5 Work Day Quick-Ships on HVAC Coils – Why Capital Coil does it right

Day 1 – 38% of all orders sent to Capital Coil are on some kind of quick-ship, whether it be on a (5 day, 10 day, or 15 day). We enter the order immediately so that all departments in the plant have the project in their systems and are ready to move on it right away. The coil isQuick-Ships engineered, routing sheets are sent to the shop floor, and everybody now knows what needs to be built. 

Day 2 – Sheet metal casings are cut and sized, headers and connections are fabricated, while tube sheets are fabricated.

Day 3 – All tubing and fins are cut, stamped and assembly begins. You can see what the coil will look like upon final assembly at this point. Coils can be seen sitting on assembly tables.

Day 4 – Tubes are then expanded into the fins, and keep in mind that this is not a short process. Headers are then brazed to the tubes, and if there are return bends, they are connected. The coil is completely assembled and moved to the testing tank. The coil is tested under water for 20 minutes at 550 PSI. About 3% of coils have small leaks someplace in the brazing and are sent back to braze again.

Day 5 – The coil is crated and sent to shipping for routing to the customer. Then most importantly, your coil will be shipping in the guaranteed (5) days.

As you can see by this description, with quick-ships, there is not a lot of room for error in the timing and shipping with OEM HVAC replacement coils. We’ve been doing this for a while now, and we’ve had an approximately (97%) success rate fulfilling all quick-ship requests. We offer quick shipments 365 days per year, with both (10) day shipments & (15) day shipments also available for lower premiums.

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Case Study: We Need These Coils on a (5) Day Quick-ship

In late June, Capital Coil received a call from a Trane office in Ohio regarding quick-ship availability. One of Trane’s top customers had an urgent need for (12) large chilled water coils with stainless steel casing. The problem/hurdle that they were encountering was that they needed all (12) coils to be built and ship out of the factory in (5) business days. Completion of the whole project was 100% contingent on them receiving the coils in their specified time-frame. An additional complication was the fact that July 4th was the following week, and they needed to have the coils ship prior to the holiday.

Trane shopped the project around to different manufacturers, but not one could guarantee to ship in (5) days. Some manufacturers waffled and claimed that they could have them built in (6) or (7) days, but not one could guarantee to ship in (5) days. A sales rep in that same Trane office, who had worked with Capital Coil previously, suggested that his co-worker reach out to us to see what we could do. After speaking with Trane’s project manager, we immediately contacted our head of production to make sure that we had the capacity to complete all (12) coils in the required (5) days. She assured us that we had the materials and manpower on-hand to get them all built and ship on time. We agreed to accept the project and began work on the coils immediately.

Due to the size of the project, as well as it’s time-sensitivity, we had multiple calls daily with our factory to ensure that everything was proceeding on schedule. We then gave Trane daily status updates, so they were constantly informed of everything from the brazing of the coils to entering the final testing phase. Chilled Water Coil

As promised, all (12) coils were built correctly and shipped out in the required (5) days. Our logistics team was then in constant communication with the freight company to make sure that the delivery was on schedule. And just like during the production phase, we passed daily tracking updates along to Trane, so they knew where their coils were at all times and when they could expect delivery. All (12) chilled water coils arrived on July 3rd with zero freight damage, and the project was completed on time!

A company as large and influential as Trane can have their coils built by anyone, but Capital Coil was the only manufacturer that could guarantee to have their coils built and shipped by a required date. Additionally, in working so closely with Trane throughout the whole process, they were kept up-to-date in real time from the start of production to final delivery.

Capital Coil offers a level of service that you won’t get with other manufacturers. When we guarantee to ship by a certain date, we stand by that guarantee, or you do not pay!

 

Trane’s project manager’s comments to Capital Coil upon completion/delivery:

“This will help us get a jump on this project prior to the big event taking place next week! 

I will make sure to share your information with others across our great lakes region about our experience with your company, so that they know we have THIS option to go to for our coil needs. THANK YOU ALL!!”

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Top 5 Reasons Commercial HVAC Coils Prematurely Fail

Capital Coil & Air has come across virtually every scenario over the years in which a commercial HVAC coil had to be prematurely replaced, and we have since created an easy guide targeting the main reasons HVAC Coils prematurely fail.

