As one of our veteran SUPCO Tradefoxes^®, Andrew Jones has worked in the field every single day since 1994.  With roots in California, he often experienced problems cleaning out condensate lines in areas that offered little access.  Cutting the lines in tight spaces with no place to catch the water was time consuming and often led to ceiling damage.  He wanted something compact and fast.  “I woke up with the idea for a valve that was permanently mounted and multi-directional.  I go to sleep thinking about problems, and actually wake up with the solutions.”

Andrew bought valves from the hardware store and fabricated his first Jones^® Valve prototype, which worked just as he envisioned.  After moving to Texas, he was able to pursue a patent, but manufacturing was a huge challenge.  “I was introduced to Jim at SUPCO.  SUPCO was able to navigate the manufacturing process and quality control for the JV1 that I wasn’t able to.  It’s the perfect partnership.”

The theory of being able to service drain lines without having to cut the line influenced the International Code Council to change the International Mechanical Code 307.2.5 in 2015 to state: “Condensate drain lines shall be configured to permit the clearing of blockages and performance of maintenance without requiring the drain line to be cut”.  

Jones says, “HVAC technicians are very innovative.  In our trade we deal with such a wide spectrum of tasks and challenges and that breeds immense creativity.  If you have an idea, pursue it – and call SUPCO.”

Eddie Thaggard has been in the HVAC field for twelve years. Four years ago, while he was cleaning evaporator coils, the Southern Mississippi native realized that most coil brushes couldn’t get all the way to the apex.  And, removing the coils for cleaning was simply too expensive and time consuming.  Determined to solve the problem, Eddie bought a 3D printer, some stainless-steel combs and went to work on several prototypes.  With a stiffness adjustment slide, a 120^o pivoting brush head, and a 4-foot extendable handle, Eddie liked his final design so much that he decided to apply for a patent. 

Yet manufacturing wasn’t that easy. It took two-hours for him to make one brush.  Eddie remembered SUPCO and started a Google search to see where he could send his idea.  “If you’re going to do something like this, SUPCO is the company you call,” says Thaggard.

Eddie spoke directly with Jim, and the SUPCO team took the brush through the process of engineering, manufacturing, packaging and marketing.  The Coil Debris Extractor Brush (CCB100) is now part of the SUPCO^® TradeFox™ line of technician-invented products and available for purchase at SUPCO supply houses nationwide.

Both on and off HVAC jobs, Josh Cooley says he’s always been observant and looks for ways to make things better.  Currently, he is the owner of Airamedics Heating and Air Conditioning in Arizona, but back in 1996, he was an apprentice with an idea – an adjustable magnetic umbrella. 

"I zip-tied a speaker magnet to an umbrella.  It didn't work in the rain, didn't look cool and wasn't practical.  I didn't move forward. I thought, there's no way someone hasn't thought of this.”    Years later in Arizona, Josh became tired of working in such hot conditions and came back to his idea. “I wanted to see if I could do it right this time around, and it worked."

Josh’s HVAC colleagues were blown away by the prototype.  He continued to perfect his design and after many iterations, he finally figured out the right balance of magnet strength with functionality.  “It was important to use the fiberglass ribs to make it lightweight.  The current design takes into account both usability and the best level of cost effectiveness to the technician.”

When he decided to bring it to the market, Josh and his family were making umbrellas at his kitchen table. They couldn’t keep up with the demand.  He reached out to SUPCO, who was able to bring the Magnecover to supply houses nationwide through large-scale manufacturing, sales and marketing.  The Magnecover (MUKIT) is part of SUPCO’s unique technician-focused line of TradeFox™ Tools, and one of our most popular TradeFox™ products to date.

Matthew Gross started his career in HVAC right out of high school.  He serviced many municipal train and bus depots in Southern California, where freon theft was frequent.  “The colorful and expensive locking caps I used seemed to draw more attention than less, and I heard several comments from my customers about their high cost. It got me thinking there has to be another way.”  Matthew started to take more notice of locking caps and found many of the expensive metal ones he came across were easily defeated due to moisture build up and corrosion.  

He began researching how to make locking caps cheaper and easier for the service tech to use – and thought about developing a plastic version that required no special tools for tightening or removal.  Armed with his sketches, he worked with a customer who made molds and his concept was born.  “I wound up patenting my plastic version and started out doing everything myself.”  But trying to manufacture, package and distribute while running a service company was costly and time consuming. 

A friend at a local supply house recommended he speak with SUPCO.  “With SUPCO taking the manufacturing off my plate it brought down the costs of my Safety Locking Caps (SFL Series) and allowed them to be available in supply houses nationwide.”

Matthew’s advice for techs with an idea: “If you have an idea – go for it, be realistic, and pitch it.  There will always be something new that can help the industry and if it was invented by a technician, you know there’s probably a good reason to have it.”

