Change in Monthly Meeting Date

The Monthly Meeting for LVRSES have been changed to Wed. Feb.27,6-8PM at the ABC training center in Allentown. It was scheduled for Thurday the 28th, but our speaker is unable to make that date. We are looking forward to a great presentation from Honeywell on burner controls. Our speaker will be Mr. Bob Thomas. Please make plans to attend as I'm sure you'll come away with a ton of new info.

My Head is about to explode

The RSES/EKA seminar on Jan. 19 was just great, but the following week with the AHR expo and then our chapter meeting gave me enough information to cause my head to explode (Not that I need that much help). Attending the RSES/EKA seminar was just what I was looking forward to-lots of great training and excellent speakers.

That following week some from our chapter were able to attend the AHR expo, also at the Javits Center in NYC. With over 1800 exhibitors you could barely make it through even with the two days that we were there. Ron Lobb, Mike Fabian and myself were there on Tues. and Wed. and I know that Tom Donnmoyer and Erik Kurtz were there on Wed. The place was packed with everything and anything involving the HVAC industry. From the informal comments that I heard it was by far the largest expo-ever!

The highlight for me was meeting the international president, Mr. Allan Smith, CMS. One of the first questions that he asked me was, "So, what training is your chapter involved in?". This only reaffirmed to me the cardinal purpose of our society which is to further the training and knowledge of the HVAC professional. It was also a pleasure to meet Mr.Mark Lowry, executive vice president and Ms. Kim Heselbarth, marketing manager. I read Mark's articles and hear about the folks that work at international headquarters, it's always great to meet them in person.

You would think that was enough for the week. But on Thursday we had an excellent chapter meeting with our guest speaker Mr. David Lampart from InetriTec, Inc. His topic was about water treatment for both open and closed systems. Actually he opened it up for questions and answers (always dangerous for a speaker) and we all learned as much from the questions as we did from the answers. He had a lot to offer and we look forward to hearing from him again in the future.

Our next chapter meeting will be on Thursday Feb.28 from 6-8PM at the ABC training center. We will have a rep from Honeywell speaking about commercial burner controls and other control topics.

We are going to start a $5 raffle at the Feb. meeting with the drawing to be held at the June picnic. The prizes will be a 12V Milwaukee drill donated by Johnstone Supply and Fluke 117/322 combination electrician's kit donated by Meier Supply. These very generous donations are worth almost $300 each. We will use the proceeds to help build up our meager treasury, so we can offer valuable programs for our members and friends. Please plan to support it. The raffle is open to anyone.

HVAC Training Day in NEW YORK,NEW YORK!

January 19 in New York City was an outstanding day of education in the HVAC industry. For me it was also a long day. Getting up at 4:30AM to catch the bus into the Port Authority isn't my first choice, but the exceptional programs provided by the EKA and hosted by the New York chapter made it more than worthwhile.

Classes were held in the Javits convention center,just a short walk from the Port Authority. In just two days the convention center will be awash with the AHR expo. So as we made our way into the center, it was being fully inundated with over 1800 exhibitors. As Arnold said,"I'll be back." Meaning that I'm planning on spending a full two days at the expo to soak up as much as possible of the expo during the coming week.

Our educational sessions began at 8AM with Mr. Joe Marchese, CMS doing an outstanding presentation on "Refrigeration for the HVAC technician". Joe teaches at Allegheny Community College in the Pittsburgh area, so he does an excellent presentation. Probably the best quote all day was when he mentioned that "patience is the greatest asset an HVAC technician can have." I asked Joe if I could quote him and he said "sure" and he also directed me to a website where he has also written an article about PATIENCE. More about that in a later post.

Mr. Jim Bergman of Testo was the second presenter with the topic Condi"Commissioning Air Conditioning Systems". How important is it to verify that the system that you sold and installed does what you say it does. The smart HVAC contractor will verify that the system is installed correctly and that it preforms the way it should. By the way, you do all this with test instruments that can measure accurately and with repeatability.

" The Practical side of Measuring Airflow" addressed by Mr. Art Miller, CMS was just what the title advertised. Some very practical ways to predict and measure airflow in a system .

One common theme throughout the day was the importance of setting up and then measuring systems for the correct airflow. Once you have the correct airflow in an HVAC system all the other measurements and troubleshooting can begin. If you don't have the correct airflow, don't bother going any further until you resolve that problem.

As I was looking around the room on Saturday I would estimate that there were about 75 participants. But what really impressed me was that everyone came with a notebook and pen. They came ready to learn and improve their skills. It's also great to see that RSES is really a multicultural society. The desire to learn, improve, advance, is something which has no barriers. It crosses all boundaries and it sure showed on Saturday.

Tom Donnmoyer and I were able to take a quick walk to Time Square before we boarded the bus to head back to the Lehigh Valley. It was getting bitter cold outside and the streets were packed with people moving about with their lives. We joked a little about how many BTU's it took to power all the lights on Time Square. As I settled into my seat for the ride home I felt satisfaction that I invested a day in something that will provide a lot of dividends.

Lehigh Valley Chapter members are reminded that our monthly meeting is scheduled for Thursday January 24, 6PM at ABC training center in Allentown. The topic will be "Water Treatment Essentials" taught by Mr. David Lampart of IntegriTech, inc.