As many HVACR contractors know, a barely noticed provision in the health care reform bill threatens to bury America’s small businesses under a mountain of paperwork and filing mandates starting in 2012.

Every business will be required to issue to Forms 1099 to all vendors they pay more than $600 annually. The Form 1099 must also be sent to the Internal Revenue Service. 

In addition to issuing the forms, a business will have to get Taxpayer Identification Numbers (TINs) from all of those vendors and withhold payments until it receives the TIN.  Penalties apply if that business fails to issue the Forms 1099.

It’s a recipe for disaster. Odds are inadvertent mistakes will be made on those forms, triggering audits and notices of non-compliance from the IRS. ACCA opposed the health care reform bill passed earlier this year, in part because of this onerous provision that burdens small businesses with a paperwork and filing nightmare.

Repealing Section 9006 gained momentum recently when National Taxpayer Advocated Nina Olsen in her annual Report to Congress that the burdens of Section 9006 “may turn out to be disproportionate as compared with any resulting improvement in tax compliance.” 

In April, Rep. Daniel Lungren (R-Calif.) introduced H.R. 5141, The Small Business Paperwork Mandate Elimination Act to repeal section 9006. Despite having 145 cosponsors, the bill had not seen action until yesterday when it was included as part of a procedural motion offered by Republicans on an unrelated tax and infrastructure bill. When it was clear the motion would pass, Democratic leaders yanked the underlying bill from consideration, pulling the plug on repealing Section 9006.

So House Democrats are trying to save face by bringing the bill back to the floor today. In their version, the lost revenues would be offset by closing $19 billion in foreign tax loopholes, a cynical move that will draw the opposition of big business interests.

Republicans are objecting because their version was offset by reductions in health care spending.

As a result, small businesses that normally align with large businesses on tax issues were fighting over the Democrat version. Democrats could go home in August and say they voted to help small businesses. And Republicans were forced to choose between voting against repealing the provision and voting for a tax increase.

Using CFD software for LED applications.

Here is another great energy saving article from my good friend James Gallett.  I hope you enjoy it and please feel free to post any comments or questions.

Do you know which direction your ceiling fan should turn in order for it to do its job and be economically efficient?

Just the other day I had a friend of mine ask me this question, she was wanting to know for her house about the direction of her ceiling fan. I thought I knew the answer, but did some research to verify.

My short answer was this: During the summer, you should run the fan so that the breeze blows downward. This will create a wind chill effect, just like you get when you roll down your car windows while driving to cool you off. During the winter you should leave the fan off.

During my research I did however find some ceiling fan manufacturers websites suggesting that you run the ceiling fan so it blows downward in the winter. This idea is based on the fan mixing the warm air collecting at the ceiling and moving it back down to the perimeter of room in the winter, which would make the room warmer and need less heat from your furnace. But not trusting this advice, (remember ceiling fan manufacturers want the fans running continuously so they will eventually fail), I dug on and found some information on consumer reports that suggest that the draft caused by the fan can have a chilling effect on people in a room, in the winter. This leads to them turning up the thermostat and using more energy. So they too recommend that you not bother to reverse the motion of your fan—just leave it off during heating season. Note that there might be some situations where reverse operation would be beneficial, such as in a room with a wood stove running or a very high vaulted ceiling.

If you’re looking to lower your energy bills during the cooling season, use ceiling fans in rooms you are occupying and turn up the temperature on your A/C a few degrees and let the fan go to work. Remember that ceiling fans cool you and not the space you’re in, so turn them off when you leave the room for an extended time so as to not waste electricity.

Here is a ceiling fan shopping tip I ran across: Consumer Reports found that while the pricier fans did have fancier finishes, they didn’t necessarily provide better performance. What’s more, most fans performed similarly in their air-movement tests. I will tell you though that my kids’ rooms have cheaper fans and very rarely get used due to the noise factor, where as my living room and bedroom fan gets used quite often and are very quiet in comparison.

Thanks Marsha for making me do some research; I hope this is helpful.

