By Jeff Tyahla
​Service Manager

Technicians today are faced with many challenges as even the smallest systems have quite a bit of electronic and mechanical technology built into them.

Microprocessors exist in most equipment, ranging from small ductless split systems to large industrial systems.
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Much of this equipment is then interfaced with building management systems from different manufacturers that have their own hardware and software.

Beyond the electronics, the technicians need to completely understand the mechanical workings of the systems and the impact the controls can have on the mechanical side. They need to have a full understanding of both sides in order to have everything working in harmony, providing maximum efficiency and lifespan.

At Hughes we recognize all of these challenges and are constantly providing comprehensive training to keep our technicians prepared to face the challenges of today’s sophisticated equipment.

Further, our service department, engineers and technicians are in continual contact with each other and the manufacturers of all of the systems we install and service.

Maintaining these relationships has proven to be mutually beneficial for all parties. While the manufacturers and engineers provide technical support on the latest products, the technicians provide very important feedback for them.

These relationships, coupled with our ongoing up-to-the-minute training and our staff’s dedication to excellence, allow us to provide the quality installation and services that our customers depend on.

By Don Long
Sales Manager

In the world of HVAC, there are two types of customers: those who only call when something stops working, and those who count on preventive maintenance to maximize efficiency and minimize downtime.

While we do have some customers who are reactive and only call us when there’s a problem, the vast majority of Hughes’ customers have experienced the value of maintenance firsthand. But you don’t have to take our word for it.

​According to “Energy Reduction Through Practical Scheduled Maintenance,” a report prepared in 2006 for the U.S. Department of Energy, scheduled maintenance (SM), or preventative maintenance, programs, “increase building performance in occupant comfort, productivity and reduce equipment failure downtime and costs. In addition, SM programs help improve energy efficiency. In spite of this, reactive maintenance is in use by over half of all facilities. It was determined that the reasons for not implementing SM programs are primarily centered on a lack of knowledge of the benefits of proper SM programs.”
 
The report goes on to state that a preventive maintenance program can generate a savings of up to 20 percent in energy alone. Tack on reduced downtime, improved reliability, and an increase in equipment longevity, and you’ll see why the majority of our customers have a maintenance plan in place.
 
In addition to performing scheduled maintenance tasks, such as lubricating motors and changing belts and filters, Hughes’ service technicians inspect each piece of equipment to make sure that it is operating according to manufacturer specifications. This results in increased equipment reliability and longevity and decreased service costs. In many cases, by examining system pressures and amperages during heating and cooling cycles, or by conducting oil analysis on large screw compressors, for example, we’re able to catch a problem before a piece of equipment stops functioning. This results in smaller repairs that are planned in advance, reducing the costs of parts and labor while allowing the facility to remain fully operational.
 
While most manufacturers typically estimate the useful life of their heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigerated systems to be 15 years, we know from experience that a well-maintained piece of equipment can last for 20 years or more, which should provide plenty of financial incentive to enter into a preventive maintenance agreement.
 
In addition to monitoring wear and tear on equipment, when we perform our initial inspection on a new account, our technicians frequently find equipment that was never commissioned properly. In a study conducted by the New Building Institute, on behalf of the California Energy Commission, 215 rooftop units were studied at 75 locations. “More than 60 percent of the economizers had operational problems. In addition … there was improper refrigerant charge found in about 45 percent of the units, fans were running during unoccupied periods more than a third of the time, and fans were cycling on and off with a call for heating and cooling rather than providing continuous ventilation air for a third of the units as well.”
 
Facility operators who don’t have routine maintenance performed at their facilities may not know that their equipment has NEVER run properly.
 
While equipment reliability is important in office buildings, it is even more imperative in cold storage facilities. Dirty coils or an improperly charged system can cause evaporator coils to freeze. Non-operational evaporator fan motors can disrupt the heat transfer across the coils, causing some of the refrigerant to return to the compressor in liquid form, which can damage it and eventually cause it to seize. In this market, the failure of a system can result in the loss of food or chemicals worth thousands above and beyond the cost of the refrigeration equipment.
 
At Hughes, we understand the complexities of operating a business, and we make it our goal to contribute to our customers’ success. Our technicians pride themselves on making sure that each piece of equipment they touch is functioning to the best of its ability. That is why our customers have come to rely on us for their climate control needs.
 
They let us worry about their heating, air conditioning and refrigerated systems so they can focus on what they do best – operate a successful business.

By Mike Holihan
Operations Manager

When Hughes rolled out its tablets to the service technicians in February, a project that was months in the making changed everyone’s lives in an instant: instant posting of call resolutions; instant notifications on job status; instant work order submission for faster follow up with customers.

But the faster communication capabilities are just a few of the benefits. The use of technology has improved the customer experience as well, as we now have the ability to provide more information to the field for an increased level of service.

