Participants learned to heat-fuse earth loops at the geo-exchange trench station.

AURORA, Ind. — GeoFarm ’11 drew more than 120 geothermal professionals from across the Northeast and Midwest regions. GeoFarm is a hands-on, multistation outdoor workshop and training arena for geothermal contractors. Attendees started each day with three one-hour work stations while being moved about on mobile hay bale wagons.

Tom Gray, commercial projects designer for Central Carolina Air Conditioning based in Greensboro, N.C. said, “GeoFarm offers a great experience through hands-on learning. Everything is in one place and it’s a fun, friendly environment. We fused pipe, jumped into a trench, and sunk a prefabricated pond loop.”

“The instructors were all great,” commented Luke Weiden from Tonica, Ill.-based Town & Country Services. “They were entertaining, insightful, and had no trouble holding anyone’s attention.”

John Bailey, ClimateMaster’s senior vice president of sales and marketing said, “The goal of GeoFarm is chiefly to let dealers who aren’t actively involved in geo get hands-on, visual introductions.”

Raj Hiremath, ClimateMaster’s residential marketing director, concluded, “At GeoFarm, the attendees learn intuitively. I believe that trade professionals learn more when training is offered in a hands-on setting. We’ve done our best to make it memorable.”

Publication date: 10/17/2011