
Biomass Boiler Contractors
2/8/2024
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Q: Timothy Harte from Mill River SD asked, "I am looking for Contractors who service Biomass boilers other than Froling out of Keene!"
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A: Matt Brouillette, Grand Isle SU: I use sunwood biomass out of Waitsfield, I deal with Dave mostly he just installed our boilers a couple of years ago (Okofen) and is great to work with.
https://www.sunwoodsystems.com
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A: Greg Frost, Windham Central SU: We use Messersmith. I cannot guarantee they are a lot easier to work with than Froling. They have one guy for like all of New England, so getting him to come and do the cleaning is always a lot of work and patience. The guy that comes is really good.
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A: Dylan Laflam. Lamoille North SD: Depending on the size of the boiler, SunWood Biomass has always been good to work with. ​https://www.sunwoodbiomass.com/wood-pellet-boiler-dealer-installer/
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Vape Detector Information
2/8/2024
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Q: Brian Rafferty from Lamoille South SU asks, "We will be purchasing Vape detectors at one of our High Schools soon. looking for any additional information, good or bad, about experiences with them. Brands, styles, options. Anything we could use to help make a decision."
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A:Greg Frost, Windham Central SU: I did a bunch of research on this a couple of years ago. I found Halo to be the best unit. They do not use proprietary systems, and can integrate well with most security systems. I know Royal in Rutland started as a distributor a couple of years ago.
Beware Verkada, it's an online program that uses all proprietary stuff and if you stop paying them their stuff is useless.
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A:Matt Grasso, Milton SD: We have Zeptive devices. They were over $1000 a piece and we've had many connective issues with them. I wish we had gone with another brand but years ago when we were at the forefront of this, that's all that was really out there. We just went thru a trial with Verkada who makes both video camera and vape detectors. They are pretty expensive but if you're redoing cameras doing them both together would be the way to go. I'm trying to get new cameras everywhere and that is currently stalled with everyone's taxes going Bonkers with Act 127. What I have learned over time having vape detectors in 2 of 8 bathrooms (for example) is like having zero vape detectors. If we could do it all again I would buy 2 vape detectors and 6 dummies (they make them) and I would move them around every school break. At one point we looked at dummies that were $50 and we should have done that.
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A:Rich Holcomb, Greater Rutland County SU: We have zeptive , so far i am not happy ,batteries are dead weekly and they go off and no one is there. I'm trying to install them in different places to make them work better . So far they have just been a headache.
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​Equipment Service
2/15/2024
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Q: Theresa Palagonia, North Country SU: A couple of her schools are having trouble with the equipment service and the customer service they are receiving through Swish White River. Can others share who they are using for equipment services/repairs?
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A: Bruce Cheeseman, Milton SD: W.B. Mason
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