The Comfortable Blog : Why you should ask for NATE certified contractors.

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Why you should ask for NATE certified contractors.

The short answer is to make sure the technicians working in your home are qualified to get the job done right the first time and prevent callbacks. In the U.S. there is no national level requirement for HVAC contractors; it is left to each state. In most states the requirement to be a contractor is that one person in the company has a contractor’s license (usually but not always the owner). Outside of the contractor’s license, in almost all states, there is no minimum requirement or certification requirement to be an HVAC technician. NATE-certified technicians are skilled professionals who have voluntarily proven their knowledge in the HVAC industry by passing specialized NATE certification tests. In my opinion, NATE is like an HVAC technician’s degree that covers not only theory but also practical knowledge from field experience. The next time you are looking through the yellow pages for a contractor trying to find the lowest price, ask if they are NATE certified, and then decide if the cost savings is worth it for you and your family. For more information on NATE go to www.hvacradvice.com .

Posted By Chris Mohalley At 10:00 AM •

as an electrical engineer, I am interested in how the green motor actually reduces electrical demand. Horsepower is horsepower no matter ac or dc. If anything, conversion to dc adds inefficiencies, so how does this work? Also, what is the warranty? High tech stuff tends to cost a lot to repair when the first diode blows.

Comment By jerry vogt At 10/20/2009 5:11 PM

The Evergreen is an ECM (Electronically Commutated Motor) with a permenant magnet rotor. With the permenant magnet rotor its operating electrical efficiency is 80% vs. induction motors that run around 60%. Savings is then increased when the Evergreen is used in constant fan mode where the ECM can run much slower than a 6 pole induction motor is capable of. We typically see the ECM in constant fan mode operating at around 100 watts. The warranty on the Evergreen is 2 years. Evergreen is built with 20 years of field proven reliability (in OEM applicatoins) including built in electronic protection such as speed limiting, 6Kv surge protection and soft start. It also has a fully encapsulated electronics package to protect it from water damage.

Comment By Christopher Mohalley At 11/13/2009 2:38 PM

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