There were 4,500 participants in the one-day ABCO Expo at
the Terrace on the Park in Flushing, N.Y., hosted by ABCO Refrigeration Supply
Corp. of Long Island City, N.Y.
Michael Senter, ABCO CEO, summed up this year’s expo. “There was an amazing amount of warmth as well as intensity at the expo this year,” he said. “Customers were focused equally on obtaining product knowledge, as well as taking a moment to connect and reconnect with friends and competitors alike. It is like Election Day for the HVACR industry in metro New York each year.”
The 4,500 attendees matched the total from last year and included exhibitors, distributors, contractors, educators, and students. Many employees of HVACR businesses also were given time off to attend the expo and learn about products they use and work on every day in their trade.
Highlights of this year’s expo included Quick Tech Classes hosted by Bohn, DuPont, Luxaire, Sporlan, Mitsubishi, Copeland, Scotsman, and Reznor, a chance to meet and have a photo taken with the Maytag Man, and an opportunity to “drive” a Jeff Gordon NASCAR racecar simulator.
Eugene Silberstein, HVACR instructor and coordinator at the Suffolk
County Community College in Brentwood, N.Y.(second from right), poses with his
students, whom he requires to attend the ABCO Expo.
Also walking the expo floor, meeting and greeting attendees, was Jon Gottleib, ABCO president. He commented on the traffic at each exhibitor’s booth, where “at least two or three people were engaging in conversation.” He added, “If you look at some manufacturers’ booths like Mitsubishi and Luxaire, you see a lot of people exchanging ideas.”
Senter added, “There is a great deal of importance of customer service in establishing relationships, and our annual ABCO Expo features the intensity among and between ABCO and our customers.”
For more information, visit www.abcorefrigeration.com.
Sidebar: Sharing a Tall Project
ABCO Refrigeration Supply Corp. and New York City HVACR contractor, BP Mechanical Corp., recently partnered on a project 83 stories up in the historic Empire State Building. The project was the installation of a 15-ton ABCOOLAir SCAV unit for client Clear Channel Communications. The unit is a self-contained indoor packaged unit that contains a built-in flooded condenser for low ambient operation.It is suited for applications such as computer rooms and medical facilities. Clear Channel needed the SCAV unit for its computer room. Since there are computer and antenna technicians always working in the room, Clear Channel needed a product that emitted very low decibels. They were pleased with the SCAV unit because it operates quietly and meets ASHRAE 90.1 standards.
Despite the task of bringing the unit to the 83rd floor, BP Mechanical was able to accomplish it because the SCAV unit is splitable, built with quick connections, which easily splits the evaporator from the condenser.
Michael Senter, ABCO CEO, explained the niche market for the SCAV unit and how it fit into Clear Channel’s plans. “The SCAV unit was a reaction to a significant drop in the quality and durability among SCAV units in the marketplace,” he said. “We worked closely with United CoolAir to develop a high-quality unit for the design-build market and one that would assist contractors in servicing the units after installation.”
“Like the SCAV unit installed by BP Air at the top of the Empire State Building, these units often are located in difficult-to-access areas. Often they are located in cramped, difficult-to-work in undersized rooms in some of the most valuable office real estate in the United States, if not the world.”
The unit installed by BP was painted with a textured black finish to make it stand out among existing units as well as to symbolize its “stealth-ness” as Senter noted. “It is like the stealth bomber, it operates reliably without being seen or heard.”
John Losey, founder and CEO of BP Air said the SCAV unit has “solved many problems that we had up at Clear Channel located in the upper floors of the Empire State Building. Anyone that has worked in this building knows the 15-ton units are not an easy delivery especially after they renovated the freight elevator on the upper floors.”
He cited key features that are important to him and his customers:
• Modular design has made the rigging of equipment into tight conditions possible.
• Modular design has made the disassembly and re-assembly of the SCAV unit an easy install.
• Due to the modular design, the equipment has become a sturdy and industrial-type long-term application.
• The SCAV unit is available in stock.
• The modular design has lent itself to easy serviceability and access to all compartments for service.
• The SCAV unit comes with an option for low ambient control during winter operation. The standard low ambient damper with a piston operator on the first-stage compressor; or a step up application utilizes a hot gas bypass on each compressor.
“I have to say that ABCO Refrigeration has put a lot of thought into this design of the SCAV unit,” Losey said. “It is a great option for replacement and new installs of new air conditioning systems that fit this application. It’s also encouraging to see a vendor-supplier take the extra step in providing quality equipment to its contractors.”
Publication date:01/07/2008
