Birmingham, Ala., rolls out the crimson red carpet for Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC) and its attendees. “The Magic City” played host to the annual PHCC CONNECT show and the city pulled out all the stops. With mild October temperatures, it was the perfect setting to connect with fellow attendees and soak in the vibrant culture Read more
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Birmingham, Ala., rolls out the crimson red carpet for Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association (PHCC) and its attendees.
“The Magic City” played host to the annual PHCC CONNECT show and the city pulled out all the stops. With mild October temperatures, it was the perfect setting to connect with fellow attendees and soak in the vibrant culture of Birmingham.
The CONNECT show began with an opening reception at the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum—recognized by the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest motorcycle collection and home to other rare cars—and ended with an Alabama Tailgate Party at Birmingham Citywalk, where visitors could enjoy an array of food trucks serving local delicacies and engage in fun games.
The trade show floor was buzzing with latest in products and technology. New this year—although one needed to be a member to gain full access to the entire CONNECT experience—the Products & Technology Showcase floor was open free of charge to local walk-ins. This indeed brought in dozens more from the greater Birmingham area.
“This is the best place to do all of the networking,” says Erica Barnes, president, General Plumbing & Air Conditioning, Inc., Lake Worth, Fla. “I love getting new ideas form the floor and seeing what’s developing over time, such as artificial intelligence (AI) or seeing what new tools are coming out.”
A cool moment during PHCC president Joe Cornetta’s CONNECT opener, 94-year-old James Lindsey of Lindsey Brothers Plumbing and Heating in Norfolk, Va., was recognized for his contributions to PHCC and the industry. Starting his plumbing career at 16, he founded his own business, which will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2026.
The annual CONNECT Show opens with an opening breakfast emceed by Bruce Carnevale, CEO, Bradford White, a staunch supporter of the association and the skilled trades. Carnevale gave an update on the company and talked about the impending NAECA 4 regulations coming down the pike in 2029, with the eventual movement away from atmospheric venting to all condensing. The Department of Energy (DOE) says the standards will require minor updates to gas-fired storage water heaters, while electric storage water heaters more than 35 gallons will require heat pump technology.
A yearly staple at the CONNECT show is the PHCC Educational Foundation’s National Plumbing and HVACR apprentice contests where plumbing apprentices roughed-in a bathroom—including the drain, waste and vent lines, a toilet, a sink and shower. HVACR apprentices demonstrated their knowledge with a written test, and put their hands-on skills to the test with brazing, pressure testing, refrigerant recovery, and diagnosing and repairing a package unit system. This year, Logan Cunningham with John J. Maurer Inc., Cataumet, Mass., took top prize for plumbing, while Dane Gonser with Emcor Services Fagan, Kansas City, Kansas, was the winner of the HVAC portion.
This year’s theme, “Authentic Connections,” highlighted the importance of building trust and fostering relationships within the industry. From the daily keynotes featuring best-selling author and Navy commander Mary Kelly, who uncovered the key factors behind leadership success and failure to Jeff Butler, who with the help of the three “Cs”—cadence, collaboration and communication—explored actionable strategies to effectively manage cross-generational challenges and leverage the diversity of your multi-generational workforce as a competitive advantage.
Another highly informative and interactive session featured some of the industry’s most recognizable social media personalities who gave advice in a session aptly named, “What the Hell Is an Influencer?” In addition to friends George DeJesus, George’s Drains LLC, Morris County, N.J., and Mike Prencavage Jr., The Family Plumber, Los Alamitos, Calif., last-minute, heavy-hitter fill-ins, Dustin Van Orman, Any Hour Services, Orem Utah, and Roger Wakefield, Richardson, Tex., stepped in to inform attendees how to use social media in an effective way, for business of course.
