HVAC engineering Salary and Insights for 2025

HVAC, or Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning is a term that encapsulates the technologies that are used to bring thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality within buildings. These systems are designed to provide comfort through the control of air temperature, filtration of the air to eliminate pollutants and allergens, and the management of humidity.

The Three Core Components of HVAC

Heating

This feature maintains the internal temperature to be comfortable level indoors for lower temperatures, using energy sources such as electricity, gas, or solar energy to heat the building structures. This temperature is then distributed within the buildings.

Ventilation

The introduction of outdoor air is necessary for ventilation, or exchanging the indoor air through dampers or ventilation openings with outdoor air to remove unwanted smells, moisture, and contaminants such as smoke, dust, and airborne bacteria; this in turn helps to control indoor humidity levels and helps the boiler or air-condition compressor maintain peak performance.

Air Conditioning

Air-conditioning does not just cool the air, but moderates the air quality and temperature, which is supportive of the system as a whole. Air conditioning filters the air and, due to this process, a comfortable temperature in a room becomes sustainable regardless of the weather outside.

Common Locations for HVAC Systems

HVAC systems are ubiquitous in modern infrastructure:

In Commercial Buildings to ensure a conducive working environment and efficient business operations.

In Hospitality Venues, including hotels and resorts, for guests’ comfort.

Secondly, in hospitals, there ambient environnments have to be controlled in operating rooms.

Control Systems in HVAC

HVAC systems are managed through various types of controllers:

OEM Logic Boards: Factory-programmed for specific equipment, allowing basic user configurations.

The Simple PLC includes the likes of a programmable thermostat that, when programmed, can be integrated into a Building Automation System (BAS).

Custom Programmable Devices (Backend): Provides extensive programmability and can typically be configured among member devices in a product line that provide different feature sets.

GUI Software (Frontend): Software that lets operators monitor and control systems – usually specifically designed to work with a manufacturer’s backend devices.

Essential Tools in HVAC Design and Analysis

AutoCAD: A defining software, AutoCAD is significant in drawing precise 2D and 3D layouts, allowing an HVAC contractor to prepare the technical draft of heating, ventilation and cooling systems.

Revit: A tool developed for BIM (Building Information Modeling), Revit encourages collaboration among different teams – architects, engineers, general contractors, etc – through its model-based design platform, which facilitates coordinated and consistent design. It’s essential for integrating HVAC systems into larger building designs.

Photo courtesy of Carrier CorporationHourly Analysis Program (HAP): The Hourly Analysis Program, developed by Carrier, is a powerful tool for performing both load calculations and energy and economic analysis, which are vital for any HVAC system.

This software provides the ability to design such HVAC system starting from scratch or by assembling prebuilt components – complete with system layout and sizing tools.

Duct Sizer: calculating the cross-sectional dimensions of system ducts in order to determine the internal diameter of a duct given the requirement of airflow, and therefore design the component of the HVAC system capable of ventilating a space.