Best Of
Re: Boiler Running Full Tilt, Cold House
Shut the water feed off to the boiler. I'm suspecting a leak in the underground. Those Btu's are going somewhere or the software is lying to you. If the pressure drops and boiler shuts down on a water pressure fault or low water cutoff shuts down the boiler then you will know
pedmec
Congratulations to Dan Foley, Carlson-Holohan Award Honoree
Congratulations to @Dan Foley, recipient of the 2025-2027 Carlson-Holohan Industry Award of Excellence! He received this award on February 10, 2025 during the AHR Expo in Orlando, FL. Thank you to our friends at Caleffi for hosting this award ceremony.
The Carlson-Holohan Industry Award of Excellence is presented every two years to a nominee with attributes including technical mastery and a passion for hydronic technologies, demonstrated leadership as an educator and mentor, and an aptitude for cultivating fundraising opportunities for industry causes.
Thank you for all you do for our industry, Dan.
A shout out
to Chicago Faucets, and especially to Kayla Montano. I was faced the other day with an old kitchen faucet (well, not that old — only 30 years or so) the spout of which had corroded and broken at the base. Local supply house (which alleges they carry Chicago Faucets) played dumb (no surprise there). Contacted Chicago Faucets directly to ensure I had the correct replacement part number and ask where to get it.
Kayla verified the part number, asked if I had a purchase order (no) or receipt (no — I mean, 30 years, come on). And then went and pulled the part off the shelf and sent it on out, no further questions asked. I didn't ask for a warrantee claim — just where to get it.
Can't beat that.
Thank you!
Jamie Hall
Inside Heat-timer Varivalve Radiator Vents
Ever wonder what's inside a Varivalve vent? Or what makes them spit water or why they fail?
I looked inside. I really wanted to love these. Beautifully machined American made brass gems that emit a bodacious amount of air - faster than many main vents. An adjustable slide varies the output. Good if you have a clean, dry steam system and bad if you have anything else.
Advantages are a self cleaning valve seat, an o-ring valve that seals against the seat and a bronze sylphon, just like a little steam trap. Disadvantages are no float to keep squiring water off your floors, and the fatal one to most of these vents - a plunger that falls out from the sylphon bellows sealing its seat permanently.
In the cut-away below, you'll see the brass "plunger" that the bellows presses against the seat when the valve closes. Unfortunately this plunger is retained in the bellows with a press-fit. After the bellows expand and contract over and over again, the bellows swell and distort, finally ejecting the plunger out of the bellows and onto the seat. Gravity then keeps it there - plugging the seat forever.
And that's the end of the valve. About a third of the ones we've installed have failed this way in the first two years.
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Below is the original 1950's "temperature adjustable" Heat-timer adjustable vent. "The radiator vent with a built-in thermostat" also spat water but was constructed differently and didn't fail closed like the present design. The "factory calibrated thermostat" knob on top simply raised or lowered the sylphon bellows lifting the plunger from the seat:
Re: “That’s an easy job”
Whenever I hear a apprentice or a journeyman say "Its easy" I ak them to explain how putting a forty foot ladder on the roof, hiking all the tools you need up there, going to class at night, getting up every morning, going to training, paying for training doing all of this and more? How easy was that?
If it was easy, everyone would be doing it.
Never say its easy. Cause it aint.
Intplm.