Items Tagged with 'heating'

Modern hydronic systems benefit from wider temperature drops, energy scavenging, and careful integration with domestic hot water.

For contractors, taking high-quality photos at jobsites can be highly beneficial.

Today, we still get calls about older systems. The potential customers often think their house or building is the oldest we have ever seen. I suppose people think every other building on their block has removed the old steam or hot water system and replaced it with something more modern.

Can you speculate why heat delivery in zone 3 was insufficient before the helper pump? How could the piping system be improved, considering the wasted length of PEX-AL-PEX tubing from the manifolds to the floor panels in figure 2?

The homerun system is a simple technique for connecting multiple heat emitters using two runs of small flexible tubing (such as PEX) for supply and return. In North America, the standard size is 1/2-inch, but 3/8-inch tubing can be used with proper design and compatible fittings.

Driven by advancements in refrigerants, controls and system design, modern heat pumps are taking on applications once thought beyond their reach — from food service and healthcare to district energy and industrial processes. This evolution is creating new opportunities for engineers, facility owners and contractors to rethink how buildings are heated, cooled and powered.

Weather emergencies have steadily increased in frequency and severity over the past six decades. In addition to a gasoline-powered high-volume dewatering pump, we maintained an inventory of submersible sump pumps and if it looked like severe weather was potentially headed our way, I increased our inventory.

Many of the ratios used in the HVAC industry are just some “desirable output” quantity divided by the “necessary input” quantity. One example is the coefficient of performance (COP) of a heat pump. The desirable output quantity is Btu/hr of heat output. The necessary input quantity is the electrical input power needed to operate the heat pump. The latter is typically measured in watts or kilowatts.

By pairing an air-to-water heat pump with a high-efficiency propane boiler, contractor James Downs helped a Chicagoland homeowner cut fuel costs and reduce environmental impact — without sacrificing performance.

Designed with both homeowners and contractors in mind, the RDFXYC units combine a heat pump and gas furnace into one versatile system