ACtion Magazine - July/August 2014 - (Page 12)

Meet MACS member Mark Katzenmeyer of Quality Mobile Air By Jacques Gordon M ark Katzenmeyer is the owner of Quality Mobile Air in Florence, Texas. For 20 years the business has focused on air conditioning repair and installation service. They don't do anything else, just air conditioning, and Mark says business is good. "We work year round in Texas, but March through October are our busiest times." Mark got started in the A/C repair business in 1988 while working at LN Auto Air and Accessories, an ARA Auto Installation Shop just up the road in Killeen. "I learned a lot working for them over the years. I saw a need for on site A/C repair, so I started my business, Quality Mobile Air." Today his son David works in the business with him. Quality Mobile Air does repair and service work on domestic cars and trucks and they also do A/C restoration and installations on classic cars. But the largest and most successful part of the business is A/C repair and service on heavy duty and off-road equipment, including trenchers, bulldozers, loaders, haul trucks, excavators, compactors, transit buses and more. While the automotive work is done at their shop, the heavy duty business is mobile, and Mark says this can create challenges. "Being on-call for on-site repairs makes it difficult for us to know when we will be at the shop for auto A/C repairs. [But] when a customer has a half-million dollar machine down for A/C repairs, it is a high priority for us." Mark described one of his more memorable heavy-duty jobs. "I once installed an A/C system in a military sweeper truck, where the compressor was mounted on the auxiliary engine that ran the sweeper. The operator called me the ﬁrst day on the job and said 'It's blowing but it's not blowing cold air.' I told him to start the sweeper motor; never heard back from him again." Since they deal with such a wide variety of A/C systems, we wanted to Mark Katzenmeyer (right) and son David of Quality Mobile Air 12 ACTION * July/August 2014 know if Mark is apprehensive about the industry's plans to switch to a new refrigerant. "We have been through refrigerant changes before," he said. "Having to educate the general public about price increases is a problem. Another problem is cross contamination. Because of the cost of R-1234yf, we know some repair shops will be charging systems with R-134a." Mark says the greatest challenge to his mobile business is getting the right topquality parts when and where they're needed. The mobile business also needs the right tools to run efficiently, so Quality Mobile Air has just invested in an additional recovery-only machine. "We are on a cylinder exchange program. We recover into exchange tanks (supplied) from a refrigerant company. This saves us time from recycling and reusing refrigerant and enables us to use only virgin refrigerant. We'll save money on identiﬁers and recycle machines, and we also get a small fee back from (returning) reclaimed refrigerant." Mark plans to invest in a recovery-only machine for R-1234yf as soon as they're available. Mark says his membership in MACS is another valuable tool. "MACS provides the best information on what's going on in our industry. It helps us keep up with the changes, especially concerning refrigerants." Although Mark says they handle their own training requirements, he has attended MACS Trade Show and Training Events, most recently in New Orleans this past year. "It has always been a good experience meeting people who do the same work as we do." You can learn more about Quality Mobile Air on their website (www. qualitymobileair.com) or email them at qualitymobileair@ecpi.com. ❆ http://www.qualitymobileair.com http://www.qualitymobileair.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ACtion Magazine - July/August 2014

Fire truck A/C
The air we breathe
Outlook
Freeze Frame
Leonard's Law
Virtual View
Service Port
Last Watch
Member Profile
By the Numbers
Cooling Corner
Industry News
Association News
New Products

ACtion Magazine - July/August 2014