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By now we all know the rules; wear a mask, social distance, and be smart about listening to the science. The virus particles are small. Science proves things like ionization, HEPA filters, and high ventilation rates reduce the chance of getting COVID. We all know how big a pizza is, knowing the COVID virus is so small, that it needs special attention to reduce and remove, is required.

I like what @PriceIndustries, @Camfil, @LorenCookFan and @BigAssFan are doing to really make a difference. We use @Aerius ion producing equipment for the most simple virus killing AHU and Rooftop applications. Together we can beat COVID!

Click to access ACI-Virus-Killing-Solutions-Webpage.pdf

Watching the changes happening in the Washington State energy code is fascinating. The idea that electric baseboard heat for the most simple heating application is going away… well it’s amazing.

Heat pumps are so much more efficient at heating. My house is heated and cooled with a VRF heat pump and it’s great. The idea of heating at higher efficiency just makes so much sense.

I removed a Lennox Pulse furnace, originally installed in 2004, with a GREE Solar VRF heat pump. No more burning gas to heat the house. The new WA State code will demand new thinking like this.

When I joined ACI six months ago I was happy to learn that our leadership team had already embarked on updated software from INFOR SXe to help modernize our financial, project management, and inventory systems. We bolted on a B to B tool to the system called InSite to give our customers e-commerce access to our three warehouses, and eventually buy stocked products with their phone. We launched last week!

The ACI team has been great at taking on the challenge of a new website and”e-commerceizing” the paper stock catalog, a staple of the business since 1985, into an electronic store. I knew this would be a lot of work, and I can see it paying off already in our website traffic and time on the site. Our website has changed from essentially an electronic brochure about our company to a useful tool! More to come as we develop and grow it into a strong tool for our customers with real-time order tracking. I don’t think Jeff Bezos has to worry about us as a competitor, but I know for our customers, internal and external, that our information is power.

I am always impressed with creative people. Their ability to see new things, create new things, solve problems in new ways.

One of the outcomes from the pandemic is new creative ways to capture and kill germs. Portable fans with HEPA filters, Big Ass Fans with UV-C lighting, and diffusers with new filters never applied before.

HVAC is a science, but with create people behind the science, great things can happen.

Since the stay-in-place order from Washington’s Governor Inslee we have been working hard as a team on healthcare facilities. Many consulting engineers have designs now in place for emergency healthcare facilities. Labs like the photo shown below are included.

It has been great to see the ACI team rally (mostly from home offices) to help designs for complex systems.  UV, Humidification, and complex filtration systems are among the tools we are using.

I am looking forward to seeing the actual building serving others!

I have been doing this for a while now: leading teams who sell HVAC products to all types of customers–retailers, hospitals, education facilities, and government projects, to name a few vertical markets.  Business in the fall, into the winter, was good. Our customers were busy. During a meeting in December one customer said, “I don’t know how I am going to get all the work done!”

I have never seen an economy change so quickly as it has in the wake of this pandemic event.

9-11 was bad.  The Financial Crisis of 2008 was worse.  The part about the one in which we find ourselves today is the impact of the unknown.

For now, we are helping contractors get what they need, helping engineers (who might be working from the dining room table) get answers on product applications, and rescheduling all kinds of meetings to a date called “TBD.”

I hope I write the next blog about the US coming through this OK.  Time will tell.

I spent two days in Springfield, MO at Rep Training. The facility, staff, and products are the simply premium!

Hearing different fan types, seeing static pressure impact, and watching system effect in action is far better than reading about it!

Check out Vic with the beautiful fan displays in primary colors (it’s a fully active real-time calculating display). See John describe new fan design using CFD. Listen to Jeff and his enthusiasm for acoustics. Hear Chris describe Vari-Flow controls and their simplicity!

I love it all, and love being true partners with Loren Cook Fan Co. They rock!

AHR did not disappoint this year. Attending as a rep makes for a great four day event. I could not afford to see all these manufacturers nearly at once!

My first trip to AHR Expo was in Chicago in 1989 as a young sales engineer working for Johnson Controls. I was 25 and absolutely the youngest of all the JCI show floor presenters.

The JCI booth training was top notch. How to wear your badge, how to address guests, how to listen. Learning how to sell actuators, dampers, controls and more was so fun! I will use these tools this week in Orlando as an attendee 31 years later, but now on the other side of the event; attendee not exhibitor.

So many great lines on the ACI HVAC line card are exhibiting the newest products. Our meetings are set with Price, Ruskin, Cook and more.

Good things ahead!