#air velocity

Tech Tips:

This is a VERY in-depth look at ACFM vs. SCFM and why it matters to airflow measurement from Steven Mazzoni. Thanks, Steve! Imagine your job is to figure out how fast baseballs were traveling before they hit a sheet-rock wall. The only method you have is to measure the depth of the dent left in […]

Air is Squishy – Measuring Airflow w/ Bill Spohn

Measuring airflow is easy. Measuring airflow accurately is quite a bit more difficult. In many cases, when we as technicians measure airflow, we are trying to get to the almighty CFM (cubic feet per minute) volume measurement. You can take CFM readings fairly easily with a hood, like the Testo 420, but even a hood […]

Common Duct Design Mistakes w/ Jack Rise (Podcast)

In this episode, Jack Rise talks about duct design regarding ACCA manual D, friction rate, face velocity, duct velocity, and what is ACTUALLY wrong with flex duct. Manual D causes a lot of confusion for technicians, and most techs have a limited understanding of it anyway. When determining a blower wheel for commercial ductwork, Jack […]

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In this short podcast, Bryan talks about evaporator coil placement based on a question submitted by a listener, John. Evap coil placement differs in furnace applications versus air handlers.

When we use air conditioners with furnaces, we usually put evaporator coils on the positive side to protect the heat exchanger from rusting out during the summer (due to condensation and the chemical reactions that can occur with the metal heat exchanger). However, when it comes to air handlers, they’re usually on the negative side. The coil is usually on the negative side of a fan coil or air handler because it keeps the blower motor cooler (though that doesn’t make a huge difference in terms of performance).

The HVAC system will lose fewer BTUs to leakage when the coil is on the negative side, which is better for energy efficiency; those BTUs can reach the conditioned space rather than the closet, garage, or wherever it is stored. Pulling air over the evaporator coil on the negative side, however, could potentially lead to greater turbulence.

We run into challenges with evap coil placement on gas furnaces when we have dual fuel systems (a heat pump and furnace working together). You can’t run gas heat over a heat pump coil due to the high head pressure, so a parallel setup would avoid the risks of high head pressure (downstream) or rusted-out heat exchangers (upstream).

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