Meet Adam Householder, Intelli-Hood Sales Engineer

Business Unit and Job Title

Sales Engineer with Intelli-Hood

What does your job entail?

I am part of a Melink’s Sales Engineering Team. I work to develop Intelli-Hood’s western market presence within New Construction specifications as well as, manage retro-fit opportunities across corporate dining facilities, restaurants, and amusement venues.

What is your personal philosophy?

“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always be where you’ve always been.”

What did you do before coming to Melink?

I was a Chemical Sales Engineer for wastewater, boilers, and cooling towers working to improve operations and reduce cost through chemical solutions. I focused on wastewater minimization and reuse, energy efficiency, and regulatory compliance.

What is your favorite aspect of working at Melink?

Melink has a very open, inviting, and transparent culture. Everyone at Melink is working to better the company in their own way and grow as an owner.

What do you like to do in your time off?

I love going to the pool and watching sports. I’m very excited about a MLS team coming to Cincinnati and the 2018 World Cup.

Tell us something that might surprise us about you.

I am related to Abraham Lincoln.

What are you most proud of?

My education and my family.

What are your hopes for our industry?

I hope Melink can set the standard for demand control kitchen ventilation code across the world.

Motto or personal mantra?

Yesterday’s success is today’s expectation.

Do you collect anything?

Soccer Jerseys.

Holistic HVAC Design – A New Level Of Efficiency

Commercial buildings are commonly heated and cooled with mechanical equipment, powered by electrical service, and connected to plumbing systems such as natural gas and condensate lines depending on the type of HVAC system. Hence, building drawings are separated by the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing scopes of work, ie., M, E, and P sheets.

Often the mechanical engineer works independently of the electrical and plumbing engineers, and vice-versa. And often the mechanical contractor installing the heating/cooling system works independently of the electrical and plumbing contractors, and vice-versa. While this makes sense from a specialization standpoint, it can prevent holistic thinking and creative optimization strategies.

For example, the most energy-efficient HVAC system for a particular type of building in a given geographic area would naturally combine the best of all three specialties. In other words, the electrical and plumbing service should not just serve the mechanical equipment as an input or output. All three should be designed as a complementary system to provide heating and cooling capabilities depending on the resource that is most available, lowest cost, and cleanest/greenest at any period of time.

When there is a summer hot spell, it may be best to meet the incremental peak load with a small geothermal loop or thermal energy storage system. When there is high water usage for showers, toilets, and food prep, it may be best to meet the heating/cooling loads with a domestic water heat exchanger. When it is raining, it may be best to meet the heating/cooling loads with a rainwater heat exchanger.

And during the nights and weekends, when temperatures are lower and/or electrical rates are lower, an air-to-water condensing unit may be the best way to precondition the building water loop for daytime and occupied cooling needs. Moreover, it is a way to reduce peak demand charges by level-loading the HVAC system over a 24/7 period rather than a 8/5 period.

Melink is pioneering a super-hybrid geothermal HVAC system that will do all of this and more for its new HQ2 building. And it will be designed and constructed in a way that will make zero-energy buildings cost-effective and a model for future new construction and remodels.

We hope you will visit us next year after construction is completed to see the potential of holistic HVAC design. This means not only tapping Mother Nature’s resources, but the various ingoing and outgoing building waste streams. Conventional design practices rely on very dedicated and limited mechanical equipment – and this is typically less than efficient, not to mention optimal.

Steve Melink, PE

Melink Corporation

CEO

We Just Became An ESOP….But What Does That Mean?

We want you to join our team. Not only is it a special place to work, Melink became an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 2018 and here’s what that means to you as an employee of Melink.

Melink is unique. An ESOP is a rare and valuable benefit. Melink offers this unusual opportunity for employee wealth building.

Another unique feature at Melink is that it is provided to employees with no out-of-pocket cost.  And is a qualified defined contribution retirement plan that is invested primarily in the common stock of the sponsoring company. Unlike a 401k plan, which requires an employee to contribute his or her own money, there’s no cost to employees.

Melink’s ESOP directly correlates to our company culture.  We act like a start up every day and our ESOP helps us to further build our ownership culture that rewards people both monetarily and intrinsically.  Employees are part of something bigger at Melink, because everyone is working to build his or her (and everyone else’s) successful future.  Increased company performance typically leads to a higher share price and therefore a higher balance in employee ESOP accounts. Simply put, when the company does better so will our employees. The ESOP plan provides a return on their sweat equity.

At Melink, we value our employees’ ideas, opinions and inputs to successfully serve our customers and growing the business.  Melink is building and sustaining an environment that fosters an ownership culture.