The January 2015 Meeting took place Tuesday, January 13, 2015 and featured CO2 Refrigeration Systems. The speaker was Andre Patenaude, Director – CO2 Business Development, Emerson Climate Technologies. Andre Patenaude brought us some of his 30 years of marketing, sales and technical service experience working directly with end users, contractors, wholesalers and Andre’s presentation covered the introduction to CO2 as a Refrigerant; what were Pressure/Temperature Differences vs Ammonia and HFCs; Pressure, Enthalpy Chart Differences; what were the Basic System Comparisons; Commissioning Safety and Service; and the Benefits of CO2 as a Refrigerant. The meeting was at The Coach and Lantern British Pub 384 Wilson Street East, Ancaster. Cost for Dinner/Feature Speaker Chapter Members – $40 / Non-Chapter Members – $50 Student Chapter Members – $10 / Student Non-Chapter Members – $20. Prior to the next meeting, many members attended the ASHRAE Winter Meeting held January 24-28, 2015 in Chicago. Total attendance there exceeded 70,000, the largest ARI and ASHRAE meeting ever. Included in those in attendance were the two students sponsored by the chapter: Colin Umbach and Mustafa Morsy. They were selected based on the strength of both applicants and their commitment to ASHRAE and the Chapter.
The February 2015 meeting was held Tuesday, February 10, 2015 with the topic Wireless Building Automation & BACnet. Speaker was Marc Bertolin Regional Account Manager – Product Sales Johnson Controls Canada. The speaker had much appreciated experience in the HVAC/Building Automation industry for over 13 years. He started with Siemens Building Technologies and for the past 3 years been regional product account manager for Johnson Controls, helping to manage the product business in Canada. The meeting was held at Southcote Tap 53 Grill,534 Garner Road East, Ancaster, ON. This month we had many new members join the ASHRAE Hamilton Chapter: Guillaume Blouin, Tower Engineering; Liam Johnston, Neelands Refrigeration; Mohammed Omar, McMaster University; Sarah Nangle-Smith, McMaster University; Aaron Besseling, Besseling Mechanical; Patrick Darby, WalterFedy; Justin Doiron, Dillon Consulting; Kevin Martin, Engineered Air; Mustafa Morsy, McMaster University; and Surya Quiterio, Efficiency Engineering.
From the Chicago Winter Society/ARI meeting, Mustafa reported the following: The ASHRAE Hamilton Chapter sponsored me as a student to attend the 2015 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Chicago in January. The trip was tremendously beneficial for me on many different levels. The first day was overwhelming with ASHRAE president Thomas Phoenix talking about the role ASHRAE takes around the world as both a leading organization in the industry and in the development of standards. Aaron Ralston followed by giving an exceptional inspirational speech. That was only the start for an ultra-busy five days conference. I’ll try to summarize my experience in the following points: Student Program: Designed with an interactive approach of panel discussion, it engaged students in conversation with the panel members, which included both experienced and young professionals. It was successful to reach out closer to a typical student’s perspective and talk about their start in ASHRAE and how it developed them into leaders and more. It also served as general guidance for students approaching their graduation which were the majority in attendance; Student Congress: Less than twenty students were selected to attend the congress and have input on the student program strategy at the society level; Technical Program: With 62 Seminars, 8 Workshops, 25 Paper Sessions and 5 forums running concurrently through the five days and covering eight different tracks, it was a challenge to decide on which ones to attend. But no matter which I selected, I was guaranteed a substantial knowledge gain on state of the art technologies presented by the best in this field. The discussions held after by the experienced professionals in attendance, which more often than not led into a valuable technical debate over the concept, helped broaden my knowledge even more. Technical Committees: I had the chance to attend numerous TC meetings and witness the committees discussing the editing of design guides, standards and the preparation of technical programs for the upcoming conferences. I volunteered to work and get mentored on multiple sub-committees within TC 2.8 – Building Environmental Impacts and Sustainability- and TC 9.8 – Large building Air-Conditioning Applications. Networking: Whether in a Seminar, a Technical Committee or even a social mixer or an after party, everyone around me was an experienced professional in the field of my interest. I connected with numerous people who gave me insight, tips or an interesting conversation. Many of these key professionals I’ve contacted after my return and plan to keep in touch. AHR Expo: With more than 2,000 exhibiting companies, it was privilege to walk the convention floor with two professionals from the Hamilton Chapter and hear their perspective on state of the art equipment and technologies in the HVAC Industry To sum up, the trip was a substantial knowledge gain, gave me the chance to get involved at the society level, and to see the big picture, which resulted in a paradigm shift in how I view ASHRAE and the industry. I highly recommend that the Chapter continue to sponsor students to attend the winter meetings. I plan to work within the Chapter and support the Student membership in the future.
