Congratulations Dave!!!

Dave Schloemer, an employee of Bill Spade Electric, Heating & Cooling located in Cleves Ohio received the 3^rd place bronze medal in the HVAC competition at the National ABC Craft Championship competition in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

            There were competitors representing ABC chapters from across the entire country. Only those who met the requirements were eligible to compete at the National Convention.  Dave was selected to represent the Ohio Valley ABC chapter, located in Springboro, OH, through a local competition held in January 2008.  The first day of the national competition, consisted of a three hour written exam of which the scores would later be added to the eight hour, practical hands-on event which took place on the second day of the competition.  The practical competition was judged based on the expertise and completion of three sections. 

Section one was made up of three sub- sections.  Sub-section one was the assembly and installation of an economizer on a five ton package unit.  Sub-section two was explaining and demonstrating the operation of the package unit utilizing the wiring diagram.  Sub-section three was wiring and programming a Honeywell 8000 thermostat. 

Section two was simply to demonstrate recovery of a standard residential split air conditioning system.  Then evacuate the system to 500 microns and re-charge using standard charging practices. 

Section three was an exercise in brazing using three different types of solder and two different sizes of copper tubing.  Once the apparatus was complete it was pressurized to 100 pounds per square inch for 10 minutes.

Dave's scores were enough to propel him into the bronze metal spot ahead of all but two of his fellow competitors.  When asked how he felt about third place Dave's response was, "I'm just glad to have been fortunate enough to have been given this opportunity by the Ohio Valley ABC and most importantly my boss Bill Spade.  The competition was tough with all of the competitors being very skilled and true professionals in our trade."

Overall, 136 competitors in 11 trades competed in the national competition which is the highlight of the National ABC Convention.  The Ohio Valley ABC chapter congratulates Dave on his accomplishments at both the local and national competitions.

- Courtesy of Associated Builders & Contractors, Inc. -