Snow-melt Commissioning Eases Your Life Later
ONE OF THE MOST overlooked aspects of starting any hydronic heating system has to be the commissioning process. This is the one area that needs more attention...
Hydroair: The Best of Both Worlds
by James Reid Special to CONTRACTOR In Hebron, Maine, the winters are long. We have an interesting snow removal system its called July. Average summer...
Court Strikes Down California Energy Rules
Special to CONTRACTOR SACRAMENTO, CALIF. The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California has issued a permanent injunction enjoining the...
I=B=R Schools Offer Hydronic Training
Special to CONTRACTOR BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. A total of 64 students in June attended classes on hydronic heating system design, installation and troubleshooting...
How to Sell Oil Heat Against Other Fuels
By BOB MIODONSKI Of CONTRACTORs staff HERSHEY, PA. The similarity between oil heat and massage therapy may not be immediately apparent to many homeowners...
Boiler Selection for Snow-Melt Systems
At this point in my series of columns on snow-melt systems, we must begin to assemble the components to drive the heat from the heat source to the snow-melt...
Laying Down Tube on the Snow-Melt Job
The sizing of the snow-melt systems physical plant and tubing density is dependent upon the system designers wishes about its final capabilities. In most...
Options for Controlling Snow-Melt Systems
Lets continue to look at the different options for controlling snow-melt systems. Remote snow cup controllers: This control logic, while better than no...
Controlling snowmelt to improve performance
In last months article on snowmelt systems, we stopped after talking about on/off lighted pilot switch type controls. This month lets look at four more...
Commercial snow-melt systems
IN LAST MONTHS ARTICLE (February, pg. 28), I talked about coordination for a difficult snow-melt job at a retail store. During the next few months, I...
Subs coordination critical to smooth job
I RECENTLY FINISHED up the largest project on which Ive ever bid and been accepted. It was a large (13,000-sq.-ft.) snow-melt system for a major player...
Controlling the Habitat house radiant wall
THE CONTROL LOGIC used in the Denver Habitat home is not your typical off-the-shelf control logic. The logic is one that is incorporated as a part of...
Radiant walls for everyone, part 2
It has always been my personal conviction that radiant walls are among the most overlooked potential applications of radiant for residential space heating....
Let the construction begin, part 3
ON THE HABITAT for Humanity home that Ive described in my last two columns, we have one last planning detail to delve into on the construction of these...
Radiant heat for everyone, part 1
I RECENTLY FINISHED up on a project for Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver. Ive been trying to donate a hydronic radiant floor heating system to this...
Future of world housing demonstrated today
THREE YEARS AGO, The U.S Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory teamed up...
Selecting the best leak detection equipment
THIS IS THE LAST installment of three on leak detection. My two previous columns (July, pg. 18, and August, pg. 28) covered the search for a pinhole leak...
The art and science of leak sleuthing, part 2
IN LAST MONTHS column (pg. 18), we began looking into a typical below slab-on-grade leak. The next step of sleuthing is to feel the inlets and outlets...
Locating under-floor leaks can be challenging
I received a frantic call the other day. The worried homeowner asked me if we replaced boilers. I asked him what made him think he actually needed a boiler...
Trouble-shooting DHW systems, part 3
IN LAST MONTHS article (pg. 34), we began the art of trouble-shooting domestic hot water system complaints commonly aired by unhappy homeowners. Here...
Trouble-shooting domestic hot water systems, part 2
IN LAST MONTHS column (pg. 30), we began the art of trouble-shooting domestic hot water heating system complaints commonly aired by unhappy homeowners....
Trouble-Shooting Domestic Hot Water Systems
OFTENTIMES WHEN WE, as hydronic heating contractors, get the opportunity to supply and install a companion domestic hot water heating system, our responsibility...
Tankless heaters solve space, hot water shortages
Last months column addressed the proper sizing issues associated with "side-arm" style domestic water heaters (pg. 18). This month, well explore combination...
Sizing of DHW systems critical to performance
WE BEGAN last months column (pg.32) exploring missed opportunities for heating domestic hot water. This month lets look into the different types and styles....
New options in domestic hot water
MANY TIMES, we as hydronic heating contractors, are overlooked when it comes to providing domestic hot water for the homes were heating. This is quite...