The tablets already provide the technicians with a work history for each account and each unit, and it’s just the beginning. Tools such as operations manuals, internal forms like start-up sheets and unit replacement forms, and photos and data from previous maintenance visits will be added moving forward.

Reports from the field so far have been positive, and our technicians have been providing valuable feedback and suggestions to the service department. Among the changes that Hughes has requested from the software provider are summary sheets for customers to view when signing the tablets and the ability to automatically email work orders to customers when a call is completed.

​While we don’t currently know when these changes will be implemented, the software provider has announced that more updates are coming soon. We look forward to using this technology to improve on the services that we’re already providing.

On Tuesday, Oct. 27, Mahwah Mayor William C. Laforet (holding scissors), Council President and liaison to the chamber John F. Roth and the Mahwah Chamber of Commerce officially welcomed Hughes to its new building on Leighton Place in the township.

From left: Brian Hughes, vice president of Hughes; William Glynn, president of Hughes; Frank Hughes, chairman of Hughes; William Laforet, Mahwah mayor; Sharon Rounds, secretary and executive director of the Mahwah Chamber of Commerce; John Roth, council president and liaison to the chamber of commerce.

In February, Hughes Environmental Engineering relocated its offices to Mahwah, NJ.

After 21 years in Montvale, the move became necessary due to the continued growth of our family-owned and operated business.

As always, our service technicians will be dispatched from locations throughout the state, so the move will not impact the locations that we serve or our response time. We plan to use the additional space in our new facility to help us provide our customers with more value, especially in the areas of customer service and project planning.

This focus on customer service has served the company well since Frank W. Hughes first founded Electric Products in Jersey City eighty years ago. The company moved to Moonachie in 1960 and the name was changed to Hughes in 1982, but our mission has never wavered.

While we are certainly proud of our continued growth, what we look to as a measure of the quality of the services that we provide is our customer retention. Many of our customers date back to our time in Moonachie, some of them for more than 30 years.

We thank all of our customers, especially those who have been doing business with four generations of the Hughes family. We look forward to serving all of you for another 80 years with the continued goal of providing you with peace of mind for your heating, air conditioning and refrigerated systems as you focus on the sustained growth and success of your own businesses.

You can continue to contact us by phone at 201-391-1900, email at info@hughesenveng.com, or at our new mailing address: 14 Leighton Place, Mahwah, NJ 07430.

By Bill Glynn
President

As President, I’m focusing on leadership development for our current and future managers, and have assumed all day-to-day senior management responsibilities.

As you may be aware, our Chairman, Frank Hughes, has changed his focus to allow more time to assist with our new leadership transition. He now serves as a coach and mentor to our new management team while continuing to work with many of our clients with whom he has established relationships and also provides support to sales and engineering.

The balance of the new management team is as follows:

Brian Hughes (Executive Vice President) oversees sales and marketing. He is leading our efforts to develop new business opportunities, continues to lead our maintenance sales team, and coordinates all recruiting activities.

Bryan Smith (Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer) continues to manage Human Resources and the financial side of our business, including Billing, Accounts Receivable/Accounts Payable, Collections, Payroll, Insurance, and Information Technology

Brian Glynn (Vice President of Projects and Engineering) is responsible for managing our engineered sales team for designing and selling new projects.

With business methods of the past too slow to serve the “instant information” generation, we believe that this new team will instill our company with fresh energy, cutting edge technology, and a more modern approach to conducting business that is needed to address the dynamics of this new business environment.

In closing, I’m very happy to say that we have successfully weathered the nation’s ongoing economic downturn by not having to reduce staff or change our overall business strategy. Yes, it was tough at times, but we have invested in a very dedicated and talented workforce and I can honestly say that we greatly appreciate their efforts and commitment. As the economy gains strength, our company will be in a sound position to effectively meet our existing clients’ growing needs, expand our client base, and continue to proudly be an industry leader.

By Brian Hughes
Executive Vice President

Building owners and managers in our area tend to be pretty savvy when it comes to cutting costs out of their businesses. We shop around vigilantly for the best prices on everything from insurance policies to cleaning supplies. And if anything looks out of line on the invoice, we are on the immediately on the phone with the vendor for an explanation.

So why is it that when the monthly utility bill comes in, our tendency is to concede defeat and just pass it on the AP department? Even at home, we all know that monthly ritual of suspense when the utility company envelope is opened. Will it be relief or sticker-shock?

If you share this sense of helplessness at the office, you're not alone. Most executives here in New Jersey privately tell us that they sense some energy waste in their facility, but do not make it a priority to address it. Some feel confident that their operations are humming along quite efficiently, but admit that they never really looked at any ways to cut energy costs further. Saddest of all is the occupant of a newer building, who assumes perfect efficiency and is thus lulled to sleep while his modern building steals energy dollars from his P&L.