The final keynote on reverse mentoring, moderated by yours truly, featured Erica Barnes, president, General Plumbing & Air Conditioning; Daniel Birmingham, project manager, JRC Mechanical, Chesapeake, Va.; Chris Johnson, owner, Charles Chester Plumbing & Heating, Elko, Nev.; Chase Johnson, general manager, Charles Chester Plumbing & Heating; and Tyler Arndt, Arndt & Sons Plumbing, Brooklyn, Wis., as they shared their experiences and how their ideas and contributions could help their companies thrive in the future.
Also new this year to CONNECT was live podcasting from the tradeshow floor. The magic of spontaneous discussions, solutions, and insights came alive with some of the industry’s top podcasters. These media personalities hosted high-profile guests as they shared their particular insights to the industry.
Oh, and why is Birmingham called the Magic City, you may ask? Including other names such as “The Iron City” or “The Pittsburgh of the South,” Birmingham is referenced as the Magic City because its soil contained the three necessary elements to produce steel: limestone, coal and iron ore.
Next year’s CONNECT will take place in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The other day I performed a Google search for ‘How to detect an air leak’. Not surprisingly it came up with millions of results, over 18 million in fact. Whether solving the problem in a commercial establishment or a domestic home environment, the majority of search results pointed to one solution. Namely, soapy water! Before Read more
The other day I performed a Google search for ‘How to detect an air leak’. Not surprisingly it came up with millions of results, over 18 million in fact.
Whether solving the problem in a commercial establishment or a domestic home environment, the majority of search results pointed to one solution. Namely, soapy water!
Before we all ridicule the idea as belonging to a bygone era, take a vehicle with a slow puncture to a tyre fitting depot and the chances are they remove the wheel and spin it in water to determine the leak. It’s a simple time proven method for determining leaks from pressurized systems.
But of course, not all equipment can be placed in soapy water. What if a system is known to be losing pressure and yet the lines carrying the compressed air from the source are located 10 metres above the ground, and dismantling the system is out of the question? Thankfully there is a fast and effective solution to hand.
Each time air or indeed any gas, leaks from a pressured system there is an associated sound. If the leak is significant, it can be audible to the human ear and therefore easily identified and rectified accordingly. However, most leaks in high pressure systems are extremely small and are out of the range of a human ear.
Think about a pressured air system on a large factory delivering compressed air from a bank of compressors to various stages of production throughout the manufacturing process. The chances are there are hundreds if not thousands of connections in the form of joints, reducers, valves, elbows, condensers etc. Each of these has the potential to leak small amounts of air, reducing the pressure of the system.
One leak might make very little difference but multiply this by the number of potential leaking joints and efficiency can be significantly compromised. The compressor will seek to compensate for any pressure loss by simply working harder. However, as any engineer will know, compressors can be expensive to operate in terms of energy and therefore will certainly increase an operators energy consumption.
With electricity costs being so much higher in Europe due to geopolitical factors in recent years, most companies are seeking to reduce the amount of energy used. Having a compressor work overtime to compensate for leaking joints is certainly not something senior management would smile about!
These scenarios are certainly not uncommon, in fact one European compressor manufacturer has stated that in some industrial settings, up to 80% of air generated is lot in leaks. So clearly identifying these small leaks can make a real difference to a company’s energy bills.
Although the sound produced by a small leak is inaudible to the human ear a high performance acoustic imaging camera such as the FLIR Teledyne Si2 – LD will have absolutely no problem identifying the source. Launched earlier this year the camera is capable of detecting leaks of 0.05 litres per minute at a distance of 10 metres, meaning those elevated air lines pose no problem for this latest instrument in the FLIR acoustic imaging camera line up.
For closer work the camera is even more sensitive and can detects minute leaks of 0.0032 litres per minute at a distance of 2.5 metres. Coupled with this improvement, the third-generation camera has improved microphones now capable of detecting sounds over an extremely wide frequency range, namely 2 – 130 kHz.
Areas of plant are often dark or dimly lit. for this reason FLIR have fitted the FLIR Si2-series of cameras with two powerful LED lights to make component identification easy even in poorly lit conditions.
