John Siegenthaler: Hydronics Workshop

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Interest in biomass heating systems continues to rise, especially in rural areas of the United States and Canada. Although plenty of devices are available that burn wood to heat water, the state-of-the-art device is a wood-gasification boiler.

Every August, I make a short trip to a local event call the Woodsmen’s Field Days. This gathering is all about cutting down trees and then slicing them up into either firewood or lumber.

A tradeoff has always existed between the water temperature at which hydronic heat emitters are sized and their cost.

Most of you reading this column consider yourselves heating professionals.

I recently read an Internet posting asserting that heat pumps, both air-source and geothermal, should not be considered renewable energy heat sources.

A new piping concept and control wiring challenge.  

A new way to protect a heating system.

You’re probably oversizing expansion tanks in low-temperature systems.

It doesn’t have to be perfect to be effective.

Some recent discoveries about ducting.