The Coefficient of Performance (COP) of a heat pump is essentially the same concept as the thermal efficiency of a boiler (e.g., the desirable output divided by the necessary input).
With systems dating back into the 1800s, hydronic heating has been around a long time. As with many technologies, a modern hydronic heating system bears little resemblance to one based on the earliest design techniques and hardware.
This one goes back a bunch of years. The contractor was a good steam man, but he had run out of ideas with this job. It was a typical, five-story, New York City tenement building. Its one-pipe steam system had served generations of tenants for more than 100 years.
I recently provided guidance on a unique residential retrofit project. The house, a modest 2,500 square-foot, two-story, was located in a semi-rural area near Albany, New York.
I've had lots of opportunities to review plans for pending hydronic heating systems. I've also been on "forensic" visits to sites with improperly performing systems. Of the two, I much prefer plan review over forensics.
We are proud to present this fifth and final edition in the "Siggy" eBook series specifically for the hydronics market. Brought to you by Plumbing & Mechanical, PM Engineer and Supply House Times, this FREE eBook is a collection of columns and articles from John Siegenthaler, P.E., a well-respected hydronics expert.
When I knocked on the doctor’s front door, a dog on the other side went nuts. And this being my one and only visit to the doctor’s house, I took a healthy step back.
As a designer/installer of any hydronic radiant system (especially one that incorporates hydro-air, old preexisting standing cast iron radiators and an indirect water heater), you have dozens of steps involved that are not unlike setting up a winding row of dominoes.
When our daughters were small, we would wake them before dawn on Thanksgiving morning and drive into Manhattan to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade from a spot on Central Park West, just across the street from The Dakota (the apartment building where John Lennon lived and died).