Best Of
Re: Lil things mean alot...
I wish more guys cared about ease of service. Sometimes I find boilers installed without any drain valves for service.
Re: Bathroom Remodel - Some Basic Insulation Questions for Radiant Floor
the paper roller seems quite distant from the closet flange. Or is it just me.😁
hot_rod
Re: Bypass for a Buderus G115/3 boiler?
According to Buderus, you can't shock the block, and it isn't effected by low return water temps. 1.25" supply, 1" return. Some kind of silicone infused CI. And most Buderus packages come with the Hydrostat 3250 Plus or the Beckett Aquasmart. Both offer condensate protection.
HVACNUT
Re: New York’s skyscrapers soar above a century-old steam network that still warms the city.
Denver is home to the oldest continuously operated district steam system. I've had the privilidge of touring the physical plant that serves this system. Modulating and staged steam boilers are awesome. Single use, condensate is metered, and then cooled down before dumping into the city sewer. We discontinued a high rise building that ws on the system, and traded a tour of the new physical plant for a tour of their physical plant. There is a significant waste of thermal energy on these systems that a large reverse indirect could recover for DHW preheat on the buildings they serve. It's also THE most expensive heat per therm. More than electric heat. The project we switched over to natural gas (Steam to HWBB) had so many problems, the very expensive retrofit paid for itself in energy savings alone in less than 2 years. And this doesn't include the benefits associated with satisfied residents not ringing the phones off the office wall due to DHW shortage, under heating, over heating etc. Very few people know how to work with steam, and this system ran at 100 PSI, and then reduced to 20 PSI. Scary stuff, and it looks, according to the article, is going away… Surprised that NYC isn't mandating the elimination of their system. Here's an article on Denvers system. https://www.ksby.com/news/national/one-of-the-oldest-heating-systems-in-the-us-could-soon-disappear
Re: Do you trust the “pros” in your area?
I think the term pro is a hugely loose and mostly self proclaimed adjective that when things don t come together as planned one finds that not all self proclaimed are even close to being to being a pro just self proclaimed know it all that they claim . Your either good at what you do and enjoy doing it or you suck plain and simple and are just doing it for the bucks and really that is the main focus . Loving what you do and making a proper living are two different things one can love what they do and all the marketing in the world can project the image but if it ain't fatting your wallet then its non senses.
It really depends on what your looking for and what you consider a pro ? Image or results there's your defining moment ,you wanna be a number on a list to be sold cause to most business customers are just that a regular meal ticket . So the whole image thing is just like being a sag holding card member just a act and a slight of hand and a slight feeling of im being taking care of until your next issue and yet another excuse and a bill . It also comes w the employee being just a number and as good as they are there hands are tied as to the total extent of what they are able to do within the companies mode of operations and business practices.
Like i tell those who ask justa guy w a piece of paper gotten from the state which allows me to do what i do legally thats its ,drive around w junk written on the side of my properly register/plated and insured vehicle and try to make a living pay bill ect .If that what it takes well i'm a pro of yeah lets add in maybe 40 years or so of working in the phvac industry lol . Even that does not make myself a pro just a human trying to do what i know and be honest without loosing money on jobs and putting some thing in my wallet with out the doom and gloom diagnose and pressure sales but when dealing w old yunk you touch you own , Plain and simple .
So am i a pro i would be honest and say highly doubtful just some tool in a box to be used truth be told .
peace and good luck clammy
clammy
Re: What do you think the future of our industry looks like?
For more than 100 years people have been talking about applying mass production techniques to residential housing. There have been some attempts, but for the most part every house is a one-off that is hand built, and crucially for the HVAC, designed and engineered. I could see modular design of the HVAC being part of a broader push to change the way houses are built.
Re: Protecting wires while pulling in conduit
You don't pull through conduit bodies, except maybe a C body. (Even then, you're r generally adding the C body because you're over on bends—so you shouldn't be pulling through it.) Pull a loop & then pull the loop out (one conductor at a time) once you're done.
Protip: if it's stamped with volume & you're under fill, you can make joints in a conduit body.
At least, that was Code the last time I read a code book. It may have changed since then, been a while.
ratio
Re: In a crappy mood? Maybe Toto can help!
The hanging of the down comforter is a practical thing, it is to dry the moisture out that has migrated in to it from your body.
mattmia2
Re: What do you think the future of our industry looks like?
I read an article about doing an oil burner tune up on a European boiler consisted of quick connect oil lines and the 2 bolts that hold the Riello oil burner on the flange with a 3 wire plug for electrical connection. The burner gets swapped out in about 3 minutes, the flue passages are inspected and vacuum cleaned (rarely needed) if there is a large enough build up. The whole process takes about 20 minutes including the combustion testing and paperwork (that is paperless by the way).
The oil burners are cleaned and tuned up at the shop with the specifications on file in the customers records. there is rarely any soot involved in these tune ups. So the technician with the brains and the skills are at the shop doing all the detailed work. anyone can look at the chamber for soot an vacuum it out if needed. The replacement burner is preset and adjusted for the best operating parameters for the year. You need less top notch technicians with this program and you can offer service to more customers this way.
