AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING & REFRIGERATION NEWS ■ July 18, 201126

contracting

There’s no place like Geo Farm for

all things geothermal. The event,

a hands-on field day hosted by

distributor Corken Steel, is being

hosted for the third year in rural Indiana

Aug. 30 – Sept 1.

For 2011, the drilling, trenching, geo

technology, and heat exchanger workshop

has been expanded to two days. The new

ClimateMaster-sponsored day (Tues., Aug.

30) is open to geothermal professionals

from across the nation.

“We saw quickly that Corken Steel devel-

oped a winning recipe,” said John Bailey,

ClimateMaster’s vice president of sales and

marketing. “We wanted to offer the experi-

ence to a broader group of geothermal pro-

fessionals, making the training available to

anyone from any part of the country.”

The second day (Thurs., Sept. 1), is

reserved for Corken Steel dealers. All

attendees may log continuing education

hours required for master and journey-

man programs.

EVENT LOCATIONThe event will be held at Dwight Buch-

er’s farm in southern Indiana, a recog-

nized historical site. Bucher is the owner of

Bucher Trucking and Excavation (Aurora,

Ind.), and his company focuses on geo-

thermal well drilling. To organize and host

the event, Bucher teamed up with Corken

Steel, a large distributor of ClimateMaster

geothermal equipment.

Geo Farm offers six hands-on stations

that rotating groups visit for one-hour inter-

vals. Tractor-drawn hay-rides are the main

form of transportation around the 300-acre

farm. Great home-cooked breakfast, lunch,

and dinner are served by the Bucher family,

with happy hour beginning at 5 p.m.

FIRSTHAND DEMOTo kick off the Geo Farm training, attend-

ees are divided into six groups and directed

to classroom settings in various buildings on

the farm, or to outdoor demonstrations.

“One of the great things about Geo Farm

is that nearly every possible means of geo-

thermal exchange is demonstrated here,”

said Jay Kaiser, vice president of sales and

marketing at Corken Steel Products Co.

The outdoor stations include pond loop

installation, horizontal boring, and drilling.

At the indoor sessions, attendees partic-

ipate in training on system performance,

routine maintenance, loop temperature,

and pressure. One notable session will be

held in the property’s 150-year-old brick

carriage house, where participants learn

about GeoDesigner software while a sta-

bled pair of Bucher’s giant Percheron draft

horses listen in.

“By now, the horses have attended the

system design workshop a dozen times,”

quipped Joe Fish, residential district man-

ager for ClimateMaster. “My guess is that,

by now, they could teach the entire course,

but I’ll be there to help, just in case.”

According to Fish, attendees learn all

about ClimateMaster’s loop design soft-

ware, GeoDesigner. The program is a

sophisticated, yet intuitive, tool for sizing

units and exchange fields. The software

also helps to demonstrate operating cost

scenarios for potential customers.

THIRD ANNUAL“Judging from the past two Geo Farm

events, and interest this year in expand-

ing it, I’m confident that we’ve found a

recipe that works,” said Kaiser. “This

year, we’ve made it bigger and better in all

respects.”

“Making it available to contractors

nationwide is another indication of how

upbeat we are about Geo Farm and all that

it offers,” added Fish. For the ClimateMas-

ter-sponsored event, packages including

hotel rooms will be available. ■

Geo Farm Gains Momentum

FOR MORE INFORMATION…

Contact Joe Fish at geojoe.fish@yahoo.com.

An instructor explains the advantage of preassembled lake loops, just before the group participates in submerging the geo-exchange system.

Vertical drilling slurry is captured before an audience of trade professionals at Geo Farm.