Bl4—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, December 19,1981
ROBESONIA - J. Hershey
Myer Jr. has been selected as
Chairman of the new Conrad
Weiser FFA Alumni Association.
Other officers include Roland
Feeg, vice chairman; Donald
Feeg, secretary; David Schaeffer,
treasurer; and members of the
Alumni Council who serve as the
Executive Committee, Debbie
Miller, Dennis Sattazahn and
Jr, officers elected
MECHANICSBURG - Junior
officers were elected and chapter
farmer degrees awarded at a
recent meeting of the Cumberland
Valley FFA.
Junior officers this year include
president, Mike Brymesser; vice
president, Jeff Shughart;
secretary, Chris Hopple;
treasurer, Wendy Bretz; repor
ters, Tim Armstrong and Ray
Yost; chaplain, Lynn Nester;
historian, Tom Gordon Jr; Ad
Agronomy winners named
ELVERSON Members of the
Twin Valley FFA Chapter recently
were among the top placers m a
three-county area agronomy
contest.
Top scorer in the contest, which
included seven FFA chapters from
Berks, Lebanon and Schuylkill
counties, was Wade Bernard, son
of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Bernard,
R 2, Elverson.
Dave Noyes, of Twin Valley,
placed second and Kevin Gnest
was fourth among the 27 con-
(The following is reprinted from the
December issue of Penn Lines, the
monthly publication of the Penn
sylvania Rural Electric Association.)
HARRISBURG - Earlier this
year, Allegheny Electric
Cooperative, Inc., entered into a
joint research project with the
Electric Power Research Institute
of Palo Alto, California, to
determine how efficiently
groundwater source heat pumps
perform when installed in rural
residential applications in the
northeastern United States.
As you know, groundwater heat
pumps operate by extracting heat
out of groundwater for use in
beating homes. Groundwater is
pumped out of an existing well and
is circulated through the heat
pump heat exchanger and even
tually returned to the ground,
typically through a reinjection
well. Assisting Allegheny in the
project are Valley Rural Electric
Cooperative and Bedford Rural
Electric Cooperative. Two of their
members will have the tests
performed in their homes.
Briefly, the research project
entails installing groundwater heat
pumps in the homes of two
members, installing instruments
and collecting data to analyze the
systems’ performance for a
comparison with other types of
heating systems.
To date, the heat pumps have
been acquired and installed, the
ductwork and conventional beat
sources modified and the in
strumentation systems installed.
As is often the case m research,
installation of a sophisticated data
collection system necessary to
produce practical information has
taken a substantial period of tune
to perfect.
One practical result of the work
to date has been learning that
groundwater head pumps vary
widely in their requirements for
groundwater. This fact has
already lunited the effectiveness
Myer heads Conrad
Weiser FFA alumni
Kevin Sattazahn
Membership in the new FFA
alumni group is open to all former
active, collegiate or honorary FFA
and NFA members, present and
former professional vocational
agricultural educators, parents of
FFA members and others in
terested in the FFA.
Persons interested in joining or
visor, Ed Meyer; Parliamen
tarian, Randy O’Boyle; sentinels,
Dave Foreman and Eric Nace.
Receiving their chapter farmer
degree were Tracy
BrackbUl, Mike Brymesser, Dave
Fureraan, Tim McCartney, Ed
Meyer, Eric Nace, Jeff Shughart,
Steve Heisler, Scott Duryea, Mike
Kennedy, Tony Hock, Alan
Haulman, Jeff Gill, Frank Shoop
and Bill Hollar.
testants. The Twin Valley team
also placed first.
Vields ranged from a high of 168
bushels to a low of 107 bushels, with
an average of 134, in the com test
plots of the 'Twin Valley FFA
Chapter this year. A total of 40
varieties from 11 companies were
planted in the tests.
Individual test results are
available from the Chapter at the
Twin Valley High School, R 2,
Elverson, 19520, or by calling (215)
286-5911.
