coppertalk

Good Traditions Live On 

On June 2nd, nearly 500 people from all over the copper industry gathered for the Copper Club Annual Dinner at Guastavino’s in New York City, where this year’s Ankh Award was presented to Diego Hernandez, CEO of Codelco.  The keynote speaker was Alexis Glick, former Vice President of Business News at the Fox Business Network and anchor of Money for Breakfast and The Opening Bell.  The dinner is also a time when the Club awards financial scholarships to students who are interested in studies pertaining to copper.

Diego Hernandez, CEO of Codelco - Copperman of the Year

I look forward to this event every year.  It’s really something to see so many people with copper in common, all gathered together in one place.  The Ankh Award is probably the most prestigious award in the copper industry.  It’s given each year by The Copper Club to a professional who has had a positive impact in one way or another.  The Copper Club was established in 1944 and has been awarding the trophy itself, a replica of Rodin’s The Thinker, since 1962.  So there’s a lot of meaning and tradition behind it. 

The Copper Club is really growing.  The dinner is a good way to honor those whose work promotes copper.  It’s a good way for people to get together and share ideas, and to foster the pursuit of copper careers in young people.  Ultimately, it’s good for the industry as a whole. 

Left to right – Joe Robertson, Chairman of the nominating committee; Alexis Glick, keynote speaker; Diego Hernandez, CEO of Codelco; Arthur R. Miele, Chairman of Copper Club; Andy Kireta, Sr. President and CEO of the Copper Development Association

Those interested in more information about The Copper Club educational grants should call 212-217-9874 or direct an email to info@copperclub.org.  More information about The Copper Club can be found at www.copperclub.org. 

By Harold Moret, CDA Project Manager and Piping Applications Specialist

The Copper Development Association (CDA) has produced a series of five short, instructional how-to videos for anyone working with copper on architectural and plumbing projects. CDA Project Managers Larry Peters and Harold Moret developed the series of videos appropriate for both new construction and remodeling projects.

These educational videos were made to be helpful for the professional installer or do-it-yourselfer, who wants to learn about the correct techniques for installing copper piping and copper roofing, flashing, or other architectural systems. These videos are a great resource for someone looking for guidance on their next project.

We have a video on Copper Sheet Fabrication, describing the tools and basic preparation steps required for soldering copper sheet materials.  The steps reviewed in this video are required for most of the application techniques employed to fabricate copper strip, sheet, and plate for architectural use.  The video also describes the melting point for solders used with sheet copper.

The tinning copper and sheets video explains that before beginning the soldering of sheet materials you have to tin the soldering copper.  This video covers cleaning, marking, flux and solder.  Also, it shows the basic steps to tinning an edge.  The program describes how to create a lap seam which is recommended when the copper sheet is too thick to form a flat lock seam and how to solder copper sheet material in roofing on relatively flat slopes.

There’s a video about soldering preparation and the materials used in soldering preparation.  This program shows the different types of copper tubes, and how to measure and to cut copper tube.  The soldering video reviews the proper techniques for fluxing and soldering.  The first part of the program includes a description of certain flux and how to apply it.  Part two shows how to properly apply heat and solder to a copper joint.  Testing all assembly for joint integrity is emphasized in the program.

A fifth video program is about solderless fittings which are gaining acceptance throughout the industry.  Push connects and press connects are demonstrated in the program. 

The video series is available on the CDA web site and on CDA’s YouTube Channel. We plan to expand the how-to video series this year with additional architectural and plumbing techniques.

By Harold Moret, CDA Project Manager and Piping Applications Specialist

Harold Moret, a CDA piping applications specialist, spends each June judging young people participating in the SkillsUSA Championships, sponsored by the National Leadership and Skills Conference (NLSC). More than 15,000 people, including students, teachers and business partners come to the event each year in Kansas City. The 46^th annual event in 2010 will be June 20-25 in Kansas City.

If it’s not in a kid’s blood to become a lawyer or a doctor, a trade is an alternative career for them. SkillsUSA works in conjunction with high schools and technical colleges so kids can learn trade skills that help them to be successful in pursuing a career.  As a part of the program, they can also choose to show their skills by competing against one another in local, state and national competitions.  The SkillsUSA Championships is the final, premier showcase of their skills.  There are all kinds of trades represented at the conference – plumbing, electronics, hair cutting, air craft mechanics – and more.

June 2010 will be the 5th year I’ve participated as a judge in the SkillsUSA plumbing contest. The contests are run through donations by the industry and with the help of people like me, who’ve been in the business a long time and want to help students to learn their trades properly from the bottom up.

