Lets Make America Great Again!!!!

John Ruhnke

No not Trump. The politicians are only interested in making Rich People Great Again!! That isn't us. Some of us are successful though.

I am talking about some great hydronic companies that worked hard to make America great to begin with!! They did it old school!! They actually built a better product!! Against the odds. My Hero's!!!

Energy Kinetics for making the oil fired System 2000 Boiler. John Marran designed a awesome boiler!! They take post purge to the extreme!! Nobody and I mean nobody pulls heat out of a boiler after it shuts off better then Energy Kinetics System 2000!!! And that saves a lot of money in fuel and lowers co2 to make our planet a better place to live in. The hydronics market here in America is way underfunded compared to its European Counterparts. Yet for a fraction of the capitol they beat out giants like Veissmann and Buderus!!! And they did it the American old fassioned way. They did it old school. They out designed and Out Engineered there bigger competition!!

Taco Pumps!! Johny White took his fathers company and grew it while keeping his employees here in America!! The great Taco 007 took down the B & G series 100!!. They built a smaller, lighter and cheaper version that used less electricity and captured the market place from a much bigger competitior.

Both these companies are great and everyone who works there should be proud. If America ever is going to be great again it is going to have to come from us!! I have met lots of great hydronics guys here on the wall. We are the ones that will do it!

Lets do it old school!! Work hard and build a better product. Everyone has to do there part. Here on the wall everyone is doing there part. Forget the politicians. WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

John Ruhnke

By the way nobody paid me to say that. I believe it with my heart.

luketheplumber

Really? could it be? something that was built with quality and longevity in mind

John Ruhnke

@luketheplumber
Dan Holohan often talks about all these great deadmen that created all these great old fancy steam systems. Haven't you ever wished that one of these great deadmen would just wake up from there grave and start teaching you what they know?

I haven't posted here in many years. I left my career in hydronics to the dead. I came back. I came back from the dead to pass down what I know to the next generation.

I am the walking Deadman. Stick around Luke. I will hand down to you what I know. Together we will make America great again!!

John Ruhnke

@luketheplumber
There are better steam guys than me here. I am a radiant and hydronics deadman

retiredguy

Wow, @John Ruhnke for a dead man you seem to be very much alive. Since I am pretty much a newby here but have been retired for 12 years where were you, why did you come back, where do you get all your energy, and I think we could have some serious discussions about the past, present and the future.

John Ruhnke

@retiredguy

I actually wrote a small story of the death and birth of my American Dream and well deleted it.

All I can tell you is that adversity has made me stronger. All of this changed me. I grew as a person. Adversity makes some people stronger. I am dead broke but some how as a person I am much stronger now at my core. I know where my values are. I know who I am now. I know what path in life I need to follow.

John Ruhnke

The whole walking deadman thing. Being back from the dead. Just doesn't work. I was trying to connect it in with Dan's Deadmen hats.

I am back for now just being a hydronics designer.

Solid_Fuel_Man

I am all for American made.....if it is good!

The race to the bottom seems to be the norm with many American companies who just slap a sticker on some overseas thing.

Sometimes the foreign companies make better stuff, and we should learn from it!

Read about the Japanese in the post war 1950s. They listened and made quality improvements of the course of 2 decades, they out made us. They listened when American companies were the top dogs, but unwilling to improve at the time.

Read about Xerox.

John Ruhnke

@Solid_Fuel_Man
I think the success behind both Taco and Energy Kinetics is that they are both family owned companies. They care about the future. They hand down the business to the next generation. They invest back into R&D. They invest in themselves. They build great products. They prove that America can and does work when you have integrity, honesty and pride.

Today some of the big corporations are run by a CEO who has a short sided plan. He works for the stock holders. Everyone is just gambling on the stock market. The big plan is to borrow cheap money from the banks go deep in debt, buy stock back and watch the stock market go up. They hope to sell everything before the bottom falls out. They don't build anything for this cheap money they just use it to go into debt, And they could care less about anything that happens afterwards.

retiredguy

When I started with the company I retired from "1972 to 2007" they were a big H B Smith rep/dealer, My first year there, I was sent to the factory to see their whole operation, and a few years later the whole company visited the factory. If memory serves me right, they were a family owned company. I met the head guy who I believe was Dave Smith, and toured the factory with him and a couple more execs. They did everything from start to finish. They made the molds, poured the iron into the molds to make the sections, pressure tested all the sections, had an inspector visually inspect all sections and sent them to a warehouse to be stored or shipped to a customer. They had a good warranty program in which I was told by the owner of my company, that very few customers ever paid for a replacement section unless it failed due to misuse , corrosive water, neglect or freezing. I saw many section replaced for free by the H B Smith company that were many, many years out of warranty. That was what they did and how they ran the company. We built thousands of the 350/3500 450/4500, 650/6500 model boilers and the series 28 and 19 while I worked there. They were a great boiler company that made a great product that was "MADE IN AMERICA".

John Ruhnke

That sounds great! I love hearing stories like that. Sounds like you had a good career.