Since 1965 Minvalco has enjoyed growth as one of the largest HVAC/R controls distributors in the upper Midwest.

Like Stromquist and Company Minvalco is a family owned business growing from a one man operation and branching out with inventory and industry respected employees to become key suppliers in the commercial, residential, and industrial marketplace.

Minvalco is also a fellow member of the CGNA network of nationwide distributors allowing the strength of fellow members to provide unsurpassed services and information to clients around the country.

Being a premier wholesaler of Bell and Gossett products, Honeywell controls, and other fine products Minvalco truly shines as the largest distributor of Maxitrol gas regulators in the USA.

It came to no surprise when Jim Senst (Sales Manager) for Minvalco responded to the article on Rebuilt Flame Safeguard Controls with this statement:

“Great article and interview regarding rebuilt safety controls! Minnesota is a CSD-1 state but like most states lack the resources to fully inspect every boiler and burner. Many institutions’ managerial people may not know if their repair personnel are using rebuilt controls.These institutions may include; schools, nursing homes, hospitals and other public and private buildings.
In an effort to save money, are they risking the safety of children, the elderly and anyone else that may work or simply be in the building.”

Jim’s response to this article shows me how much Minvalco cares about their clients and this industry we have devoted our lives to and I am proud to tell others in the Midwestern areas to check out Minvalco for their control needs.

By the way Jim, next time you are in MY neck of the woods catching MY bass let me know and I will make sure you have a FLORIDA GATOR shirt to keep you safe in our waters…Is that Lake George?

 Jim Senst Sales Manager Minvalco

A couple of weeks ago Stromquist and Company put on with the help of Honeywell a training class featuring Honeywell VFDs (Variable Frequency Drives).

VFDs for all….

Even the BOSS and his daughter are learning about VFDs (Eric and daughter Britt in background)

Everyone had thier own Honeywell VFD powered up and ready to learn…

As always the learning experience is a good thing.

Come join us in the learning experience. Check Control Trends often for the training you want.

http://www.controltrends.org/2011/09/commission-a-variable-frequency-drive-in-36-seconds/

For those of you who do not know, Stromquist & Company now offers a two day chiller class. The first class is full and we have added two more chiller classes. The next Atlanta class is scheduled for Nov 2,3 and a Tampa class will be held Oct 11-12 so let’s meet your instructor.

His name is Tim Chamblee. In addition to being Stromquist & Company’s newest employee he has an impressive background in the HVAC industry. Check this video out on Tim to learn more about your chiller class instructor and the wonderful resource that is now available at Stromquist & Company.

Have a question on your chiller or on your HVAC equipment? Send your questions to tim@stromquist.com.
Tim will be doing a blog on Controltrends called “In the field with Tim” in which he will post your questions and answers on Controltrends.

For some of our viewers that are new to the HVAC controls industry I found two videos from our friend
Dr. Z that do a nice job of showing you how the controls and parts get translated on to a hvac wiring diagram.

 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.

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.

Read any Honeywell catalog on control valves and most likely you will end up with red eyes and possibly a bald spot on top of your head from scratching it in frustration.

Let’s see…Stem up to close, Stem down to close, reverse acting, direct acting…..ARRRGGG, I just want a normally closed valve with a pneumatic actuator with a 8-13 psi spring range!!!

The easy way….Call Stromquist and Company they know what I want… Yes, but there is a lesson being taught here so I need to do my job.

Pneumatic Control valves are inherently spring return and modulating valves, always opening and closing the valve to whatever location the temperature controller deems correct to maintain proper conditions in a controlled space. For this reason when we get to the electronic portion of this article the actuators will be modulating and spring return.

Pneumatic Globe Style Control Valves and Actuators:

Valve Action = Stem down to close. This means that the valve body is Normally Open and the actuator would have to push the stem down to close the valve.

Valve Action=Stem up to close. This means the valve body is Normally Closed and the actuator would have to lift the stem up to close the valve.

