The information provided by the tool gets Capitol Mechanical more involved with customers after each inspection. Before and after data shows customers the work was done. It helps customers understand what’s going on. “We like to build long-term relationships with our customers.”

Dave says customers like the follow-up after an inspection, and the accessibility of data on the Web. Capitol Mechanical works for a few large property management firms that have multiple buildings to be maintained. Capitol Mechanical does inspections, uploads data, and lets the property management firms see what they’re doing. Scheduling of service is then discussed based on what the Service Assistant reports. The information allows the customer to “pick-and-choose” what service should be done.

For the most part, Capitol Mechanical is printing reports off the web, and then sitting down with customers to discuss them. As the use of the Service Assistant evolves, Dave believes more customers will use the Web to view reports directly.

One of the challenges experienced by Capitol Mechanical to adopting the Service Assistant was that service technicians were a little hesitant at the beginning. “They thought it was some kind of gimmick. But after they started using it, they saw the value.” Dave made it clear to his technicians that he is committed to it – so “they better embrace it.” “It’s an assistant, not a replacement.” Fear of computers and electronics was not the issue with the technicians. Dave believes the initial skepticism of technicians was because they saw a lot of gimmicky stuff in the past.

Company Profile: 3444 Capitol Drive, Sun Prairie, WI 53590, 608-241-9342, Capitol Mechanical Inc. along with Capitol Air Systems, is a full service HVAC contractor serving Wisconsin since 1971. We provide complete HVAC engineering, installation, and maintenance for new and existing commercial and industrial buildings. Our dedication to detail creates a comfortable indoor environment for any season. Our mission is to create comfort. Today's client needs an environment that is reliable, comfortable and efficient. We will care for your system from conception throughout occupancy. Our Abilities With a wide range of expertise, our highly-trained professional work with our clients to create the best environment. As creative problem solvers, we keep pace with the latest industry developments and integrate them into our proven systems, we know how to design, install and maintain the most efficient and cost effective system developed around our client's requirements.

Jack Grove
Service Supervisor
Stegall Mechanical, Inc.
Birmingham, AL

Stegall Mechanical purchased Service Assistants around one year ago in 2001. Stegall Mechanical decided to adopt the Service Assistant because it promotes professionalism. They wanted a tool to help them develop relationships with customers. Jack felt the Service Assistant was a “very very good approach.” “I think the Service Assistant is an excellent tool.”

“People have an existing image of an HVAC guy. Nobody trusts HVAC guys - the bottom line is they don’t.” The Service Assistant helps to change that image. Have customers changed the way they interact with Stegall Mechanical? “Very much so - much more trusting. It’s a lot easier when I call up my customers, and I say you have a problem and this is what we found. Ninety-nine percent of our work is now just go ahead and fix it.” Before using the Service Assistant, quotes and more effort to persuade the customer were needed before a decision was made to authorize a service action.

Sales have also increased at Stegall Mechanical as a result of the tool. For example, they are winning more maintenance service contracts. “The tool is helping immensely with these contracts.”

Stegall Mechanical offers Web access to service reports on their company website. “You can go in there to see the customer, and offer them the option of looking on your website and seeing what you do. It’s a good marketing tool.” Some customers directly access the reports online, while others prefer reports to be printed-out or e-mailed. Jack sees the Service Assistant as a great way to help improve the relationship with customers. It is helping Stegall Mechanical standout.

For now, Stegall Mechanical is just trying to improve their business - not change it per se. In many ways, they are still learning the Service Assistant. Although the Service Assistant has not yet been fully merged into their business, Stegall Mechanical plans to buy more Service Assistants so each of their technicians have one.

Greg Jourdan, Ph.D.
Professor and Program Director
Environmental Systems & Refrigeration Technology, Wenatchee Valley College
Wenatchee, WA

Greg used the Service Assistant extensively during the spring and summer of 2002 at the college’s air-conditioning lab, and in the field throughout the Pacific NW teaching courses for electric utilities.

“I would like to convince utilities to begin sponsoring the Service Assistant as an instrument to verify equipment operations. There would be energy savings after HVAC system tune-up. I had utility energy engineers, consultants, and contractors with me during site visits. The Service Assistant performed perfectly and flawlessly.”

“At the community college, the Service Assistant demonstrates that new technologies can save time and money, while assisting the student technicians in performing equipment inspections more quickly and efficiently.”

“In the field, the Service Assistant demonstrated value by diagnosing equipment faults on air-conditioners and heat pumps which normally would be ignored by the average service technician. For example, restricted air flow can appear to be low refrigerant charge, thus most technicians will just add more refrigerant. But the Service Assistant diagnoses the airflow problem before refrigerant is added, thus saving callbacks and preventing premature equipment failure. It also does a good job of telling the technician when there is an overcharge or high airflow condition, along with many other problems that would often not be detected by service technicians.”

Greg is moving ahead with more plans for the Service Assistant. “I plan on buying Service Assistants, and using them in my college lab. Next fall, I am also going to require that each student purchase a handheld computer for college homework that is compatible with the Service Assistant. That way they will all get experience with the tool while in the college. I also expect to continue to use the Service Assistant for energy efficiency tune-up projects with electric utilities throughout the Pacific NW.”

“I highly endorse the Service Assistant. My hope is more technicians can begin to utilize the tool, thus they will truly experience and understand the value and benefits of such great technology.”

Uri Gottfeld
President
Uri Mechanical
San Jose, CA

Uri Mechanical purchased Service Assistants when it was first introduced a few years ago. “We felt that it had great potential for saving our customers significant operating costs. As it turns out, we were right, and we exceeded our goals.”

