Articles by Dave Yates

Luxury bathrooms and kitchens have evolved, and the home improvement market is booming with IT-connected products. People want to control their heating, kitchen appliances, and plumbing products through apps.

Happy New Year! Let 2024 be your breakout year.

I recently received the following email: Advice needed on thermal expansion control. The homeowner has done his research and makes valid points regarding the conflicts within the UPC that was adopted by his local AHJ.

Ruby’s Inn was awarded with an Energy for Everyone Hero Award by the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC).

Scanning the help-wanted section of our local paper, I spied an opening for a plumber with six years of experience — experience I did not have.

The recent heat wave brought back childhood memories of growing up without air conditioning.

Educating the homeowner(s) establishes trust, and trust trumps price so their sticker shock can be tolerated.

Toilets are wonderful receptors for a wide variety of items. We've had many interesting calls regarding these clogged porcelain edifices of human waste removal devices. For instance...

Twenty-nine years ago, when we built our forever home, my central air conditioning systems consisted of two 2-ton condensers with two air-handlers in the attic and ductwork that utilized fiberglass ductboard with short runs of flex ducts terminating at commercial-grade ceiling registers. The condensers and air handlers were used that we salvaged from one of our job sites. I kept them with the notion of using them and figured we would upgrade from 10-SEER to higher efficiency units once they died.

I always seek out the Bradford White booth to see what’s new and visit with friends both old and new. It was fun catching up with Carlos Morales because we had worked closely together several years ago in the development of the company’s gas-fired tankless water heater line. Lois and I had the opportunity to beta-test a number of tankless models and report back on their performance. Stability of delivery temperature; showering while other hot water usages ran simultaneously or intermittently; and, of course, attempting to max out the full-flow capacity.