  • Coil Plugging: If you are not changing filters and/or your commercial HVAC coils are not properly cleaned in a timely manner, your coil will actually begin to act as a filter. When dirt builds up on the coil, that blockage prevents heat transfer and can cause an approximate 20% to 40% drop in performance. Dirt adds to the coil resistance and can be a primary cause for your coil to fail prematurely.
  • Vibration: When your HVAC coils are installed near a moving piece of equipment, vibration can occur and cause leaks. You can tell if vibration is the main cause if leaks are near the tube sheet and look like they are slicing through the tube. If/when that happens, the coils should be isolated from the rest of the system to prevent vibration from causing damage. One way to combat this is by oversizing the tubesheet holes, but many manufacturers will not do this. Condenser Coils are usually the most common victims of vibration.
  • Corrosive Environment: This applies to both the air in the environment and inside the tubes. For instance, if there is a corrosive element in the air, it will eat away at the copper tubes; whether you have 0.020” wall or 0.049” wall. This is very common in coastal areas where there may be salt in the air. To keep the costs down from going to a stainless steel or cupro-nickel coil, we usually suggest coating the HVAC coils. Coatings are almost always within your budget, and its application will only add about a week to the overall lead time. Steam condensate and untreated water can cause corrosion within the tubes of HVAC coils as well. If you have a steam coil that has failed before the one year warranty, there’s a great chance that corrosive agents are in the steam, and it’s eating away at the copper tubes.
  • Freeze-Ups: Most people think that when HVAC coils freeze, the water or condensate laying in the coil freezes into ice and it expands causing the tubes to bulge and eventually spring leaks. What really happens is that the coil will freeze in multiple areas simultaneously, and it’s the pressure between these areas that cause the tubes to swell and eventually burst. These are very easy to spot as the leaks will run the length of the tube rather than around the tube.  ALSO be very careful when considering “freeze-proof” coils!  If you remove 5-6 inches from the fin length to make the “freeze-proof” application fit, your coil’s performance will suffer considerably. 
  • System Design: You would be amazed to learn how many HVAC coils were never designed properly for their systems. If there is a design problem, replacing the coil will only waste time and money; while you have done nothing other than duplicate the previous problem. A little known fact in the replacement market is that a high percentage of all our projects are because the coils were built incorrectly or were never designed correctly in the first place. In some cases, owners attempt to improve the coil’s performance by adding additional rows. Most however do this without taking into account the air pressure drop or fluid pressure drop that comes with it.

When dealing with an HVAC coil manufacturer, try to partner up with one who will walk you through the engineering and explain it along the way. Capital Coil & Air has well over a decade of experience and can help you diagnose whatever problem that you are experiencing correctly the first time. We look forward to working with you on your next project!

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Are Your Quick-Ships Shut Down When Needed Most???

Why are quick-ships so important??

Christmas season is in full-swing, and your current coil supplier has suspended all Quick-Ships with little to zero notice to its customers. Does that sound familiar these days? Additionally, the clock is ticking to complete those projects that need to be done by the end of the year. In this industry, this scenario is when “Quick-Ship” availability is an absolute must. Right now, the vast majority of coil manufacturers are scrambling to complete standard orders on regular lead-times, and if by dumb-luck they are able to temporarily offer any type of expedited build, the added premiums are so astronomical that very few customers can afford to use those options.

If you need a new coil, your first inclination will probably be to call the OEM. But more times than not, they are not flexible or nimble enough to handle your emergency within an acceptable time-frame. Quick-ships are generally based on emergency conditions, and that is precisely the worst time to discover that your regular supplier has suspended Quick-Ships.

So why do so many manufacturers seem to get so overwhelmed at various point every year? In short, many manufacturers take on a glut of OEM business, or other large projects with small profit margins. In many cases they do this simply to keep the factory running during the slower periods of the year. This has the effect of delaying standard lead times, and in many cases, cancelling Quick-Ships altogether. It is very hard to do business with companies that make themselves unavailable when you need them the most.

Capital Coil’s primary duty as the leading OEM replacement coil manufacturer is to fill in those gaps and work with you to help alleviate any emergencies. Whether you need a coil in (3) weeks, or (5) days, Capital Coil has got you covered.

Capital Coil does not try to be all things to all customers, and we’re most comfortable “staying in our lane”. Our #1 goal is to ensure that we have multiple quick-ship options open all year around…even if that means turning away an order to ensure sure that our Quick-Ships are ALWAYS available!!  Quick-ships

Because Quick-Ships make up such a substantial portion of our overall business, Capital Coil has hit 99.9% of our quick-ship requests over the last (2) years. An unfortunate forklift mistake makes up the other .1%. Throughout the first 6 months of 2022, approximately 80% of all orders were/are quick-ships, and they have either all been completed on time, or are 100% on schedule.

