Starting up a variable frequency drive can be as much an art as it is a science, and because a variable frequency drive can save so much money, you are going to see them on just about any project you bid. When you are estimating a job, how much do you add for the variable frequency drive? The price of a drive is easy to figure (the price is the price), so conventional wisdom would say go with the low price drive. But is that really the smart move?
Most of the pros I know say no. Here is why: they tend to think in terms of cost to install and maintain instead of just price. Back to estimating that job… you have the price of the variable frequency drive, but how do you estimate the cost to install the drive and to commission your variable frequency drive?
Like most things in life you don’t get something for nothing, and the lower priced variable frequency drives are lower priced for a reason. It is not that they don’t do what a variable frequency drive is supposed to do.  The lower priced drives take out features that a mid priced variable frequency drive like the Honeywell Variable Frequency Drives Guide Specification include:  things like start up wizards and English language prompts on the keypads that are intuitive  and  make set up easy. How easy? Check out Brian doing a basic commissioning of the new Honeywell variable frequency drive in 36 seconds. How cool is that ?

A lower priced drive can look attractive but can take a lot longer to set up and commission. Forget about a keypad or at least forget about one that does not require you to look up code in a manual to see what each of the prompts mean. Forget about the wiring terminals being bigger and easier to wire; plan on sending your best techs out to the job and be sure to put in extra hours for the complications that can arise from being “penny wise and pound foolish.” Also, plan on spending extra time with your customers explaining how the drive works. Remember, the product you leave on the job site in many ways is a reflection of your company. I am not saying “all low price drives are a bad decision,” I am saying that you must think in terms of overall cost and not just price when it comes to which variable frequency drive you purchase.
With the new Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive your estimating is easier. Because of the easy setup wizards and the removable keypad display and the intuitive prompts, you don’t have to send your best variable frequency drive person to do start up. Also, because of the removable keypad that stores the set up parameters, you can program once take the keypad  and download the setup into other drives.
Although the Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive might not be the lowest priced drive, the smart money says it is the lowest cost drive to install and own. It is a quality product that will make your customers appreciate you for installing Honeywell.

One final thought as you are estimating your variable frequency drive job and looking for a way to lower your cost – a question you might ask is “do you really need the bypass?”  For an enlightening perspective on variable frequency drive bypasses, check this out.
Stromquist & Company is the authorized Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive distributor for Georgia and Florida and look forward to helping you with all your HVAC control and Variable Frequency Driveneeds. If you are not a Stromquist customer or are not located in Georgia or Florida one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America or a local authorized Honeywell distributor can assist you with your Honeywell Variable Frequency Drive needs.

 Automation Components, Inc one of Stromquist and Company’s sensor suppliers has won awards for business for the 2011 year. Congratulations!

WISCONSIN DELLS, WI-More than 125 of the top business people from around the state of Wisconsin attended Corporate Report Wisconsin’s 7th annual Best of Wisconsin Business Awards luncheon on June 10, 2011 at the Kalahari Resort in the Wisconsin Dells. This year nearly 2,000 readers cast their votes online to determine the winners. The awards were emceed by Wisconsin Public Radio’s Terry Bell and Stephanie Elkins, where they announced the platinum, gold, and silver winners in each of 28 categories.

Automation Components, Inc. is proud to announce they’ve won two Best of Wisconsin Business Awards; “Best Company for Philanthropy or Community Service” and “Most Admired Company in Wisconsin”.

“It was a great honor to have businesses and customers in Wisconsin acknowledge us. ACI is comprised of individuals who care about our company, our products, our community, and of course, our customers. We will do our best to live up to these expectations and our own lofty goals”, said Troy Schwenn, President and Owner of Automation Components, Inc.

Check out the controltrends interview with Travis Haas from ACI on Stromquist Radio for everything you need to know about temperature and humidity sensors.

Remember Stromquist & Company for all your ACI and temperature and humidity sensor needs.

Functional Devices has created an easy to install, low cost product that delivers big energy savings with their Functional Devices Half-Light series of lighting controls.

If you are looking for an easy way to save money on multiple ballast light fixtures
in classrooms and offices or on high bay fluorescent fixtures the Functional Devices Half-Light is a great low cost solution. The Functional Devices Half-Light installs in the wiring compartment of almost any light fixture and uses existing switches to start lighting up at 50% of capacity ( hence half-light). The lights than can easily be controlled to go to full capacity via a digital switch or a building automation system. Don’t let this simple strategy fool you the energy savings as indicated by this independent study can be huge. Lighting control strategies are one of the easiest ways to reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings.
If you are in Georgia or Florida contact Stromquist & Company for more information on the Functional Devices Half-Light, others can contact one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America

Wireless technology has advanced so much in the last few years and the acceptance and value of these controls is gaining immeasurably. All phases of the market have now been touched by wireless thermostats, controllers, and sensors including industrial, commercial and domestic applications.

