May 2018

President's Message

PRESIDENT

SANDOR DURAN P.E.

As this ASHRAE year winds down I want to say how much I’ve enjoyed the time as Chapter President.  I want to thank all who have helped make this a successful year for our Chapter.  Thank you to all who have attended Dinner and Lunch meetings, to those who have participated in our 3 special events, and especially those who have provided sponsorships during the year.  I also want to thank my fellow Board of Governors members, Diane Mitchell, Adrienne Thomle, Alec Lyons, Chun Lee, Dean Borges, Dave Wyllie, Matt Brennan, Bryan Tilton, Mark Hauenstein and Andrew Huie. The rewarded from everyone's involvement in the chapter will be our donations of $13,000 in various scholarships, charitable donations and research.

I want to thank everyone for coming to our April meeting and working with us on the short notice venue change. I would also like to thank Dave Binz with Cambridge Engineering for coming to talk to us. We had a large turnout, but we need to remember to RSVP before the meeting!  You have been giving your chapter a tremendous amount of support and it is really appreciated

During April our Board of Governors visited a 2nd grade class at Natchz Elementary School to put on a Stem activity,  It was a big success and very rewarding to be able to give back to the community. The event was set up and directed by our student activities chair Andrew Huie. Please see the student activities section for a summary of the event.

Anyone that is interested in joining the board of governors, please get a hold of either Diane or I.  We are trying to fill a few of our positions, especially secretary. Remember that ASHRAE only works because of the volunteers and the community.

Also, I would like to thank everyone that came out to the Carson Valley Gun Club for a beautiful day of shooting and fun.  I would like especially thank Matt Brennan for all of the effort and time he had put into it as well as all of the other members of the Board of Governors.  This event could not have been possible of course without the 24 station sponsors, 16 teams and our major sponsors of Norman S. Wright, WN Mechanical, RHP Mechanical Systems, United Construction, Western Nevada Supply, DMG Reno, EMCOR Nevada Services, and RF MacDonald.

This month’s presentation will be May 17^th by Ryan Power speaking on Data Center Hybrid Cooling Systems.  See you all at Twisted Fork for Dinner. Make sure you RSVP!

Sincerely,

Sandor Duran P.E.

2017-18 Northern Nevada ASHRAE Chapter President

president@nonevashrae.org

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President Elect Report

President Elect / Programs Chair - Diane Mitchell  

The meeting will be held at the Twisted Fork

Cocktails at 5:30, Dinner at 6:00
 

Speaker:

  Steve Duerkop – Critical Room Controls

Topic: 

As we close out the 2017-2018 meeting schedule I would like to thank all my fellow board members for their continued efforts and determination in making our Chapter better and better! It has been a pleasure serving with Sandor, Adrienne, Alec, Dave Wyllie, Chun, Matt, Mark, Dean and Andrew as well as Dave Palty (and if I left anyone off – I am VERY sorry!) We are blessed to have a such an active membership and dedicated group committed to the success and growth of the many worthwhile endeavors Northern Nevada ASHRAE supports!

We encourage and welcome volunteers for the board – please ask any current BOG for details or send us an email and we will be happy to give you information . . .

I am excited for the upcoming year and the opportunity to serve you ~

As a friendly reminder, please RSVP for our meetings. We want to make sure the facility can accommodate all our members. 

Diane Mitchell

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Treasurer's Report

TREASURER: ADRIENNE THOMLE

As of April 30, 2018 the chapter account balance is (deleted by editor - we are solvent). 

Adrienne

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Research Promotion Chair Report

RESEARCH AND PROMOTION CHAIR: Sandor Duran P.E., CEM

ASHRAE Members-

As a chapter we are on our way to meeting our goal of $5,200 with a very successful wine tasting and the people that have already contributed this year. I’d like to thank those that have contributed in the past, but we will need everyone’s help to reach our goal for this year. Please start thinking about what you can do as an individual to help our chapter do its part to support the research projects that help keep our industry moving forward by improving technology.
 
Please at a minimum take some time to request that your company support our chapter with a donation to the ASHRAE RP Campaign!
To make a contribution online please visit the following website:
 
https://xp20.ashrae.org/secure/researchpromotion/rp.html

Please bring donation to a meeting and give it to me there! You will receive receipt that can be used for tax-deduction purposes.
 
