hydronic beginner/confused???

theprentice

Mr. Holohan and all others in the hydronic heating industry,

I am 21 years old and have been working for my employer for one year now. We specialize in heating the western slope of Colorado and do very little plumbing and absolutely no forced air. Radiant heat is our forte'. I am concerned however. Through my time with this employer I feel as though I am not understanding the essentials necessary to be succesful in this field. I am an eager learner and feel that I am excited about a future in this profession but I feel that I am still not understanding, (as bad as it may sound) anything. I am not grasping the hydronics end at all. I'm wondering if there is any literature out there that can help me to better understand this field. I am a hard worker and can fix most anything with the right guidance but I find myself at a loss when explaining why I am fixing what I am fixing. In other words, I can fix it, but I don't know why I am fixing it. Does this take more time than I have allotted myself? On another topic, I recieve monthly every issue of PM, but as a beginner I find it extremely difficult to follow what seems be the most pertinent and beneficial articles in the issue. Being a newcomer to the industry I find myself more caught up in the "Truck of the Month" articles than in the ones that actually pertain to the trade. Any advice anyone could give me would be much appreciated. Thanks for your time.

Curtis Hiler

Timco

why the second post??

rick_51

check out dans shop he has a lot of books that are available for purchase or check library ,

Unknown

i've been there

up until relatively recently i was in your very situation, i've worked on hydronics since summers in high school, and basically just did as i was told for many years by journeymen who had somewhat warped ideas on the laws of hydronics. it wasn't until about 2 years ago when i read Dan H's book Pumping Away and it all just seemed to fall into place. while i still don't completely grasp a lot of the mathematical formulas (a la Siegenthaler) i now possess the skills to install efficient and reliable residential hydronic heating/cooling systems. start with the basics(read Pumping Away now!) and try to challenge yourself every day, (read Siegenthalers back articles on the P&M magazine online archives.) but don't forget to have fun!

Josh_10

When I was 18 years old I didn't understand the math formula's in Seigenthalers book either. So I took math and chemistry classes at the local community college. It really helped. And I kept going! I am now almost finished with a degree in mechanical engineering.

It's all possible my friend! It can be learned. Just remember if you can sum up hydronic heating or steam for that matter in one sentence it would be "high pressure moves to low pressure". That really helped me.

jp_2

I second what josh said.

take algebra, trigonometry, precalculus, chem, and a basic physics.

if you do well you can apply all this to hydronic and the like, you'll be teaching your boss!