John Siegenthaler, P.E.

How an Upstate NY school now heats with locally produced wood chips.

Just as the solar thermal industry had its ups and downs over the last four decades, the American public’s interest in wood-based heating has fluctuated with the price of conventional fuel.

Radiant floor heating is by far the biggest part of the radiant panel market.

As an industry, we have to move beyond judging the quality of a hydronic system based solely on the heat source.

The three photos, provided by a friend of the industry, are all from the same hydronic heating installation.

German water.

An installer is asked to provide a relatively simple single-zone floor heating system supplied by a mod/con boiler. He’s heard that a hydraulic separator is a good component in such systems

Well-designed and properly installed hydronic radiant heating systems have earned a deserved reputation for superior comfort. Even so, many people hesitate on using these systems because they can’t just push a button on their thermostat to change the system from heating to cooling.

The system was intended to supply one high-temperature heating zone, a couple of medium-temperature zones and two zones of floor heating for a garage and breezeway where antifreeze protection was needed.

All closed-loop hydronic systems require an air space to absorb the increased volume of water as it warms during system operation. In most hydronic systems, this task is handled by an expansion tank. In most modern hydronic systems, it’s handled by a diaphragm-type expansion tank.