If you would like to see more information on how ASHRAE uses our donations you can visit https://www.ashrae.org/standards-research--technology/ashrae-rp and you will see that this world-wide effort also supports numerous projects within our region totaling over $1.4 million. This is a great cause that benefits us all and I hope that everyone will continue to help our chapter support it. If you know a specific research project you would like your money to go to, your donation can be bookmarked to that project.
 
With your help we can make the Research Promotions 2017/18 campaign more successful than the 2016/17 campaign.
 
Thank you,

Sandor Duran, P.E., CEM  

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Membership Promotions Chair Report

MEMBERSHIP PROMOTIONS CHAIR: CHUN LEE, P.E. 

It was amazing to catch up with our Historian Dean Borges and reflect on my 4 years of going through the chairs for the Northern Nevada ASHRAE chapter. You can catch the interview in the newsletter.  What is also amazing is that I can’t believe that our year is almost over.  Kudos to our president Sandor Duran for getting us through this year and delivering some spectacular events and meetings.  I can truly be honest when I say I can’t wait to see what next year is going to bring us.

Unfortunately wasn’t able to make it out to the shoot this year, but I heard it turned out to be another great event, did we really expect differently anything from something that Matt Brennan organizes? Thanks again Matt for bringing this event to our chapter and continually improving it for us to all enjoy!

Last by certainly not least thank you to Erik Sanchez, our regional membership promotion chair, for visiting our chapter during our April Meeting. It was great to have him visiting our chapter and telling us all the benefits of our membership to ASHRAE and also telling us about the Smart-Start membership programs for all of our young ASHRAE members.

As always members, stay frosty and don’t forget to renew your memberships!

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Historian's Report

Historian: Dean Borges

Hi Everyone,

Northern Nevada Chapter held its Chapter meeting on April 19th at Mario's restaurant for an evening event. President Sandor Duran welcomed and introduced everyone.

Report of the Student Activities event at a local Elementary School on STEM.

A presentation on “HTHV – High-Temperature Heating & Ventilation in High Bay Buildings” by Dave Binz – Cambridge Engineering

Everyone enjoyed the discussion and Q&A period.    

Student Activities STEM Event

Leadership Recall for Past President, Chun Lee, P.E.

Northern Nevada Question #1. Tell us about your family.

Chun Lee: I’ve been married for an amazing 2 years to a clinical pharmacist from Pocatello, Idaho with our 3 dogs.  Some say that they have no idea how she was able to find such a catch in me (which I don’t blame them), but it is me that was truly the lucky one.  I am also 1 out of 2 amazing sons to William and Elsa Lee.  My parents immigrated to Reno, Nevada when I was 2 years old, my dad had his on HVAC company in Hong Kong, my mom worked in a sweat shop probably making Nikes.  My parents each worked 2 jobs to support my brother and I until I was 7, and that’s when they decided to open a Chinese restaurant in Fallon, Nevada.  My brother and I worked there from that time until we graduated, we grew up in that restaurant, and we helped our parents wherever we can (including serving alcohol, shhhhhh).  When people say it takes a village to raise a child, I truly believe it, because everyone in that community helped raise us.  So hard work has been instilled in me my whole entire life, like I have told everyone that I would take a bad day in HVAC than a bad 12-hour day at the restaurant any time.

Northern Nevada Question #2. Tell us about your education.

Chun Lee: I graduated high school from Churchill County High School in Fallon, where it lead to me 5 of my most amazing years at The University of Nevada, Reno and I was somehow able to get a Mechanical Engineering degree out of it.

Northern Nevada Question #3. How did you start in the HVAC industry?

Chun Lee: I graduated from UNR in 2003.  Honestly when I graduated from UNR, I didn’t have any experience in engineering, for some reason nobody thought working in a Chinese restaurant and FedEx was experience (they obviously never worked a hard day in their life).  So everywhere I went they were all looking for engineering experience and I wouldn’t get past the first interview.  So I did a ask jeeves search (yes that was google before google was main stream) and looked for mechanical engineers, and I sent out resumes to some consulting firms throughout Reno (don’t worry I’m like Tom Brady, I remember all of the ones that didn’t call me back), and ABF consulting engineers called me.  I had an interview with Eric Hebel and Brad Taylor, luckily I didn’t need a second interview because of my awesomeness.  I told myself I was going to stick it out for 1 or 2 years and get that experience that everyone was looking for and look for an engineering job that I would actually like, so that 1 or 2 years has now turned into almost 15 years.  I think my dad having done HVAC and helping him fix stuff at the restaurant, I was destined for the HVAC industry.   