For the domestic market Honeywell offers several programmable and non-programmable wireless thermostats (REDLINK) like the Prestige and the FocusPro that will allow the use of outdoor air sensors and return air sensors to control conventional and heat pump systems with up to 3 stages of heat and 2 stages of cooling. The thermostats are available with standard or high definition color touch screens.

On the commercial level AIC’s wireless transceivers allow for wireless data communications through BACnet, Modbus, LonWorks, and several other protocols. Applications include, remote lighting controls, building communication, HVAC controls, remote chiller plant operations, flow meter monitoring, KW metering, and gas metering. Check out this interview with ACI’s Bryan Pike for a more in-depthlook at all the great things that can be done with ACI wireless.

Honeywell Vulcain’s E3 point wireless control system monitors hazardous gas emissions in boiler rooms, chiller plants, and parking garages.

 On the Industrial level Honeywell has a variety of wireless gauges, transmitters, and receivers to make remote control of systems a breeze.

If you are trying to control something and the high costs of hard wiring is cost prohibitive, or the location is too remote look to Stromquist and Company to help you in your wireless needs. Call us at 1-800-241-9471 in Atlanta or 1-800-638-7828 in Orlando.

Vulcain gas detection systems are designed for use in a diverse range of commercial applications, from refrigerant systems and mechanical rooms to parking structures and office complexes. Each of these applications has its own set of requirements, both legal and practical, and Vulcain is committed to working closely with its clients to ensure all of these needs are met. In order to simplify purchasing and installation for our customers, Vulcain offers complete product packages for use in common gas monitoring situations.

- Refrigerants in mechanical rooms
- CO and NO₂ in indoor parking garages
- CH₄ in boiler rooms
- Freon in grocery stores
- CO₂ for demand control ventilation

Some of the more common air quality hazards include:

HVAC:

Industrial
- Flammable gases
- CO, CH₄, O₂ and H₂S in waste water treatment plants
- CO in aerospace, automotive industries
- Cl₂ in pools
- Propane in ice arenas and parking garages

 Video on Wireless  Gas Monitoring

From stand alone to wireless networks Vulcain and Stromquist and Company has an answer for your gas and refrigerant monitoring system needs. Give us a call in Orlando at 1-800-638-7828 or in Atlanta at 1-800-241-9471.

Many commercial thermostats can now do so much remotely thanks to technology. My team is very familiar with web based thermostats for commercial applications. They have been around for years and have enabled our commercial customers numerous benefits including energy savings and remote monitoring and programming. The price of these web based thermostats put them out of reach for most home owners.

Finally, there is a great web-based residential thermostat for the home owner. Ecobee, a Canadian manufacturer, has designed a thermostat for those of us who have the need or desire to monitor and control the temperature in our homes without actually having to be there. Just think… you head away on vacation for a couple of weeks and remember that you forgot to reset your thermostat to constant night mode. No problem! Go on your Apple or Android smart phone, tie into your Ecobee smart thermostat via a free downloadable app, and set it to vacation mode. And don’t forget that you can check it any time you wish. You can even set it to notify you via email if there is a problem. The best part is that this thermostat solution is priced for the home owner.

What really impresses me about this thermostat is how simple it is to setup and program. As long as you have WiFi at your home, this unit finds it and connects with ease. Then it walks you through the programming step by step by asking you the pertinent questions. I was able to set up one in less than five minutes.  Now that IS simple!  Don’t worry about compatibility — one model can be used for up to 4 heat, 2 cool, dual-fuel, heat pump, variable speed and humidifier/dehumidifier control.

Ecobee also manufactures a commercial model of this stat for those who have a commercial web-based thermostat application but can’t justify the cost of more expensive options.  Stromquist is happy to now be set up as a distributor for Ecobee, so we can start offering this great product to our customers. If you are a homeowner we will be glad to put you in touch with one of our qualified installing contractors. If you are an HVAC Contractor and are interested in getting setup to install the Ecobee web-based thermostat please contact me at paul@stromquist.com

If you have space in a warehouse, plant, or even an office that could stand to heat up in this cold weather, consider an infrared heater from Space Ray.

