NEWS

IAPMO elects new officers and board members

IAPMO announced it ratified the election of new officers and board members, formally concluding the association’s 91st annual Education and Business Conference, which was conducted virtually due to the COVID-19 global health crisis.

David Gans, chief building official for the city of Oceanside, California, was elected IAPMO’s 61st president, and Steven Panelli, chief plumbing inspector for the city and county of San Francisco, was elected vice president.

Four new members of the board were elected to serve, including: David Ledda, plumbing inspector for the city and county of San Francisco; Rick Garcia, senior mechanical inspector for the city of San Diego; Carlos Flores, assistant chief plumbing inspector for the city of Houston; and Ray Boyd, United Association assistant director of education and training.

Claudio Spagnuolo, plumbing inspector for the City of Brampton, Ontario, Canada, was elected to a second term on the board, and Steve Fernlund, plumbing inspector for the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, was appointed secretary/treasurer by Gans.

“I want to thank IAPMO membership for its faith in placing Steve and me as officers, and extending that faith to our current and newly elected members of IAPMO’s national board of directors,” Gans said. “Please know that we this take honor

Zurn acquires washroom products company

Zurn recently announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Hadrian, a leading provider of washroom partitions and lockers, enabling Zurn to offer building owners a complete washroom solution, and accelerate its strategy of being the leading provider of smart building solutions, the manufacturer noted.

Zurn’s complete offering of hygienic touchless plumbing fixture systems, hand dryers and smart products, combined with Hadrian partitions will set the standard for a safe, hygienic and connected washroom of the future, the company said. The expanded portfolio provides building owners with an offering of specified washroom content, with a clear focus on increasing value for building owners, Zurn added.

“We are pleased to welcome Hadrian into Rexnord’s Water Management platform,” said Craig Wehr, group president of Zurn. “With their passion for serving customers, market-leading products and innovative technology, Hadrian brings a highly complementary culture and can build on Zurn’s substantial competitive advantages to expand our combined growth opportunities.”

Founded in 1983, Hadrian has expanded over the years to include four state-of-the-art North American facilities, while developing innovations such as enhanced washroom privacy options and anti-graffiti finishes.

Viega and Caleffi win AHR Expo awards

Viega and Caleffi were among the winners in the 2021 AHR Expo Innovation Awards balloting that honored companies in 10 industry categories. Show officials wanted to acknowledge and honor the 2021 award-winners despite the recent cancellation of the live event in Chicago.

Viega won in the heating category for its radiant auto-balancing system, which introduces the ability to monitor the temperature of every return circuit in a radiant system. Coupled with the monitoring of each zone’s air temperature via wireless thermostats, the control actuates flow of conditioned water to each loop using a learning algorithm to increase the efficiency of a radiant installation.

Caleffi received kudos in the plumbing category for its AngleMix angle-style thermostatic mixing valve that accurately controls mixed water temperature in residential and commercial domestic hot water systems. Caleffi noted it is the industry’s only thermostatic mixing valve with an angle-styled body. Caleffi added that this geometry minimizes the number of elbows required, which reduces overall installation cost.

In other Viega-related news, the manufacturer is extending the limited warranty on its MegaPress and MegaPressG fittings to 15 years from the current 10 years for most applications.

“Viega prides itself on offering a MegaPress product for many diverse applications, but in doing so it has had to understand and account for some of the worst-case conditions our products will face when determining the scope of our warranties,” said Will Dutcher, product manager, metals IPS, Viega. “This has left some of the most common, least-corrosive applications with shorter warranty terms. Given the proven performance of our products, we are confident in extending the warranties on our most common applications, including fire sprinkler, compressed air, and gases for MegaPress and natural gas for MegaPressG in non-industrial, non-marine environments.

This warranty change is not limited to carbon-steel MegaPress, but also includes stainless when used in commercial applications, such as MegaPress 316 for potable water in a commercial building. The longer warranties against manufacturing defects go into effect immediately and cover product installed after publication of the latest edition, Viega noted.

Johnson Controls opens new training center

Johnson Controls recently opened its new, state-of-the-art Ducted Systems Academy in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, offering commercial and residential HVAC training. The 30,000- square-foot training facility features two large classrooms and two extensive training labs, offering remote and hands-on classes, including virtual reality training.

“It’s estimated that by 2028, 4.6 million manufacturing jobs will be left unfilled, with more than half due to retirements,” said Scott Nelmark, director, ducted systems learning & development, Johnson Controls. “In order to help fill this gap, Johnson Controls remains dedicated to training the next generation of the HVAC workforce, which the Ducted Systems Academy will help fuel through cutting-edge training.”

At the academy, training is provided for technical, sales, leadership and professional development disciplines. Participants learn best practices and tools for success in the HVAC industry.