Beckett Rep for November meeting/ New Meeting Location

With November and the Thanksgiving/Christmas and other holidays fast approaching our educational sessions continue at full tilt with a Beckett rep scheduled for the November meeting. Starting with our November meeting we will be meeting at a new location.

Bethlehem Area Vo Tech

3300 Chester Av

Bethlehem, Pa 18020

610-866-8013

We've been waiting to get all the insurance stuff straightened out, and now we will be able to use this location for our meetings. I think it will be a great opportunity for our chapter to offer quality educational programs for our members and for those students in the HVAC training programs. If you've never been to the Vo tech building, I have included directions at the bottom of the post.

The November meeting will present a season appropriate topic. It's getting colder outside and that means that heating systems will soon be operating and providing us with plenty of occasions to use our troubleshooting skills. A great topic will be offered with the Beckett rep coming to our meeting to explain all about the GeniSys oil burner control.

Many Thanks to APR , Corp for sponsoring our November meeting. Not only will APR arrange for the speaker but they will also supply refreshments for our weary bodies. Make plans now to be part of the great educational session and bring a friend along to introduce them to the Lehigh Valley RSES. See you all there!!

The Beckett GeniSys™ Advanced Burner Control is a 120 Vac primary safety control for residential and light commercial oil burners used in boiler, furnace, and water heater applications. The GeniSys™ is used with a suitable cad cell flame sensor to control the oil burner motor, igniter and optional solenoid valve. It has 24 Vac thermostat inputs compatible with both on/off and power stealing thermostats. It can provide interrupted or intermittent duty ignition, and has a 15-second lockout time.

Directions to Bethlehem Area Vo Tech:

From Route 22

Take the PA-191/Nazareth Pike exit

Turn left onto Nazareth Pike ( heading S. toward Bethlehem). Travel 0.7 mi

Take the 2nd left onto Oakland Rd. Travel 0.9 mi

Turn right at Hecktown Rd . Travel 0.4 mi

Take the 2nd right onto Chester Ave. Destination will be on the right. Travel 279 ft

Arc Flash Protection/ Compressor Teardown Seminar

Saturday October 3 was the Fall region 2 training day for RSES Region 2. Region 2 is known as Empire Keystone Association or EKA and comprises those member chapters from New York and Pa. There were close to 30 attendees on Saturday at the compressor tear down seminar. These guys came from Pittsburgh and Buffalo and everywhere in between. It was a terrific event that was held at URI compressors http://www.uricompressors.com/ . Bruce Reich is the owner/operator and this gentleman knows his stuff. My only regret is that we didn't start an hour earlier as we certainly could have used the extra time. Bruce spent ample time explaining the "triangle" of possible causes for compressor failure. When a compressor fails, he explained, it's not just a matter of "it wore out". There is always a reason for the failure and unless you determine the cause of failure it will happen again- sometimes in a matter of hours. After the discussion about compressor failure it was time to dig in! There were six tear down stations so everybody got their hands a little dirty. At my station I was able to look at an oil problem that caused a valve failure that wound up destroying a piston and connecting rod. It all comes home when you can see it as well as hear about it. We are very appreciative to Bruce and Gobin for taking time to share your expertise with us.

In the afternoon the president of EKA, Mr. Tom Schaefer CMS, did a "pinch hit" by filling in for the scheduled speaker who had to cancel due to other obligations. Tom was able to spend time "reviewing" the basics of electrical theory, schematic reading, and meter usage. As Tom mentioned, there are veterans with 15 yrs experience that still benefit from this type of review. You can always learn something new or be reminded of something that you forgot. Thank you Tom!

All this leads me to the next and final squib. Thursday October 15 @ 6PM at the Moravian College "doghouse" we will host our October meeting which is a very scary topic appropriate to the Halloween season. The stark difference is that this topic really is scary for a really good reason. We will do a presentation about Arc Fault Safety. This important safety topic is relevant to all of us. We all work on systems and around motor controls that are susceptible to this event. Bring your Halloween mask if you must, but plan to attend this meeting. YOU NEED THIS TRAINING!!!! Or ELSE..............................................