ACCA Conference highlights energy-efficient systems

The conference was held March 17-19 in Nashville, Tenn.

The 2014 ACCA Conference, March 17-19 in Nashville, Tenn., included a radiant and hydronics track sponsored by the group’s Radiant & Hydronics Council. Topics over the three days included designing and installing mechanical systems in large homes (Dan Foley of Foley Mechanical), growing a successful hydronics business (Brian Stack of Stack Heating and Cooling), do’s and don’ts of installing modulating/condensing boilers, when not to use potable water for hydronic systems, and commercial radiant cooling systems embedded in concrete.

Jeff Personsof Geo Source One noted that potable water with a high mineral content can create high electrical conductivity. Soft water with low mineral content can cause dezincification of pipe, valves and fittings, even leaving white, fuzzy deposits on brass valves.

“Research the water chemistry of a project,” he said. “If adding deionized water to a system, make sure to add a corrosion inhibitor, too.”

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Kelly Faloon was a former editor of Plumbing & Mechanical as well as the BNP Media Plumbing Group’s Integrated Content Development Specialist. She also was a former editor of the Radiant Comfort Guide the Radiant & Hydronics Report — both official publications of the Radiant Professionals Alliance — and twice-monthly Radiant & Hydronics eNews, an enewsletter for anyone interested in the world of heating with hot water.

Her editorial specialties included women in plumbing, recruiting for the trades, green construction techniques, water conservation, water treatment, hydronic heating, radiant heating and cooling, snow melt, solar thermal and geothermal.

After a 3½-year stint at sister publication Supply House Times, Faloon joined the PM staff in December 2001 as senior editor. She was named PM’s managing editor in 2006 and editor in 2013.

Previously, she spent nearly 10 years at CCH, a publishing firm specializing in business and tax law, where she wore many hats — proofreader, writer/editor for a daily tax publication, and Internal Revenue Code editor.

A native of Michigan’s northern Lower Peninsula, Faloon is a 1986 journalism graduate of Michigan State University.