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John Siegenthaler, P.E.

John Siegenthaler, P.E., is a consulting engineer and principal of Appropriate Designs in Holland Patent, New York. In partnership with HeatSpring, he has developed several online courses that provide in-depth, design-level training in modern hydronics systems, air-to-water heat pumps and biomass boiler systems. Additional information and resources for hydronic system design are available on Siegenthaler’s website, www.hydronicpros.com.

Articles

ARTICLES

John Siegenthaler: Renewable Heating Design

John Siegenthaler: Be explicit on tubing depth in a slab

Unnecessary compromise

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

July 11, 2019

A commonality among all renewable energy heat sources is that they perform best when coupled to low-temperature hydronic distribution systems.

John Siegenthaler: Hydronics hygiene

Clean your systems during commissioning.

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

July 9, 2019

Water is the “life-blood” of hydronic systems. Its chemical characteristics can make the difference between a system that lasts for decades versus one that develops expensive corrosion issues within months of commissioning.

John Siegenthaler: Picking winners

Are geothermal heat pumps economically sustainable in an unsubsidized market?

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

June 10, 2019

The U.S. geothermal heat pump industry was breaking out the champagne on Feb. 9, 2018. That’s the day President Donald Trump signed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, a bill that boosted government spending by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Modern Hydronics Done Right Volume 3

eBook

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

June 6, 2019

We are proud to present the third of five eBooks specifically for the hydronics and radiant heating/cooling market. Brought to you by Plumbing & Mechanical, PM Engineer and Supply House Times, this eBook is a collection of columns and articles from John Siegenthaler, P.E., a well-respected hydronics expert and longtime columnist for PM, pme and Supply House Times.

The Glitch: Thermal bullying

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

May 21, 2019

A contractor is asked to design a hydronic heating system for a modest, super-insulated house in a cold Northern climate. The home’s design load is only 18,000 Btu/h. The owners are planning to install a 12 KW solar photovoltaic electrical system.

John Siegenthaler: Btus in a box

There’s more to comfort than balanced energy flows.

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

May 10, 2019

Have you noticed the strong interest in cold-climate air-source heat pumps over the last couple of years?

The Glitch and Fix: How hard can it be?

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

April 16, 2019

An installer was asked to include an air-to-water heat pump into a low-temperature radiant panel heating system supplied by a mod/con boiler.

John Siegenthaler: A synergistic system

True professionals look for synergistic opportunities when designing hydronic systems.

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

April 8, 2019

One of the “delights” of designing hydronic systems is looking for synergistic opportunities, where one device provides multiple functions or benefits that would otherwise require two or more separate devices.

The Glitch: Pipe it just like any other boiler

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

March 19, 2019

An installer sets up a zoned distribution system as shown below. To keep it simple, he uses the same size piping for the headers and all the distribution circuits. The heat source is a low-mass, copper-tube boiler with high-flow resistance.

John Siegenthaler: 5 more products the hydronics industry needs

These products would help fill needs within the hydronics market.

John Siegenthaler, P.E.

March 11, 2019

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:

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