The engineer spent 14 years with the Carrier organization, most recently as a commercial manager for the Carrier distributor in Southern California. Then six years ago, he decided to move over to the service side of the business. Now as sales manager for Western Allied, one of the major commercial contractors in the Los Angeles area, he works with water valves on a daily basis. And he’s got some issues about the ways in which contractors size and select them.
Most contractors don’t have a problem with valves that are used strictly for on-off applications, he notes, because it’s difficult to mess those up too badly. Where contractors often get into trouble is with modulating valves — valves that adjust by increments, rather than by either “full-on” or “full-off” operation.