Dan Holohan: Heating Help

Longtime Plumbing Group columnist says goodbye

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0500

Hello, old friend. I’m writing today to say thanks, and to say farewell. This will be my last column.

An important skill for teaching tradespeople

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Fri, 03 Nov 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Kids have a way of dragging us old folks back in time. My grandson, Brendan put me back on the road, 40 years ago, when I was spending most of my time teaching tradespeople about the joys of steam and hot-water heating.

Women can work in mechanical rooms

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Mon, 02 Oct 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Another photo appeared and this one had a woman in it. She was holding a long wrench and the business end was attached to one of the risers to the boiler’s drop-header.

Lessons learned cataloging old pumps in the Catskills

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0400

I spotted a story in the newspaper last year that made me smile with a memory that was bittersweet.

The Wallies hash out advice for younger generations

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Not long ago, Ray asked the Wallies who post daily on The Wall at HeatingHelp.com what advice they would give someone just starting out in this business. Here’s some of what they had to say. There’s a lot of street-smart experience here.

Dan Holohan: Do you prefer educated customers?

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Over the years, I've had many homeowners read my books and then write to tell me they knew more about their system than the contractors that came to their houses. This was particularly true when it came to steam heating.

Dan Holohan: The importance of training and educating yourself on the equipment you work on

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Fri, 02 Jun 2023 00:00:00 -0400

It was one of those days at HeatingHelp.com when the old guys had the floor. One of the regulars, a retired (and understandably crotchety) fella from Canada had this to say:

Dan Holohan: Electrification may become more mainstream, but not overnight

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Tue, 02 May 2023 00:00:00 -0400

Morris had me on the phone. It was 1974 and he was calling from Brooklyn, New York. I had a waxed handlebar mustache that year, and my workmates at the manufacturers’ rep were calling me Rollie Fingers because he was pitching for the Oakland Athletics in the World Series.

Dan Holohan: Do you miss the T87

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Mon, 03 Apr 2023 00:00:00 -0400

In 1885, when you could still buy a milk cow for $29.70, Albert Butz, a Swiss immigrant living in St. Paul, Minnesota, invented what he called the damper-flapper. He patented it the following year. The flapper opened a damper that allowed outside air to enter a coal-fired home furnace. This increased the oxygen in the furnace and made the fire burn hotter. When the temperature rose to a desired point, the damper closed.

Dan Holohan: Why Congress has no windows

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0500

People who knew Capt. Montgomery C. Meigs said he was occasionally pompous, but when the job was done to his satisfaction, he said, “This was the most difficult piece of engineering and construction that I have yet to undertake.”

Dan Holohan: Dry steam is the goal

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 01 Feb 2023 00:00:00 -0500

I love all the advances taking place in the world of hydronics, but I’m still seeing plenty of steam systems out there in our older cities, so knowing about dry steam will help you if you’re replacing a steam boiler. The dryer the steam is, the better you’re going to look to your customers.

Dan Holohan: That seventies show

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 04 Jan 2023 00:00:00 -0500

I began my career in the HVAC business in 1970 as a truck driver for an AC/refrigeration wholesaler. I stayed there just six weeks because my father — who worked for a manufacturers’ rep — told me there was an opening for a clerk at the rep. It paid $110 a week, which was $10 more than I was getting driving the truck. Plus, I’d get to work with him as my boss.

Dan Holohan: The geography of auto-feeders on steam

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 00:00:00 -0500

I have heating (plumbing, fire suppression, etc.) shops in New York and New Jersey. This is very much steam country, and we repair and replace steam boilers and systems all week long and have been for decades. All that is fine, but what I find incredibly odd is the polarized perception of the automatic water feeder.

Dan Holohan: Why we use 180 degrees for hot-water systems

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Most hydronic systems have the boiler running up to 180° F with water returning from the system at 160°. This rarely happens in real life, but it’s the traditional way we do things.

Dan Holohan: Pipe stories

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 13:00:00 -0400

I called the plumber because there’s an immediacy to plumbing; and I’m old enough to know that it’s best for me not to touch pipes. To each his own trade.