As a young boy growing up in the Southern California city of Coachella, Ray Valdez loved nature and adventure.  Raised by a single working mother, he often spent time with his sitter on her ranch.  Her husband, Big Red, tended to the ranch and built his own custom tools in order to get jobs done better and faster.  Starting at a young age, Big Red assigned Ray tough jobs around the ranch and taught him the importance of being creative and earning his keep.   Ray became deeply inspired by Big Red’s passion for hard work and ingenuity.  He carried this passion with him as he started a career as an HVAC technician.  Years later during the summer of 2018, Big Red’s lessons would become more useful than ever.

One day during the scorching August heat, Ray received four separate service calls for overheated compressors out on thermal overload.  Diagnosing the issues entailed standing for 15-30 minutes at a time with a water hose to cool the compressors, and often repeating the process due to continuous overheating.  Arriving home at 2am that morning, Ray thought there had to be a better way - a way to save time and work more efficiently. At 6am at the foot of the driveway of his next service call, the idea hit him - a vision of the Coolpressor appeared as clear as day.

Excited by his idea, Ray contacted SUPCO.  “I bought SUPCO products all the time when I started in HVAC and still do. SUPCO capacitors and hard starts work well and my customers were so grateful that I wouldn’t have to charge too much.  I was wowed by how the SUPCO Fan Blade Puller (FBP100) made a difficult task so much easier.  It was a pretty easy choice to approach SUPCO.”

SUPCO worked with Ray to bring his invention to life through manufacturing and added the Coolpressor (CPPRO) to its growing line of technician-invented tools, known as TradeFox™ Tools. “SUPCO took a chance and believed in me. Their Tradefox™ Tools line shows they care about the technician. Now they are like my family."

As a 35-year veteran in the HVAC trade, Steve Fischer is celebrated as SUPCO’s very first TradeFox™ technician product inventor.  His inventions mark some of our most popular products, such as the Magjumper^®, the Flame Sensor Cleaner, the Fuse PRO and the extendable Filter Pullers, to name a few.

A Minnesota native, ever since Steve was a child, he’s had a creative, technical mind, building a remote control car at just six-years old.  Later when he started his HVAC career working on boiler controls, he kept running across jumper wires popping off and shorting out.  On thermostats subbases, he would need to unscrew wires and twist the jumpers on to get a call for heat or cooling.  “So I decided to tape a magnet to an alligator clip and started using this rough prototype on all sorts of controls.”  Steve showed his idea to his business partner, Steve Melby and the two worked up many different prototypes before settling on the final Magjumper^® design.

Another job annoyance Steve faced was cleaning flame sensors.  “I kept reaching for sand cloth to clean them but I soon realized it was leaving a residue that was acting as an insulator and burning onto the flame rod so it wasn’t getting a good signal. I thought about using a canister to spin around the rod, and my partner Steve added bristles to it which wouldn’t leave a residue.” The Flame Sendor Cleaner (FSC10) has become a staple addition to many technicians’ keychains.

Steve invented the BRK3 and BRK5 Fuse PROs because he was wasting job time making trips to the gas station for fuses.  Instead, he came up with the Fuse PRO to take the place of the fuse during low voltage circuit testing until the short is identified. 

And, the extendable filter pullers? “I was tired of my clothes getting dirty reaching for filters.” Steve said. “Plus, with the magnetic tip, it doubles as a magnetic reach tool.” SUPCO manufactures Steve’s filter pullers in 18”(FP18) and 48” (FP48) versions.

Despite having prototypes in hand, Steve faced challenges.  “It’s hard to know how to find someone who is interested in your idea, how to go about manufacturing it, or how to know how much it will cost.  There’s no real outlet to bring an idea to.”  By working with SUPCO, Steve was able to have his products manufactured and marketed to a global network of HVAC wholesaler distributors.

Steve’s advice for all the HVAC inventors out there: “If you have an idea – even if you think it’s small - don’t sit on it. Sometimes things that cost just a couple of dollars can make a big impact on the job.”

In 1997, Steve Snyder started working as an air conditioning HVAC service tech in the Phoenix area.  One of the most time consuming and frustrating jobs he and many other technicians faced was lifting heavy, cumbersome furnaces/air handlers through compact attic access hatches.   

During that time, Steve also started training as a firefighter for the Avondale Fire Department. One day during his Technical Rescue Team training, he participated in a manhole rescue exercise that used a tripod and rope winching system in a confined space.  It was then that the vision for the Attic PRO^® came to him.  “I got the idea that I could adapt the manhole rescue technique for furnaces and air handlers by using the roof trusses.”

Steve designed about five prototypes and landed at a design that was able to lift up to 250lb of furnace/air handler 20 feet into an attic safely using C-clamps that could accommodate any size roof trusses.  “The final result was that this invention could now make the hardest part of the day the easiest part of the day. For a technician it’s really a no brainer.”

With his invention in hand, Steve went to the 2016 AHR show and wound up at the SUPCO booth.  “SUPCO was willing to take the chance on this great idea.  They helped make the manufacturing more cost effective, and brought the Attic PRO^® to supply houses nationwide.”

I always had ideas for projects. I began to notice some of the older compressor totes on the market weren't ideal when it came to ergonomics. Plus, 410A systems were getting taller. So I came up with an adjustable, super heavy-duty one."

