MARQUETTE, Mich.—Northern Michigan University students in the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) program will now have an opportunity to work on the type of full-modulating boilers that are becoming the industry standard. Swick Heating and Plumbing of Marquette has donated $5,950 in new equipment to the program for training purposes.

            “They’re called condensing boilers and they are the type of very high-efficiency units that our students will be working on over the next 10 years or so,” said Nick Griewahn, NMU professor of technology and occupational sciences. “Northern has a lot of cutting-edge equipment and I feel we have one of the best labs in the state for HVAC. These new additions represent a three-way partnership between the manufacturers, Swick and our program.”

            The donated condensing boilers include an NTI Trinity Fire Tube and a Triangle Tube Prestige Trimax Solo wall-mounted unit.

            “[NMU] was looking for help on how to improve the value of the technicians coming out of the program,” said Rick Gilles, Swick co-owner and advisory board member for Northern’s HVAC program. “I inquired about their lab and what, if any needs they had. I found out they had no high-efficiency, full-modulating boilers for students to work on. The industry is heading in that direction. We see about 75 percent of our boiler sales as this type of equipment.”

            Gilles secured the donation with the help of Wisconsin suppliers Hydro-Flo and Midwest Mechanical.

             NMU's certificate program consists of 45 credits. It teaches students to master the skills needed to install, troubleshoot and repair systems.