Radiant & Hydronics

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A technician encounters a system installed in the 1980s when radiant floor heating was relatively new in North America.

In March 2010, a nine-month-old boy rolled off his sister’s bed in Jersey City, New Jersey, and got stuck between the bed and a cast-iron, steam radiator that was as hot as it’s supposed to be. The radiator delivered third-degree burns to the infant and left him with permanent scars.

If your office routine is anything like mine, you’re probably typing cryptic passwords into your desktop computer, laptop, smartphone or tablet throughout the day to access websites or cloud-based software that’s essential to your business.

A homeowner hires a heating contractor to upgrade his propane-fired cast-iron boiler to a mod/con boiler. The cast-iron boiler is only 15 years old and in good shape. 

A young guy who was about the size of Bruno Mars came to my seminar once, and we were chatting during a break. I asked him how long he had been in the business. It’s good to see young people getting involved.

A multiple boiler system using sectional cast-iron boilers has been configured to supply two loads as shown below. A “crossover pipe” is installed in case the flow rate in the primary circuit is different from the flow through the boilers. There are several piping errors in this proposed design. Can you spot at least five of them?

One of the most recent initiatives undertaken by the Radiant Professionals Alliance Hydronics Industry Alliance — Commercial (HIA-C) committee is designed to create interest in the Hydronic University and introduce the future “Hydronic Solutions” videos and tutorials, white papers and training.

Though radiant heating may seem like a relatively new innovation, it actually has ties back to ancient Rome. Even famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright used radiant heat in his designs in the 1930s, though the technology didn’t become more commonplace until decades later.