While working in the trade from a young age, Chris learned that there were always better ways to do the job and solve problems. “I encountered so many jobs where I just couldn’t get the mastic tape on the duct work when it was between a wall. I used everything from an S-cleat to a broom handle to try to apply the tape, but couldn’t get a neat and proper seal.”

Heading to a local craft store, Chris’ very first Tight Taper prototype had ends that he carved out of some balsam wood. Soon after he 3D printed a better prototype and had a test run made. Posting it on several HVAC Facebook forums it received a great response from a typically tough crowd.

“I went to my local SUPCO supply house with my samples to gauge technician interest and the branch manager gave me the email for the SUPCO^® TradeFox™ Inventor Program. TradeFox is the best thing to come along for techs in the field. A lot of us have had ideas in our head for years and even made homemade tools, but don’t have the resources to get them to market. The SUPCO TradeFox program makes that possible!”

As a father-son HVAC team with over 60 years in the industry combined, Jeff and Mike Durbin found one of the bigger challenges in their light commercial work was replacing bearings in blower assemblies on rooftop units.  Finding nothing to make their job easier they would sometimes resort to heating the bearings using torches.  "We realized there's got to be a better way", said Jeff, "which is all you had to say to Dad who then came up with the first design."  Putting their heads together, the team went through several modifications which resulted in a tool that acts like a slide hammer, to fit behind the bearing where there is little space to work.

"We started having them made at a local machine shop for the welding, and then we were doing all the finishing, plus trying to sell online", said Jeff.  "But we soon realized we needed support, and reached out to SUPCO who helped us get it done in a cost efficient way.”

The Bearing Buster Bearing Removal tool comes in three sizes (3/4”, 1” and 1-1/4”) and  is available through SUPCO supply houses nationwide.

<div style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Calibri, Helvetica, sans-serif, Helvetica, EmojiFont, " apple="" color="" emoji",="" "segoe="" ui="" notocoloremoji,="" symbol",="" "android="" emojisymbols;="" font-size:="" 16px;="" text-size-adjust:="" auto;"="">Paul's advice to HVAC Technicians with ideas:  "Remember that necessity is the mother of invention.  When something you're doing works well for you, chances are it will work well for others."

As an HVAC technician of 32-years, Robert Kraft had always used typical jumper wires to start the HVAC system. But on one job in doing so, Robert short cycled the compressor by accident and damaged it so badly it had to be replaced. "When I damaged that compressor I couldn't get it out of my head. I thought there has to be a better way to start these units safely while the power is still live".

Robert got to work. He headed to the hardware store and immediately started piecing together a unit. "Inventing products and making things easier to do runs in my blood. I started working on a tool concept that could not only start the unit, but  bypass switches and diagnose low voltage shorts with a pop out fuse." I named it the "Jumper King™"

Once he had a prototype, Robert started testing it in the field. "I was amazed how easy and fun it was to start units with this tool. I knew I had something. I then wanted an option to have separate switches to turn on the circuits I wanted, so I added that to the next design."

Robert kept perfecting the Jumper King™ by adding different ends and adapters, and applied for a patent. Then it was time to try to find a way to have it produced so other technicians could use it. But the search wasn't that easy.  "I called many HVAC companies with no responses. Until one day I went to my supply house and saw TradeFox^® products on display, and reached out."

Robert worked with the TradeFox^® Inventor program team at SUPCO to take the Jumper King™ from a prototype to a finished, saleable product. "I've gotten burned many times by 'inventor programs'. It's a blessing to work with a trustworthy company like SUPCO. My true passion is inventing products, and now I have several other ideas to pursue with the Tradefox^® program, and I can't wait."

While struggling to remove a water heater in a tight stairwell, HVAC technician and New York native Sal Murgolo came up with the idea of the water heater handles.

“My father and I were in the process of removing a water heater in a tight stairway when the thought of water heater handles came to us. The top of the heater offers no effective area to hold onto in its removal.”

Sal developed easy grip handles to attach to the inlet and outlet areas of the unit.  “My goal was to make the delivery and removal of water heaters, in tight spaces especially, easy for plumbers like my father.” 

Sal brought his idea to the  SUPCO TradeFox inventor program, and the product team worked with him to suggest some enhancements such as the carrying strap.  Not only is Sal a SUPCO TradeFox at the age of 20, but he has started the academy for the United States Capitol Police!

HVAC technician Joe Shearer always found it annoying when his mastic and scrim tape would tangle up, get stepped on, or roll around the shop. “I couldn’t find any sort of solution besides zip tying it to my waist.”  So Joe decided to build a dispenser prototype.  He refined it by adding magnets to the bottom for hands-free convenience during the installation of an air handler or an entire duct job.

Joe decided to share the prototype with other HVAC technicians he knew to see if they found it useful.  Another TradeFox inventor who was already working with SUPCO recommended Joe reach out to the Inventor Program.

“Technicians who may have a great idea and even a working prototype have an interesting challenge - how much of their energy do you expel to develop, manufacture and distribute your invention? This could be a daunting task that could cause other areas of your personal life to suffer. The SUPCO TradeFox program is definitely ideal in that it allows your invention to see the light of day without losing everything else that is important to you in the process.”