AIR CONDITIONERS Thermo Pride’s redesigned Air Handler
the max you can get is $350.So we’re kind of going into an unknown this sum- mer.”However, he said,“Ifwe have a really hot summer, it could be really good.” The commercial work that Boltz does tends to be replacing air condition-
ing systems in strip retail centers, indoor malls and department stores. Those kinds of projects can get very involved if the duct work isn’t already in place, White observed. For instance, a strip mall might originally have been built so that each store
occupied 2,000 square feet.But over time,with turnover,a new tenant might want 3,000 square feet—“one-and-a-half stores,”White said.The contractor then tears out a wall and Boltz,as the AC contractor,does the necessary duct work.
FILLING MORE CUSTOMERS’ NEEDS Bobby Parlett recalls well the reason Besche Oil Co.,Waldorf,Md., got into the air conditioning business. “We used to have alignments with HVAC contractors,”he said.When a cus-
tomer asked about air conditioning,Besche Oil would refer the customer to the HVAC contractor.“Over time we saw that we were giving our customers to someone else,”Parlett said, because the contractor would talk the customer into switching to a heat pump.“Next thing, the customer would call us to come and get the oil tank.” Today—and for years now - Besche Oil Co. is a dealer of Carrier and Trane equipment,which includes heat pumps.They cut into oil consumption,Parlett noted,but the oil dealer “would rather have part of the pie than none - so we do a lot of heat pumps.” l FON
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