Dave Smith owns a fire engine red ’61 Chevy Impala two-door hardtop, complete with an aftermarket 327 small-block engine and Turbo 350 transmission. Smith, the heating manager at Bowker Pinnacle Mechanical in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, enjoys showing off his classic Chevy at different car shows.
Since the 1990s, Smith has been a regular at the Cruisin’ for Camp Courageous benefit car show. Camp Courageous — affectionately known as “Camp C” — is a year-round recreational and respite care facility serving individuals of all ages with disabilities. Over the years, the car show has generated a lot of support for the camp.
It was at this event that a professional relationship began between Smith and Camp Courageous — one that remains strong to this day, some 30 years later. In fact, their relationship predates the merger between Bowker Mechanical, a 95-year-old company, and Pinnacle Mechanical, founded just four years ago.
Today, Bowker Pinnacle’s team includes boiler specialists and water treatment professionals who service pools and spas for a wide range of facilities — including Camp C.
(left to right) Dylan Windfield, Paul Erenburger, Dylan Felton, Dave Smith, RJ Peterson, Brett Wieneke.
LONG-STANDING RELATIONSHIPS
Smith carried his relationship with Camp C into his role at the newly formed Bowker Pinnacle, which is well equipped to handle any mechanical challenge. From piping and code welding to HVAC service, Bowker Pinnacle manages it all in-house.
Over the decades, Smith and the techs working with him serviced and installed all variety of plumbing, heating and cooling equipment at Camp C. The facility includes numerous event spaces, a ropes course, nature trail, mini golf course, field court and a natatorium with two pools.
Smith has been in the trade for 43 years, 35 of which have been dedicated to the installation and maintenance of boilers, both large and small. He’s developed other long-term relationships in the area, including a partnership with rep firm C.H. McGuiness, a fourth generation, 13-person mechanical sales firm based in Des Moines.
“I’ve known Dan LaPole, the current owner of C.H. McGuiness, for 15 years,” says Smith. “I worked with his father before Dan was even out of school. They’re the most reliable contact I have with any manufacturer. If I run into questions or supply chain issues, I call Dan. He’s a huge help on both the service and install side of the business.”
Bowker Pinnacle and C.H. McGuiness have teamed up to design and install systems for ethanol plants, schools, and everything in between over the years. So when it came time to replace the existing pool heating boilers at Camp C, C.H. McGuiness was Smith’s first call.
Cruisin' for Camp Courageous is one of Iowa's largest charity car shows with over 400 cars, trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles.
DESIGN TEAM
“Our team had maintained the existing pool heating boilers at Camp C for a long time, but Bowker Pinnacle didn’t install them,” says Smith. “There were two condensing boilers serving the load, but the system’s Achilles’ heel was that the pool water was pumped directly through the boilers. Pool treatment chemicals degrade stainless steel heat exchangers at a rapid pace, so the original boilers didn’t last as they would have otherwise.”
The first original boiler serving Camp C’s lap pool failed in 2018. While managers asked Smith to replace the unit, they chose to defer the second boiler’s replacement until it failed, too. Smith and Dan LaPole walked the site together and developed a plan not only to replace the failed unit but also to improve system performance. Their solution was designed to be easily replicated when the second boiler eventually gave out.
“Dave and I agreed that to achieve the highest efficiency and system longevity possible, premium condensing boilers should be paired with titanium heat exchangers,” says LaPole. “The heat exchanger isolates the primary boiler loop from the pool water, and titanium is more resistant to chlorine than stainless steel.”
“We’ve carried the Thermal Solutions boiler line for 25 years,” he adds. “Both Dave and I have extensive experience with the Apex model. It’s been extremely reliable — up to 97% efficient and available in capacities ranging from 399 to 800 MBH — so it was an easy choice for this project.”
In 2018, Smith’s team installed a 399 MBH Apex boiler with a titanium plate-and-frame heat exchanger to replace the system serving the lap pool.
SIMPLE BUT EFFECTIVE
In 2024, the original boiler serving Camp C’s therapy pool failed. Smith and LaPole returned to the site, confident that the system design they developed six years prior could be applied again — with a few small adjustments.
The smallest Apex boiler model was ideally suited to meet the heating demands of both pools. The 180,000-gallon lap pool is maintained at 84 degrees Fahrenheit, while the 76,000-gallon therapy pool remains at 90 degrees Fahrenheit.
For both the 2018 and 2024 retrofits, the primary challenge for Bowker Pinnacle’s technicians was providing enough physical clearance — both to meet Iowa state code and to allow for future service access. The pump room housing the boiler systems also contains filtration and water treatment equipment, and the original setup lacked primary/ secondary piping, further complicating the installation.
The larger of the two pools requires 18 GPM on the pool side of the heat exchanger, provided by a Taco 0013 circulator. On the boiler side, the flow rate is 32 GPM, using a Taco 1915. The smaller system, which maintains a higher pool setpoint temperature, needs 19 GPM to the pool and 40 GPM on the boiler side, using a Taco 1911 and 1915, respectively. This approach yields a 20-degree Fahrenheit temperature differential across the titanium heat exchangers.
“The system we installed in 2018 is very similar to the one we installed in 2024,” says Smith. “Camp C’s maintenance staff was thrilled with the Apex boiler, so there was no need to change that. The only real difference was the type of titanium heat exchanger we used. In those six years, titanium shell-and-tube heat exchangers became available. I prefer shell-and-tube because they have a lower pressure drop, and they’re less likely to clog. They’re also easier to disassemble and clean.”
Bowker Pinnacle's Nick Wineland welds a 30-inch pump discharge line for a wastewater treatment center.
Temperature sensors on the pool return side of the heat exchanger control the boiler cut-in and cut-out. When return water from the pool reaches setpoint, the pool control system communicates with the Apex’s onboard controls to shut the boiler off.
“The new boiler systems are much more reliable and provide faster recovery than the equipment that was here previously,” says Corey Mohr, facilities maintenance director at Camp C. “Before the retrofits, if a pool dropped by 5 degrees Fahrenheit over the weekend, it would take days to recover. Now, it takes about eight hours.”
By partnering with C.H. McGuiness, Bowker Pinnacle has more than doubled the life of the systems by specifying the correct boiler and isolating it with a titanium heat exchanger.
“The initial cost of the heat exchanger tends to give some customers sticker shock, but that usually fades after we explain they won’t need to replace their pool heaters every few years,” says Smith.
As the only year-round camp in Iowa, the facility welcomes about 100 campers per week. No matter the season, those campers can enjoy all the aquatic activities Camp C offers — while maintenance staff has peace of mind knowing the heating systems are protected from the harsh conditions common to pool heating applications.
This article first appeared in the June 2025 issue of AQUA Magazine — the top resource for retailers, builders and service pros in the pool and spa industry. Subscriptions to the print magazine are free to all industry professionals. Click here to subscribe.