An RFQ that sits on a desk unanswered is useless to everyone involved. If you need a quote, you’ll have your price and any required submittals that same day. It really is that simple and easy! Working with Capital Coil will remove many, if not all of the annoying and unannounced shut-downs that come with other manufacturers, so please let us help you when you need it the most!

 

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OEM Replacement Coils: Repair or Replace???

When considering OEM replacement coils, there are multiple reasons why coils can fail prematurely. Sometimes, OEM Coils simply freeze and can never be repaired. Other times, the coil was selected incorrectly, which in turn, made the coil significantly underperform. Many times, there is substantial corrosion or something else in the system that causes the coil to fail. However, most coils, when selected correctly, and in systems that are properly maintained, can last anywhere from 10-30 years!  10-30 years is also a pretty wide range, and there are many variables in how long you can expect a coil to perform. Factors, such as ongoing maintenance, air quality, and water/steam quality all have an effect on a coil’s lifespan.

OEM Replacement Coils

Reasons Why Coils Fail Of Old Age

  • While the coil’s tubes are considered the primary surface, 70% of all coil performance is performed by the finned area on a coil, which is known as the secondary surface. The fin/tube bond is easily the most important manufacturing feature in any coil. Without the bond between the tubes and fins, the coil could never properly function. Like all things however, over time the fin/tube bond becomes less efficient with constant expansion and contraction. While the construction of the coil, as well as the fin collars, does not allow the fins on the coil to move, that fin/tube bond naturally weakens a coil’s life over time after installation. Because of this, it is not a stretch to say that a coil is easily 30% less efficient after (20) years.
  • Cleaning coils often pushes dirt to the center of the coil, and this occurs even more so on wet cooling coils. Just remember that coils can become great air filters if not properly maintained. The BTU output of any coil is in direct proportion to the amount of air going through the coil. If you decrease the CFM by 20%, you are also decrease the BTU’s by 20%!
  • Cleaning agents often corrode aluminum fins. Since every square inch of fin surface matters in performance, corrosion of the fin surface is always detrimental to the coil’s performance.
  • Many times, there are coil leaks simply because of old age. No coils are immune to erosion. You might find the brazing in the tubes, as well as the brazing in the header/tube connections failing over time. Steam can be both erosive and corrosive under higher pressures. Water travels through the coil at 2 – 5 ft/second, so erosion is an enormous part of coil failure, regardless of how well-maintained. Erosion is always there, whether you realize it or not.
  • Water/steam treatment and the corrosive effects of bad steam/water can all be causes of coil failure…which then necessitates the need for a reliable manufacturer for OEM replacement coils.

So What Is The Solution?

Some coils can last 5 years, and some coils can last 30 years. As you have read, there are numerous factors that contribute to a coil’s life. In the end, there will most likely have been multiple attempts to repair that coil to make it last as long as possible. The depressing news is that most of these “Band-Aid” attempts do not work well. The most likely outcome is that you are buying a new coil anyway, so why waste the time and money on a temporary solution?

Coil failure is a “pressure event”, which is a fancy way of saying that a coil is leaking. We’ve listed some of the most common repair methods that you are likely to come across:

  • Drop leaking tubes from the circuit: Keep in mind however that every dropped tube reduces the coil’s performance by triple the surface area of the tube that is dropped. Again, while ok in the short-term, this is simply another “Band-Aid” fix. Over time, your energy costs will rise exponentially, and you will probably end up buying a new coil anyway.
  • Braze over the existing braze: As mentioned above, erosion has caused the original braze to fail, so all that you are really doing is pushing the pressure to another braze, which will then begin to fail as well.
  • High Pressure Cleaning: This method bends the fins, further restricts the airflow, and pushes dirt more to the center of the coil, which can never be adequately cleaned.

The real reason why coils need to be replaced rather than repaired is due to energy costs. If your coil is not operating near desired levels, you’ll need to increase the energy to make it work at its peak performance. Energy increases might be slight at first, but they are guaranteed to continue to rise over time. For example:

  • Somebody adjusts the fan drive for higher speeds, higher CFM’s and higher BTU’s.
  • Someone adjusts the boiler; the water and steam temperatures are higher.
  • Someone adjusts the chiller (1) degree higher for colder water to the chilled water coil.

Whichever method is used, performance begins to suffer and adjustments to the system occur. These adjustments cost energy efficiency and ultimately, money!

If you have ever experienced repairing a coil, then you know it is labor intensive and typically will not work as a permanent solution. With very few exceptions, repairs should be seen as nothing more than temporary until you’re able to replace that coil!

Capital Coil & Air has seen every “repair” method used, as well its inevitable outcome, so instead of putting yourself through that, call Capital Coil and allow us to be your coil replacement experts.

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