I recently heard from an acquaintance in the industry that residential air balancing is becoming a larger thing. I have a hard time believing there is a large number of home owners who would understand what we do enough to justify paying us.

I understand apartments need occupancy permits from the city and the city wants to see a TAB report. But I have never balanced any houses just apartments and commercial buildings.

I'm curious to hear the consensus from the rest of the community.

Hey everyone, I do TAB work in the Chicago area (TABB certified). We use excel for our reports and it always felt like something was missing: Tied to a laptop, conflicting copies, color coded tabs to track progress, deficiency pictures lost in your phone. So i decided to create an app that works on web, App Store and Google Play. Works offline and syncs to all users when you get signal. Automatically tracks deficiencies. Keep systems organized and shows status. Built it VAV and balancing valve calculators, one click pdf reports. Check it out and see if FlowPoint TAB can help at flowpointtab.com

I was down to 1 left and after scouring the internet I found them. Sad they used to just give these away.

This was supposedly a brand new EF by Cook. Fan makes 50 CFM with the plate and 250 after we removed the plate. Design is 200. Not sure I have ever seen this....

I passed the NEBB CP exam recently and now I’m trying to prepare for the TABB Supervisor exam. Any advice for taking the TABB Supervisor test? Can I use my NEBB formula sheet? Is there any big difference between the 2 tests?

We are in a large metro area, so we see it all here, and it’s all within 45 miles of our office. Everything from the big stuff like full size hospitals, airports, data centers, lab research facilities, stadiums, new highrises, multi-floor highrise upfits, schools, and motorsports dyno testing/fabrication facilities, to the smaller things dental offices, restaurants, banks, and single suite office upfits.

The most fun projects have been the highrises. The toughest have been hospitals.

- What type of projects does your company usually see?
- How close to a metropolitan area are you?
- What has been your favorite project you’ve worked on?

Went to a 4 PM start job the last two days after controls tech confirmed he would be on site for VAV calibration and schedule overrides. Guess who didn’t show up two days in a row lol

Anyone use the Milwaukee rolling tool chest for their flow hood? I use Milwaukee packout stuff at home as well as my tool bag, lunch pail and a socket set. Would like to figure out if my alnor would fit in this so I could bring more stuff and not have to carry as much. Nothing worse than working on a job downtown and having to do multiple trips or struggle to carry everything. If the hood can fit in this, then I would be able to put everything else in/on it and only have to carry my ladder. Plus the wheels on my alnor case always get destroyed in Canadian winters and salt.

This year has seen a very significant uptick on TAB reports that get returned as "Revise & resubmit". Most of the times the engineer's comments are trivial or seem downright petty. At first I thought it was due to us working on projects with firms we previous had no experience with, but then the thought occurred to me that they (engineers) may be starting to use AI to review reports.

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone had any specific knowledge of this happening. It's probably safe to assume it is already happening, but to what extend I'd have no clue.

Is the CV on these Tacos constant? I’m not sure I trust my eyes with the slide ruler.

Hello I’m currently a sheet metal apprentice looking to transfer into test and balance. I’ve been doing some research on it and it seems to be a better fit for me compared to what I’m doing currently. If you’re a tech, what are the biggest things you like and dislike about TAB? Would you recommend it for a career?

Has anyone worked on projects that fall under the Davis bacon act and prevailing wages? The DOL put out a memorandum (AAM247) specifically to test and balance contractors saying they fall under the sheet metal trade and are required to be paid as such on DBA/DBRA jobs but the site we are contracted at is considering us a “specialty service” and claiming it does not apply to us. It seems it would be a significant pay difference if they pay us according to the prevailing wages of a sheet metal worker. Might be a long shot but i wanted to check in to see if anyone has experienced this.

Ok so I never ever worked with a VFD or seen one in person, and I know there’s YouTube and other things on the internet to help me learn about them, but I wanted to come here first and get advice/tips or habits from techs who have worked with them, I wanted to know what do you guys usually do when you come across one that a call was placed about and how you guys go about, mostly asking because everyone does things differently so wanted to see what anybody had to say about them.

Hello, we are looking for a few SMALL air balancing companies or preferably startups with 3 or less employees that would be interested in participating in a software pilot starting September 1st. New companies are preferred because this will require a whole new workflow than you and your employees are used to.

Once the pilot is complete, we will be offering a limited-seat free tier subscription.

More details in the future.

Please PM me your company size, and the industry you work most in. (unfortunately we are not looking for residential TAB companies at this time).

Wow I did not know TAB had its own sub! I’ve been in the field 5 years and have always found it really niche as no one ever knows what TAB is all about unless you’ve worked in the field. I entered the trade through my uncle who started up his company after 25+ years experience. How did everyone began working in balancing ? I’m sure there’s a lot of cool stories behind our jobs

I’ve been doing testing and balancing (TAB) for about 10 years, mostly working with my dad, who owns a small one-person firm. I’m not certified through AABC or NEBB, although I’ve considered getting my NEBB certification.
Recently, I got an opportunity to get into commercial plumbing, and I’ve been doing it for about a week or two now. I’m 26 years old, and in Illinois it would take me about four years to become a licensed plumber.
I’m trying to decide whether I should focus on plumbing full-time and continue doing TAB as side work, or go all-in on TAB and pursue NEBB certification or vise versa for plumbing.

I know it’s kind of a random question, but I’d really appreciate some advice from people who have experience in either field. What would you do if you were in my position?

Found this at a Ford plant. It’s probably been in there for a minimum of 30 years.

What is everyone preferred flow hood.

I am starting the process for sitting the TBE exam. Does anyone have any tips/pointers? Is it actually as hard as everyone is making it out to be? I did the TABB supervisor and passed it pretty well, but I know that’s only maybe half the size of AABC’s exam.

Phone rings.

“Hey, the pharmacy pressure has been acting up since about 6 PM. We’ve been chasing it for hours.”

So there I am, trying to troubleshoot a hospital pharmacy over the phone while enjoying what was supposed to be a relaxing Saturday night.

After hearing everything they’d already checked, I asked one simple question:

“Did y’all do a deep clean today?”

A few phone calls later…

“Well… yeah.”

Turns out the cleaning crew soaked the room pressure sensor, and the BAS was having a complete meltdown.

Problem mostly solved.

I went in today to verify everything and investigate the remaining pressure issues.

Then I found this. (See photos.)

An entire trash bag stuffed inside the duct.

So this weekend’s scorecard:
🍺 Interrupted Saturday night.
💦 Wet pressure sensor.
🗑️ Ductwork doubling as a trash can.

Sometimes HVAC isn’t about knowing psychrometrics or control sequences…

It’s about asking, “Did anybody get this thing wet?” and “Why is there a garbage bag in the duct?”

Is anyone on her familiar with this system for a smoke tower. It's in a building built in the 1970s. I have one that's not functioning properly and there is limited information available.

Anyone know of a company looking for a NEBB CP (TAB or Commissioning)? Besides the normal Palmetto, Integra, Airadigm big boys. There are definitely jobs out there but never hurts to look at all options. Sometimes the job just hasn’t been posted yet.
Thanks in advance!