The more things change, the more they get better: we are now alpscontrols.com.
If you’ve been paying attention, you probably know by now that we’ve relaunched alpscontrols.com with a new look, layout, and some nifty new project and search tools – but one of the big changes that we’re very excited about is the one in which we’ve officially changed our company’s name to alpscontrols.com.
Now you might suggest that it’s not a huge change from the name “Alps Controls”, and of course you’d be right. But we’ve long felt that our innovative business model as an online-only source for HVAC, building automation and lighting control products made us unique in an industry in which all the other wholesalers were still using paper catalogs and oversized warehouses.
And we figured it was time for our name to drive the message home that we are first, foremost – and only – a dot com business.
So we hope you’ll join with us in welcoming this change as we blaze ahead to the future and seek out new, different and better ways to help you manage your HVAC and building automation controls projects. Keep an eye on the new alpscontrols.com for more content, more new products and manufacturers, and infinitely better tools to get your job done.
No surprise here: alpscontrols.com voted one of the top ten 2011 Best Places to Work in Western Pennsylvania.
It came as a shock to exactly no one working at alpscontrols.com when the Pittsburgh Business Times recently rated our company as one of Western Pennsylvania’s Best Places to Work for 2011. And not only were we rated along with nearly 100 other companies, but our employees were happy and content enough to be rated #10th on the entire list.
Top-ranked companies were sent an employee questionnaire that covered such issues as trust, work effectiveness, management relationships and feelings being satisfied and valued. Employees of alpscontrols.com rated the company 80% or higher in every category, and 100% in many of them.
“I felt excited and proud that our company was honored as one of Pittsburgh’s best places to work,” says alpscontrols.com President Dave Meyers, “we work hard every day for our customers, so it’s pretty terrific to know that we’re happy doing it at the same time.”
Siemens will be temporarily closed during their annual inventory at the end of September.
We recently heard from our friends at Siemens that they will be conducting their annual physical inventory beginning on Tuesday, 9.27.11 and it’ll run through Friday 9.30.11. They’ll accept and process orders through Monday, 9.26, so please keep this in mind in order to avoid possible shipping delays if you have time-sensitive projects approaching.
If you’ve got questions about Siemens products during this time, please feel free to contact our Customer Support or give us a call at 412.464.1730.
Thanks!
The RIBTW2401B-ET Ethernet Relay from Functional Devices
What makes it so cool? The RIBTW2401B-ET has its own web page. By that, we mean that it’s a self-contained, ethernet network dual I/O controller that can be set up and turned on and off via any web browser on your smart phone, building network, iPad, laptop – whatever.
This wonderful little doodad can be used to control fans, motors, lighting, pumps and:
- Is UL Listed
- Features one discrete 20 amp output + override
- And one digital input (status)
- Serves its own webpage for setup and control
- Is static IP addressable
- Has a unique MAC address built in
- Is made right here in the USA.
You’re hungry to learn more, right? How about you:
I’d like to invite you to join us here at alpscontrols.com in welcoming Caleb Isaac Larson into the world; Caleb’s dad Ernie is one of our crack Customer Service folks, and he, along with his wife Jess and their daughter Felicity were extremely excited and proud to be joined by little Caleb.
This little dude is Caleb Isaac Larson, whose quick and surprising entry into the world will soon be the stuff of legends.
Here are the details:
- Born 4.19.11 at 12:30 AM.
- 7 lbs., 12 ounces
- 20.5 inches long
- Lots of handsome dark hair
- Was delivered by his non-medically-trained dad Ernie by the side of a highway
Wait, what?
It’s true! Take a look:
The news report doesn’t identify them by name, but we got to hear Ernie’s first-hand account of Caleb’s amazing birth even before the local media got their hands on it.
Mom, baby and big sister are all doing well.
Ernie, on the other hand, has probably had enough excitement for now, thanks very much.
Or as we like to say at alpscontrols.com, “Sure, we can protect your food AND your hot tubs.”
You’ve come to know and depend on alpscontrols.com when it comes to finding the most and best-priced HVAC and building automation control products online – but we’re not sure you realize just how committed we are to keeping your food fresh and your hot tubs filled.
Since November of last year, we’ve been delving ever deeper into internet-based temperature control, and seeking out different and better products that are cost-effective, easy to set up, and provide round-the-clock protection in new and exciting market sectors – primarily, the food industry and the vacation home industry.
What do these two have in common? Primarily, they both have the potential to suffer excessive losses whenever temperature-regulated areas exceed or drop below the norm, or when unmonitored freezing temperatures lead to broken pipes and water damage. Whether it’s three supermarket aisles of ice cream novelties and meatloaf TV dinners, or a luxury vacation home that goes empty for extended periods of time, temperature controls that can be monitored online and in off-hours have become a valuable commodity and solution for loss prevention.
Jason McCormick of alpscontrols.com installs a Point Six Wi-Fi temperature sensor to help prevent loss or damage at a vacation house location.