Northern Nevada Question #4. How did you get started in ASHRAE and when did you get more involved?

Chun Lee: I went to a meeting when ASHRAE invited the student chapter of ASME back in 2001, I figured free dinner, why not.  It was boring, because I had no idea what they were talking about. 

Then when I started working for ABF Consulting Engineers, Eric Hebel was the local chapter president at that time, he had me get a membership right away (probably to pad his membership promotion numbers).  6 months later, Eric was impressed with my Napster selection of sample MP3s and asked me to be the website person, so all of a sudden I was going to the Board of governors.  Back in 2012, I decided to bite the bullet and go through the chairs, for the sense of commitment to the community and also to have people quit asking me to do it every year.  So now I stand as past president and current membership promotion chair. 

Northern Nevada Question #5. What do you think is the most rewarding thing about your ASHRAE experience?

Chun Lee: I would say the 2 most rewarding things about my ASHRAE experience has been the networking with not only the local chapter, but regional as well as on the national level and also being apart of something that has been able to give back to the local community (scholarships, toys for tots, numerous donations to the Northern Nevada Children’s cancer foundation, etc.).  You have no idea how invaluable the networking is until you step back and reflect on all of the people you have met.

Northern Nevada Question #6. Any other items you would like to provide to us? - please add as you desire.

Chun Lee: I would like to thank the whole Northern Nevada ASHRAE and HVAC community.  My previous statement that says it takes a village to raise a child, is so true, everyone from contractors, sales reps, factory reps, and other engineers in this community has helped me grow tremendously (physically and professionally, those free lunches takes a toll on you). 

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GGAC Chair Report

GGAC Chair - Dave Wyllie

This month I report on the quarterly meeting of the State Energy Code Collaborative.  If you have any information relating to codes or other government activity that you think would be of interest to our chapter members, please forward to me at dwyllie@celticenergy.com.

The teleconference of the State of Nevada Energy Code Collaborative took place on April 11th.  The meetings, which are led by Jim Meyers of the Southwest Energy Efficiency Project (SWEEP), are attended by stakeholders of the energy codes to be used in the state.  Minutes from the meeting are given here, three main topics were presented and discussed, as described below.

RESNET Quality Assurance program – How it currently operates and enhancements to the QA program, and
how it supports homebuilders and building officials?

Scott Doyle with RESNET presented on the RESNET quality assurance program and how it supports the new home industry and building code compliance. Scott review the history of RESNET for the audience and their current goals to have 50% of all new homes HERS (Home Energy Rating System) rated by 2020 and 25% of all new homes rated for water efficiency through the RESNET water efficiency rating index.

Scott's focus today was on the ERI path in the IECC (2015 and 2018) and how the HERS systems is also used by many voluntary programs such as utility programs, DOE’s zero energy ready home program and of course the ENERGY STAR for New Homes and many more programs.

He emphasized that the ERI path has additional review for the new home construction including a projected rating (potential score) at plan review and presented by the builder to the building official when the ERI path is selected. The additional review of actual construction practices such as insulation installation and R-value review, per plan window efficiency and HVAC equipment. When final inspection occurs there is also the air sealing verification, duct tightness testing (could be performed prior to final inspection and the issuance of
documentation for ERI or performance path compliance. Scott noted the HERS raters are typically involved in compliance for the performance and ERI paths in the IECC.

Scott presented the RESNET QA requirements for Raters where annual reporting is required, each rater has 10 percent of their files reviewed and one percent of field inspections are reviewed. The QA Provider, an organization that HERS Raters inspected by have a 100 percent review of reports submitted by the QA Providers, and then a further review of 25% of the QA Providers receive more thorough reviews of their records.