So if you're wondering where you can look at your own business, the first view is in the mirror. Ask yourself, "What steps has my company taken to proactively reduce energy usage in this building?" If the answer is that you've done basically nothing, then you can be assured that you're leaving money on the table.

Another gut-check is to look at how you really budget for energy expenses each year. Most companies have utility costs as a line item. A surprising number of financially sophisticated companies simply look at last year's number and then add three or four percent for the coming year's budget. What they are really saying is, "I actually have no clue on what the cost will be, so let's just use last year's number and pray for the best." The problem with this cop out is that if last year’s utility expense was higher than it should have been due to waste, then you have basically agreed to pay for waste again this year.

So the first step is to change the way you think about your utility expenses. Only then you can do something proactive about it. Typically building owners and managers will find the most savings by tackling the two areas that eat up lots of energy: Lighting and HVAC. These two chronic offenders offer the most opportunity to put wasted dollars back into your budget. If nothing else, start here.

With lighting, you have to first decide if a retrofit is even worth considering. A good rule of thumb to use is this: If your building is more than 10 years old and/or you have not done a lighting retrofit in the last five years, you are a good candidate. With a combination of lower electrical usage and state rebates, a lighting retrofit often results in a quick ROI.

With HVAC, your first order of business is to understand what type of systems you have and how they use energy. Rooftop units, boilers, chillers, and other common mechanical equipment consume enormous amounts of gas and electric. In order to make sure these systems are working efficiently, it is important to have a structured maintenance plan in place. To borrow an old saying about non-voters, "if you don't maintain it, don't complain about the utility bill". Unfortunately, too many facility operators excuse energy waste as long as the systems don't break down. Facility and maintenance managers in particular get far more grief from co-workers and the boss when the air conditioning fails than they do from the CFO when the utility bill spikes.

With most buildings reaching maturity in our mostly developed area, there is a trend towards replacing aging HVAC equipment with newer equipment that is reliable and more efficient. Unlike lighting, where incentives are often good enough to justify ripping out perfectly operating fixtures, the available incentives for HVAC replacement usually aren't so generous. But they exist nonetheless, and here are some guidelines to use to see if it's worth considering new HVAC equipment:

1) Your current equipment is over 15 years old.
2) You plan on staying in your facility for at least 3 more years.
3) You have climbing repair costs and breakdowns are more frequent.

Too many building managers wait to replace their equipment until a catastrophic failure happens, and then they make an emergency capital expenditure rather than pouring more repair money on the fire. This reactive approach usually causes disruption to the business, not to mention heartburn for those CEO's and CFO's who hate surprises.

One popular solution entering the HVAC marketplace is equipment leasing, especially since interest rates are at historical lows. For example, Company X in Morristown with a building built in 1989 can get new HVAC equipment installed without the pressure of some emergency or the thought of their building being down in July. Combined with state incentives and the savings to be gained with higher efficiency equipment, the monthly payments may turn out the same or lower than the running repair costs. A three, five, or even ten year lease ends with you the lessee owning the equipment at the end.

So if you're going to change the way your building uses your money, you have to address the number one barrier to change – indifference! Like electricity itself, we tend to take the path of least resistance. 

By Jeff Tyahla
Service Manager

Here at Hughes, we have been offering the ecobee Smart Thermostat for some time now. We have been monitoring its reliability and technical support, so we can attest that this device – which you control right from your smartphone – really is quite smart.

The Smart Thermostat is an intelligent device that offers remote access so you can manage your home’s or business’ climate control and other operations even when you’re not there. This means that you can monitor those locations anywhere you have a wireless signal. You can warm up your house during the cold winter months before you arrive home. If you’re going to be away for any stretch of time, you can make adjustments remotely to make sure your pipes won’t freeze. Or, if you head up IT operations for your company, you can conveniently monitor the computer room temperature without having to drive to work.

This programmable thermostat is very easy to use and program. As you look at your phone’s display, you’re actually seeing the thermostat that we installed. It offers such features as a five-day weather forecast, so you can adjust the room temperature in accordance with the outside conditions. Charts and graphs will help you analyze energy savings and other trends to more efficiently run those locations, and automatic alerts and reminders will keep you informed.

The thermostat can also use IFTTT technology to make it more intuitive. Using If-Then logic, the thermostat can be programmed to save energy by learning your schedule. When you leave the house, it can automatically raise or lower the temperature, depending on the season, to save you money. Conversely, it can also be programmed to raise or lower the set-point when you leave the office so your home is comfortable when you get there.

The ecobee Smart Thermostat offers many valuable and practical features, but to us, the most valuable offering is peace of mind.