Dan Holohan: Diagnosing no heat over-the-phone

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 01 Sep 2022 00:00:00 -0400

My iPhone pinged a text: “Hi, Dan. How are you and Marianne, and the family? I’m sorry to bother you. I can’t get my steam heat to go on. I can’t get a plumber to come quickly. I guess they’re busy with the weather. Can I call you later to ask you something about the burner?”

Dan Holohan: Making mistakes

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Some years ago, a wholesaler hired me to do a seminar in a New England hotel for about 100 of his contractor customers. After the seminar, the owner of the company invited me and a bunch of his employees out for a nice dinner. There were about 15 of us.

Dan Holohan: Why it’s so hard to find workers

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 06 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0400

My shop teacher was a wiry man who loved hand tools. We spent a week making a buzzer base. He taught us how to saw, sand and varnish. He introduced me to a Brace & Bit hand drill and went on and on about how this was better than an electric drill. “Can you feel the wood? It’s alive!” he said, and I could.

Dan Holohan: Tough job site conditions call for creative workarounds

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0400

In the city of Worcester, Massachusetts, which snuggles into the center of the state, you will find Mount Saint James, and upon that steep hill, you will find The College of the Holy Cross.

Dan Holohan: Good help is hard to find

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Tue, 03 May 2022 00:00:00 -0400

My neighbor, Tony, loves his house. We live in a low-crime neighborhood on Long Island but Tony is always on guard against miscreants. He has a Ring camera on every side of his house, mounted high so they’re protected from spray paint. Some of the cameras turn on klieg lights and alarms if I step outside at night to toss the trash in the can.

Dan Holohan: The magic of the simple air vent

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 00:00:00 -0400

Dan Holohan: Frozen steam coils

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Wed, 02 Mar 2022 13:00:00 -0500

Frozen steam coils always seem to happen at the worst of times, don’t they? You’re busy because it’s cold enough to freeze coils. The place with the frozen coil contains people who are doing things that are so important they can’t possibly be without that particular coil. Not even for a minute. They’re on the phone, and they’re not being reasonable.

Dan Holohan: So easy to blame the boiler

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Tue, 01 Feb 2022 00:00:00 -0500

A homeowner posted a question on The Wall at HeatingHelp.com about a drumroll sound that was coming from his brand-new steam boiler. What could it be? He included a video so all could hear, and sure enough, it sounded like a snare drum.

Dan Holohan: The case for radiator covers

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Mon, 03 Jan 2022 13:00:00 -0500

In March 2010, a nine-month-old boy rolled off his sister’s bed in Jersey City, New Jersey, and got stuck between the bed and a cast-iron, steam radiator that was as hot as it’s supposed to be. The radiator delivered third-degree burns to the infant and left him with permanent scars.

Dan Holohan: Does size matter?

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 02 Dec 2021 00:00:00 -0500

A young guy who was about the size of Bruno Mars came to my seminar once, and we were chatting during a break. I asked him how long he had been in the business. It’s good to see young people getting involved.

Dan Holohan: Who gets to work on steam?

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Mon, 01 Nov 2021 00:00:00 -0400

How’s that for a title? I’ll give you the answer right up front: Everyone! And the best part is you don’t have to know what you’re doing; you just have to show up.

Dan Holohan: Creepy crawl spaces

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 30 Sep 2021 00:00:00 -0400

October, being the month for ghosts and goblins, seems like the perfect time to reminisce about those tight spots few want to visit, but many must.

Dan Holohan: What's inside?

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 00:00:00 -0400

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.

Dan Holohan: When luck fails you

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 00:00:00 -0400

Have you ever had one of those times when you’re trying to figure out some problem and then suddenly the solution comes to you as if by magic?

Dan Holohan: Are you treating those systems?

dan@heatinghelp.com (Dan Holohan) — Thu, 27 May 2021 00:00:00 -0400

I was wondering about boiler chemicals and how many contractors (if any) were using them on brand-new systems. Do we need them?