GAMA Convenes Its First Fuel Cell Group Meeting

By Barbara A. Checket-Hanks

CARLSBAD, CA — Many of the product section meetings at the Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association’s (GAMA’s) 67th annual meeting here were business as usual — continuations of existing projects, and discussions of federal vs. local regulatory changes. But two product meetings had a different bent. They represented beginnings and possibly endings.

The first actual meeting of the Fuel Cell Group took place here in Carlsbad. And what may have been the last meeting of the Carbon Monoxide Detector Group took place there, too.

FIRST FUEL CELL MEETING

Attendance was small for this first meeting — the chairman and vice chairman, representing Burnham and Rheem, were there — but that was enough for a quorum.

The GAMA board-approved group was formed, according to its founders, to try to get a handle on some of the “splintered” fuel cell production and use in the industry. It could also position the association well for the future.

The Fuel Cell Group is overseen by the Power Generator Group, which also would oversee a Microturbine Group, if one is formed. Equipment represented by the Fuel Cell Group would have a maximum wattage of 250 kW, it was determined.

A technical committee will be formed in the near future; this committee will probably seek input from the Canadian Standards Association’s Fuel Cell Technical Committee.

The newly formed group also will be actively soliciting membership from existing producers of fuel cells and their components. For more information, contact GAMA at 703-525-7060 or information@gamanet.org (e-mail).

CO DETECTOR FATE

At this same Carlsbad meeting, the run of another GAMA product group may have come to a close. The Carbon Monoxide Detector Group was given notice that unless it could attract more members and meet more regularly, it should consider disbanding from the association.

The product group has not met for four years, according to GAMA. One member only was in attendance at this year’s meeting, so a quorum could not be called.

Mark Goldstein, CO Monitor Group chair and president of the Carbon Monoxide Health and Safety Association (COSHA), said that due to the association’s seeming lack of interest in these products, most members have joined other organizations aligned to their other product offerings. Many, he said, have joined the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).

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Another option for the group would be to join another product group, such as the Controls Division, which includes combination gas controls; manual gas valves; gas appliance pressure regulators; automatic gas valves; automatic gas ignition systems; flame sensors, monitors, and programmers; gas filters and sediment traps; thermostatic system components; automatic flue and vent dampers; and other controls.

Publication date: 06/03/2002

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Barbara Checket-Hanks is Service & Maintenance Editor. E-mail her at barbarachecket-hanks@achrnews.com.