Groundwater heat pump project thrives
Conceptual Diagram
of the Groundwater
Heat Pump
This diagram will give you a
basic idea of how a
groundwater heat pump
can create warm air from
cool well water. '
of two of the original three site slowly reascent inside a larger
selected. This requires either pipe.
changing the heat pump and beat This will allow the chilled water
exchanger or modify the well to to be warmed by the heat in the
increase the amount of water the ground. After the chilled water is
well will produce. warrned, it is returned to the
In one case, PREA successfully surface for reinsertion mto the
drilled a new well which produced heat pump for another cycle,
sufficient water for the unit. In the This “ground-coupling”
other case, it that technique is of great interest in
another mode of heat exchangers area 3 "Where there is little water
might be used because of the availability. Allegheny is currently
limited water availability. negotiating with EPRI for ad-
In this case, PREA decided to ditional research funds to explore
“close the loop” on the water this area.
system, sending the chilled water
which exits the heat pump back
down a vertical pipe to the bottom
of the well, allowing the water to
acquiring further information
should contact Stephen S. Miller,
advisor, at the Conrad Weiser High
School, HI, Robesonia, Pa. 19551.
“We feel that if the concern of
one generation for the next can
help to improve the position of the
next generation, then we can build
a better tomorrow for agriculture
and the FFA in our area,” Myer
said.
“We are not in the process of
building this new organization and
it is hoped that every former FFA
member will do his or her share to
help make it a success,” Donald
Feeg added.
The new alumni group will work
to promote a better understanding
of the agricultural industry and
provide support for ther ag
educational program.
2 vo-ag teachers attend talks
ATLANTA, GA. - Bruce
Lemmon and Frederic Stillwagen,
vocational agriculture teachers at
Cumberland Valley High School
and Lehigh County Vocational-
Technical School, served as of
ficial voting delegates from
Pennsylvania at the 33rd annual
National VocatiAn*>» Agricultural
Teachers’ Association (NVATA)
convention.
The convention ran concurrently
with the 75th annual convention of
the American Vocational
Association.
Attending were approximately
500 agricultural educators and
The house in question is a
residence adjacent to the Valley
REC headquarters outside Hun
tingdon. Allegheny recently
Officers of the new Conrad Weiser FFA Alumni Association
include, from the left, J. Hershey Myer, chairman; Roland
Feeg, vice chairman; David Schaeffer. Measurer; and Donald
Feeg, seated, secretary.
more than 3,00(1 vocational
educators.
AVA membership includes
nearly 300,000 vocational
educators from throughout the
country. NVATA membership
affiliated with the AVA
Agricultural Education Division
includes more than 10,000
vocational educators in
agriculture.
warmed Aii
High pressure cau;
the vapor to conden
giving olf heat to the'
The condenser is placed In the forced
air stream of your home. A tan will
circulate air over the unit, heating the
air to a comfortable temperature
liquid Refrigerant
The well water travels through a coil
surrounded by a refrigerant held at a
low pressure Because the pressure is
low. the refrigerant boils at a tow
Oriace temperature, becoming a gas
Wen water'
(naturally keeps a
constant temperature
conducted a test to help predict the
effectiveness of such a technique
before committing to a substantial
research project.
Preliminary indications from
this test are that, while the site will
work, it may not be as effective as
a conventional adequately
watered groundwater source heat
pump.
Installation of most in
strumentation, and data collection
and reduction is the responsibility
of the University of Pittsburgh.
This project is being funded by the
Oak Kidge National Laboratories
under a contract with the Dep
artment of Energy. Richard
Dougall, an expert in in
*1" I f 6 \
•evaporation"
i, V A
it 1« • o J
• f *4: t *4 •
C•J J -
louse Air
' Compressor
(creates
high
v pressure)
Gee
Used Water 42° F
strumentation for beating, ven
tilating and air
conditioning systems, and his
staff, have worked diligently to
perfect the instrumentation.
The data collection system
consists of a mini-computer.
Picture the surprise of visitors to
these homes when they enter the
study or workroom and find a
small computer perking along,
gathering data from perhaps 30
instruments every five or ten
seconds.
The data is recorded by com
puter on a magnetic tape cartridge
which is removed weekly and
forwarded to the University of
(Turn to Page 815)