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.

The technology behind variable frequency drives (VFDs) has been around for over forty five years and involved in HVAC for over twenty five years. However, many people remain in the dark as to how much energy and money VFDs save. The truth is VFDs are one of the best ways to make a building greener and save energy. Half the electricity used in a building is a direct result of pumping air and water through the buildings HVAC systems.

Most fans and pumps are oversized or sized for worst-case-conditions which means they are running at over capacity most of the time. By adding a VFD you can control or modulate the speed of the fan or pump to match the required need. The faster you drive your car the more gas your car uses; the slower you drive the better your gas mileage. But because of the affinity law for motors and pumps the savings from using VFDs are huge.

For example, if you reduce the speed of your pump by 10% you use 21% less energy, 20% means a 49% energy reduction, and 30% equals a 66% reduction in energy used.

In addition to energy savings, enhancing a pump or motor with a VFD will almost double its life expectancy. Given that most fans and pumps are expensive, this saving, in and of itself, may justify the cost of adding a VFD.

Improvements in VFD technology over the last several years including ease of set up and installation have made it easy to understand why VFDs result in a quick return on investment and have become the first thing energy experts look at when they want to make a building more green and cost efficient.

Are you or your company involved in making the world a greener planet? Tell the world! Comment below. Leave a link to your website and your Company Facebook page. You never know who will find YOU on Controltrends!

A couple of weeks ago Stromquist and Company put on with the help of Honeywell a training class featuring Honeywell VFDs (Variable Frequency Drives).

VFDs for all….

Even the BOSS and his daughter are learning about VFDs (Eric and daughter Britt in background)

Everyone had thier own Honeywell VFD powered up and ready to learn…

As always the learning experience is a good thing.

Come join us in the learning experience. Check Control Trends often for the training you want.

http://www.controltrends.org/2011/09/commission-a-variable-frequency-drive-in-36-seconds/

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.

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

As a stocking distributor of Variable Frequency Drives in Atlanta Georgia, Stromquist and Company is happy to post this great trouble shooting video on how to do a ground lead check on your variable frequency drive. If you install on work on a variable frequency drive this is a must view.
For more information on variable frequency drives in Atlanta or in Georgia please go to www.stromquist.com. You might also want to check out “How to save money on a Variable Frequency Drive

Stromquist & Company is a stocking distributor for Honeywell, Johnson, Semiens, TAC and Teco Westinghouse VFD’s

Good to know when you are doing set up and check out.

Contact Stromquist & Company for all your VFD needs.

This is a good guide for setting up a variable frequency drive with a 4-20 signal, to see how to set up a drive using a 2 -10 volt controller click here. Check out Stromquist & Company for all your VFD needs.