Late last year, Jason McCormick joined the alpscontrols.com team as a Sales Engineer, and he – along with our Technology Director Curtis McCormick – have been gathering industry standards in both of these markets, and have also consulted on several installations of Point Six Wi-Fi Temperature Sensors. With Point Six – as well as Proliphix and Solidyne internet-based thermostats – customers can adjust, monitor and trend thermostat functionality on a computer or smart phone from anywhere in the world.
If you’re a supermarket or restaurant manager or anyone else who provides, prepares or regulates food in the United States, chances are that Jason has already set out to meet you and find out how we can help you. Likewise, he and Curtis have recently been helping out vacation homeowners with on-site installations of Point Six sensors and their online monitoring capabilities.
Ready to find out more? Try this:
- Browse our online offering of Point Six Wi-Fi Temperature Sensors on alpscontrols.com
- Contact Jason McCormick directly (via email or Skype) to hear more about innovative uses of online temperature monitoring.
Or watch this Point Six demonstration with Curtis McCormick:
UPDATE: This special pricing offer is now expired – but keep an eye on this space for more money-saving offers in the future.
Well, isn’t this a treat? Our good pals at Siemens Building Technologies have offered up some deeply discounted pricing – about 20%! – on 17 HVAC and building automation control products in the alpscontrols.com online catalog.
If you need more information, download the Savings Simplified flier right here – or contact our customer support folks on this page.
You’ll want to read this next part pretty quickly. UPDATE: This quickie special price promotion has ended, but keep an eye on this space for more discounts soon.
Because you’ve only got today (Thursday 3.10.11) and tomorrow (Friday 3.11.11) to take advantage of a terrific discount deal offered to alpscontrols.com customers from Genesis Series Cable products. Here’s how it works:
- Order from $1,500 – $10,000 of any Genesis Series Cable products
- Write “Flash Promo” on your order
- Your order will be discounted 3%
- Valid on your first order up to $10,000!
- Standard freight policies do apply.
So if you’ve got a big project starting up and you need to lay down a solid wire foundation, this is a GREAT time to get a discount on quality performance Genesis Series Wire products.
UPDATED: we’ve gotten some pictures sent in – check them out near the bottom of this post!
We are now just days away from the Pittsburgh Steelers’ appearance in Super bowl XLV, and with lot of our customers and manufacturer-partners letting us know how much they enjoyed our recent WE HEART THE STEELERS video (watch it here on YouTube), we thought we’d invite you to go ahead and show us just how far the Steeler Nation reaches.
So if you have any Pittsburgh Steelers-related pennants, pictures, footballs, helmets, bobbleheads, jerseys, logos, cereal boxes, drink cozies, bathmats – whatever – we want to see it.
Just email us a picture of your Steelers stuff – and it’d be great if you were in the picture, too, but we’ll take what we can get – and we’ll post all the pictures here on our blog as we get them. Be sure to identify yourself and your location in your email.
And here’s our first pic, from Dru Teel, a Controls Technician from Alaska Integrated Services in – shockingly – Alaska:
Thanks, Dru! We look forward to hearing from more of our far-flung Steeler fan-friends in the days to come.
UPDATED: here are a few more of our reader-submitted Steeler Fan pics:
Dru Teel from Alaska Integrated Services sent us another image of his Steeler pride – any more and we might just go ahead and turn our whole blog over to Dru!
And we also heard from Steven James Clement, the HVAC Energy Management Lead at Liberty University in Lynchburg, VA. Thanks, Steven!
And, just to prove that we Steelers are nothing if not examples of excellent sportsmanship, we’ll even post this Green Bay Packers picture we got from Debbie Dean, Dan DeGrave and others at JDM International in Big Bend, WI. Have a great game on Sunday, Packers fans…
…even though I think we all know how things are going to end up.
(and at the top of this post, that’s our own Wendy Siefert, all bundled up and psyched up at the Steelers AFC Championship game)
In which Setra Systems shares with us the important differences between their capacitive pressure sensors and other companies’ strain gauges.
How long has Setra Systems been manufacturing differential pressure sensors?
Well, it’s been about 40 years and they’ve gotten pretty terrific at it. And to help you understand just how seriously they take the design and creation of their 100% US-made, totally 17-4 PH stainless steel capacitors, Setra’s Sales Rep Tim Dixon recently sat down with alpscontrols.com President David Meyers to talk in-depth about the superior accuracy, reliability and durability of capacitive pressure sensors as compared to the piezoresistive technology strain gauges that are found in other pressure sensors on the market today.
Here’s a disclaimer, though: this video is epic at just under 15 minutes long. We know: on the internet, that’s an enternity – but the reason for the length is because Tim goes into a high level of detail about how Setra Systems designs their sensors; why that design creates a more robust, accurate instrument; and ultimately how much better your pressure measurement capabilities will be over the long run if you could stop for a bit and consider the level of design intelligence that goes into Setra System products.
So stop for just a bit now – for about 15 minutes, in fact – and get enlightened:
