Note: This page modified on 2/27/2012.

Basically, the furnace has a control board that will send the signal to the different parts of the furnace. In short, there is a specific sequence a standard 80% AFUE furnace will follow which will turn the furnace into a comfort machine. The sequence is a combination of efficiency and safety.

The sequence of a furnace is really a series circuit. If the sequence is interrupted the furnace won’t start. When the combustion motor starts the pressure switch must close for the board to know it’s safe to turn on the ignition and so forth.

Rather than tell you the entire sequence of operation of a Henderson furnace, I think I can point out the most common and therefore the most memorable series circuit.

A string of Christmas lights.

What I mean is my education in Las Vegas heating and air conditioning repair service, maintenance, and replacement skews my vision.

So here is my question point blank. If you never heard of Global Warming & Cooling and you needed to purchase an air conditioning or heating system, what steps would you take? What would be your plan on purchasing a new comfort system?

I have too much of an insiders perspective to be realistic. I also have a product that is purchased very infrequently and is a large purchase.

So let’s suppose you bought a house in Henderson 2 years ago and no longer have a home warranty. Let’s also say you have an air conditioning unit that’s on the side of the house and even though you are no expert, you know the unit you’re looking at is old and junky looking. We’ll also say it cools and heats but not as well as you would like and your utility bills seem unreasonably high. Lastly, every time the the air conditioner or the heater starts up, that part of the unit sounds like a scream from Hell. Just wanted to throw that in there.

My question is predicated on the fact you realize the heating and air conditioning might be on it’s last legs.

What would be your next move?

When you do Las Vegas heating repair service you take some things for granted that are not always the case. Safety second! What? Why second?

Education first!

In order to have a circuit with 120 volts of alternating current, there must be 4 things present.

1. There must be a voltage source. This is where the voltage originates. This is called the supply line.

2. There must be a switch. There must be a way of turning the power on or off. This could be an actual switch or it could just be unplugging an appliance. Think of a light switch for the switch and a refrigerator for the plug.

3. There must be a load. This could be as easy as a light bulb which would be considered a resistive load, or it could be a motor which would be called an inductive load. Either way, the voltage has to be used up.

4. There must be a return for the voltage to go back to. Think of a two pronged plug of an alarm clock. One side will be the supply side and one will be the return side.

We’ll talk more about this later but we have to start with the basics.

The first thing we discussed was the location of the unit. Was it on the ground? Was it on the roof? She said it was in the attic to the best of her knowledge. This told me we were working on a split system rather than a packaged unit on a roof.

The next thing we discussed was the type of unit she had because each of these could be a packaged unit on the roof, or a spit system.

To really differentiate these units we have to examine how they heat.

1. A Heat Pump is an all electric unit that changes the direction of the refrigerant flow. It’s main draw back is below 40 degrees it really struggles.

2. A Heat Pump with supplementary heat strips will defeat the draw back of a heat pump without them but it will cost a bundle to run them.

3. A Straight Aircon with heat strips only uses the blower motor but runs the heat strips exclusively to warm the home. It’s basically a huge space heater.

4. A Hydronic air conditioner warms the house by using a warm radiator filled with hot water from the hot water heater. The effect I think is poor.

5. A Natural draft furnace which doesn’t employ a combustion motor has a poor AFUE and aren’t made anymore. There are still some around.

6. An 80% AFUE Natural gas furnace is the most common type of heat for a heating repair service technician in Las Vegas to work on.

7. A Condensing Furnace is the new wave of high efficiency furnaces with an AFUE rating above 90%.

That’s pretty much all the different ways to get do heating in Las Vegas and Henderson. Different parts of Clark County have different tendencies.

Do you know how you heat your home?

Many different groups found the lack of training deplorable within the HVAC industry and specifically in the South Western United States. As in Las Vegas and Henderson. These groups began to test technicians. The problem was the United States and Canada have very different climates since they are so large. A Las Vegas Air Conditioning Repair Service technician would stand little chance of passing an air conditioning test designed for Ottawa. Canada, not California.

NATE did four things that squashed their testing competition. First, the designed a basic refrigeration test that any good technician should be able to pass. This test was a detailed exam about really knowing how an air conditioner worked. This is called the NATE core test and it must be passed before you can pick your specialty.

Secondly, NATE broke the HVAC industry down the middle. There would be a HVAC installer test, and there would be a HVAC repair technician test. This ensured the best installers wouldn’t need to troubleshoot a 30 year old broken down air conditioner in order to be considered experts at installation.

The next thing NATE did was create several tests which weren’t necessarily regional, but focused on specific units.  In the Southwest, we employ air to air heat pumps as well as natural gas furnaces. NATE created a specialty for each. So to recap, an HVAC technician could be NATE certified as a heat pump installer or NATE certified gas furnace service man. There are actually several specialties NATE offers yet some aren’t applicable to a Las Vegas Air Conditioning repair service technician. This multi-headed specialty approach made NATE a regional force as the specialties that applied to the section of the country you worked in could be focused on.

The last thing NATE did was something the other testing companies didn’t figure on. NATE ponied up with the ACCA. The ACCA is the Air Conditioning Contractor’s Association of America and they decide what is and what should be. When the ACCA decided NATE was the test of choice by them, the others quickly fell.

