In last month’s Hydronics Workshop column I described five devices that would, in my opinion, improve and expand the North American hydronics industry.  Here’s my “wish list” from that column:

The schematic in Figure 1 represents a drawing I recently reviewed for a proposed system that was to supply three zones of finned-tube based, two zones of low-temperature radiant panel heating, and an indirect domestic water heater.

All companies that supply hydronic heating hardware to the North American market strive to offer products that are currently in demand. Some even look farther down the road, anticipating where the market is headed.

An installer is asked to install heating in the slab floor of a farm workshop. The owner has already purchased a used cast iron boiler that will run on propane.

All boilers that burn hydrocarbon fuels (natural gas, propane, oil, wood) produce water vapor as a byproduct of combustion.

The Glitch: Eager to keep up with this new technology, an installer decides to install a hydraulic separator between a boiler and distribution system as shown below.

Water-to-water heat pumps supplied from closed earth loops are ideal heat sources for low-temperature hydronic floor-heating systems.

An installer needs to provide heat from a conventional gas-fired boiler to a large buffer tank. The tank is necessary because of a highly zoned distribution system.

There will always be fringe markets for products that use renewable energy to provide marginal heating comfort. These markets survive because early adopters willingly sacrifice superior comfort as the perceived price for using renewable energy.

The Glitch & Fix: October 2018