May 1, 2008
Articles
Court Settlement Puts Licensing Group on Guard
A master plumbers license enforcement committee here is keeping a vigilant eye out for those violating New Jersey's plumbing licensing law after settling a case earlier this year against Home Depot....
CDA Hails EPA Decision on Antimicrobial Copper Alloys
Proponents of antimicrobial copper alloys are hailing a recent decision by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to approve the alloys' registration....
Giants Cautiously Optimistic
So, are we entering a recession? Yes and no. For the nation's largest mechanical contractors, the answer is probably no. Contractors who are in the residential market or building strip malls will feel differently....
Raleigh Reverses Disposal Ban
Raleigh, N.C. The city council here recently reversed its decision to ban garbage disposal installations, nearly a month after the ban took effect in mid-March....
RPA Sets Annual Conference
Schaumburg, Ill. The 2008 REX (Radiant EXPO) will be held at the new Renaissance Hotel and Convention Center here from Aug. 13-15, 2008....
Contractors Encouraged to Take LEED Role
Las Vegas The co-founder of the U.S. Green Building Council's regional chapter here encouraged union contractors to take advantage of the opportunities available under the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system....
County Enacts Plumbing Retrofit Law
Dekalb County, Ga. Plumbing industry experts are cautiously optimistic about a new ordinance here that calls for any home built prior to 1993 to have low-flow toilets and plumbing fixtures installed before a homeowner can obtain water from the county. The ordinance, which becomes effective June 1, 2008, requires sellers to disclose the Inefficient Plumbing Fixtures Replacement ordinance when selling a home....
Homeowners May Qualify for Entran Settlement Funds
Owners of property where Goodyear's Entran II radiant heating hose was installed may receive cash payments under a class action settlement, according to David Black and William Maywhort, who are among the class counsel that negotiated the settlement....
In Brief
A recent Gallup Poll shows that Americans perceive the lack of clean drinking water as a greater threat than climate change. Fifty-three percent of Americans...
States, Cities Offer Green Initiatives, Incentives
Many energy and water saving initiatives are local, coming from state and municipal governments, such as Austin, Texas, or the City of Chicago, and on the state level in California and Florida....
EMCOR Subsidiaries Win Transit, Chrysler Jobs
EMCOR Group Inc. announced that its subsidiary Design Air Ltd. has been awarded a contract to upgrade the mechanical and electrical systems for Seattle Metro Transit's Central Base Facility and Revenue Processing Center, a 22-acre complex that maintains and houses a fleet of nearly 400 buses....
MSI Builds UCF Biomedical Sciences Facility
Orlando, Fla. Mechanical Services Inc. is underway on University of Central Florida's new five-story, 198,000-square-foot Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences building here under its design/build contract with The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., HOK and Newcomb & Boyd....
Comfort Buys Wash. Mechanical
Comfort Systems USA Inc., a leading provider of commercial, industrial and institutional HVAC services, announced that it has acquired Merit Mechanical Inc., a full service commercial HVAC company based in Redmond, Washington....
Ga. Tech Buys Ultrapure Wastewater System
Atlanta The Georgia Institute of Technology has selected Siemens Water Technologies to provide multi-million dollar wastewater and ultrapure water treatment systems for a new, $80 million nanotechnology research center, located here....
A.O. Smith Recalls Gas Water Heaters
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with A.O. Smith Water Products Co., has announced a voluntary recall of the company's 75-gal. natural and propane gas water heaters....
Studies Confirm Energy Savings of LEED Buildings
Two recently released studies, one by the New Buildings Institute and one by CoStar Group, have validated that third party certified buildings outperform their conventional counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price and rental rates....
Q2 Industrial Spending Off 65% From Last Year
Last year at this time, the U.S. industrial manufacturing industry was booming, noted research firm Industrial Info Resources here....
Plumbing Industry Week Recognized
The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed a resolution recognizing the plumbing industry and supporting the goals and ideals of National Plumbing Industry Week, which was celebrated April 27-May 3....
Industry Must Rekindle Youth Interest in Trades
Construction has always been a mainstay of the U.S. economy. Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution and before, building is what made the United...
Standard 189.1P: The Future of Green Buildings
There is no question that high-performance green buildings are quickly becoming the norm of the building industry as they should. Such buildings represent an enormous potential for saving energy and reducing carbon emissions worldwide....
Guardedly Optimistic
So, are we entering a recession? Yes and no. For the nation's largest mechanical contractors, the answer is probably no. Contractors who are in the residential market or building strip malls will feel differently....
From the Frontline of a Technology Revolution
Like other contractors that have implemented building information modeling (BIM) technology, University Mechanical & Engineering Contractors Inc. (UMEC), an EMCOR company, set realistic goals when the organization initiated this project delivery method several years ago: eliminating rework, coordinating internal trades, improving productivity, expanding prefab opportunities and improving consistency of the work product....
Misinformation Caused Needless Disposal Ban
Mayor Charles Meeker and the City Council of Raleigh, N.C., recently found themselves steeped in hot water! It's no wonder. In addition to banning garbage...
