Articles by John Siegenthaler, P.E.

It’s not sexy, but outdoor reset is still a ‘smart’ choice.

Strive for what seems impossible at the present.

An installer has piped a multiple boiler system to supply two loads.

Hydronic systems donít have to be large or complex to be state-of-the-art.

An installer plans to replace an outdoor wood-fired furnace with a new cordwood-gasification boiler with a rated output of 150,000 Btu/hr. The outdoor furnace is located about 100 ft. from the indoor mechanical room where the 1-in. PEX insulated underground piping joins the thermal storage tank. The installer plans to use the existing underground piping.

Different ways to pipe a thermal storage tank.

Many systems that use renewable energy heat sources have large thermal storage tanks.

Many systems that use renewable energy heat sources have large thermal storage tanks.

An installer wants to achieve hydraulic separation between three zone circulators. He also wants to have the same supply water temperature to each zone, so he pipes up what he calls a “modified primary/secondary system.”