5 Reasons Why Your HVAC Invoice Is Overrated – Part 3 of 3

If you rely on HVAC invoices 📝 for insights on your equipment and refrigerant tracking, you may find it difficult to respond to changing regulatory requirements for environmental sustainability and manage risk effectively.

In fact, your HVAC invoice is overrated. Here’s why: 

The world of HVAC/R and refrigerant management is complex and fast-changing, especially when you consider California’s new HFC regulation and EPA 608’s 2019 changes to refrigerant leaks and decreasing companies’ environmental footprints 🆕.

There’s a lot to keep up with. And your HVAC invoice 📝, while an age-old practice, is not enough to keep you covered, see full maintenance activity, nor guide you in corporate sustainability efforts.

In fact, we’ve identified over relying on your invoice as one of the three common HVAC mistakes you should avoid. 

Yes, your HVAC invoice is overrated.

And here’s five reasons why (just in time before the 2019 EPA 608 leak rate changes): 

 

1. It’s paper-based. 

 

 
Paper is messy, cumbersome, and confusing; it makes data collection, well, difficult…

It usually goes something like this: First, service techs perform work and submit handwritten tickets to a client or dispatch manager. Then, an admin personnel enters the data. 

However, #DidYouKnow this process can be ridden with errors and erroneous entries. Consider the fact that,

• Data is old and stale when entered; 
• Invoices can be lost, and handwriting can be poor.

Did we mention poor handwriting 😐?

Also, don’t forget: In an EPA-hosted webinar on the 608 Update dated Nov. 2, 2016, it states, “electronic recordkeeping encouraged” on the topic of changes to leak repair requirements. 

 

2. Important information is in silos.

 

 
When you look at all your HVAC invoices, you will notice that it’s numerous vendors with each doing things in different ways for different reasons.

This means that there can be a bunch of different HVAC invoices from various vendors, and overtime different things will be captured. 

Without a standard form, you’re left to fill in the missing pieces (that is, if you can and if you have the time). 

 

 3. It’s business as usual. 

 

 
Global energy demand is rapidly rising, and much of this demand is from—you guessed it—cooling ❄️.

#DidYouKnow, the IEA reports, “Global energy demand from air conditioners is expected to triple by 2050, requiring new electricity capacity the equivalent to the combined electricity capacity of the United States, the EU and Japan today.

The global stock of air conditioners in buildings will grow to 5.6 billion by 2050, up from 1.6 billion today – which amounts to 10 new ACs sold every second for the next 30 years, according to the report.” (Emphasis mine.)

The world can’t afford business as usual and neither can you. Do you really think you should continue down the same path? Maybe you do need more than just that HVAC invoice. 

 

 4. Lack of compliance status. 

 

 
With an invoice, you can’t really plan for the future. Not to mention, you won’t be prepared for audits or inspections. 

 

As previously mentioned, HVAC/R and refrigerant regulations change frequently. With just an invoice, you may run into

✓ Records not being available when/where they are needed;
✓ Difficulty with compliance reporting because of haphazard data.

This begs the question, how can you keep up compliance-wise with just an invoice? 

 

 5. No guidance. 

 

 
Last but not least, an hvac invoice provides no guidance.

By just relying on an invoice, you are constantly worrying about the integrity of the data and information, and this leaves little time for planning, let alone guidance.

With the third and final compliance date from the EPA 608 Update taking effect very soon (i.e., Jan. 1, 2019), some guidance could come in handy 👍.  

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Well, that concludes the 5 reasons why your hvac invoice is overrated. Along the way, you may have realized a few important pieces of information about your HVAC/R assets that you’re missing. 

As you can see, relying on this manual process to manage your HVAC/R assets just doesn’t cut. How can you truly plan ahead and mitigate risk? You can’t. 

That’s why with our hvac software, Trakref, we go beyond the invoice and capture the data that ensures your compliance and improves your operations. We’re a software corporation that has been in the regulatory compliance software and environmental compliance calendar software space for years. As an environmental software provider, we make sure our refrigerant capabilities will help you in your journey toward compliance and sustainability, as well as helping with ESG reporting and answering sustainability audit questions. Get in touch with a Refrigerant Geek today.

As always, thanks for joining us. Did you like this article? Would love to hear your thoughts. 

This post marks Part 3 of our common hvac mistakes series. Be sure to tune in next week for new HVAC/R insights.

Want to check if you’re prepared for the 2019 leak repair changes? Grab our free checklist now: 
 

GET MY CHECKLIST ON THE 2019 LEAK REPAIR CHANGES

 
 
(Allowable refrigerant leak rates thresholds drop in 2019. Are you prepared?)

 

— If you enjoyed this article, you might want to check out more in this series:

3 Common HVAC Mistakes Your Facility Should Avoid

The Impact of Missing Equipment From Your Inventory – Part 1 of 3

How to Calculate Your Refrigerant Charge Guide – Part 2 of 3

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