My part is to judge the copper installation.  In the contest, copper is used for all of the water lines.  The plumbing students have a platform that represents a bathroom – it’s eight feet by four feet.  There’s a sink, shower, and commode all on the little table and they have 8 hours to put them all together and to make them work.  They have to install all the fixtures, the water going to them, and the drain and vent lines.  There’s a group of seven or eight judges who judge each part and make sure that all contestants work in a safe manner.  It’s tough to watch them start out as they shake out their nerves.  It gives us all a sense of pride when the students do a good job and also have fun with each other as they compete.

But there’s still a lot of work to do in educating our young people. I tell the young students, if they apply themselves, the sky’s the limit in any industry they decide to go into. A lot of them are there because they know they can make good money. But I also want to see them put their heart into their work.

I find teaching very satisfying, especially when I help a journeyman understand how to work to today’s installation standards. They tell me, “You know, I’ve been doing this wrong for 20 years.” It feels good when they see how my approach makes sense. I tell them it will feel awkward at first and you feel like you’re starting all over again. But it doesn’t take long for them to put a joint together so easily they don’t even have to think about it. It feels great to teach the older people how to do it properly too. If they do it well, they can then pass on that skill to their apprentices.

By Harold Moret, CDA Project Manager and Piping Applications Specialist

Harold Moret, CDA Project Manager and Piping Applications Specialist, has worked in the construction field for more than 25 years. He was a home builder and worked for a plumbing manufacturer before joining the CDA five years ago.

I’m based in Atlanta, but I don’t consider the southeast my only service area anymore. At the CDA, we’re branching out and training people all across the country. When we go to a city, we talk to several industries, not just one. And now I’m offering training for both the architectural and plumbing industries.

I’m also involved with the plumbing industry’s trade associations – the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, the United Association of Plumbers, Fitters, Welders and HVAC Service Techs, and the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. (ABC). We get together and share industry information and I do training classes and installation seminars for their members. Most involve the proper installation of copper piping systems. Read more…

By Craig Thompson, Copper Development Association, Project Manager & Architectural Applications Specialist

Craig Thompson is an Illinois-registered architect.  He holds a graduate degree in architecture and, in 1972, began working in construction on residential, commercial and retail projects.  He joined the CDA in 1992, working primarily with architects.  He provides them with information for working with copper, including design assistance and help locating products and installers.

I recently attended hearings of the International Code Council (ICC) on the subject of copper roofing and fire ratings.  Some Building codes exist to enable architects and builders to specify the level of fire safety of the materials chosen for new construction – Class A, Class B or Class C.  For example, if someone building a home in an area of California where there are brush fires wanted to do something extra to protect the home, they would go with Class A materials.  For decades there was an exception for copper in the building code because it had always been considered non-combustible. Read more…

By Wilton Moran, Copper Development Association Project Engineer, Material Sciences 

Last month, CDA and a team of researchers presented clinical trial results in a poster session at the Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections. These trials, which are funded by the U.S. Department of Defense, assessed the ability of Antimicrobial Copper to reduce the amount of bacteria on surfaces commonly found in hospital rooms. More than 3,000 physicians, pharmacists, nurses, infection preventionists and other health care decision-makers attended the conference. The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC) and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA) sponsored the conference.

It was important for us to create a buzz at the conference because people just don’t know enough yet about the work we’re doing. We got the EPA registration in 2008 and currently have clinical trials going on at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, the Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, both of which are in Charleston, S.C.

The first phase of the study showed that the most heavily contaminated objects are those closest to patients, such as bed rails, nurse’s call buttons and visitor chair arms. The study found high levels of Staphylococcus aureus, Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) on those common objects. We know these bacteria can survive for long periods of time, so these contaminated surfaces can spread bacteria to people – patients, visitors and health care workers.

On the poster, findings from the second phase of the trial were presented. This phase involved replacing stainless steel and plastic versions of bed rails, tray tables, chair arms, nurse’s call buttons, monitors and IV poles with copper in the ICU rooms of the three hospitals participating in the study. The results attracted a lot of attention.

Researchers, who are specialists in infectious diseases, were very interested in our work. Many stopped by our booth, provided their contact information and requested periodic updates on the progress of the program. People from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) were also interested in what we had to say. We also had several visitors from the CDC. When we first started this work, we learned that CDC needed to see a large body of published research papers in the public domain. At the conference we saw their interest and at this point, we know we’re getting their attention and they’re taking us more seriously.

 There’s much more recognition now of the role of surface contamination in hospital-acquired infections. That’s a huge plus for us because obviously if they think that’s a problem, health care decision-makers may consider antimicrobial surfaces in the future.

 If you’d like more information on the antimicrobial properties of copper, check out our brand website, Antimicrobial Copper.