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Eye candy would best describe many of the products on display at the great AHR Exposition recently held in Orlando Florida’s Convention Center. The Nexus Ultramatic GPM flow control valve assembly (see pic) certainly drew in visitors with its well-lit shimmering black epoxy coating and gleaming array of polished brass flow limiters. The Nexus Venturi Flow Metering valve is adjusted by using a differential pressure meter while closing/opening the valve until precisely where required for the required GPM flow rate. By far one of the most attractive displays I witnessed showcasing their hydronic products.

Nibco and Webstone: a marriage made in heaven! Northern Indiana Brass Foundry Works started with manufacturing brass keys for musical instruments and precision brass weights for measuring and entered into the plumbing market in 1922. Seems like NIBCO has been running through this plumber's blood since my first apprentice days for copper sweat fittings and Webstone became a go-to hydronics product line when I joined the RPA (Radiant Professionals Alliance). Constantly evolving and setting the bar high with top-notch products and as an industry leader in press technology. During AHR, NIBCO and Webstone collaborated as a primary sponsor of the Community Over Competition Build, which focused on how to prefab a hydronic wall with the finished builds destined for donating to those in need.

Hydrogen ready! I immediately had a flashback to the 2005 Solar Decathlon in Washington where the New York Institute of Technology used the electricity generated from their solar photovoltaic panels to split water into oxygen and hydrogen. The hydrogen was used to drive their hydrogen fuel cells to provide all the home’s power needs! They had to obtain a special permit to utilize hydrogen, which garnered intense scrutiny because of the close proximity to the White House and Congress. The students proudly provided a tour of a behind-the-scenes mechanical space where hydrogen piping and storage was in use. The ultimate in recycling, because the byproduct from the fuel cells was water that could be reused again and again and again. Walking through the Noritz booth where numerous tankless gas units were on display, that their NCC199CDV PRO tankless commercial water heater with its Hydrogen Ready sticker stopped me dead in my tracks. Wait, what? Is there a new revolution looming on the energy horizon? Apparently, hydrogen is coming in our future and can be blended with natural gas. A cleaner carbon footprint with water vapor as a byproduct of its combustion will be one benefit.

Danged interesting, and throughout the ARH show, I spied several other manufacturers with hydrogen ready appliances. Rinnai had their hydrogen tankless model on display and one of the crowd pleasers at their booth was a game-show-style question and answer session with lots of Rinnai bling giveaways.

Viega has been providing secure pipe connections for 125 years. You don’t survive that long by being complacent, content with where you are, or what you have to offer, or rest on your laurels, and Viega never fails to push the envelope with new and innovative products. The first to gain approval for gas press fittings in the industry and forging (pun intended) ahead with stainless steel press fittings and Propress G for medical gas systems. Time is money, and Viega strives to provide contractors with products that save time, which enhances profit potential along with ensuring the highest standards of workmanship. As always, Viega incorporates interactive hands-on displays to engage their contractor audience base.

What do you do if half of your trade show booth fails to show up on time? You improvise, adapt, and overcome, which is exactly what the adept Caleffi team did at AHR. Hot Rod Rohr, along with son Max present an unstoppable force with their combined knowledge and, in Hot Rod’s case, extensive field experience as a mechanical contractor. The extra booth space came in handy for the Carlson-Holohan Industry Award of Excellence award transfer to Dan Foley, which Caleffi has graciously hosted for a number of years. Hot Rod is a past recipient, and most of the past award winners were present to witness Dan Holohan do the honors of bestowing the honor on Foley who now becomes the two-year ambassador for representing the best of the best in hydronics.

Change is constant, and nowhere is that more evident than where refrigerants are concerned. From my perspective, it’s a here-we-go-again deal with mechanical contractors bearing the expense of once again gearing up with new gauge sets, recovery machines, and new regulations. Ugh. But stopping by the Fieldpiece (www.fieldpiece.com) booth, Megan Kessler gave me hope during the booth tour while pointing out every possible scenario is covered with user-friendly equipment that clearly presents rugged durable quality we can rely upon to more than meet any challenges thrown at us by regulatory agencies. From the new flammable A3/A2L refrigerants to CO2 Fieldpiece has your needs covered.

Air-to-water heat pumps were more common at this year’s AHR, but they have limitations where bitter cold weather is concerned, and their operating efficiencies drop off as the ambient air temperature falls. Not so for Weil McClain’s new Eco Hybrid dual fuel hydronic system, as Zach Golden explained during my booth visit. This marriage between an air-to-water inverter heat pump and ultra-high efficiency gas-fired condensing boiler is a match made in heaven! Combining the best of both worlds while also offering peace-of-mind for your customers was a stroke of genius, because redundancy comes along for the ride. Customers today want the added peace of mind knowing their heating system has a built-in backup should one system need to be out of service for maintenance or repair and not only does this new combination do exactly that, it also provides the ability to retrofit exceptional operating efficiency into existing hydronic systems that require hotter water during design-day-conditions.

AHR often presents the opportunity to catch up with old friends that, for some crazy reason, you only ever see here! My Lochinvar booth visit found the confluence of old friends Hor Rod Rohr, John Siegenthaler aka Siggy, and Lochinvar’s Mike Lahti at the Hellcat boiler display! Given everyone’s hectic schedules, stealing a few minutes of precious time catching up while reviewing highlights of our collective AHR experiences was very enjoyable. We came to AHR intent on learning about new and emerging trends, technological advances, and awesome products presented by talented individuals, and we were not disappointed.