Remember when you started using Heating Help.com?

EdTheHeaterMan

I just was looking for the answer to a query for someone and came across @Steve Minnich old post about "is it ever too late?" to start learning and installing Steam boilers. Steve How many steamers have you worked on since then?

So I decided to look at my first question I ever asked on HH in 2004. https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/74527/yellow-smoke-spot#latest

After I got my answer, I decided to help other with my limited experience. You know... Pay It Forward. Every time I got help, I would try to help someone else or two.

Now that I'm retired, I can be a PIA here more often. LOL

Share your first post here. This will let everyone here realize that we all started somewhere with much less experience than we have today.

Jamie Hall

Heavens. Here's mine: https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/64292/zoned-vapour-steam-system#latest

Didn't go that way, but did learn a lot -- and a lot more along the way.

Tinman

My first post was sometime in the 90’s, likely under the moniker of Tinman. 

mattmia2

Looks like this is my first post:
https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/77788/galvanize-pipe#latest

mattmia2

I came here after reading an article @DanHolohan wrote in Old House Journal on hot water loops in steam boilers.

Steamhead

I don't remember my first post- but the site was called danholohan.com back then. There were a bunch of real characters on here- "cheese", "Frank from Philly" (and a bunch more guys named Frank, which is why I took the handle Steamhead) et al- and I remember some folks making a big deal about Vie$$mann boilers having snazzy orange paint jobs.

DanHolohan

When the site launched in '97, I called the forum Wethead Grafitti. The techie who built the site made the first post. He wrote, "Hello Wetheads. Welcome to The Wall! Have fun writing on it." I had no idea he was going to do that, but by the second day, I had him change the name to The Wall.

It's been a sweet 25 years. Thanks.

PC7060

Only two years for me since my first post, amazing how much I’ve learned and done since then with the help the expects in this site! https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/179973/design-updates-for-modcon-boiler-in-100-year-old-high-mass-gravity-system/p1

Erin Holohan Haskell

Thanks for being here and for paying it forward.

Just for fun, here's a timeline of all of the different designs we've had over the years: https://heatinghelp.com/blog/a-timeline-of-heatinghelp-com/

This year marks our 25th birthday. 🎂 🎉

clammy

I believe just about 20 years ago . Posted a lot of installs as did Ron jr back then mostly cast iron boilers some steam some hot water both oil and gas and a few mod cons and most all shoe horned in a small space , Ron jr being a master at the art . There was a lot more boiler install pics and plenty of heating hell pics to go along . But looking back a lot has become more common to see but there’s still a lot of short cuts being taken by some and still even more uneducated and no pride in there workmanship guys out there . The over all best thing about this place is Dan’s writing style in which just about anybody can learn being he explains things without the engineers Munbo jumbo in plain and simple English which in most cases is all you need and usually after which you can better grasp a something that can some times be complex to comprehend . Actually it was a friend in the business who I turned onto the lost art first then pumping away who then years later told be about heating help site ,I was a extremely late to the computer age .
The best memories at the time was having guys in the business who spun a wrench not arm chaired it to bounce ideas and concepts off of being most supplies houses then and now just sell ,it was and still is a great place to learn .
Peace and good luck clammy

DanHolohan

Thanks, Clammy. 

EBEBRATT-Ed

How do you find your first post? I think I have been here since around 2004

EdTheHeaterMan

Look at your profile then clic on discussions. there will be a list, go to the bottom then clicl on "read more"

nicholas bonham-carter

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/113985/mysterious-migration-of-water

Was my first post (I think), about a problem with temporary disappearance of water in a newly installed steam boiler.
While the solution to the problem did not arrive without much observation, and analysis, the act of describing the symptoms for posting on this site was invaluable in helping me find the cause.—NBC

Paul Pollets

I remember when it all started and have enjoyed the knowledge shared and stories told over the years. It's an amazing resource that has helped many people and tradesmen.

In_New_England

Remember? Sorry no. I have short term memory loss.

This is a great forum on which I quickly learned a lot of things because of all the great people here. If not for this forum, I would not have known about the great idrionics series. Or about over sized boilers.

Voyager

I am a newbie having joined in 2017. My first post was rather benign as I am not an HVAC professional, just a retired engineer who likes challenges and learning new stuff. When I built a workshop, I had the contractor install pex tubing, but not the rest of the heating system as I wasn’t 100% sure I was going to invest in heating the shop and, if I did, I wanted to try to design and install the system myself.

