HYDRONICS | PRESERVING HOUSING |


previous month was more than $400. It dropped to $198 in the same month a year after the Baxi Luna was installed. Because the builder demanded assured quality and consistent


installations, Norton preassembled each Baxi Luna for Waters Edge phase II homes on a sheet of plywood, along with pipes and any components required by local code, including a fill valve. He set up, tested and flushed each unit beforehand. His installation team was then able to install two boilers a day with no on-site assembly required. “This project install was a home run!” exclaims John Norton. “I


must admit that I was initially reluctant to take on this job with a high efficiency, precision technology appliance. I was comfortable with the cast iron boilers I had worked on for years with my father, who founded Norton Mechanical. That has all


FROM THE DESK OF...


John Hazen White, Jr. Expanding Taco HQ


JOHN HAZEN WHITE, JR. President & CEO, Taco Inc.


Contractors and engineers alike who visit Taco for training have no doubt noted that we operate in a large brick building within a mixed residential-commercial neighborhood. My dad purchased the 1904 building in 1954 and converted it from a trolley barn to a manufacturing space for his company, then called “Taco Heaters.” Several years ago when adjacent land on the far end of the building became available to us, we added a new distribution/warehouse facility. Around the same time, a Chrysler dealership on the front side of the building went out of business and we purchased that land, too, for future use.


That land is now taken up by a much larger employee parking lot, which represents the first phase of the most extensive and ambitious building project in Taco’s 90 years of existence. Because a big portion of this new project will involve an expanded Taco Learning Center, I want to take this opportunity to inform you of our plans for a “new” Taco headquar- ters, a place we hope you will come to see and experience for yourself in the years ahead.


“The Taco Learning Center has been a great success.”


Exclusive North American Baxi distributor Mike Thomas (left), president of Marathon International, inspects Baxi installations at Arverne Waters Edge condo development with Francis Eddings, Briarwood Organization project manager. Baxi Luna (inset) helped make Waters Edge housing more affordable and more comfortable for homeowners at phase II of the affordable housing development.


changed with the success of my first Baxi install, and now I can’t say enough good things about the Baxi Luna heating alternative.” With two Baxi spare parts kits in each of its service vans,


Norton Mechanical stands prepared to resolve any issue for homeowners at Arverne Waters Edge II. “We have not needed to use these parts, but having them is important to our value proposition of standing behind any Baxi installation we make,” said Norton. “We also know that, if we need them, local Baxi reps (Marplat) and North American Baxi distributor (Marathon International) are ready and able to help resolve any issue.”


Baxi quality, safety and environmental protection Baxi Luna is an installed product, meaning that authorized


regional Baxi distributors only sell the product to qualified contractors to assure precise installation and servicing of the high technology appliance. The North American distributor of Baxi products, Marathon International, its Baxi representatives and authorized distributors provide ample training opportunities for contractors. Contractors may earn Baxi-certified installer status by successfully completing an online test available through a series of Baxi Luna training and certification CD-ROMs. Baxi certification reinforces the Baxi commitment to quality, safety and environmental protection. Above all, it ensures peace of mind and home comfort for builders and homeowners. Preferred by builders, architects and engineers of affordable


housing as well as custom homes, Baxi Luna wall-hung boilers are energy efficient and environmentally friendly and are field convertible between NG and LP. All Baxi boilers are CSA, ASME (H-stamp) and Energy Star certified, feature stainless steel heat exchangers (with 10-year warranty) and can be used in a wide range of low and high temperature applications.;


Visit www.wallhungboilers.com.


Our current TLC (Taco Learning Center) opened in the early 1990s as part of the reorganization of Taco that revitalized our company, starting us on a path to where we are today. Over the years hundreds of our employees and hundreds of industry profession- als have used the TLC for training and education. Today the facility is used more than ever, which has brought us to the realization that improving and ex- panding the TLC, both in terms of its physical space and resources, is a paramount need we must address.


Our building expansion will do just that. The new Taco Innovation and Development Center (IDC) will be a state-of-the-art learning and training envi- ronment, complete with new classroom spaces, con- ference rooms, and functional labs for testing and teaching. The classroom spaces themselves will be far more functional, comfortable and better illumi- nated, and will come equipped with advanced A/V systems for training presentations, video exchange, and Internet connections.


We will also have our Taco advanced hydronics products and systems like LoadMatch®


, LOFlo™ injection pumping, and our iWorx® building man-


agement controls on display for learning purposes. And these systems will not just be static displays, they will be part of those systems in active use in our building.


Beyond the Innovation and Development Center, we are taking the opportunity afforded us by the con- struction to rehab our total office space over two floors, which has not been addressed to date in a planned fashion. This will provide a much improved and productive working environment for our office employees.


Taken together, these major improvements to Taco’s physical infrastructure will provide us a home for the next decades while preserving our historic build- ing and demonstrating our commitment both to our community and the HVAC industry. As we ramp up our training opportunities in the years ahead, we hope you will come see it for yourself.


e Circle 31 on reader reply card


53


phc january 2011 www.phcnews.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88