One Board, 70+ Integrations: How Heatco and CRI Consolidated Five+ Controls into One

Problem

After years of using individual CRI controls for each of their inducer fans, Heatco looked to expand their lineup. However, adding more products meant adding more control boards to an already complex inventory.

Solution

Rather than simply creating more individual boards, CRI engineered an innovative “universal” control. This single custom board consolidates five previous controls into one, while also adding functionality for the new product lines being added utilizing field-configurable settings to precisely match the combustion requirements of over 70 different integrations.

Introduction

We spoke with Eric Bruton, Director of Technical Services at Heatco, a high-quality gas-fired heating OEM. Heatco first came to Control Resources Inc. in 2007 looking for a reliable way to control the speed of their inducer fans in their gas-fired heat exchangers. Through CRI’s design-to-build process, we partnered closely with them to develop custom controls for each inducer fan in their lineup.

In 2021, Heatco set out to expand—planning to implement our controls across more of their heaters and develop a few new custom boards. Instead, we came back with something better: one board for all product lines and models we support. A single board supporting over 70 integrations—simplifying ordering, inventory, and installation while improving both efficiency and safety.

Creating the First Boards

Heatco has been in the commercial HVAC space for over 40 years, and they expect partners to match their high standards of reliability. Nineteen years ago, they first reached out to Control Resources Inc. looking for a two-speed motor controller for their PSC blower motor—powered by AC voltage. They needed a different voltage output for different speeds depending on the field requirements. At the time, the solution was a different board created to control each inducer fan used across their product lines. This required significant R&D to develop the correct voltage settings to get the perfect “low speed” output for each product line. Given how precise combustion ratios are, a small change in speed can make a big difference. CRI worked right alongside the development team at Heatco to get it right, going back and forth and providing many rounds of prototype samples to test. When chatting about this, Eric mentioned this was one of the benefits of working with the team at CRI. “Control Resources was always easy to get ahold of and…would turn around the samples very quick…We would do…the first test, and be like oh nope, that’s not it. And then two days later we have the next [sample].”

Replacing Five Boards with One

In 2021 after using the CRI controls for quite a while, Heatco was looking to expand and requested more boards for their additional products. The engineering team at CRI came up with a better solution: a DIP switch on one main control board that had a lookup chart that allowed each specific unit to have its own precise settings. Instead of developing an RMS output voltage for each board, it allowed the team to use a single board and adjust it by model. This allowed for better efficiency and safety for Heatco. Additionally, it allowed for better pricing because Heatco was able to buy the control at larger quantities. “It allowed us to consolidate to one control and…it also gave us better and cleaner combustion because we were able to make very small changes and select what percentage we needed for each model,” commented Eric.

Eric went on to explain that being able to adjust the board by small increments like a 10th of a volt instead of something typical like 5% increments was helpful to be able to get the right settings. This has increased safety in their units because being able to really hone in on the exact combustion ratio for each unit provides better outcomes. Although it was a lot of work to figure out what inputs were needed for the lookup table for each unit they had, Eric said CRI made it as easy as possible, even as easy as ordering an off-the-shelf part. “Y’all made the custom approach very simple to where… [we had] the convenience of trying to find something off of a shelf. It was just as easy to go the custom route,” said Eric.

Why Heatco Has Stayed With CRI

As mentioned before, a big factor in choosing a partner for Heatco is reliability, and it’s the main reason they have stuck with CRI for all of these years. Eric mentioned reliability is why he was willing to be featured in this case study: “We’ve used you for a very, very long time…we’ve never really had a problem out of [the boards]. They do what they do and they work for a very long time. So that was the reason I was willing to do the case study. It is seldom nowadays to find something that can be as reliable.” There is even an internal joke at Heatco that when a product with a CRI board comes back in for an RGA it is never the issue. “It’s a joke with the lab technicians here over the years that anytime a Control Resources board has come back because it was bad, it’s like, okay, it’s not going to be this. And I don’t remember ever testing one that was bad…I guess when you can have a joke that…when a part comes in through the RGA process and you know you don’t have to look at it…That’s what I mean by reliable,” Eric said.