James Gallet
Envirotech Heating, Cooling and Energy Solutions

Brad had all the parts necessary for fixing our unit quickly. I would highly recommend his services. The charges were very reasonable. Thank you for

Phones are now smart apparently. This has come as quite a shock and one that I’m still trying to reconcile with my expectations. The first mobile phone patent was issued 102 years ago. To reach the dizzying heights of smartness in that time is quite good going. I can only assume that over the next century the intelligence of phones will evolve to a level where they will dispense with the need for humans and start communicating together directly (about what I shudder to think). Or maybe marketing departments should be a little more circumspect in their choice of terminology. (more…)

Every industry or industry sub-sector has its movers and shakers, its pioneers and thought leaders. These people have likely helped shape and evolve that industry to what it is today and what it may become in the future. For this series of ‘An Interview With…’ blog posts I will be posing the same set of questions to leading lights in the electronics cooling community to get their views on various thermal topics. Actually the last question is who to address the questions to next, in that way I hope a self sustaining chain can be set-up (here’s hoping it lasts more than one link!). (more…)

The A/C Handyman was on time to complete the service. When I had questions, he was helpful to answer! Would recommend to anyone.

The electrical transient testing method has become popular as a useful thermal analysis tool because of its accuracy, high repeatability and rich information content compared to the use of traditional steady state thermal characterization techniques. This paper presents a thermal study of a 16-chip memory module using transient testing. The two variables in this study are the thermal boundary conditions of and the power distribution within the module. By applying the method of network identification by deconvolution (NID) to a transient temperature measurement, we can identify the structure function, which is the dynamic thermal resistance versus capacitance along a particular heat flow path for a given boundary condition and power distribution. Comparisons of the structure functions reveal differences in the heat flow paths for the cases of one chip and multiple chips dissipating heat. We have successfully used transient testing on a three-dimensional memory module, and determined the contributions to the overall dynamic thermal resistance by each of the components including the heat spreader (HS), socket and even thermal interface material (TIM). This information about a 3-D assembly is often difficult to obtain using steady state techniques. Thermal engineers can use such information to differentiate the relative merit of materials and heat transfer mechanisms in a cooling solution to optimize the overall thermal budget.

Water heater replacement is something that Sinclair Heating Cooling and Plumbing specializes in!  If you have a water heater in your home or place of business you know that it is a matter of time until you will need to replace it.  If you have a tank water heater, I wanted to give some tips on what to look for but also what to expect if you have Sinclair plumbers change-out your water heater.

If your water heater tank is in a closet inside your home, business, or garage always check the copper lines going into the tank.  If you see corrosion or water sitting on top of the inlets, this is a sign of a leak!  Also, check the bottom of your water heater monthly (especially if it is old) for rust, corrosion, or dripping water.  This tip is especially important because the bottom of the tank could bust open and leak up 75 gallons of water, depending on the size of your tank.  Not good!  All of these problems would usually lead to your water heater needing to be replaced.

After you call or schedule Sinclair to replace your water heater, we would get approval from you to do the work.  Then our plumbers would start to drain the water heater so they can remove it.  After most of the water has been drained the plumbers would remove the old water heater and bring in the new one.  Before setting the new tank, the plumber will set an aluminum drain pan in order to keep water from leaking.  After setting the drain pan the new water heater is lifted-up and set into place.  A new water shut-off valve is set on the copper supply lines and everything for the supply lines is welded together.  Water is added to the tank and after it is full, electricity is hooked up or gas.  The plumber would then turn the unit on and set the temperature at your preferred setting.  It takes a couple of hours for water to heat-up to the set temperature.

I hope that these tips have helped you to be able to spot a leak and know what to expect when you have Sinclair come out and replace your water heater.  By the way, I am working on a Tankless Water-heater blog that will posted soon.  Any questions or comments?

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Review these myths and misconceptions about  geothermal heating cooling systems, energy efficiency and learn how geothermal heating and cooling works. Also watch a video on Geothermal heat Installation

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