After the first winter, I decided the pex was crying out to me so I decided to install the rest of the system. I did a lot of research, here and elsewhere, mainly the very nice manual that Zurn has online. I did a heat loss calculation which gave a surprisingly small (to me at least) number of around 38,000 BTUH for my 32 x 48 x 14’ shop. So, I selected a cc50s as it was about the smallest boiler I could find. And that led to my first post below. Five years later, the little Triangle Tube is working great and heats the shop easily at very low cost. I am not sure how low as my shop is behind the same meter as my home, but my heating bill rose almost an imperceptible amount once I fired up the shop. I should go back and do a winter average to try to determine just how much the shop costs to heat, but the reality is the amount is so small it just hasn’t been worth the effort and I am too busy building an airplane in the shop to worry about it. 😁

This forum is a fantastic resource and a salute to Dan for creating it and Erin for continuing it.

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/163418/triangle-tube-challenger-solo-cc50s-boiler-circulator

RayWohlfarth

I remember Dan asking me what I thought about an online site when he visited Pittsburgh. I told him we would never go online to find answers. Glad you didnt listen to me @DanHolohan
Now I recommend it to everyone.
Ray

Hvacman

Looks like ‘07 for me. https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/107003/b-g-circuit-setter#latest  My, how the time flies!

DanHolohan

Ray! 😂

Tim McElwain

I can't remember when I first posted it seems like a long time ago. I guess I am getting old (82 years old).

EdTheHeaterMan

Voyager said:

... I should go back and do a winter average to try to determine just how much the shop costs to heat, but the reality is the amount is so small it just hasn’t been worth the effort and I am too busy building an airplane in the shop to worry about it. 😁

I'm interested in the Airplane. How big is the door to the shop? For that matter, How big is the Plane?
Passenger airplane or model airplane?

I built a Ford Model T in my shop.

EdTheHeaterMan

Tim McElwain said:

I can't remember when I first posted it seems like a long time ago. I guess I am getting old (82 years old).

I think you must have been the second one to post here, Way before "aught 3". Remember when that meant 1903?

Is there a difference between "Oh 3" and "Aught 3" ?

Alan (California Radiant) Forbes

I used to fly up to Washington State to take I=B=R classes because there were no hydronics classes anywhere closer. I was already a plumber, was in awe of what you could do with water and wanted to expand that knowledge to be able to heat houses. I was like a magnet with Dan's books and seminars. When his website showed up, it was like a dream come true.

rick in Alaska

According to my first post, it was 2003. I would have sworn I have been on longer than that, but most likely I was just lurking. I try not to say much until I feel that I have a shot at being accurate, and to see how the site works. That could have taken some years.
Rick

SlamDunk

Feb-2005 under JoeV. I asked how to go about getting a new boiler since mine cracked and there are no boiler installers down here.

Larry Weingarten

Hi, I had a look at Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/19991128174834/http://www.heatinghelp.com/ and this is what Heating Help looked like in November of 1999. I remember the pipes, but like Rick, my timeline says I came here in 2003, but I think it was earlier. Still, fun to look at the names of those posting on that old Wall!

Yours, Larry

DanHolohan

When we transitioned from the first site we lost the posts made earlier. The technology of the time was what it was. 

delta T

Just checked, looks like my first post was in 2014 just as google bought nest asking if anyone had used nest yet. Funny how most of the concerns raised in that post came true, still see people complaining about nests

I will say it was pretty cool looking back through all my old posts and seeing the progression as I got more experience and learned more and more over the last 8 years. This site is so good for all of us.

@DanHolohan I'm sure you don't remember this, was many many years ago, before heating help I believe, but my father called you once to ask about a steam system he was working on. He had LAOSH and somehow got your phone number. He was having problems with return water coming back, had checked all the stuff regarding venting, 'A' dimension, pressure etc...but was still having a problem. After 5 mins of him explaining what he had checked you said "Your return is plugged." My dad said he really didn't think it was that, but would check it. You responded "call me back when you unplug the return". Welp two days later he called back and told you......the return was plugged .

Thanks to you and Erin and everyone on this site for creating and furthering such an amazing resource for all of us!

DanHolohan

Thanks, @delta T. I was a lot smarter then. 😉