HVAC Installs

B-MAN

Do any of you do electrical hook-ups for HVAC contractors and if so how do you bill them. You charge by the hour or by the job. It would make sence to charge by the job but there are so many variables.

mdshunk

Yep, sure do. Just a time and materials thing. They pretty much know how much to tack on their estimate for my electrical work, unless the house is especially tough or has complicated construction. Then, they have me stop in for a minute to look things over and give them a ballpark. It's still T&M regardless.

HVAC contractors can be a somewhat steady source of service upgrade work too. You can't really put a heat pump with electric backup heat in many houses with 100 amp panels, and certainly not even a/c in a house with a 60 amp service.

B-MAN

Shunk, I was at the poco today to pick up some plenum heaters and they just got a new style available. It uses c.t.'s on the main service and depending on your load it will activate up to 4 heat fins. I think this would be a great alternative to upgrades if cost is an issue.

mdshunk

Nope... service upgrades are good for business. As long as those donuts remain unknown to the homeowner community at large, then I will continue to do upgrades.

Consequently, that product is a touchy situation. It's fine with the NESC, but the NEC will consider the conductors coming from them to be a seperate service. Disconnect, overcurrent protection, ground rods, the whole shebang to make those conductors compliant. It is a seperately derived system. Might as well do a service upgrade.

B-MAN

I agree with you service upgrades are my bread & butter as well. Just thought it was a neat set-up and there are many cases when H.O.'s will back out of the off-peak electric heat systems if they need to spend the extra $ on an upgrade, and off-peak systems are also a great cash flow for me.