Joe Wrenchturner gets a call to install solar water heating for a longtime customer. He buys some flat-plate collectors through an online source and decides to assemble the remainder of the system using hardware he installs for other hydronic systems.
An installer is asked to provide a system that supplies two zones of fin-tube baseboard and two zones of floor heating. The system also supplies domestic water heating. He selects a mod/con boiler because it’s lighter than a conventional boiler.
A low-mass copper tube boiler is installed with six zone circuits controlled by zone valves. The installer got a great price on a “contractor pack” of 3/4-in. copper tees, so the supply and return headers are build with 3/4-in copper, as are all the zone circuits.
A group of masons pour a 6-in.-thick concrete slab containing 5/8-in. PEX tubing at 12-in. spacing. A nearly complete layer of extruded polystyrene insulation is under the slab. But what are they doing wrong?
An installer decides to use a four-way motorized mixing valve to interface between a gas-fired, cast-iron boiler and a low-temperature radiant panel system.
An
old New England farm house has been heated with a two-pipe steam system serving
plenty of sturdy cast-iron radiators. As part of an extensive renovation and
insulation upgrade, the owner decides to upgrade the heat and convert the
system to a high-efficiency, gas-fired condensing boiler.
A hydronic system is to be designed to supply four
panel radiators, each with its own thermostatic radiator valve, and an indirect
water heater from a gas-fired sectional cast-iron boiler.
An installer is asked to build a system to
supply both radiant floor heating and a “hydro-air” zone. All heat will be
supplied from a gas-fired cast-iron boiler.
