REFRIGERATION – ASHRAE AND THE NORTHEAST CHAPTER
The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has recently been celebrating 125 years as a Society. Locally, the Northeast Chapter of ASHRAE celebrates 70 years as a chapter of the Society this year.
Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning touches many aspects of modern life today. It would be hard to live without them. Refrigeration is at the core of advancing life as we know it. Schenectady, NY and General Electric are big in the early days of Refrigerators.
In the home early days of refrigeration consisted of a decorative wooden box with doors, a liner and a condensate pan which caught the water from a block of ice that was placed in the box. The iceman delivered the ice to homes to replace it as it melted.
In 1910 GE Schenectady built an early refrigerator which was called the “Dumbbell”. It looked like the decorative wooden ice box with doors. A big problem was that it cost about $1000 which made it very expensive for the average consumer.
In 1927 GE came out with a refrigerator with the compressor on the top of a porcelain box. The top looked like a gun turret that could have been on the civil war iron clad ship USS Monitor. So, people started calling it the “Monitor Top”. The price tag was $525, but shortly after dropped to $200.
It’s good to look back at history and consider how far we have come and how life must have been with an ice box. Forget frozen foods like frozen meals, ice cream, etc. Refrigeration has made life very convenient. Think about the problems that might be involved with trying to distribute a vaccine for COVID-19 that requires extreme low temperatures until time of use. Without the refrigeration engineer, none of these things would be possible.
Celebrate with us the members of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) as we celebrate our Society and 125 years as well as 70 years of our Albany based Northeast Chapter of ASHRAE.
Stan Westhoff – Northeast Chapter Historian (April 5, 2021)
- Written by Todd Turcotte
April Chapter Meeting- "Electrical Know-how for Mechanical Engineers and Designers"
Please join us for April's Chapter Meeting on "Electrical Know-how for Mechanical Engineers and Designers" presented by Andrew Wilsey, PE from Quantum Engineering Co., P.C.
Within this presentation, Andrew will do an introduction to basic electrical concepts and demonstrate how they get applied to mechanical systems / HVAC equipment. This is essential to both Engineers and Designers as they specify projects that include motors, disconnect switches, starters, VFDs, etc. Having a basic understanding of electrical concepts and how they relate to the design and specification of HVAC and other mechanical equipment is important.
To register - click the link below to the event and follow the instructions:
- Written by Mss14199
GET TO KNOW YOUR ASHRAE BOARD : APRILS MONTHLY INTERVIEW
Starting this ASHRAE year each month one of our many volunteers on our Northeast ASHRAE Board, who help make the Chapter what it is, will be interviewed. Not only will this give our other members an opportunity to get to know them better (especially while we have virtual meetings), but it will also give the opportunity to learn more about what each person is involved in within our Chapter. Learning about the positions within our Chapter Board is a great starting place to getting involved!
This months interview is with John Thomas, who is serves on our Board of Governors. The questions are the black underline, and his responses are in blue underneath.
1. What is your currently current role with our ASHRAE Chapter and what does that entail for responsibilities?
I’ve been serving on the Board of Governors for several years now. Primary responsibilities include attending BOG meetings regularly and providing feedback, opinions, and support on various topics during business meetings.
2. How long have you been in the industry / ASHRAE and what experiences do you have?
I’ve been in the HVAC business for over 10 years as a specialist in the application and design of hydronic systems and
equipment.
3. What do you enjoy doing in your space time?
Since the COVID pandemic, most of my early morning hours are spent either in my continually growing basement gym or running around the SUNY Albany loop, training for the return of the Spartan races. My evenings and weekends are spent with my wife Taiane and children Bella (7) and Xander (2).
4. What is your favorite thing about being involved in ASHRAE?
I’ve really enjoyed getting to know all of the current and past board members, as well as the regularly attending members
when we were able to have in person meetings. I anxiously await the return of “in person” meetings and some normalcy.
- Written by Mss14199
Page 2 of 18