Need a Hydronic Heating Engineer

Lil-Roc

Since you have some radiant check out the Radiant Panel Assocation website. They have many contractors listed for the Michigan area. In gerneral terms if one was to join the RPA they'll have a good hydronic background or you could look for someone who is NATE certified in Hydronic service and instalation. In many states there is no real licensing for a HVAC company other than a an EPA refrigerant card for being able to handle refrigerant. There is a need for some kind for some kind of licensing like a plumber or an eletrician.
So start there it looks like you have alot going on there with air handlers, radiant and such. It would be easy to pipe something wrong and for it to work okay under a load less than full load design condition.
Good Luck!!

staudj

Hydronic Heating

Installed two buderus hydronic heat boilers in 10,000 sf house on the shores of lake michigan. System was unable to heat house on very cold winter days. (home could not get above 55 degrees.) Installer is un-responsive to my requests and I am now looking for a certified Hydronics engineer to evaluate the system as installed and make recommendations regarding capacity and distribution. My goal is to get a fresh perspective on what it will take to heat this house appropriately. Anyone have a recommendation?

THANKS

Unknown

where?

Where on Lake Michigan shore? There's many shore miles among the four states.

Lil-Roc

I'm a Buderus distrbutor in the Chicago are market. Which shore of Lake Michigan are you on? If Il,In, And Southern WI I could have a quality contractor contact you fairly quickly. It sounds like the system boiler temps aren't set correctly or maybe sizing issue.

Andrew Hagen_2

Mind...

if we give it a shot? With a few details, we might be able to give you a good idea what is going on.

Do you know how hot the fluid in the system was when it was that cold? Do you have baseboard, radiators, or radiant floor? If it is radiant floor, what is the installation method? Can you provide any photos of the installation?

staudj

sorry about not being more specific. We are in Grand Haven in Michigan. 3 hours north of chicago. I am hoping to find someone QUALIFIED in the field of hydronic heat, but I am having a hard time determining what, if any, certifications this person should posses. Isn't there some kind of engineering or industry certification I should be looking for? Boderus technical help line could not even tell me who might be qualified to evaluate their heating system. They could only direct me to distributors who may or may not be qualified to spec and install hydronic heat. thanks for any direction you can provide- I don't want to be cold again next winter!

staudj

facts that I have

boiler cycled every 7 minutes during the coldest days with a fluid temp range of 170-198 degrees. Type of circulation is blown air using an air handler that works in conjunction with each boiler. This half of the house has a boiler system with domestic hot water and a small greenhouse with radiant floor heat with TWO air handlers. There is also a controller on this system that decides which of these takes priority (domestic hot water first, all else takes a back seat).

Home Depot Employee

The fact that the boiler(s) cycled on a cold day is a good thing, besides reaching higher temp.

Now we need to narrow down if the circulation is poor, air handler, ducts, distribution or registers are inproper or the air handler coil is too small.

Thats a tough one over the internet.

Are these factory air handlers with HW coils? if so what model/size? and serving how many sq ft of that portion of the house?

Weezbo

what you would need is an on site inspection

you would have a thread the size of a small novella were all the questions asked that would be required..a few Pictures though would reduce much of the * curses spell checking* that would transpire without them..

staudj

think I found a starting point

thanks to everyone for help, suggestions. It did lead me to the correct organizations of engineers and I was able to track down a few engineering firms that can perform on site inspections to review heating/home issues. This gives me a place to start.

Steve Ebels_3

If you can't find anyone.

I would be willing to survey your system and determine what is going on. I'm about 2 hours North of you but am pretty familiar with the Grand Haven area as I have dear friends who live there.

I would assume that the house has A/C installed also running through the same duct system. Does that seem to perform adequately?

My e-mail address is above or you may call me at 231-920-4808