“The Service Assistant was first used to aid our technicians on service calls. It turns out to be a great confidence builder when a technician’s diagnosis can be confirmed or aided by such a device. Our diagnoses of equipment problems were more accurate. The result was improved customer satisfaction and service quality. We then turned to energy conservation as a goal, and we used the Service Assistant to “fine tune” HVAC equipment so it operated at its highest effectiveness and efficiency. The result was cost savings for our customers, and improved equipment longevity. Our customers have been very pleased with the results. In one particular application, a routine inspection of a fairly new 7.5 ton air-conditioning unit indicated normal operating conditions. When we used the Service Assistant to fine tune the system, we found that it was operating at 75% efficiency. A low-cost repair resulted in significant energy cost savings for a grateful customer. We have teamed-up with a local power company to provide

significant energy rebates to our customers for improvements in equipment efficiency using the Service Assistant.”

“In addition, it has become apparent that using the Service Assistant in our business has increased our successes in winning new service customers. It demonstrates that we are on the cutting edge of technology. Thus the Service Assistant is also being successfully used as a marketing tool.”

Paul Jolie
Vice President
formerly of Lennox International
Richardson, TX

Equiguard Service Solutions is an example of how service contractors and an insurer can team-up around the Service Assistant because of all its benefits. Paul Jolie provided his view as an OEM on the role the Service Assistant could play in the ESS business model.

“The business model for ESS is simple – ESS takes over the care and performance of the HVAC&R systems for existing commercial buildings, especially food service and convenience stores. The primary customers are large regional or national companies that are concerned about the HVAC&R assets that are important to the success of their business. ESS establishes high-quality scheduled maintenance protocols and selects qualified service contractors to provide this level of service. Benefits for the customer are improved customer satisfaction, improved employee satisfaction, and substantially reduced energy costs and longer life cycle of systems. ESS first does an equipment evaluation to determine the state of equipment.”

“The Service Assistant is an ideal tool to document the condition, and to provide a standard approach for repair. More importantly, it could register the EER ratings for these systems prior to proper maintenance and repair being accomplished. After maintenance and repair, which is required to bring the systems up to best operating conditions, the Service Assistant could be used to document the improvement in EER and verify that the systems are now within tolerances. These systems can now be placed into a 3 or 5 year Extended Service Agreement, covering the systems for all parts and labor (like new). Customers would have toll-free access to the ESS customer help desk and one call would be all that would be required to dispatch a qualified service provider assigned to that store. All assets would be recorded at the ESS asset management record center and for a reasonable, fixed monthly charge, the customer now leaves the worries about HVAC&R systems to the experts – ESS.”

“ESS could use the Service Assistant as a guideline for establishing a priority repair or replace schedule. Those systems in the poorest condition would get priority, while replacement would be scheduled for those systems not capable of qualifying for the ESS Extended Service Agreement program.”

“ESS anticipates that if a service contractor wants to obtain the service business brought to them by ESS, they must make an investment in the Service Assistant diagnostic and reporting tool. The encouragement for the service provider to accept this is that ESS pays normal, non-discounted street rates and pays quickly. The service providers would be benchmarked and will continue to get more business as long as they demonstrate high-quality service and fast response for service problems. ESS believes that the cost to do high-quality scheduled maintenance to factory protocols is offset substantially by much reduced energy costs. ESS then takes ownership of these systems and with the ESA insurance policy in place, it makes good sense to pay for good service, done right the first time. The customer gets no hassle HVAC&R systems at a reasonable fixed monthly price, no surprises. The assets will last longer and replacement costs reduced.”

John House, Ph.D.
Research Engineer
Iowa Energy Center
Ames, IA

John recently reviewed the core technology of the Service Assistant and provided an assessment of its technical merits.

“The Service Assistant technology enables the performance of vapor compression equipment to be characterized in relation to the performance that would be expected if a piece of equipment was operating properly (referred to as the benchmark performance). The actual performance is quantified by the capacity and coefficient of performance (COP) of the unit under consideration using temperature and pressure measurements (operating parameters) that are commonly made by service technicians in the field. The benchmark performance is also quantified in terms of the capacity and COP of the unit under consideration; however, the performance parameters are calculated using values of operating parameters that experience has shown to be typical for a normally operating unit (i.e. operating in the absence of faults, such as an undercharge of refrigerant). Thus, the operating parameters for determining the benchmark performance are set, rather than measured.”

“The actual performance and benchmark performance are determined for the same driving conditions (ambient and return air conditions) to enable comparison of the performance parameters. By taking the ratio of the actual capacity to the benchmark capacity, the capacity index (CI) is determined. By taking the ratio of the actual COP to the benchmark COP, the efficiency index (EI) is determined. CI and EI are then used to estimate the annual savings in operating costs that could be achieved by servicing a unit so that it achieves its expected performance. The estimated savings can be used to determine whether the benefits of servicing a unit outweigh the costs.”

“The assumptions and analysis used by the Service Assistant to determine the capacity index, efficiency index, and annual operating costs associated with not correcting an operating deficiency are, in my opinion, sound. Data collected at Purdue University indicates to me the soundness of the technology has been validated. The range of conditions available from laboratory testing, both in terms of the driving conditions and the operating state of the unit (i.e. operating normally or in the presence of several faults or varying severities), is very extensive.”

“Tools with the capability to estimate energy savings associated with servicing vapor compression equipment are clearly needed. In my opinion, the Service Assistant technology takes us to the point where this is now a reality.”

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