When I think about variable frequency drives (VFDs) and bypasses I am reminded of the story of the family of women cooking a ham at Christmas. The young girl notices that her mother cuts each end of the ham off before

putting the ham in the pan to cook it. She asks her mother, “why did you cut the two ends off?” The mother replies, “well that is the way my mom taught me to cook a ham.” The girl then finds her grandmother and asks her the same question, to which her grandmother responds, “that is the way my mother taught me.” The girl’s great-grandmother is still living and when the young girl asks her why she cut both ends off of the ham before she cooked it she responds, “I had a small pan and it was the only way the ham would fit.”

Bypasses have been around as long as VFDs have been used. And until recently it made sense to have a bypass on your VFD. There were two very good reasons for always having a bypass: 1) VFD’s were unreliable, had a high failure rate, were complicated to set up, and required a highly trained specialist to install, set-up, or fix your VFD. 2) A bypass was required to allow your fan or pump to run while you waited for a specialist to come and replace your variable frequency drive.
With the massive improvements in VFD quality resulting in thousands of hours of run time between failures and ease of installation and setup (see how to set up a variable frequency drive in 36 seconds) the need for VFD bypasses are few and far between. Given that most bypasses cost more than the VFD it makes much more sense to by a back up VFD that can be installed and working in the time it took your grandfather to call the VFD specialist.
If you are in Georgia or Florida you can call the Control pros at Stromquist & Company for all your variable frequency drive needs. If you are located in another part of the country one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America can be of assistance with your variable frequency drive applications.

Variable Frequency Drives have been around the HVAC industry for a while and have proven to be a very effective way of reducing energy by controlling pump and fan speeds.
One possible unintended consequence of installing variable frequency drives is the effect of harmonics. As you can see

in this video excerpt from a Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive certification training class at Stromquist and Company the design of the Honeywell VFD addresses the harmonic issue.
I can attest to how well the Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive works. We approached a large user of variable frequency drives that was having to replace several drives a week due to the drives they were using inability to cope with the tuff electrical environment and the harmonics being created. Two very large and well known variable frequency drive manufacturers were unable to solve the problem so that their Variable Frequency Drives could perform in this environment.
When we offered the customer the Honeywell Variable Frequency drive solution they were dubious. However, due to how easy the Honeywell Drives were to setup and commission they agreed to give Honeywell a shot.
The Honeywell Drives have performed better than all other drives the customer has tried. In that most of the other VFD’s failed after two weeks with the average best case VFD life being six months and the Honeywell variable frequency drives still working after a year the customer is thrilled.
Harmonics and difficult environments can be tricky for variable frequency drives so hats off to Honeywell for their great Variable frequency drive design.
For more information on Honeywell Variable Frequency Drives contact the control pros at Stromquist & Company if you are in Georgia or Florida. For our viewers in other areas one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America can help with your Honeywell VFD needs.

Starting up a variable frequency drive can be as much an art as it is a science, and because a variable frequency drive can save so much money, you are going to see them on just about any project you bid. When you are estimating a job, how much do you add for the variable frequency drive? The price of a drive is easy to figure (the price is the price), so conventional wisdom would say go with the low price drive. But is that really the smart move?
Most of the pros I know say no. Here is why: they tend to think in terms of cost to install and maintain instead of just price. Back to estimating that job… you have the price of the variable frequency drive, but how do you estimate the cost to install the drive and to commission your variable frequency drive?
Like most things in life you don’t get something for nothing, and the lower priced variable frequency drives are lower priced for a reason. It is not that they don’t do what a variable frequency drive is supposed to do.  The lower priced drives take out features that a mid priced variable frequency drive like the Honeywell Variable Frequency Drives Guide Specification include:  things like start up wizards and English language prompts on the keypads that are intuitive  and  make set up easy. How easy? Check out Brian doing a basic commissioning of the new Honeywell variable frequency drive in 36 seconds. How cool is that ?

