I certainly would not borrow money from a bank and give it to him to buy him out. One way I have heard it structured is to give him a percentage of the profits for a period of time (as an example 30% of the profits for 4 years). That way if the clients do not go with you and there is no profit...
Another option is to use some selection software from someone like Taco. It allows you to input the percentage of glycol, etc when running the selection.
You did not mention your years of experience, if you have around 5 years and your PE most of what I have seen is in the 80K range. Sadly I recall talking with a recruiter in 2003, he was getting 80K for mechanicals with a PE and five years experience in MEP systems way back then.
I switched about 12 years ago from a product design background to HVAC. My employer at the time had a knack for sending engineers to China for a month at the start of college football season. In general the HVAC or energy will be closer to home, they can send you around the country if they run...
I would think it is unlikely they will cough up a 10% raise even if you have passed the exam. Probably your best bet is to research your market value and present it to your employer with a grateful attitude about your current situation. Most people receive their biggest pay bumps by changing jobs.
You could shut the balancing valve in the bypass leg. What you have been told is generally correct (2-ways on a variable flow system, 3-ways on constant flow). Some engineers put a 3-way valve at the end of runs to "keep the pipe cold" in a 2-way valve system but generally it is only a matter...
That is over 3 cfm/sf which is pretty high if it is a standard office area as you have described. Are you certain they are getting the 1200 CFM? You will need to do a load calc as others have suggested.
It generally is needed for service access, to specify LH or RH as the valve, etc will be on that side. Different manufacturers seem to have different terminology, some determine LH or RH as if the air blowing out of the unit was "hitting the back of your head" as one sales rep described for me...
After 5 years and no rebound in the industry, my guess is they had to move onto something else to put food on the table. Several EE's I know moved off to power generation for example.
I see almost identical ads runs these days compared to 7-8 years ago with no change in salary but a change in experience requirement from 5 years to now 10 and in some cases 15 years. Similar gripe to what you describe ("moving the goalposts"), probably in big part due to economic reasons.
