<h3><strong>Buck Stops</strong></h3>
It’s good to be back. Not that you or I ever went anywhere - it’s the economy that I’m talking about. Your continuing efforts, combined with pent-up demand fueled by a cooler than normal spring in Florida and better than average weather in California made April our busiest month in five years. And thankfully, May isn’t far behind.

The Great Recession proved to be the perfect storm for our industry. Disposable income dropped; new pools weren’t being built and folks weren’t moving which proved to be a double-edged sword – not only with selling new systems, but with honoring warranties for system owners who normally might have moved every five to six years. We’ve all heard this too many times, “if it doesn’t kill us, it makes us stronger.”

While the hot water side of the industry continues to take a hit from still relatively low natural gas prices, pool customers don’t seem to care. Maybe it’s become perception that heating a pool with a fossil fuel must be expensive or that it’s just not environmentally the right thing to do.

As the rest of the nation watches, the CSI Commercial Solar Pool Heating Program is slowly starting to take shape. The Program Administrators for the various utilities have submitted their proposal to the California Public Utility Commission calling for an initial rebate of $7 per displaced therm of natural gas. The rebate, which is funded by rate gas utility payers, could offset as much as 40% to 50% of the cost of the system. All commercial pools in the state will qualify for the program whether they are currently heated or not, as well as replacement systems. The only qualification is that the property has natural gas service. A minimum of $40 million, though potentially as high as $80 million dollars in rebates has been proposed for the state's more than 40,000 commercial pools.

No, I’m not an advocate for solar incentives, but I am for a level playing field. And as California goes, so often does the rest of the country.
<h3><strong>Online RMR / LAR</strong></h3>
I don’t like change either – even if it is for the better. I still have an iPhone 3GS and it works. The screen cracked recently and instead of upgrading – you guessed it, I got a new screen. Jim Roark and I are what Simon Sinek calls a laggard; if they still sold rotary phones, we’d have one. But I assure you that’s not the case with our new online RMR / LAR. Entering information is a snap and you don’t even have to press hard to make the last page readable! If we said take your time to figure it out, like me, you would. That’s why we’ve put a cut-off of May 31 for the paper forms. Check it out right now at <a href="www.aquathermindustries.com/rmr">www.aquathermindustries.com/rmr</a> Kudos to Kevin and our engineering staff along with some help from Dan and thanks to our Beta tester (Wendy Hall) along the way in getting this done.

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<h3><strong>New Strap Clamp</strong></h3>
I’ve always tried to work with regional suppliers for the components in our products when possible. It boosts the local economy plus helps us to reduce our carbon footprint. Unfortunately, there’s a point where the high cost of sourcing components locally can outweigh the other benefits. On occasion, we’ve even sourced our metal stampings oversees – something that always bothered me. Actually it bothered me so much, we decided to invest locally in what is called “progressive forming” stamping dies for our more popular stainless steel components. It required a significant upfront tooling investment, but comes closer to matching the offshore per-piece-price while still being made here in New Jersey.

Up to now, there were still two parts we either couldn’t source in the US, or were just too expensive to make here. The stainless steel filters for the vacuum relief valves are one of them. The only company that makes that particular mesh design is in Mexico and I can live with that. The other component is the strap clamp. If you think they’re expensive now, making them here in the states would have been astronomical. After our success with the progressive dies on our other parts, we worked with our toolmaker on a redesign that could more easily be made with the same type of progressive forming tooling.

(Insert drawing)

The new design, which is even stronger than the old one, will be released sometime late summer / early fall. Prices will be going up a few cents, but in the end it’s the right thing to do.
<h3><strong>Donations</strong></h3>
One presentation we just didn’t get to at this year’s National Master Dealer Meeting was a charitable donation by one of our dealers, Compass Solar of Pensacola, FL using Aquatherm collectors. It all started when they were approached by a swimming pool builder who refers business to them about an Iraq veteran from the Pensacola area who lost his legs in combat. Gulf Coast Pools was donating the construction of a new pool through the wounded warrior project and asked if Compass would like to donate a solar pool heater.

When Compass approached us, it was never a question of "how much" of this project Aquatherm felt comfortable donating towards; it was more like "where do we send the collectors?" Compass donated the labor and piping needed to complete the installation.

(Photo)

You never read about this, at least not from any press release that Aquatherm did, because we didn’t do one. If you know anything about Aquatherm’s charitable giving, it’s that we do it quietly, only saying something in order to inspire others to do the same.