The March 2015 Chapter Meeting was held Tuesday, March 3, 2015 with the topic ASHRAE 90.1 Requirement for 50% Plug-Load Control. It covered how the ASHRAE 90.1 committee came to the conclusion to only control 50% of the receptacles, presently acceptable means of meeting the ASHRAE 90.1 requirement and new technology that makes plug-load control safe even for 100% controlled devices. The speaker was Steven Montgomery, P.E. Chief Operating Officer of 2D2C, Inc. He has been involved in plug-load control since 2002 and serves as an adviser to the ASHRAE 90.1 Lighting Committee on plug-load control. Location was at the Southcote Tap 53 Grill 534 Garner Road East, Ancaster,
The April 2015 Meeting was a join meeting with the Toronto Chapter and was held Tuesday, April 7, 2015 with the topic Integrated Building Design. The presentation focused on the Integrated Building Design and Project Delivery processes including team building, project management, stakeholder responsibilities, early collaboration, better decision making, documentation methods and the use of technologies like BIM to improve the built environment. The presentation provides an overview of ASHRAE Handbook Applications Chapter 57 and how to apply its recommendations to help design, construct, operate and maintain better buildings. The speaker was M. Dennis Knight, P.E., LEED®AP, CCS, CXA, BEMP, Principal, Whole Building Systems LLC, from Charleston, SC. Speaker had some 40 years of experience providing engineering, design and construction related services within the building industry.
Meeting location was half way between chapter, the Holiday Inn – Oakville 590 Argus Road, Oakville. Timing was 5:00 pm – Registration & Social Hour 6:00 pm – Dinner & Feature Speaker.
Cost for Dinner/Feature Speaker for Chapter Members – $50 / Non-Chapter Members – $65 Life Members & Students – $25.
Hamilton Chapter welcomes new members • Darren Cooper, Renteknik Group; Andrew Mier; Troy Paterson, Johnson Controls; Andrew Portengen, WalterFedy
The May 2015 Meeting was a luncheon meeting held Tuesday, May 5, 2015 with the topic Natatorium Design & Dehumidification. The speaker discussed how these facilities are notoriously complex to design and can be expensive to operate. The presentation also covered the many critical system design aspects of a Natatorium which include the fundamentals of psychrometrics, dew point, humidity/condensation control, moisture load calculation, air distribution, ventilation requirements, water chemistry and how to optimize the operating conditions to minimize operating costs. The speaker was Mr. Ralph Kittler, P.E. an ASHRAE Distinguished Lecturer and well regarded in the HVAC industry as an expert in dehumidification and Indoor Pool Design. He has been in the dehumidification and Natatorium design field for 25 years. He is TC 9.8’s revisor responsible for the chapter which covers Natatorium Design (Large Building Air Conditioning Applications) in ASHRAE’s Applications Design Handbooks. He is also TC 8.10’s chairman and their Handbook subcommittee chair for the Mechanical Dehumidifiers chapter in he Systems and Equipment Handbook and speaks regularly at ASHRAE meetings across the country. Mr. Kittler is a Co-Founder and Director of Sales & Marketing for Seresco Technologies Inc., a dehumidifier manufacturer. He is a Professional Engineer with a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Lakehead University, Ontario Canada in 1989. The lunch was held at the Beaver & Bulldog – Burlington 2020 Lakeshore Road, Burlington Session started at 12:00 noon – Lunch & Feature Speaker Cost for Dinner/Feature Speaker Chapter Members – $40 / Non-Chapter Members – $50 Student Chapter Members – $10 / Student Non-Chapter Members – $20
It was noted that this is our last technical meeting of the year, with the Next Meeting Wednesday, June 17th, 2015 the annual ASHRAE Hamilton Chapter Golf Tournament.
The Chapter June 2015 meeting was held Wednesday, June 17, 2015 and was ASHRAE Hamilton Chapter Golf Tournament, this year at Hidden Lake Golf Club Burlington, ON. It was a Shotgun Start at 1:00 p.m. Sharp The course was located at 1137 – #1 Side Road, Burlington, Ontario and is now a ClubLink Course that had drastically changed (for the better) since we held our Tournament here 28 years ago. David Rasmussen our Social Chair hosted his 26th year as Tournament organizer with a mix of Sun and Overcast skies. The temperature was a perfect 22C. We returned to Hidden Lake in Burlington once again. Ironically we were there 28 years ago to the day. They now have 2 courses (Old and the New). We played on the Old. George Menzies manned the second “Longest Drive Hole” (#13) with a twist. The ball used was the plastic type riddled with holes. Those thinking they could drive that ball far were sadly mistaken! The Top 3 of Jake Rendulic, Eric Sakauye, Joe Beyson all received a prize from the prize table to reward their “minor efforts”. Golfers all finished close to 6:00pm. Supper went off at 6:30pm. We had 116 golfers this year again a Scramble format was used, and a 4 Drives per person requirement to keep the game challenging. The team of Ron Patel, Sean Myers, Matt Honchar and Paul Frith finished at 11 under Par. Ladies Longest Drive (Hole # 9) was won by Christine Kemp, Colette Cooper and Laura Hutzol as some of the men didn’t listen and wrote their name on the Ladies Longest Drive Card. Men’s Longest Drive (Hole # 16) was won by Andy Morin.Towels were given away with ASHRAE Hamilton on them. Also a first ever, a Silent Auction raised money for ASHRAE Research Canada.