Directing Acting Actuator =Stem up.  This means with an increase of air pressure the actuator will pull the stem up

Reverse Acting Actuator =Stem down. This means with an increase of air pressure the actuator will push the stem down.

So in the field if you need a normally closed pneumatic actuated valve you would need to pick an N/O valve (stem down to close) and a RA (reverse acting) actuator; this will fail closed (stem down) on a loss of air pressure. If you need a normally open pneumatic actuated valve you would need to pick an N/O valve (stem down to close) and a DA (direct acting) actuator; this will fail open (stem up) on a loss of air pressure. Having said that; remember that pneumatic valve action (not fail position) is dependent on the action (DA/RA) of the thermostat AND if you are doing cooling or heating (hot water or steam will also change things). Final selection of the pneumatic actuator will depend on the spring range you need and the body size and close off pressures needed. This paragraph applies only to Honeywell, as other manufacturers do things differently (most manufacturers have true NC and NO valves and use only DA actuators). Proper valve sizing and actuator selection is vital with today’s temperature control systems for proper control and tenant comfort. If you are unsure of which valve/actuator combination to select just call the professionals at Stromquist and we can “walk” you thru it.

Electronic Globe Style Control Valves and Actuators:

Thank goodness the valve bodies for the electronic applications are the same as the pneumatic applications so the Valve Action for the electronic control valves will remain the same as the pneumatic control valves.

Care must be taken in the selection of the spring return modulating actuator. The first consideration is the close off pressures necessary in the system so an electronic actuator with the proper torque can be selected.

As I was reading through the specification sheet of the spring return actuator I noticed in the application and features section of the sheet the statements “reverse/direction action” and “An internal selector plug can be used to reverse the direction of action.” DANGER!! DANGER !! Honeywell is NOT stating that the valve can be normally open or normally closed by changing the selector plug. The changing of the selector plug can and is used to reverse the action of the CONTROL SIGNAL only.

The decision of a normally open or normally closed valve is based on the direction the actuator drives the valve stem (up or down) on power failure.

I hope this has cleared a little of the mud away when selecting Honeywell globe valves with pneumatic and electronic actuators. Goodness knows we need our eyes clear and our hair intact.

While I was in the Orlando office the other day Pat Marley took a call from a client asking how to mount his Belimo TF series actuator to his Belimo ball valve using the WTF mounting adaptor kit. Sadly the Belimo WTF mounting adaptor kit comes with no instructions on how to undertake this proceedure. Pat, being Pat using the speaker phone walked the client through the mounting proceedures and was kind enough to walk through the installation again for my camera also so we could present this article to you… our clients.

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I hope this series of photographs takes the mystery out of installing this Belimo actuator to the Belimo ball valve. At Stromquist and Company we will continue to take the “MYSTERY” out of controls for you. If there are any more controls mysteries we can solve for you give us a call in Atlanta at 1-800-241-9471 or in Orlando at 1-800-638-7829.

If you have not had a chance to use the new Johnson Controls System 450 you are missing out on a low cost high performance controls solution. One of the best things about the Johnson Controls System 450 is how easy it is to set up. In this video Robert Harland from Johnson Controls walks us through an application that shows how easy and versatile the Johnson Controls System 450 is to use.

The Johnson Controls System 450 is an improvement on the ever reliable Johnson Controls System 350. Both systems are designed as
stand alone families of modular, digital electronic controls. The Johnson Controls System 350 and 450 controllers are easy to assemble and set up as you can see from the video. Both systems work great in temperature, pressure, and humidity control. The system 450 provides additional features and benefits. Johnson Controls has streamlined the system 450 allowing the ability to do more applications with fewer modules. This means a lower install cost and fewer modules to hook up and wire.
All Johnson Controls System 450 modules are field configurable and can be expanded to control up to ten outputs. For more information on the Johnson Controls System 450 check with your controls specialist at www.stromquist.com. Please note if you are not in Georgia or Florida one of our affiliates at Controls Group North America will be glad to assist you with any questions you might have on the system 450.