Of course, it’s not just compressed air that the camera is capable of detecting; noise emitted by any escaping gas is identified by the powerful microphones. However that’s only part of the story.
The FLIR Si2-LD has built in software termed Industrial Gas Quantification. If the leaking gas is ammonia, hydrogen, helium, or carbon dioxide, very commonly used gases in a number of industries, the software is capable of quantifying the financial loss caused by the leak. By simply entering factors such as the cost per litre, the software identifies the amount each leak is causing over a given period of time. Such data is invaluable to financial analysts and senior management within an organisation.
It goes without saying that the financial considerations are only one aspect of leaking gas. The gases mentioned above all carry significant health hazards and can present a variety of dangers to personnel if allowed to leak for any period of time. Ammonia and carbon dioxide can cause serious breathing problems and asphyxiation even in smaller concentrations, whereas hydrogen can explode in the presence of oxygen. Clearly the cost of such problems goes way beyond any financial considerations.
We’ve come a long way since the ‘soap and water’ approach. See how the latest technology from FLIR Teledyne can help in reducing downtime, lower energy bills and improve safety in your organisation.
Visit www.flir.com or contact you local FLIR Teledyne agent or distributor.
Author: Darrell Taylor
Email: Darrell.Taylor@teledyne.com
The Ask Caleffi team is back with another insightful Coffee with Caleffi webinar, focusing on pressure-reducing valves (PRVs) and their role in plumbing systems. Cody Mack and Kevin Freidt will explore the various options PRVs offer to designers and installers, highlighting how these valves can assure reliable water pressure in a variety of plumbing applications. Join Read more
The Ask Caleffi team is back with another insightful Coffee with Caleffi webinar, focusing on pressure-reducing valves (PRVs) and their role in plumbing systems. Cody Mack and Kevin Freidt will explore the various options PRVs offer to designers and installers, highlighting how these valves can assure reliable water pressure in a variety of plumbing applications.
Join Kevin and Cody to discover how PRVs contribute to achieving peak performance in domestic water systems. They’ll dive into their benefits and provide practical tips for maximizing efficiency and minimizing water waste. Don’t miss this session packed with valuable insights for improving your plumbing systems.
→Can pressure-reducing valves help building owners control operating costs?
→How does a pressure-reducing valve work?
→How do you size a pressure-reducing valve?
→What symptoms will you see when they’re not sized correctly?
→What are the common signs that a pressure-reducing valve might be malfunctioning?
Cody is the National Training Manager at Caleffi North America. He has nearly 20 years of experience in several roles, which include installation contractor, service technician, application engineer and product manager, across the plumbing and heating industry.
Kevin is the Director of Product Management and Technical Support at Caleffi North America. He has 40 years of engineering experience in the commercial HVAC, plumbing and heating industry.
Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical Receives Ninth Consecutive Ruud Top Pro Partner Award
Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical (Hiller), Tennessee’s largest provider of residential and commercial plumbing, HVAC, and Electrical service and repair, was honored with Ruud’s 2023 Top Pro Partner Award. This award marks Hiller’s ninth consecutive recognition, beginning in 2015. Since the 1800s, Ruud, a major manufacturer of HVAC systems, has been at the forefront Read more
Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical (Hiller), Tennessee’s largest provider of residential and commercial plumbing, HVAC, and Electrical service and repair, was honored with Ruud’s 2023 Top Pro Partner Award. This award marks Hiller’s ninth consecutive recognition, beginning in 2015.
Since the 1800s, Ruud, a major manufacturer of HVAC systems, has been at the forefront of heating and cooling system development and innovation. Each year, Ruud evaluates contractors, naming Pro Partners that deliver the highest standards of excellence in installation and service of HVAC equipment. This designation is determined based on quality of work, verified customer feedback, and volume of exceptional installations and repairs.
