Powder River Heating and Air Conditioning Serves Sheridan Through Work, Philanthropy

From Sheridan College’s Innovation Center to the new EmPATH unit at Sheridan Memorial Hospital, the people of Sheridan encounter the work of Powder River Heating and Air Conditioning on a daily basis – often without knowing it.

But the community impact of the business extends far beyond the residential, commercial and industrial projects they work on throughout Sheridan County, Manager Ken Thorpe said. The company is also committed to giving back to the local community through its time and finances as well.

“Sheridan would be a pretty boring place if you didn’t have the things we support – things like high school sports, community theater and our local chamber of commerce,” Thorpe said. “We want a well-rounded community. We want Sheridan to be a good place for our employees to live and work.”

Powder River Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. was founded in 1978 in Gillette to meet the need for dependable HVAC and plumbing service and installation. The company has since expanded throughout northern Wyoming and opened its Sheridan shop in 2007. The company has roughly 100 full-time employees, with 30 of those based in Sheridan, Thorpe said.

Today, Powder River Heating and Air Conditioning is a full mechanical contractor offering residential, commercial and industrial plumbing, heating, cooling, ventilation, sheet metal fabrication and refrigeration service and installation.

The Powder River service department has become Wyoming’s largest and currently serves Campbell, Crook, Weston, Johnson and Sheridan counties, as well as southeast Montana. The service department installs and repairs walk-in coolers, grocery store refrigeration systems, ice machines, heat reclaim systems, haul truck a/c systems and all types of building HVAC systems, boilers and hot water heating systems.

Powder River’s construction department has installed all types of HVAC and plumbing systems. The company also offers in-house design-build services via their licensed mechanical engineers.

In order to give back to the community that has supported it for nearly 20 years, Powder River supports a wide variety of local community causes in Sheridan County including sports in all three Sheridan County school districts, community theater at the WYO Theater and Civic Theatre Guild, Sheridan Memorial Hospital and the Food Group. They’ve also been a longtime Sheridan County Chamber of Commerce supporter, Thorpe said.

“The connections we make through Chamber networking are valuable to us,” Thorpe said. “The Chamber is our connection to other business partners, and they also do a great job of advocating for our local businesses and looking out for their best interests.”

As he looks to the future, Thorpe is excited to grow the next generation of his team. He’s proud of two team members who recently completed their Journeyman’s test – the culmination of four years of hard work and training – but he has also had to say goodbye to several retiring team members. The future success of Powder River – and the Sheridan community in general – is dependent on finding and training the next generation of workers, Thorpe said.

“The future for us is continuing to encourage young people to get involved in the trades,” Thorpe said. “If we don’t, it’s going to become harder and harder to provide these services that people really need.”

Thorpe said he appreciates the Sheridan community for the support they’ve shown his business, and he hopes to return that generosity.

“We want to support the communities that support us,” Thorpe said. “Sheridan has given so much to us, so we do what we can to give back.”