History for year July 2015 to June 2016
A Summer Summit was held in June 2015 to organized the new 2015-2016 ASHRAE year. Many other weekly meetings of the CRC Hamilton 2015 Committee were held during period March to August 2015.
Region II CRC 2015 Hamilton: CRC General Chairman was David Rasmussen, who was General Chair for the last 3 CRC hosted by the Hamilton Chapter. Again, the Hamilton Chapter was the proud host of the Annual ASHRAE Region II CRC. It was held on August 21-23, 2015 at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Hamilton, Ontario and was by far the most successful ever held here due mainly to over 20 faithful volunteers.David was able to secure a rate at the Sheraton Hotel of $109 per night. It is important not to take the first price the hotel offers you. We had 2 other local hotels also wanting our business, and it’s easy to negotiate with the hotel to lower their price to get your business. The initial contact with the Sheraton started out at $149 per night. Also, we arranged that the hotel allow for a late check-out time on Sunday since the meeting is not over till 12 noon Sunday.
The Hamilton Chapter had 4 sponsors for the first time. We had never gone this route before but admit it did offset some unexpected costs. One of our bigger costs was the Saturday night venue at the new Tim Horton’s Field where the Tiger-Cats play. This proved to be very successful, both with the banquet at the field and the Bubble Soccer played on the field after the supper. The new million $ scoreboard showed highlights of the meeting at the hotel and also displayed our sponsors ads.
The Companions, who were at the CRC, were very glad to go on a multiple Winery Tour of the Niagara Peninsula on the Friday. They must have been all worn out as not one companion took advantage of our planned shopping tour Saturday afternoon. The Art Gallery in the morning had 9 in attendance.
The Technical HVAC Tour of First Ontario Centre had an attendance of 14 people. One overcrowding workshop issue was with CTTC. Many attendees sat in on the morning workshop because there was no other workshop until after lunch. This caused an attendance of over 25 people prompting the Sheraton to warn me of a potential fire hazard, as there was too many for the size of room. The meals from the Sheraton were exceptional. Many were a buffet style, such as breakfast, and there was never a shortage of food as they extended the hours that were projected without question. The Hospitality Suite was cramped every night due to late starts and the Ontario liquor laws which forced us to shut down at 1am. This turned out to be OK as attendees still had to attend early meetings the next day. Despite many emails to Chapter Historians only 3 of 9 Banners showed up which was very disappointing so none were hung for the required pictures. The History Display should be located in a locked room which was arranged. Our attendance of over 115 registrants and proving that CRC’s are beneficial to our Region II despite continued efforts from Atlanta ASHRAE to push toward more Centralized Workshops. Even more tickets purchased for the evening events.
The Chapter was proud of the 20-member chapter planning committee. The word from many of those in attendance was that the CRC Hamilton 2015 was the best and most reasonably costed CRC ever held in Region. The dedicated planning committee that spent quite a lot of time ensuring every detail was planned well going into the conference. The execution was flawless, everything went great. With the great contacts from Robyn Ellis, we hosted the Saturday night event at the new Tim Horton’s Field. The scoreboard was ours for the evening showing both past and present CRC’s. Anyone walking by the stadium had to be envious to see Bubble Soccer as the main event in one half of the field and football with a select few in the other end. This social event involving bubble soccer in the new stadium with the new scoreboard showing highlights of the CRC will be remembered by all attendees for many years. We had a surprizing $3,800 surplus – good for YEA sponsorships.
July 2015 to June 2016 Chapter Year Meeting Highlights.
Our 57th year of operating opens with a new Executive. They are President John Molnar, Past President and Research Promotion Chair Reaz Usmanali, Treasurer Allan Antcliffe, YEA Chair Ryley Besseling Membership Promotion Chair Mike Krewski Student Activities Chair Aaron Besseling Student Activities Co-Chair Mark Long Historian George Menzies; Chapter Special Events David Rasmussen, C.T.T.C. ( and Programs Chair Frank Mesicek and Mustafa Morsy Co-Chair; Grassroots Government Advocacy Chair Quinton Voskamp; Airways Editor Colin Umbach. The Board of Governors consists of Robyn Ellis, Iain Hill, George Menzies, David Rasmussen.
