Contractor Magazine's Most Popular Articles

No free lunch with PEX water system

THE CALL was routine enough little to no pressure on the upper floors when water was drawn on the lower ones. This was a well-water system, so my first...

Gas Pipe Sizing Takes Planning

HOW MUCH WILL you charge me to install a gas log set? Dont you just love conversations that start off like that? Theres only one easy answer: It depends....

Congratulations, Your Water Heater Had Twins!

HERES A QUESTION to ponder: Which is the best method for piping two water heaters together parallel or series? In a number of homes, weve had to correct...

Expansion Tanks 101: the facts and myths

On some commercial jobs, and extremely large residential jobs, you may run into a computerized system called Expan-Flex. This is a microprocessor-controlled...

A.O. Smith debuts 90% efficient residential water heater

SPECIAL TO CONTRACTOR ASHLAND CITY, TENN. A. O. Smith Water Heater Co. has introduced its Vertex 90% efficient condensing residential water heater that...

DOE Announces Water Heater Energy Star Program for 2009

Washington - The U.S. Department of Energy has announced the final criteria for its water heater Energy Star program that will begin next January....

Winterizing plumbing in vacation homes

A READER WROTE: I will be winterizing homes this next season and was wondering if you could point out some areas to watch for in regards to refrigerators...

House Traps Solve Septic Odor Problems

Dave, I live in the Atlanta area and operate a plumbing business there. A lot of the houses that I plumb are on septic tanks and occasionally we are having...

IRS Boosts Auto Mileage Allowance

DO YOU USE your car for business? Hate keeping records of the actual expenses you pay for the business use of your car? Theres another way to deduct the...

New age piping: a modern hydronics phenomenon

ALTHOUGH I ENJOY working with copper pipe, and I really like a good design challenge, I've come to the conclusion that a wellengineered low-loss header,...