Radiant & Hydronics

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Many legacy hydronic heating systems use a fossil fuel boiler to supply fin-tube baseboard heat emitters in some areas of a building and lower-temperature radiant panels in other areas. 

Given the current prices for fuel oil and propane, and current state and federal incentive programs, many homeowners are asking heating contractors to replace their aging boilers with a geothermal heat pump system.

I began my career in the HVAC business in 1970 as a truck driver for an AC/refrigeration wholesaler. I stayed there just six weeks because my father — who worked for a manufacturers’ rep — told me there was an opening for a clerk at the rep. It paid $110 a week, which was $10 more than I was getting driving the truck. Plus, I’d get to work with him as my boss.

Although I’ve worked with hydronic heating for four decades and designed systems around just about every possible heat source, I would be hard-pressed to predict what might be available as hydronic heat sources 25 years from now. 

Can you spot at least 5 causes for concern among these three photos? If so, what would you do to correct them?

I have heating (plumbing, fire suppression, etc.) shops in New York and New Jersey. This is very much steam country, and we repair and replace steam boilers and systems all week long and have been for decades. All that is fine, but what I find incredibly odd is the polarized perception of the automatic water feeder.

Water-to-water heat pumps, supplied from geothermal earth loops, represent a growing sector of the hydronic heat source market. Most current-generation models can produce water temperatures up to about 125° F, perhaps a little higher if you’re willing to push the compressor operating envelope.

An installer is asked to provide a 4-ton-rated (48,000 Btu/h) geothermal heat pump system that can provide space heating and domestic hot water.

With homes now doing dual duty as both a residence and a workplace, many people are spending double the time in the same space. This lifestyle shift has launched a home-renovation trend for people who are looking to change their current living spaces to better align with the needs of life and work in one place.

District systems, which have been around for centuries, provide buildings with a product created with technology beyond what an individual can either afford or apply. The primary advantage is the delivery of more cost-effective heating or cooling to the building.