The HTRC

The Homeowners & Trades Resource Center

CFM

CFM is shorthand for Cubic Feet per Minute – generally this relates to how much air can be or is being moved per minute.

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Charge

Charge refers to how much Refrigerant / Freon is found in the Air Conditioning system. You can either have the proper charge, to much or to little of a charge. The last two are both bad & result in not only your unit not conditioning the air properly, but working harder than it is designed for. […]

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Charrette

A charrette was originally French for chariot but is now used by organizations like LEED to refer to an integrative design process and meetings. The process starts with all the participants, (design team, engineers, contractors, clients, and any other aplicable parties) going over the entire project during the planning stage to spot problem areas & ways to improve.

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CMU

A CMU or Concrete Masonry Unit aka a concrete block is used to build walls in both commercial & residential applications. CMUs have hollow cores that can be filled with concrete on-site for additional reinforcement. The top course or two on load bearing walls typically has the center area knocked out to (like a trough) with […]

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CO

CO or Carbon Monoxide is a colorless, odorless, highly poisonous gas produced by the incomplete burning of a fuel. For More CO can also stand for Certificate of Occupancy which is required before the building can be used for it’s intended purpose.

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Coefficient of Performance

Coefficient of Performance or COP is a ratio used to measure the heating performance of the heat pump when it reaches steady state. It is comparable to knowing what your cars MPG is on the highway while not taking into account the hills, construction zones, and in town driving.

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Coil

A coil is generally used to quickly remove or add heat into the surrounding medium. The two most common ones are part of the HVAC system which has an Evaporator Coil & a Compressor Coil. Coils may also be found in Certain hot water systems, like boilers, solar thermal, etc…

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Commissioning

Commissioning is the process of testing a home or commercial buildings systems after a construction or renovation project to ensure that all of the systems are operating correctly per the manufacturers or designers specifications

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Compressor coil

The Compressor’s coil is designed to take that heat that was picked up from the inside from the evaporator coil (remember hot moves to cold) and generated by the compressor to be dumped outside. The larger the compressors coil is, the more efficient the system will generally be which is one reason why the systems seem to […]

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Condensate

Condensate is essentially when water (&/or similar items) that are in vapor form condenses to form a liquid due to a lowering of the temperature (reaching dew point). For example you may see water on the inside of your windows because that surface is to cool based on the amount of humidity in the air. […]

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