If you come across a situation where a charitable gift of a warm, solar heated pool would make a difference, keep us in mind. We maintain an inventory of fully-warranted factory seconds for just such special occasions.
<h3><strong>QuickMount PV Flashing</strong></h3>
Also at this years meeting, Marshall Green from QuickMount PV previewed their new flashing specifically designed for Aquatherm’s Eagle Claw stainless steel mounting hardware. Thanks to the PV industry, we’ve been seeing more requests from building inspectors around the country requesting PV type flashings for the thermal industry. Unfortunately, “but this is the way we’ve been doing it for 35 years” just isn’t the right answer sometimes.

The first installations of the new flashings were recently installed by Solar Living under the guidance of Marshall. Rich Bonte, of Sun Source, Aquatherm’s distributor here in New Jersey, and by his own admission perhaps one of he biggest skeptics there ever was, joined in to photograph the event.

(Pictures)

Though Solar Living took their time, the installation of the flashings didn’t take nearly as long as they imagined. Along the way, they also discovered that the outlet header flashing served double-duty as a mount for their return line. Another benefit was that the top flashing was just long enough to slide under the top hose and protect the roof from expansion and contraction. Rich is now sold that the QuickMount PV flashing can be part of an up-sell package that will give his dealers another advantage over the competition.
<h3><strong>New Ratings / ISO 9806</strong></h3>
Just about all major manufacturers have had most of their products tested under the new ISO 9806 test protocol by now. Compared to the old ASRAE 96-80 standard, the new ISO standard is considered much more real world by incorporating three set wind speeds instead of simply being tested at a wind speed of under 3 mph as ASRAE 96-80 specifies. Ultrasun, Ecosun and our other center-web products were tested last fall and their new ratings are currently available with IAPMO and shortly with SRCC and FSEC. The SI collector is slated to be on the test stand this fall at TUV in Tempe, Arizona for its ISO 9806 testing.
<h3><strong>IAPMO vs. SRCC</strong></h3>
So IAPMO now certifies solar collector performance? For over 30 years one company has had a virtual monopoly on national collector performance certification here in the US. Now there’s a new kid on the solar thermal ratings block. IAPMO has listed solar collectors for over 30 years by verifying that a collector was in fact tested and passed the test. But now by also verifying the performance component of the testing, IAPMO is finally giving manufacturers a choice. As IAPMO gains acceptance, Aquatherm will continue to maintain both its IAPMO and SRCC certifications. There could wind up being some slight variances in the performance matrix between the two agencies, but I wouldn’t expect anything substantial.
<h3><strong>Sensor and Control Testing / Pentair sensor</strong></h3>
It all started with an email from our SI distributor in Peru this January who also happens to purchase the Pentair Solar Touch control for his systems.
<blockquote><em>“The solar sensors that have been sent with the new Pentair Solar Touch Control System have failed several times. It seems the problem is the color: the old sensor was black and the new one is grey; when the wind blows by this new sensor, it becomes cold and does not activate the system even if the sun is shining at the same time. Maybe another solution is to paint the sensors in black… what do you think about it?”</em></blockquote>
What do I think about a grey solar sensor? The first thing I did was check our inventory and sure enough, both sensors were grey at best - more like off-white. The second thing I did was call our good friend Steve Peake at Pentair to let them know they made a mistake in packaging. Steve replied that it wasn’t’ a mistake - their engineers had determined that the solar sensor just needed to be a temperature sensor and in order to make all their sensors the same, they choose an off-white color. It’s nearly five months later and Pentair is finally about to send out some samples of a black solar sensor. This prompted us to start our own project of comparing all the available sensors in the market not just to each other, but to different collectors and determining what sensor and turn-on / turn-off differential would work best with each of our collector designs.

(Picture of roof test)

Our early results just comparing sensors showed some pretty startling results. As you’d expect, the Pentair off-white sensor read just above ambient air temperature. In other words, even if the sensor reached more than six degrees over the pool water temperature, and light breeze or clouds were enough to make the system cycle off.

(Insert chart)

One other thing that we’re learning is what we all would have expected; the aluminum mass of the painted black Heliotrope sensor skipped over the momentary lows caused by clouds and wind which kept the system from cycling all day.

Next, we’ll be testing for a delta-T across the system and comparing it to what the sensors are telling the control to do. We’ll let you know what we find.
<h3><strong>Last Call for Paradise</strong></h3>
<strong> </strong>Aquatherm’s 2013 Summer Sales Retreat along Costa Rica’s Guanacaste Pacific coastline is just two months away and before we let go the last few of our block of rooms at our group rate, we’re just asking one more time if you’d like to join us. The dates are July 28<sup>th</sup> to August 2<sup>nd</sup>. If you’d like more information on rates and want to check on flights, please give Pat or myself a call.

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