The first meeting of 2015/16 was held Thursday, September 10, 2015 at the Holiday Inn Burlington Hotel. Topic was Steam Turbine Centrifugal Chillers with speakers Rajesh Dixit, the Global Product Manager for Thermally Driven Chillers, Johnson Controls, Inc. He is also Chair on ASHRAE Technical Committee [TC] 8.3 and Joe Brillhart, Director, Global Industrial Chillers, Building Efficiency, Johnson Controls, Inc. Cost for Dinner & Feature Speaker: Chapter Members—$40 Non-Chapter Members—$60 Students—$15. Some 43 were present including a number of students
Our October 2015 second meeting was held at McMaster University on Monday, October 5, 2015 with the topic Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems. Speaker was John Gowing from Sales and Business Development, EI Solutions Inc. John had been working with EI Solutions and desiccant technology since 1999 and was part of the development team that patented a desiccant dehumidification system for skating rinks/arenas using heat reclaim from the ice plant. Also covered was Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS) utilizing active desiccant systems which are proving to be a cost-effective alternative for removing the latent load within the ventilation system. When the internal latent loads are also factored into the DOAS’s capacity, the downstream cooling systems target on sensible loads allowing for higher operating efficiencies and more stringent space humidity control. The actual meeting location was at the University Club of McMaster U at 1280 Main Street West, Hamilton, also called the Alumni Memorial Hall—Building #8. We had at 5:00pm a Social Hour, followed by Dinner at 7:00p then the Feature Speaker. Cost for Dinner this night was Chapter Members—$40 Non-Chapter Members—$60 Students—$10. Many students were present and anxious to talk to the ASHRAE members present. The night also lead to the students looking at reviving the Student Branch again.
At the executive meeting just prior to the evening event, the Hamilton Chapter agreed to sponsor one qualifying student member who has an interest in attending the 2016 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Orlando, FL. Jan 23 to 27, 2016 The selected student will have their registration, travel, and hotel expenses covered by the Chapter and will have a fantastic opportunity to network with the industry’s best and learn what the HVAC industry has to offer. We also agreed to continue its initiative to promote and support students that wish to explore the opportunities ASHRAE can provide. For the 2015/16 year, the Chapter is sponsoring students who sign up to become student members by funding their membership dues for one year.
Our 3rd meeting November 2015 of the year was held Tuesday, November 10, 2015 with the topic Variations and Influence of Ambient Conditions on Building Design Including Super Tall Buildings. Our speaker was Dr. Duncan Phillips, Principal at RWDI which does consulting in the Science of Buildings, Structures, and Environment. Topic covered project execution and developing new methodologies for analyzing buildings and the urban realm. The speaker has worked on many projects where the intention is to “manipulate” wind and outdoor temperature to achieve the right level of infiltration into naturally ventilated buildings and stadia (not too much, not too little) as well as generate perceptions of cooler streetscapes and occupied spaces. Some of the unique projects he has been involved with include sand mitigation for railways in the Middle East, stack effect in super tall buildings and a couple of net zero cities. Duncan noted that with the increase in building heights come engineering challenges which must be resolved. This seminar provided information about the use of weather data including vertical climate changes and its effects on Super Tall Buildings as well as the use of weather data from Toronto on buildings elsewhere in Ontario and the impact on design decisions. The Newsletter noted that transportation would be available for students from both McMaster University and Mohawk Collage campuses. Mark Long looked after the arrangements. The location for this meeting was at the Southcote 53 Tap and Grill 534 Garner Road East, Ancaster, ON Timing was 5:00pm—Social Hour 6:00pm—Dinner 7:00pm—Feature Speaker.Cost for Dinner & Feature Speaker was Chapter Members—$45 Non-Chapter Members—$65 Students—$15.
There was no formal December 2015 Technical Presentation. However, being December we did hold our annual social event, nothing formal, just a chance to get to get together before the end of the year. It always seems that people quite enjoy the social hour before the dinner, so we get a chance this month to have a bit more time to spend together and catch up. The location was Beaver and Bulldog 2020 Lakeshore Road Burlington, ON at the usual times 5:00pm—Social Hour / Networking 6:00pm—Dinner 8:30pm—Close-out. Cost for Dinner: Chapter Members—$55 Non-Chapter Members—$70 Students—$15.
Our policy for advertising in Airways continues as it has been for many years: Business Card Advertising. A business card ad in the “Airways” Bulletin costs of $100.00 per card ($200.00 for a double sized ad) and will run a designated period. Position advertising continues to be available in the “Airways” Bulletin. The cost will be $100.00 per (reasonable sized) insert and will run for a period of 3 issues (unless informed that the position has been filled).