In 2015, Hiller received their first Pro Partner award, ranking first among 20 contractors selected from a pool of national businesses. Each year since, Hiller has been named among the best-of-the-best. The 2023 award, which was announced at a reception in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 30th, was Hiller’s ninth consecutive Pro Partner award.
“We are so proud to have been honored with our ninth Ruud Pro Partner Award this year”, remarked Jimmy Hiller, founder and CEO of Hiller Plumbing, Heating, Cooling & Electrical. “Like Hiller, Ruud is extremely committed to superior product installations, service, and maintenance. Their equipment helps us ensure that each family we serve is comfortable and happy in their homes for years to come. We are extremely honored”, he continued, “To have earned an award that recognizes our parallel commitment to superior installation and ongoing service and repair on these systems”.
Launched in 1990 with just $500 and a single truck, 24-year-old Jimmy Hiller founded his company on values that have become signatures of the Hiller brand: integrity, professionalism, exceptional ongoing training, truly caring for others, clear and upfront pricing, and 24/7 emergency services. Today, Hiller is one of the nation’s largest privately-owned home services companies, employing more than 800 associates with a fleet of over 600 “Happy Face” trucks across 17 locations in 7 states.
12 Schools to Receive Support to Create and Update Plumbing & HVAC Labs The “Explore The Trades Skills Lab, Built by Ferguson” equipment grants were announced on May 1, 2024, in celebration of National Skilled Trades Day. Twelve schools are the newest recipients of the Skills Lab equipment grants, which are projected to reach over Read more
12 Schools to Receive Support to Create and Update Plumbing & HVAC Labs
The “Explore The Trades Skills Lab, Built by Ferguson” equipment grants were announced on May 1, 2024, in celebration of National Skilled Trades Day.
Twelve schools are the newest recipients of the Skills Lab equipment grants, which are projected to reach over 1,000 students this upcoming school year. This dynamic program has experienced rapid growth since it began in 2021 and has now delivered plumbing and HVAC equipment to 26 schools and over 2,000 students nationwide.
“The national conversation around the importance of the skilled trades and technical education has reached a fever pitch this year,” noted Kate Cinnamo, Executive Director of Explore The Trades. “Trade education programs in communities around the nation are bringing the next generation to these industries. Our partnership with Ferguson has given school districts the opportunity to build skilled trades labs that enable their students to thrive. It’s so encouraging to see students discover the trades, develop a passion for them and know that those skill sets will benefit them in careers after high school graduation.”
“We are proud to partner with Explore The Trades and thrilled to see our shared vision of building a sustainable skilled trades pipeline come to life,” commented Melissa Hazelwood, Director of Social Impact at Ferguson. “With the recent surge of interest in trades careers and the substantial investments in our country’s infrastructure, the need for skilled tradespeople has never bee more apparent. Through our concerted efforts, we are not just providing students with tools; we are laying the foundation for lifelong careers. Our partnership has already impacted thousands of students, and we are excited to continue this journey. We are committed to investing in the next generation.”
Congratulations to the following recipients!
- Appomattox County High School – HVAC (Virginia)
- Bemidji High School – HVAC (Minnesota)
- Callaway High School – HVAC (Georgia)
- Gateway Regional – HVAC (New Jersey)
- Ivy Academy – HVAC (Tennessee)
- Lebanon County Career and Technology Center – Plumbing (Pennsylvania)
- Mayfair Elementary and Middle School – Plumbing (Pennsylvania)
- Poplar Bluff Technical Career Center – HVAC (Missouri)
- Raymore-Peculiar Public School Foundation – HVAC (Missouri)
- Saginaw Career Complex – HVAC (Michigan)
- Thomas J. Corcoran High School – HVAC (New York)
- Woodruff Career and Technical Center – HVAC (Illinois)
About Explore The Trades
Founded in 2005, Explore The Trades is committed to bridging the technical talent gap to the service trades of plumbing, heating, cooling, and electrical. The organization is focused on bringing the skilled trades conversation back into the classroom by providing classroom materials and on-demand resources for educators, parents, and students.