Is it OK to Customize HVAC Products?

It may have been a while, but think back to the third or fourth day at your first engineering job.

THIS was the day when you learned where the rubber met the road. Your manager told you what your job was, and how to do it right. You paid attention, because it was the thing that you were getting paid for.

Do it right, get more work, advance. Make a career out of this.

Do it wrong, look forward to uncomfortable meetings where you get to talk about skipping steps or making mistakes, and what those might cost. Consider less challenging careers.

Your manager probably did not suggest that you do anything “out of the box” on the day you learned what your job was. But at some point, he or she expected that you would find some trusted resources, and lean on them when it was time to ask a question or customize.

Customizing takes more time, but it adds a lot of value and lets you solve problems. Isn’t that what Engineering is all about? You might be surprised to learn that it’s fun and interesting as well.

Our friends at Price Industries love customizing their products. In almost any department, they will tell you that the catalog is just a starting point. Below are some examples.

Displacement Ventilation

There isn’t a catalog page for a displacement diffuser pretending to be a structural column located in a hospital lobby. But they build it:

By the way, the catalog shows displacement diffuser face velocities up to 50 fpm. It doesn’t mean you should design at that velocity. Please cap your designs at 40 fpm so you’ve got a little headroom!

Ceiling Diffusers

The catalog doesn’t tell you that Price builds round adjustable diffusers with actuators for pattern adjustment. Imagine trying to make that adjustment with a twelve-foot long pole!

Noise Control

A packless silencer for grease duct? That can’t be a thing! But there it is.
Price will also build vertical or horizontal offsets into their attenuators. They will also customize length, width or height in one-inch increments. That’s not in the catalog.

Terminals

No, the series fan-power terminal designed for DOAS with custom sound attenuation and a custom factory-built valve package is not in the catalog, but they build them.

We’ve worked with many of you in the past to customize Price products, and we delivered great projects together when we did. Please keep these options in mind, and let’s build something great together!