Has attendance dropped at your association meetings? Have your membership numbers contracted? If you honestly answer either of the above questions in the affirmative, you are not alone. Both association executives and their boards of directors are asking, “What do we do about our shrinking membership?”
When will the crunch come? When will the demand for R-22 surpass the supply? For a number of years the best guess was around 2015 when the phase down in the production of R-22 would no longer be offset by an adequate reclamation effort on the part of contractors.
In a recent survey of chapters belonging to the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA), manpower shortages were identified as a concern by over one-third of respondents.
Nordyne and WinWholesale Co. announced a new partnership on Dec. 7. WinWholesale’s HVAC distribution groups will begin selling NuTone heating and cooling products, a new brand of air-conditioning, heat pumps, and furnaces. WinWholesale® will make the product available initially through its wholly-owned Noland Co. with 107 locations.
Are restrictive covenants enforceable and if so, what critical elements must be satisfied in order for these provisions to be legally binding? Attorney Carl Rizzo provides the answer.
At the 26,000-square-foot Wal-Mart SuperCenter in Aurora, Colo., a propylene glycol-based heat transfer fluid is being used in a secondary-loop refrigeration system. The system is designed to reduce the use of refrigerant gas and limit the potential for leaks into the environment.
Contractors and technicians who work on supermarket refrigeration equipment will want to take note of the opening of potentially more than 50 Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets for they could well signal what could be trends in store size, as well as both stationary and transport refrigeration.
To help contractors make the switch to R-410A, manufacturers - who will no longer be able to make new R-22 units beginning in 2010 - are starting to gear up marketing campaigns that contractors can use with customers to convince them to opt for R-410A units.
Over on the domestic refrigeration side, there's been much ado about old refrigerators. The issue has been safely removing refrigerants that may still be in an old unit. One of the most recent developments is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) voluntary Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) Program.
Old familiar refrigerants: being phased-out. New refrigerants: We don’t know much about them. And, figuring out the life span of refrigerants both old and new. These are issues facing techs as a result of another tumultuous year concerning the gases they cart around in service vans, and work with throughout the day.
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