Like other companies working in the sector, Heatcraft Refrigeration Products faced a new set of DOE Annual Walk-In Energy Factor (AWEF) standards taking effect on Jan. 1 of this year.

The Gold award in the Refrigeration and Ice Machines category goes to the Copeland Digital Outdoor Refrigeration Unit, X-Line Series by Emerson.

The Refrigeration & Ice Machines category winners include a refrigerant charging scale, evaporative control technology, and a condensing unit.

The Gold award in the Refrigeration and Ice Machines category goes to a self-contained refrigeration system for walk-in coolers and freezers that eliminates several of the steps required for a traditional system.

The winner is a kit that is a universal, field-mount refrigeration controller with temperature sensors and pressure transducer kit that can be installed up to 40 feet from an air or electric defrost unit cooler.

James Bowman, a 20-year industry veteran, has joined NAVAC North America as regional sales manager of HVAC tools. Bowman will oversee the company’s central sales region.

The awardees will focus on early-stage R&D projects exploring innovative technologies for drilling geothermal wells that show the ability to reduce non-drilling time, improve rates of penetration, and identify methods to accelerate the transfer of geothermal drilling and related technologies from the laboratory to the marketplace. 

Wendy Abbagliato of Chester, New York, was promoted to office manager at Nebrasky Plumbing, Heating & Cooling, an award-winning Hudson Valley business. Abbagliato will be responsible for planning, directing, and overseeing the office operations for the company.

The report showed 61% of the Gen Z respondents said their parents haven’t spoken to them about vocational school — or told them not to consider it.

The industry touches our lives directly, and an HVACR-literate public would be a boon to it.

Uncover why change is vital in the HVAC sector and how embracing growth can significantly spark new momentum for your home improvement business.

Contractors have to spend the time to effectively choose the right business management software that allows AI capabilities to fold into their day-to-day operations with ease.

AI tools, such as Bluon’s MasterMechanic, could make a big dent in another aspect of the labor issue: the wisdom lost as older, highly skilled workers leave the industry.

Software company Bluon is betting that artificial intelligence, or AI, can help solve the labor shortage — and pass along decades of knowledge from retiring HVAC techs to the next generation.

Evolving AI technology is becoming an important business tool for personalizing customer experience, analyzing data, and much more.

AI can make work easier, more efficient for boots-on-the-ground HVAC professionals.

AI, especially its use in information gathering, needs to be harnessed by HVAC contractors if they want to be noticed when customers are searching for services online.

Artificial intelligence, or AI, is now able to handle many of an HVAC contractor’s administrative tasks, and also help employees perform their own tasks better.

This article lists four ways contractors can stock their trucks to guarantee they keep rollin’ in the dough (pun intended).

This service reduces fleet downtime due to roadside emergencies or inconveniences like dead batteries, empty fuel tanks, flat tires, etc.

This product provides central management on one platform for both employees and owners.

GPS Insight, a provider of fleet software for organizations, announced the acquisition of ServiceBridge.

Here are managerial strategies that contractors can incorporate to improve driver safety and management during the winter season.

Add “increased risk of theft” to the growing list of concerns HVAC contractors face as they grapple with a shortage of supplies and equipment. Both HVAC equipment and service vehicles prove prime targets for thieves.

Since the COVID-19 pandemic struck nearly three years ago, automobile manufacturers have had trouble getting many of the parts — computer chips especially — required to assemble the vans and trucks that field-service businesses use daily.

Software can increase productivity, better manage labor, encourage retention, and keep things consistent and organized. But it’s up to HVACR contractors to choose the right software and take the proper stops to implement it.

Having the right fleet management solution can increase employee accountability, efficiency, safety, and grow an HVAC company.

Used in new construction and retrofit applications, the product is small, light, and customizable.

At a booth thick with traffic at the AHR Expo’s, commercial product manager Schlegel talked about Johnson Controls’ new YORK Sun Choice rooftop unit.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is one of the most promising — and exciting — technologies to come to the HVACR industry in a long time.

Daniel Truxillo, the general manager of the Dayton, Ohio, branch of Thomas & Galbraith Heating, Cooling & Plumbing, has a long history of success in the home-services industry and got his start as an HVACR technician nearly two decades ago.

The grant will provide state-of-the-art technology and equipment for industrial training programs such as mechatronics, information technology and cybersecurity, HVAC, construction management, welding, and more.

At the core of the BACnetIP solution is the QuickServer gateway, developed by a third-party integrator. This BTL (BACnet Testing Laboratories) certified gateway serves as a communications bridge between the Gen X System and a customer’s building management system.

Bacharach has been in acquisition mode lately, and the company was showing off the new products and relationships that resulted from that at this year’s AHR Expo in Atlanta.

At the AHR Expo, RectorSeal LLC highlighted several new products designed to combat leaks and corrosion, both on the inside of the unit and from salty sea breezes on the coast.

Available for commercial and industrial applications, this product supports safety compliance inside of machinery rooms, mechanical equipment rooms, chiller plants, cold storage facilities, and walk-in freezers by monitoring for refrigerant leaks for numerous gases including HFCs, HFOs, HCFCs, CO2, and ammonia (NH3)).

This product detects all CFC, HFC, and HCFC refrigerants as low as 0.006 oz/yr, including R-410a and R-507.

Spectronics Corporation is a 60-year-old company with a new generation of Made in the USA refrigerant leak detection dye — AR-GLO 5.

Refrigerant leaks in HVACR equipment – particularly commercial refrigeration systems -- are a significant problem.

Know what type of detector you are using, know how to use it, and ensure it’s capable of detecting leaks by calibrating it on a regular basis.

While servicing equipment, technicians should be on the lookout for sources of potential future leaks, as well as follow good service practices to prevent creating leaks.

Supermarkets and grocery stores are facing challenging times as the $1.2 trillion annual sector strives to maintain its relevancy in a sea of change.

Refrigerant regulations are another reason why change is coming, as HCFCs will be phased out by 2020, and given their high global warming potential (GWP), HFCs will likely be phased down in the near future as well. At some point, supermarkets will need to start considering low GWP alternatives such as HFO blends, as well as so-called “future-proof” refrigerants such as ammonia, CO2, or propane.

Manufacturers are rolling out a wide array of new equipment that utilizes all types of refrigerants, providing end users with a number of new options to consider.

Many end users, as well as refrigeration engineers and contractors, attended Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI’s) 2018 Energy & Store Development Conference in Atlanta, looking for advice on how to respond to these trends.

These products have refrigerator and freezer model selections including both swing and slide door refrigerators and swing door freezers.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a typical food retail store leaks an estimated 25 percent of refrigerant, or approximately 1,000 pounds, annually.

The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) unveiled a new initiative identifying U.S. retailers committed to taking leadership action to reduce HFCs.

Hoshizaki America Inc. started shipping sushi cases with the energy efficient and environmentally friendly refrigerant, R600a, earlier this month.

The Refrigeration Showcase educates contractors about new refrigeration products, so they can help customers make the right choice.