Every day, dealers must discuss the phaseout of R-22 with customers. This can be a confusing topic for customers to comprehend, which is why manufacturers have provided dealers with all kinds of educational materials to help explain the phaseout of R-22 and the benefits of moving to R-410A.
When contractor Dave Yates accepted an invitation to visit an old home in Mount Joy, Pa., to bid a retrofit job, he got the impression that it would be a quick piece of work. What he found when he got there - with tasks to be tied to an extensive remodeling project - was an ancient, fuel oil-guzzling cast iron boiler and standing radiators.
A variety of fuels have been used for heating throughout history. A new kid on the block is Bioheat® fuel. According to the National Oilheat Research Alliance’s (NORA’s) Website, Bioheat fuel is an industry-accepted term that NORA and the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) use “to describe a mixture of heating oil and biodiesel.”
The use of heating oil is not as prevalent in the United States today as it once was. The Northeast is the principal region where oil-fired equipment is still used today, though other areas of the country, including the Midwest and the Pacific Northwest, also have spots where oil-fired equipment is installed.
Successful service contractors need to be adept strategists to grow and thrive in today’s economy. A company’s annual business plan is the framework for dynamic action and the strategic creation of this plan is key to success in any economy.
A wide range of issues were discussed at the Intelligent Buildings Executive Summit hosted by Johnson Controls at both its corporate headquarters in Glendale, Wis., and at its Building Efficiency headquarters in downtown Milwaukee. The event drew close to 150 customers for two days of talks and seminars.
Rain normally spoils a solar power contest. But three days of showers - and the use of thin-film photovoltaic (PV) technology - actually helped Team Germany win the 2009 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Decathlon. Team Germany’s “Cube House” actually produced a surplus of power despite the three rainy days during the two-week contest.
In an effort to create a national retrofit market, Vice President Joe Biden recently unveiled the “Recovery Through Retrofit” report. Biden discussed the barriers and strategies to expanding green job opportunities and boosting energy savings by making homes more energy efficient.
Topp provides portable air conditioning and heating solutions from offices around the country. So it was a challenge in training the company’s many technicians in the use of R-410A. In 2008, the decision was made to bring all company technicians to the Philadelphia-area office for one- or two-day training sessions.
Not that long ago the good-better-best gas furnace options that were presented to homeowners often consisted of 90 percent, 92 percent, and 95 percent AFUE equipment, respectively. That’s all changed thanks to the federal tax credit that went into effect earlier this year.
RSS
