NAOHSM Arrives in Taco Town
It took 57 years to do it, but the National Association of Oil Heat Service Managers Trade Show and Convention this year made its way to Rhode Island, where the population of Providence rose by a few thousand for a few days. To many ‘Rhodys,” as the locals call themselves, this was a long time coming and they all went out of their way to make us feel welcome. This is the home of the Taco Corporation and John White, Taco’s owner, really showed how great his town is.
The show opened with a flood of people, technicians, owners and students alike all wanting to see and feel all the new products available to them at the show. As attendees entered the arena, they were given a chance to win a new Smart Car by submitting a name for Taco’s new ‘uber-efficient” hydronic circulator, which was unveiled at the show. Taco is more than just circulators and you can find out at their Web site, www.taco-hvac.com, they are also about education. At their Web site, you can use their FloPro Designer program to help design your next project or visit the Flo-Pro University, which they developed to help you grow your business.
As I traveled the aisles I stopped at Carlin to see the new EZ-H2L oil burner. This is the two stage burner that was being discussed last year. This unit is for the residential market and has a turndown ratio of 2:1, from .5 to 1.5 gph. Pretty impressive, with its dual speed blower operation, dual firing rate fuel unit and its dual input rate. This unit will be only offered to OEM applications because this is not just another oil burner, it is part of a burner and control system. I spoke with Tom Tubman, executive vice president of Carlin Combustion, and he assured me that you will see this system on select applications this fall. Check their Web site www.carlincombustion.com for future information on this highly desirable product.
Down the aisle I stopped at the Boyertown furnace display to speak with Rosemarie Bartchak. The Regal ECM Furnace already has two-stage cooling and two stage heat pump operation and starting in September, Rosemarie told me, it will feature the Carlin EZ-H2L two stage oil burner. As we know, the system must provide heat on those few very cold days it pays to have a dual speed unit. With this unit running almost all the time in low speed, this unit will save on electricity by, in some cases, half of your electrical usage. At www.boyertownfurnace.com you can check out all of their products.
It seems that everyone is lowering the electrical usage of their products without sacrificing comfort or reliability, but if you want to get ‘off the electrical grid” almost completely, the Freewatt system from ECR Industries will interest you, as it did me. In speaking with Robert Shea, ECR representative, I learned that this unit produces enough heat to heat your home and at the same time produces 1.2kilowatts of electric power. This process is called CHP (combined heat & power) or co-generation, burning one fuel but getting two outputs. So during the cold days of winter, your electric bill is reduced. ‘Sometimes to near zero,” Shea said. Want to learn more about this system? Well, I did too, so go to www.freewatt.com for very interesting information on this product.
As I was strolling up and down the aisles I was stopped by a very young sales woman giving out handouts at the RW Beckett display. As Graciana handed me a flyer on interactive training, given on the company’s Web site, she was never out of eyesight of her dad, Kevin Beckett. Kevin told me about their new AquaSmart Model 7600 Boiler Control. Boy, this thing does almost everything except make your morning coffee! There are so many things that this control does, you just have to check it out at www.beckettcorp.com/aquasmart for more information. The site is very informative and fun to go through. I could not leave the booth without saying hello to John Beckett, Kevin’s dad, and a man who never misses this trade show. Wow, three generations at the same location at the same time. No wonder it is said this is a family business.
A lot has been done recently regarding Bio-fuel. Suntec has new pump seals, storage tanks have been designed for it and now, the Tigerloop Bio is here. Over at Westwood Products, Lindy Lindvieght showed me the new product the ‘Bio.” The Bio is rated for B100 BioHeat, No.1 & 2 fuel. It has a totally metal housing and can handle up to 20gph nozzle capacity. No more worrying about seals leaking in this one, it is designed for B100. It also is available in the Tigerloop Ultra-B, which incorporates an epoxy lines filter. Look them over at www.westwood.com for full information on this and any of their other fine products.
A new fuel unit will be coming out of the Suntec factory soon, Mike Szentsey told me. The model AM30 will have the ability to vary pump pressure by the use of a secondary pump incorporated in one unit. This will allow manufacturers of appliances to reduce the motor speed, which will reduce the air flow without reducing the pump pressure. Find out more about their products on their Web site www.suntecpumps.com. Very interesting concept, we will have to see how this plays out in the future.
As I was getting ready to leave the show, I viewed a number of student technicians gathered around Pierre-Yves Cloutier of Turbomax 2000. I just had to stop and listen. I have known Pierre for a number of years and I know he is always looking for ways to help the industry. This time he was asking the students ‘ the future of our industry ‘ if they prefer mechanical or electronic controls on his unit. After some discussion, they gave him their answer, which he noted in his log. The result of his survey is on his Web site, www.thermo2000.com.
If you missed this one, put next year’s show on your calendar now so you won’t miss it. The 58th Tradeshow and Convention will be held at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center on May 22-26, 2011.