Alternatives to Hydronic Radiant Heating, Part 5
At the end of last month's column, I promised I would tell you about the results of the operational efficiency tests of radiant glass. ...
Green Building Products Gets Update
BuildingGreen, the publisher of Environmental Building News, has released the third edition of Green Building Products, a product directory for homebuilders, remodelers and homeowners....
Features for Fleet Tracking Solutions Vary
Fleet tracking and management solutions are increasingly popular in the service industries, enabling awareness of where all your service trucks are when technicians are out in the field (typically within three meters) and a lot more data covering how they got there and when....
Discover the Magic of Condensing Boilers
Condensing boilers are the newest great thing. But what's so special about them? Do they actually work? And what about the old fact that condensation kills boilers?...
In Tough Times, the Tough Protect Themselves
This is not the first economic downturn that most contractors will have experienced. This one, however, seems to have hit construction first rather than other segments of the economy....
Learn the Strategies for Beating the Estate Tax
The typical reader of this column (we'll call him Joe) who calls me for estate-planning help has two basic characteristics: First, he has been successful...
Adding an Extra Degree of Effort Has an Impact
Most of us know that an open pot of water sitting atop a constant heat source at 211F basically sits there doing nothing. As long as the heat source is...
Marketing to the Mass Affluent, Part 1
It never fails. The same sentiments that have haunted business owners for years still persist. Willie Loman, who was convicted after numerous successful...
EMCOR Acquires Florida-based MSI
EMCOR Group Inc. recently announced it has acquired Mechanical Services of Central Florida Inc., a mechanical mobile services company headquartered in Orlando....
Open the Door to the Growing Labor Shortage
Where would we be without clean and safe water, heating, air conditioning and electricity in our homes? Finding a good accountant or attorney is easy. Finding a good plumbing, heating cooling and electrical technician is not. ...
RPA Moving REX to Spring in 2010
The Radiant Panel Association is moving its Radiant Expo (REX) back to the spring in 2010....
S.I. Goldman Secures Six Mechanical Jobs
S.I. Goldman Co. Inc., a mechanical contractor and services company, has announced its work on six jobs that span from Kissimmee to Gainesville, Fla., and range from underground utility installation to equipment fabrication....
State Water Heaters Awards Scholarship
State Water Heaters recently awarded Angel Espericueta, a South Texas College student, with an academic scholarship to continue studies in the HVAC and plumbing associate degree program....
The Linc Group Acquires Fla.-based Sey Culhan
Tlg, the parent company of Linc Network LLC, has acquired Sey Culhan, a commercial HVAC and refrigeration contractor with offices in Boca Raton and Fort Pierce, Fla....
PEOPLE NEWS
Two new members have been elected to the Nexstar board of directors, John Hucker of Hucker Electric, Waukegan, Ill., and Tommy Newton of Rapidan Plumbing, Fredericksbug, Va. ...
MSCA Adds 2 Contractors to STAR Program
The Mechanical Service Contractors of America has announced that GHS Mechanical Inc., Elk Grove, Ill., and Ruthrauff Service LLC, Pittsburgh, recently achieved MSCA STAR status, bringing the total number of STAR contractors nationally to 89....
Symposium Addresses Energy Efficiency Goals
Washington More than 30 representatives from the federal government, energy utilities, foreign embassies and the HVACR industry gathered here in early April to answer the question, Is the tide turning with regard to the future of energy and energy efficiency strategy?...
GREEN PRODUCTS
editor's choice THE STRATOS ECO HIGH-EFFICIENCY RESIDENTIAL CIRCULATOR automatically adjusts to system demands by means of ECM motor technology; pressure...
TRUCKS & ACCESSORIES
editor's choice THIS REARSIGHT BACKUP CAMERA SYSTEM IS designed for use in fleet vehicles. The kit features a 5" TFT-LCD monitor that mounts directly...
PRODUCTS
THE NEW VESSEL SINK SERIES is durable, yet refined, mimicking the appearance of sinks found typically in high-end residential applications. A range of...
Book of Giants List Continues to be Fluid
I don't know how many of you keep copies of CONTRACTOR from year to year, but those who do might have noticed that the annual Book of Giants is a fluid list. Some of the nation's largest mechanical contractors fall off the list and some are added....
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This Month's Products
THE ISOLAR DIFFERENTIAL TEMPERATURE CONTROLLER
is a compact, multi-functional controller for use in a wide array of applications. It features inputs for four sensors, and factory preset defaults able to control a standard solar water heating system...
THE KINETIC WATER RAM
clears clogged drains with green power. Just pump it up, insert it in the drain and snap the trigger...
A FULL LINE OF WATER-SAVING TOILETS
are available that allow the user to select either a 1.0 GPF flush for liquid waste, or a 1.6 GPF flush for solid waste...
THE DRYLOC PH AND ORP SENSORS
feature a foul-proof connector and robust body providing expanded chemical compatibility for use in a wide range of applications...
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