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We hope you enjoy our monthly newsletter as much as we enjoy making it available to you. We look forward to sharing stories and ideas that promote our customers, their businesses and how we all work together to come up with solutions to the challenges we face together. We also look forward to hearing from you with your comments, feedback or story ideas to make our newsletter more valuable to you.
Barbara Ragsdale, CFO & Editor
Follow us on FacebookINDUSTRIAL/WINERIES One of Knights' Electric specialties is motor controls and control system integration. The
demand for this expertise has gradually risen to new heights in winery facilities throughout all wine regions in the world. In Napa and Sonoma Counties Knights' Electric has worked with many of the premium wineries
installing motor control systems and creating design/build crush and fermentation areas. A key to Knights' Electric's success in motor control systems is their Control Shop located at their facility in Windsor.
At Beringer Blass Wine Estates in Asti Knights' Electric is installing 50 pump-over control panels for the expanded tank farm. Each control panel will automatically control the time and duration of the pump-over for each tank with an internal timer and automatic start and shut off controller for the pump. Knights' Electric is also manufacturing power or pump stanchions, as they are known in the wine industry, for Beringer Blass Wine Estates.At Pokka Beverages in American Canyon Knights' Electric is installing their control panels for the wastewater treatment system and performing electrical fieldwork for pumps and flow monitors. Knights' Electric is also installing control panels for Pokka's new cooling tower.
Scott Webb, who has been with Knights' Electric for 6 years, supervises the Control Shop at Knights' Electric. Along with Roberto Mendoza and Chris Barnett,
they form the core of expertise and workmanship that produce a wide variety of motor control panels and power stanchions. COMMERCIAL/RESIDENTIAL
The Oliver Ranch is one of our country's premium private reserves for site-specific
art. There are more than 17 outdoor installations, among which are the works of Terry Allen, Miroslaw Balka, Roger Berry, Ellen Driscoll, Bill Fontana, Kristin
Jones, Andrew Ginzel, Andy Goldsworthy, Jim Jennings, Dennis Leon, Jim Melchert, Bruce Nauman, Martin Puryear, David Rabinowitch, Fred Sandback,
Richard Serra, Judith Shea, Robert Stackhouse, and Ursula Von Rydingsvard. Steven and Nancy Oliver have been art patrons and collectors for decades. Mr.
Oliver sees the ranch as a role model for philanthropy, and funding the arts has been a life-long passion. The Oliver Ranch project started in 1985 when Mr. Oliver
commissioned a site-specific work by the New York sculptor Judith Shea. Ever since, the Olivers have continued commissioning contemporary artists whose work
they liked. Currently, Steven Oliver serves as a Past Chair of the Board of Trustees of the California College of Arts and Crafts. Among other posts he served as a
President of the Board of Trustees of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and on the National Endowment for the Arts.
Oliver & Company, headed by Steven Oliver, was the general contractor and Dan White of Knights' Electric worked with Dodt, a San Francisco lighting and electrical systems consulting firm, to install and create the lighting effects involved in the project. 1,300 feet of fiber optic strands were used to light Rabinowitch's sculpted walls. An illuminator housed in the building sends light through the optic strands embedded in the wall behind frosted glass, creating a consistently muted lighting effect throughout the sculpted design. The artist's living areas, which are channeled into the hillside north and south of the sculpted walls have automated window shades that can open as you enter the room. Over 65 tree lights, path lights and a Vantage lighting control panel are other features Knights' Electric also installed for the project.
In Trilogy - Part 1, The Foundation, we described the foundation work and the plans for a custom home in Shiloh Estates built by Jim Murphy & Associates. Now we look at the important phase of the rough electrical, which has just been completed.
In the exacting precision of custom home building the close-in inspection tests the layout plan and execution of the electrical configuration that has been "roughed in". With automated lighting, automated shades and blinds, appliance placement, home entertainment and computer cabling hanging in the mix, the electrical layout needs to accommodate the plan and be flexible for the future - just in case there are changes. "Sometimes all of the details might not be in the plans," says Matt Sweeney, Residential Project Manager for Knights' Electric, "The owner and architect might make changes that need to be addressed." It all has to be finalized and correct for the close-in inspection, after which the home is sheet rocked. "We always complete a walk through with the owner or architect after we box the house out from the plans," explains Sweeney, "We look at things like interior elevations, cabinet dimensions and heights of outlets - things that look right on the plan but sometimes need to be viewed just to make sure everything is homeowner friendly." At this custom home in Shiloh Estates all of the recessed lighting boxes, pendants, soffits for cove lighting and outlets are set and a list of appliances and electrical equipment have been checked for electrical hook ups. Knights' Electric is also working with the HVAC contractor to provide electrical power to the boiler and pumps for the Hydronic heating and cooling system. Outside the plumbers are completing the installation of a circulating pump for an artificial creek. Knights' Electric will supply power to the creek pump and the pump for the fountain. The wiring for the Lutron HomeWorks lighting control system and closed circuit security cameras has also been completed. "The rough electrical needs to be exact on this home," says Sweeney, "Typically to make changes later we can wire in under the floor or above the ceiling. This home is built on a slab and has vaulted ceilings." |