A lower priced drive can look attractive but can take a lot longer to set up and commission. Forget about a keypad or at least forget about one that does not require you to look up code in a manual to see what each of the prompts mean. Forget about the wiring terminals being bigger and easier to wire; plan on sending your best techs out to the job and be sure to put in extra hours for the complications that can arise from being “penny wise and pound foolish.” Also, plan on spending extra time with your customers explaining how the drive works. Remember, the product you leave on the job site in many ways is a reflection of your company. I am not saying “all low price drives are a bad decision,” I am saying that you must think in terms of overall cost and not just price when it comes to which variable frequency drive you purchase.
With the new Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive your estimating is easier. Because of the easy setup wizards and the removable keypad display and the intuitive prompts, you don’t have to send your best variable frequency drive person to do start up. Also, because of the removable keypad that stores the set up parameters, you can program once take the keypad  and download the setup into other drives.
Although the Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive might not be the lowest priced drive, the smart money says it is the lowest cost drive to install and own. It is a quality product that will make your customers appreciate you for installing Honeywell.

One final thought as you are estimating your variable frequency drive job and looking for a way to lower your cost – a question you might ask is “do you really need the bypass?”  For an enlightening perspective on variable frequency drive bypasses, check this out.
Stromquist & Company is the authorized Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive distributor for Georgia and Florida and look forward to helping you with all your HVAC control and Variable Frequency Driveneeds. If you are not a Stromquist customer or are not located in Georgia or Florida one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America or a local authorized Honeywell distributor can assist you with your Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive needs.

If you have seen Mark Zipp from Johnson Controls introduction video to the new Johnson Controls Variable Frequency Drive offering then you will want to check out Part 2. In this video Mark goes into great detail and gives you all the information you will ever need about these incredible Variable Frequency Drives from Johnson Controls.

If you are in Georgia or Florida you can find all your Johnson Controls including the Johnson Controls Variable Frequency Drives at Stromquist & Company, others can contact one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America.

Why are Variable Frequency Drives like the Johnson Controls VS Series of Variable Frequency drives so popular? Well for one reason they can save a heck of a lot of money. According to Maintenance Resources a variable frequency drive can save up to 30% on energy costs. So what makes the Johnson VS series variable frequency drive so special? To begin with the size, with mechanical room space at a premium the compact size of the Johnson Controls  VS series makes it a logical choice for retrofit applications

The unique bypass configuration is also a space saver. But the compact design is not even the best part…The really cool thing about this VFD is how easy it is to set up and commission. In the video you saw just how easy it was for Mark to commission the Johnson VS variable frequency drive. If you are a mechanical contractor bidding a job this has tremendous cost and price implications . Think about it, if you are sub contracting the commissioning of the variable frequency drives because setting up a variable frequency drive was deemed to complicated, then you just found a new profit center. Why? Because of the easy to use start up wizards the Johnson Variable Frequency Drive  is really easy to set up and commission. Why pay someone else to start these variable frequency drives up when you can do it yourself and save money?

Check out Mark’s more detailed presentation on the Johnson Controls VS variable frequency drives by clicking here.

To really get good at these drives you should go to a Johnson Controls Variable Frequency Drives certification class like the ones we hold at Stromquist & Company. In addition to learning how to do more complex variable frequency drive applications you will also earn an extra years warranty on the Johnson Controls variable frequency drives that you purchase. Stay tuned at controltrends for information on the  next Johnson Controls VS series variable frequency drives class at Stromquist & Company or call Edna at 404.794.3440 to be put on a list for the next class.

Stromquist & Company is a stocking distributor of all types of Variable Frequency Drives in Atlanta Georgia. Since we stock different brands of Variable Frequency Drives from the Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive to the Johnson Variable Frequency Drive to the Teco Westinghouse Variable Frequency Drive we are able to look for which product provides the best value for our customer when it comes to their Variable Frequency Drive needs. In this video you will see how to save money on your variable frequency drive project by determining if you need a by pass on your variable frequency drive project
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As this video shows in most cases you will not need a bypass and this can and will save you big dollars on your variable frequency drive projects. Variable Frequency Drives are a great way to save money by reducing the speed of motors and pumps when they do not need to run at full capacity. To get an idea of how much you can save check out this variable frequency drive energy calculator from Honeywell. You also should check out this video on how to set up you Variable Frequency Drive with a 0-10 volt input. For all your variable frequency drive needs in Georgia and Florida contact Stromquist & Company