Cooper Plumbing wins Lochinvar VIP Installation Showcase with a custom radiant system

Whitehead attributes his success not just to the quality of work he provides his customers, but to the type of work he specializes in. “We specialize mainly in custom homes and renovations,” Whitehead said. “Pretty much all residential, but primarily the high-end stuff… it’s where the interesting work is.”

Cooper Plumbing & Heating is a five-man operation serving Calgary and the surrounding area. Whitehead came to this particular job through an existing relationship with a GC and won the bid.

“There’s eight bathrooms in the house,” Whitehead said, “and a couple custom showers with multiple showerheads, so that’s why we went with an 80-gallon water heater, just to satisfy demand.”

In addition, Cooper Plumbing installed 2,500-sq.ft. of in-slab radiant; 1,800-sq.ft. for the finished basement, the rest for the three-car garage.

Powering the system is a Knight wall-hung boiler, and a Squire domestic hot water heater, both from Lochinvar. “That’s fairly typical of what we do in most of our custom homes,” Whitehead said. “We generally heat concrete slab and do domestic hot water with a boiler system.”

The garage uses Bell & Gossett circulators, and the basement is divided up into two manifolds using Eco-circ variable-speed circulators. Zones are regulated by a Taco controller.

“We used Uponor manifolds, and Uponor PEX tubing in the floor,” Whitehead said. “In some cases we have to use something different, some people are a little more budget-conscious, but when we can put in all the good stuff, we put in all the good stuff.” Most of the rest of the system was piped in copper.

While the heating system is up and running, the house itself is still being finished. The installation went smoothly. Whitehead had a three-man team putting in the in-floor tubing while a fourth worked on the visible components — roughly 80 man-hours of labor. “I laid out the system,” Whitehead said, “but most of it was put together by one of my guys, Matt Derrien.”

Lochinvar’s VIP Installation Showcase is a monthly contest. Through April, registered program members can upload a photo and brief description of any qualified boiler or boiler/Squire combination installation.

Once an entry has been submitted, it is featured in a gallery where Facebook users can vote for their favorite installation. (Those not on Facebook can enter and vote at www.knightheatingboiler.com.) The top three entries with the most votes each month are selected as finalists, and a panel of Lochinvar judges chooses the monthly winner.

Among the prizes offered, 16 winners receive the company’s Nashville Experience, an all-expenses paid trip for two to Tennessee that includes tickets to the world’s largest country music festival in June 2014.  

Whitehead is looking forward to his return trip. “It’s just such a fun town,” he said. “The people at Lochinvar are terrific. The treatment you get there is second to none. It always includes a tour of their plant… I’m really looking forward to seeing it again.”