Scott discussed the sampling protocol which many utility and voluntary programs allow and some building departments have started allowing. He emphasized that the homes must have similar construction characteristics, built by the same contractors in approximately the same timeframe, i.e. not one year apart. A minimum of 1 in 7 units must be tested to ensure the design is met. When sampling is used there is a requirement that 10% of the files are reviewed from the sample set to confirm the data collected is equal or better than threshold specs in the worst-case simulation files. Also of note is the six units not test are included in the total number of ratings when calculating the one percent filed QA inspections that are verified.

Lastly Scott shared the improvements to the 2018 QA program at RESNET by increasing in-field review, the creation of a more comprehensive checklist for field and file QA reviews, mandatory testing of all QA providers designees and the increase of staff in the QA program at RESNET to support these efforts.

For additional questions Scott can be reached at scott@resnet.us.

Residential AC commissioning
Les Lazareck explained his experience in the field and building departments he has seen a number of items missing for code compliance and building science is the sizing of mechanical systems. Les stated that NV Energy studies have shown that over 80 percent of air conditioning systems in Southern Nevada are oversized with undersized ducts, properly sized equipment is shown to provide lower costs and consistent temperatures in houses.

Les asked if there is interest to having HVAC training in Southern Nevada to educate the building industry to address the proper sizing equation. Are there opportunities to leverage other building science experts on their suggested practices?

Les is concerned with inconsistent compliance of mechanical systems. He is typically seeing larger equipment being installed than what was specified. In many cases the mechanical plans do not specify the equipment/size. Education should start with the plan review process so that the mechanical sizing information is being verified on the plans prior to construction. Les has spoken with NV Energy to provide training for HVAC trades who perform their own sizing calculations, sessions would also support the engineers.

There is always the question how to entice the installer trades to attend the trainings and having the building departments request/market the training to the trades would be critical to having key stakeholders in attendance.

2018 IECC Updates

Robin Isaacs with the Governor's Office of Energy shared the dates for the three public hearings in Nevada:

 Reno May 10th, 230pm at the BANN office
 Las Vegas May 17th, 1100am at the SNHBA office
 Elko May 23rd, 100pm at City of Elko office

The code could potentially be adopted after the last hearing if there are no significant changes or major comments. Robin said there have been requests that the Northern Nevada amendments or the Southern Nevada amendments be included.  Jim suggested any code amendments that were created legislatively should
be incorporated into the state adopted code.

The expected adoption is July 1, 2018.

The Governor’s Office of Energy has $10,000 available for energy code training in the state. The training must be completed by June 30, 2018. Northern Nevada ICC has submitted a proposal to Robin to bring in Eric Makela for a two day training. Robin should have an answer to them the week of April 16th. Funding cannot be used for food and refreshments. There would be $5000 remaining for code training budget. Robin would like to see a proposal from the southern part of the state. There is a possibility of additional funding for code training in the next fiscal year.

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Sustainability Chair Report

Sustainability Chair - Mark Hauenstein, P.E. LEED BD+C BEAP

NN ASHRAE Members, 

The City of Reno, in partnership with our dedicated stakeholders, will host our first annual Green Building Awards program on May 8, 5:30 - 7:00 PM at The Grove at South Creek, a unique LEED Certified events center that serves our community while protecting the environment. The Grove also specializes in serving gourmet, locally sourced food. We would like you to join us to celebrate your accomplishments.

More info and registration at:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/reenergize-reno-first-annual-green-building-awards-tickets-45264979773

Mark Hauenstein, P.E. LEED BD+C BEAP

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Calendar of Events

Our 15^th annual sporting clays fundraiser was a big success! Congratulations to all the winners!

The weather was great and everyone had smiles on their faces as the fierce competition got under way right on time. The Lunch provided by WN Mechanical Systems was delicious and helped provide much needed nourishment for all of the competitors after a long morning on the course.

We want to recognize and thank the following major sponsors for making this happen:

DMG Reno

EMCOR Nevada Services

Norman S. Wright Equipment

R.F. MacDonald

RHP Mechanical Systems

United Construction

WN Mechanical Systems

Western Nevada Supply

Also, a big thank you to all of our station sponsors, and all of the shooters who made the raffle a big success.

We hope to see you all next year for our 16^th annual shoot.

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Student Activities Chair Report

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Technical Article

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