Steve Hamoen getting ready to fly to a geothermal install and service site on an island in Northern Ontario

Steve was featured in the magazines first edition of “Sustain” which is a special Mechanical Business supplement that focuses on renewability, efficiency and environmental alternatives at play in the mechanical contracting sector. The Mechanical Business magazine editor stated “saving energy and resources are good business” as one of the reasons for adding the section.

The article labels Steve as a “Road Warrior” and goes into some detail of his day to day activities, – lots of driving – personal interests, a bit of his family history and how he got into the HVAC industry. The piece also divulges Steve’s favourite band and biggest pet peeve…

The article spotlights a unique water-sourced geothermal system install and service Zonelife did in Temagami, a city in North-eastern Ontario on an island. To reach the site he was flown in by the client who was also a pilot and transporting the equipment was done by barge during icy weather. The article goes into more detail, and can be found on page 46 and 47 of Mechanical Business Magazine.

With a natural gas barbecue you won't run out of gas

A few weeks ago I was doing a BBQ at my place and I wanted this meat to be epic. I had burgers and giant steaks on the grill and fish on both side burners. My plan was to bring each meat to the table one at a time so I had started them all in a sequence.

When the steaks were about to be done I lift the barbeque lid to check on them but I wasn’t blasted with the usual amount of heat. I could still smell the propane and the meat, that is what everyone on the patio was talking about- how great it smelled. So I check my burgers, check my fish and none of them are done. The steak would pass but not everyone likes it medium-rare!

I had refilled my propane tank a few weeks before that but somehow I had completely used up all of the propane leaving my grill warm and everything in different stages of rawness. I tried the usual, opening and closing the propane tank, gave it a little shake to see if I could hear liquid but nothing, and obviously I didn’t have a spare propane tank lying around.

Ironically it was only a week earlier that I was discussing the benefits of a natural gas barbecue with a client. They live in a rural area and were doing electric baseboard heating so Zonelife had just completed the installation of a high-efficiency York furnace and air conditioning and new ductwork. They asked me if Zonelife would install a natural gas valve for a barbeque and I encouraged it by highlighting the basic benefits of natural gas and Zonelife did the natural gas valve install.

A natural gas BBQ grill heats more evenly, it only takes minutes for it to reach the set temperature and the biggest and most obvious benefit of switching to a natural gas barbecue is that you will not run out of gas…

I realize I should be following my own advice and I will be making the switch from propane to a natural gas barbecue.

I’m going to do some searching, find the perfect barbecue, and install a natural gas valve for my patio which won’t take too long. There is a sale going on at Home Depot for natural gas barbecues so that will be my first stop.

After I’ve been using my new natural gas BBQ I will add another post to let you know how it is going so check back.