RSES Journal Winter 2025, RETA-RSES

Last Word

PERSPECTIVES

W elcome to the Winter edition of the RSES Journal . This has been my publishing home since May of 2025. It’s gratifying to be part of this team, and RETA, two organizations that for 92 and 115 years respectively, have served as influential, dedicated and expanding HVACR training and contractor support organizations. At this time of year, industry editors fill their columns with a look at what contractors and technicians will experience at the upcoming AHR Exposition, which this time around will be held February 2–4 in Las Vegas, NV. I’ll now do the same, as I used to do with another publication, but with a bit of a twist. People are often afraid to speak in absolutes, but as I declare on our cover, and in my AHR preview feature on p. 22, the HVACR industry is definitely facing the most trying period of its existence: this includes the need for more recruiting, artificial intelligence (AI), data center expansion, efficiency regulations, training, new refrigerants, sustainability and heat pump fever. Since I first landed on this HVACR planet as an editor in 2005, there have been challenges of every kind, some of them peren nial. We’ve had recruiting and retention issues (a concern that dates as far back as the 1950s and ‘60s), continual government regulations related to equipment efficiencies and refrigerant phase downs, supply chain disruptions, burst economic bubbles (two that I can recall), the Internet and the “Internet of Things” (IoT), the Wuhan, China virus (later named COVID), recurring natural disasters, and the challenges of incorporating new technologies, such as the now-ubiquitous mini-split and VRF products. In addition, business owners have dealt with the normal business challenges of dispatching, irate customers and service call-backs, employees quitting, pricing for significant profit (you are, right?), low-priced competitors (who are not pricing for profit), new service ideas, staffing the office and the field, sales training, technician training, supply-and-demand questions and balancing the books. I continue to admire the diligence and courage of a success ful business owner, who juggles it all with help from a team, on a foundation of proven business principles, intuition, common sense and dedication to excellence. I mention “courage” because owning a business can be a frightening endeavor. At this point in time, we have yet to learn the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) decision on whether to extend the Biden EPA’s Technology Transition January 1, 2026 deadline for installing commercial equipment that uses high GWP refriger ants. The restrictions on HFC use would be relaxed for super market refrigeration, remote condensing refrigeration units, industrial process refrigeration used in semiconductors, cold storage, refrigerated transport containers and some refrigerated laboratory equipment. BY TERRY MCIVER Think Before You Follow

Residential and commercial contractors are preparing for the surge of equipment that will be charged with mildly flammable A2L and flammable A3 refrigerants. That change will continue, and it requires special handling and storage, as well as specific customer communications. At least the push for cylinder tracking failed. There is also a growing drain on the electric grid due to the green based push for electric heat pumps across the US, expanding data centers and a push for all things AI. With the new heat pumps, you must proceed with care. They are said to perform very well in cold climates, however, should the heat pump be too large for the existing ductwork, there can be issues with motor burnout and high static pressure and the need to replace too-narrow ductwork. In hot climates, the “500 sq. ft. per ton” motto used for AC is not accurate for heat pumps, and could lead to short cycling, high humidity and mold. So precise load calculations and duct work evaluations are essential. Another electricity gobbler, AI, is now everywhere. Its advan tages are mostly related to diagnosing HVACR systems, produc ing invoices, scheduling service calls, communicating with customers, writing marketing messages and emails and design ing a marketing plan. Data centers and other big electricity users are feeding off grids faster than new power plants are available, which makes it imperative to manage peak electricity demand without raising rates. The public is becoming electricity poor, but hey, we got AI and electric heat pumps. Ohio lawmakers are considering a bill that would give utilities the “power” to adjust thermostats during periods of heavy use, and “pay” homeowners through rebates. And this is before the expansion of heat pumps that’s expected over the next few years. Where’s my mercury thermostat? There is—also in Ohio—a “capacity auction,” managed by PJM, a regional grid operator that manages the electric systems across Ohio and 12 other states. With this arrangement, power plants and other energy providers bid to supply electricity during periods of highest demand, such as . . . . extreme heat or cold. You decide. This technology exists because it’s now possible and because it can be sold. The most successful contractors were success ful before AI and heat pumps, and they’ll continue to be success ful, with or without them. The real challenge is in labor. I wish you much success should you need to add to your workforce, and hope new and more effective methods of recruiting into HVACR will be found. And should you attend the AHR Expo, I hope to see you there. The RETA-RSES booth can be found at C6228.

Terry McIver Editor

WINTER 2025 RSES Journal 39

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