Space-Ray offers tube heaters in natural or propane gas that are designed for maximum radiant output and are CSA design certified.  The LTU series offers great flexibility for commercial and industrial heating needs.   The unitized design allows lower installation costs, simple re-arrangement within the facility, and less maintenance.  The u-tube configuration of these heaters offers a large radiating surface for more uniform heat distribution at the floor level. These models are especially suited for lower mounting heights and may be mounted horizontally or up to an angle of 45°.  In addition, the self-contained draft inducer can be rotated up to 90°, adding to the installation flexibility.

Space-Ray also offers CSA design certified ceramic heaters in natural or propane gas.  The high intensity heaters have a porous ceramic emitter designed to operate in the 1600°F to 1800°F temperature range.  These units may be suspended hanging horizontally to direct the heat straight down or up to a 45° angle to direct the heat into a designated area. With the reflector options available, they may be mounted at a variety of mounting heights and angles for a wide selection of heating applications, including control options that allow for heater installation where no power supply is available.  These units are suited primarily for spot and area heating. Another option for spot and area heating is the ever popular Space Ray Floor model, these units have been around for years and proven themselves as the choice when you need a heater that you can easily move around. The Space ray floor models are great for construction sites.

Space Ray also manufactures radiant heaters for poultry houses.  Radiant Heaters operate using the same principle as the sun. Before heating the air, radiant warmth is delivered directly to the birds and litter area where it’s needed most. This radiant warmth helps to dry out the litter area and keep ammonia levels lower. It also creates a thermal reservoir which stores the heat and maintains a warmer litter area. This radiant heat transfer method results in fuel savings which will continue year after year.

The biggest reason people use Space Ray infra red heaters is that they save any where between 30% to 70% in fuel savings over forced air systems. In addition because of the simple design of the Space Ray radiant heaters the cost to maintain Space Ray Heaters is virtually zero. Many Space Ray  customers report a payback of less than 13 months.

To see how these heaters work follow this link. If you are in Georgia or Florida contact Stromquist & Company to arrange an energy analysis of your building to see how much money Space Ray infra red heaters can cut your energy costs while heating up your space.

If you have seen Mark Zipp from Johnson Controls introduction video to the new Johnson Controls Variable Frequency Drive offering then you will want to check out Part 2. In this video Mark goes into great detail and gives you all the information you will ever need about these incredible Variable Frequency Drives from Johnson Controls.

If you are in Georgia or Florida you can find all your Johnson Controls including the Johnson Controls Variable Frequency Drives at Stromquist & Company, others can contact one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America.

In an earlier post I talked about energy dashboards and how critical they are to understanding energy usage. As a teacher of mine once said “nothing is obvious to the uninformed” and this takes on a whole new meaning when it comes to understanding energy data. Getting the right visual representation of huge amounts of data is the key to making sense of these numbers. Although we offer several energy dashboard solutions ProphetSuite is by far the most flexible and elegant. In part one of a two part tutorial see just how easy it is to set up a ProphetSuite energy dashboard.

Why are Variable Frequency Drives like the Johnson Controls VS Series of Variable Frequency drives so popular? Well for one reason they can save a heck of a lot of money. According to Maintenance Resources a variable frequency drive can save up to 30% on energy costs. So what makes the Johnson VS series variable frequency drive so special? To begin with the size, with mechanical room space at a premium the compact size of the Johnson Controls  VS series makes it a logical choice for retrofit applications

The unique bypass configuration is also a space saver. But the compact design is not even the best part…The really cool thing about this VFD is how easy it is to set up and commission. In the video you saw just how easy it was for Mark to commission the Johnson VS variable frequency drive. If you are a mechanical contractor bidding a job this has tremendous cost and price implications . Think about it, if you are sub contracting the commissioning of the variable frequency drives because setting up a variable frequency drive was deemed to complicated, then you just found a new profit center. Why? Because of the easy to use start up wizards the Johnson Variable Frequency Drive  is really easy to set up and commission. Why pay someone else to start these variable frequency drives up when you can do it yourself and save money?

Check out Mark’s more detailed presentation on the Johnson Controls VS variable frequency drives by clicking here.

To really get good at these drives you should go to a Johnson Controls Variable Frequency Drives certification class like the ones we hold at Stromquist & Company. In addition to learning how to do more complex variable frequency drive applications you will also earn an extra years warranty on the Johnson Controls variable frequency drives that you purchase. Stay tuned at controltrends for information on the  next Johnson Controls VS series variable frequency drives class at Stromquist & Company or call Edna at 404.794.3440 to be put on a list for the next class.