When will we learn? We don't need to burn!
WHY NOT
LET THE EARTH HEAT & COOL YOUR HOME
Who Is – Just Geothermal Systems?
In response to the relentless increases in fossil fuel prices, Gerry Ferns founded Just Geothermal Systems in Ingersoll, Ontario in 2001.
The business concentrates on providing residential and light commercial customers with the highest degree of comfort along with the lowest operating cost possible.
We achieve this goal by installing geothermal heating and cooling products into new buildings and by retrofitting geothermal systems into older buildings, using a variety of products and heat delivery methods.
Experience
Gerry started in the geothermal business in 1983, around the time geothermal Systems first started appearing in Ontario. Unlike most contractors, he learned the heating and air conditioning business starting in the geothermal industry, becoming proficient in the art of Heating and Cooling Load Calculation, Ductwork Design and Fluid Dynamics as they relate to earth loops and hydronics.
He designed, sold and installed many systems in Toronto and the surrounding areas, mostly into the custom home market for five years taking the contracting firm he worked for to the second largest residential geothermal dealership in Canada within 3 years, placing several hundred geothermal systems into operation.
In 1988, Gerry was invited to become the Sales Manager for WaterFurnace Inc., the Canadian distributor of WaterFurnace Systems at that time. Trained and certified as an "Instructor" by WaterFurnace International in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in all aspects of "Advanced Heat Pump" service and installation Gerry became the first "Factory Certified Geothermal Trainer" in Canada. He was involved in expanding and training the Canadian Contractor Network.
In the early nineties, the need for Government recognition and support of this "alternative heating technology" plus an emerging commercial market for geothermal systems, drove a demand for "Industry Standards" in Canada.
Sitting on two technical sub-committees for CSA Standards on behalf of WaterFurnace Inc. at that time, Gerry’s well rounded experience, ranging from sales and marketing, to design, installation, service and training contributed to the formation of the following standards.
CSA Standards C – 445 for The Installation of Ground Source Heat Pumps and C – 446, for The Performance of Ground Source Heat Pumps (system efficiency) were release around that time.
Both were adopted by the National Building Code and by most Provincial Building Codes in Canada.
In the early nineties, Gerry became involved with technology transfer efforts between the industry and the engineering community, to which geothermal heating and cooling was practically unknown. This effort was spearheaded at that time by Energy Mines and Resources Canada and the Canadian Earth Energy Association. Presentations and training were conducted across the Maritime Provinces and Ontario. Engineers, architects, utility personnel and many other professionals were introduced to the technology at that time.
After four years working with WaterFurnace Inc., with thousands of units installed by contractors that he was responsible for and trained, plus having a number of large commercial sales in schools and churches for example, Gerry joined Earth Systems International in Kitchener, to assist with the development of a Direct Expansion, (DX or waterless) Geothermal System. This required many hours of "hands on" experience in R & D, concentrating on the fluid dynamics of a bi-phasic earth loop system. Understanding both the refrigeration side and the air delivery side of Geothermal Systems, Gerry wrote software to predict the flow dynamics and therefore the pressure drop of tapered bi-phasic copper heat exchangers. He also authored and illustrated most of that company's technical training and marketing materials.
Marketing a DX geothermal system required the establishment and training of a new type of geothermal dealer network, one that was refrigeration oriented rather than plumbing oriented. His experience was put to use first in the U.S. mid-west, where contractors from Indiana, Ohio and Illinois first brought the new DX heat pump to market. Shortly after that the product was introduced into Ontario and Manitoba.
In 2001 Gerry sat on the CSA Technical Standards Sub-committee for The Design and Installation of Earth Energy Systems, CSA Standard C-448, on behalf of both Just Geothermal Systems Ltd. and NextEnergy Solutions Inc.
This new standard built upon and replaced CSA Standards C-445 M92 (residential) and CSA C-447 (commercial), combining them into one multi-part Standard C-448.
Specifically we worked on the authoring of the Geothermal System and Earth Loop sizing method, included in the Annex Section as part of C-448, which was released in 2002. CSA-448 will be adopted by the next revision of the Ontario Building Code due in 2006.
Gerry has since consulted to a number of Canadian manufacturers and distributors of both geothermal and industrial refrigeration related products in the areas of technical design and in sales and marketing.
Today, Just Geothermal Systems Ltd. provides well designed and well implemented geothermal systems, installed to CSA Standard C-448 requirements or higher, throughout South Western Ontario.
Questions? Contact your geothermal specialists
or Telephone 519-808-3987