A NATE certified technician has an identity card which states how many NATE certifications they have. 6 for me just in case anyone was wondering. If you don’t live in Las Vegas (where Global Warming & Cooling is the only choice) but you do live in North America and need some assistance with your air conditioner or heat, click here “NATE” to find a company that believes in NATE testing in your area.

Las Vegas Air Conditioning says…

“Don’t roll the dice when it comes time to work on your air conditioning unit!”

So reports of my demise were greatly exaggerated or so it would seem. I always wanted to say that.

I would have you all know that Naomi wanted to take back the blog for the last week because she had some articles she wanted to write. For those who remember way back in February it was Naomi who actually signed up and she was our first blogger. When she became inundated with work I took over. I wouldn’t let your day go on without learning about Henderson 24 hour heating repair service, it just wouldn’t be right. So think of this as a spot performance since Naomi is busy yet again.

So today I did an odd thing by going out to lunch. I usually have a glass of low sodium V-8 with some supplements in the morning washed down by 3 or 4 cups of black coffee. Until dinner, I have some nuts, berries, pickles, or peperoni slices. Lunch is rarely eaten. I went out with a competitor and friend of mine named George.

We spoke about shoddy work and how even though it puts our own work on a pedestal, it drags our entire industry down. With some of the work we see is it any wonder we get such resistance to our suggestions.

The problem with our industry is anyone can work in it. Anyone that is that has passed a single test. The EPA Section 608, 40 CDFR Part 82, Subpart F is a test that quizzes individuals on how well the remember dates. The questions are all about the proper handling of refrigerants so they do not further destroy the ozone layer. Just in case you are wondering, here’s an example:

Let’s say our friend Clare cared about the environment. I know, quite a stretch. If she searched the internet, I’m certain she could find all the rules and regulations set forth by the Montreal Protocol. Maybe she was just reading them for her own knowledge, but saw a place to take the test. For about $100 Clare would take the test and of course pass because she’s kind of bright about eco-friendly things. The end result? Clare is now just as competent to work in Las Vegas air conditioning as I according to the law. Now I’m not saying Clare couldn’t learn the other stuff, I’m merely saying many do not and all bragging aside, I’m better than those guys.

It’s as if someone who could identify all types of vegetables was a qualified chef. It’s related, it’s a good start, but it’s not the same. I’ll plan on finishing this up tomorrow or Thursday but Chucky and Lucy are giving me the evil eye because it’s dinner time and they don’t got no stinking entrees.

Stop on by tomorrow to wish Naomi a Happy Birthday

Had I known in advance that this would be the last post I ever wrote perhaps the two or three previous would have been more meaningful. Hakuna Matata!

I feel I have many thanks to give out but first a big one to the group. The daily blogging exercise reminded me this world is full of diversity. The experience was enriching. Some of your sites initially I looked at and said “alright, if I have too.”

Being that I’m writing mostly about air conditioner and heating repair service in Las Vegas and Henderson forced me to acknowledge reading my blog was far from fabulous as well.

So without further adieu, and in alphabetical order…. except for one, wink wink

April Braswell runs the best internet dating site on the web. As I’m married, I have something else to thank her for. I would like to thank her for reaching out to me. In the kindest way April called me and asked me if I had the slightest clue how to blog on a website. Remember, I said kindest way. I Jersey’d it up for all yous guyz.

Next we have Cherie Miranda who not only revitalized me by being consistent, but also gave me some great pointers on how to relax on the fly. Business owners need that.

Dennis Perry, whom I believe I owe a huge apology to, writes a blog that’s always enjoyable. It provides examples and pointers on the real American dream, A Rich Life.

Eva Palmer writes about hypnosis and although my translator is slightly lacking; I sometimes feel as I get more by carefully reading her articles more than once. And by the way Eva, what are those cranes working on behind your picture?

John Moulder is always a relief to get to because he’s about half way through my obligation and the read is always relaxing and usually humorous.   Sometimes even sexy.

Kevin Hogan we all know and his fan base speaks volumes louder than I ever could. He’s like Chinese food, that many people can’t be wrong.

Michael Walker gets my vote for the worlds most exciting job. It’s almost identical to air conditioning repair service except when he’s doing it, there’s freakin’ bodies flying around and it’s in front of an audience. Oh yeah, and there are mechanical obstacles that move. Did I mention the freakin’ bodies? Add that to probably our most eloquent poster and he’s out of this world.

Neil Dhawan has the cutting edge information about diet products. This is a far cry from just eat right, his products are so advanced I’ll bet many of you haven’t heard of them.

Rob Malone, like Dennis provides real life lessons for these troubling times. Also, let’s face it, Brain Salsa is the coolest name ever.

Scott Sylvan Bell has the best reading body language site going. I look forward to meeting Scott. Maybe he can help my techs with some finer points about selling.

Sonya Lenzo my hero. Leave the cold and move to an exotic foreign country. The last great US export.

Hmm, who did I forget? Oh that’s right. My role model. Clare Delaney in my opinion has the best site of us all! If you read her daily post and I do mean daily, and you don’t do something to make this planet a better place you are dead inside. You don’t have to do them all. Do the ones you can do. Clare, every time I thought “I don’t feel like it”; it was your consistency that put me back to work. Thank you.

Thank you all again as you’ve all added insight into somethings I will never be able to see or experience first hand.

Good luck to all of you on the Amazon project and all your future endeavors. I have the infrequent luxury of walking off into the sunset without looking back.

Farewell-Kevin