Are Heat Pumps a Form of Renewable Energy? It’s common for policymakers to argue that heat pumps are not a form of renewable energy, says John Siegenthaler, instructor of HeatSpring’s Application of Air-to-Water Heat Pumps for Hydronic Heating & Cooling course. In response to such claims, he argues… Continue reading “Are Heat Pumps a Form of Renewable Energy?”
Why Hydronic Distribution Systems Can be Ten Times More Efficient than Forced Air Policymakers often focus on providing incentives for efficient heat sources, but neglect to do their research on distribution systems. As a result, they’re missing out on opportunities to boost the efficiency of the overall heating system. They could do this… Continue reading “Why Hydronic Distribution Systems Can be Ten Times More Efficient than Forced Air”
Best Practices for Hiring, Training and Retaining Installation Crews A major challenge for renewable energy companies right now is a labor crunch; it’s hard to line up workers and salespeople in the industry, says Ryan Carda, principal engineer, Dandelion Energy, whose company uses HeatSpring for Groups courses to prepare… Continue reading “Best Practices for Hiring, Training and Retaining Installation Crews”
A Shared Training Experience for Groups of Employees in Solar Companies Ben Ellis, field service manager for Solect Energy, says a major challenge for his company is keeping employees up to date on the rapidly changing solar industry. The best way to keep his team prepared for change is through education,… Continue reading “A Shared Training Experience for Groups of Employees in Solar Companies”
Hydronic Heating Technology: No Longer Grandma’s Clanky Radiators To many people, hydronic heating technology conjures up ideas of Grandma’s hot and clanky steam radiators, says John Siegenthaler, instructor of HeatSpring’s “Mastering Hydronic System Design” and other courses. However, with recent improvements in technology, state-of-the-art hydronic heating systems boast… Continue reading “Hydronic Heating Technology: No Longer Grandma’s Clanky Radiators “
Popular in Europe and Asia, Air-To-Water Heat Pumps Poised for Growth in the U.S. In Europe and Asia, there were over 2 million air-to-water heat pump systems installed in 2016. In the U.S., there were about 1,000 installed, says John Siegenthaler, instructor of HeatSpring’s “Applications of Air-to-Water Heat Pumps for Hydronic Heating and Cooling,” and… Continue reading “Popular in Europe and Asia, Air-To-Water Heat Pumps Poised for Growth in the U.S.”
Fill in Your Knowledge Gaps – October HVAC Trainings Sharpen and grow your skillset via a technical, online course about heating, ventilation, cooling and air conditioning systems: Integrated HVAC Engineering – Master the complex interaction of room air temperature, humidity, mean radiant temperature, ventilation rate, lighting, sound, and even odors… Continue reading “Fill in Your Knowledge Gaps – October HVAC Trainings”
John Siegenthaler Investigates: Low Ambient Air-to-Water Heat Pumps Low Ambient Air-to-Water Heat Pumps: An emerging renewable heat source for North American hydronic systems. Electrically powered heat pumps, in many varieties, are destined to play an increasingly important role in heating and cooling buildings around the world. Heat pumps capture… Continue reading “John Siegenthaler Investigates: Low Ambient Air-to-Water Heat Pumps”
Radiant Heating Case Studies: Ceiling Panels & Injection Piping Expert instructor Dave Yates answers student questions with customer anecdotes on the Fundamentals of Radiant Heating discussion board Student 1: I’ve seen two references in the course to “high temperature” ceiling panels needing to be at least 8 feet above the… Continue reading “Radiant Heating Case Studies: Ceiling Panels & Injection Piping”
Site Assessment for Solar Hot Water Heating Systems Without a proper site assessment, you may be putting your solar thermal system at risk for poor performance… This piece originally appeared in Home Power Magazine | Vaughan Woodruff, 2/2014 It is a fairly common occurrence for a solar professional to hear… Continue reading “Site Assessment for Solar Hot Water Heating Systems”
HVAC Engineering: Chilled Floors + Humidity On the Integrated HVAC Engineering discussion board, expert Robert Bean answers questions about chilled floors and humidity considerations and air mixing… Student 1: Chilled floors seems like a great idea, and if you’re going to do a radiant system,… Continue reading “HVAC Engineering: Chilled Floors + Humidity”
1 Simple Trick to Get the Most Of Your Condensing Boiler Want to get the most from your condensing boiler? Lower the temperature. by Roy Collver One of the most effective energy saving technologies we have available to us right now, is the condensing boiler. Coupled with a well-designed low temperature… Continue reading “1 Simple Trick to Get the Most Of Your Condensing Boiler”
Six Drainback Questions for Radiant Heating Pros to Consider Vaughan Woodruff answers student questions regarding drainback systems on the Solar Approaches to Radiant Heating discussion board… Student 1: I have several questions on drainback systems for you… Question #1 When the solar storage tank has satisfied and the system goes… Continue reading “Six Drainback Questions for Radiant Heating Pros to Consider”
Sizing a Pellet-Fueled Boiler Sizing a Pellet-Fueled Boiler Bigger is NOT better There are several types of boilers that can burn wood-based fuels. They include 2- stage wood-gasification boilers, wood chip boilers, and pellet-fueled boilers. Of these, pellet-fuel boilers come closest to mimicking the… Continue reading “Sizing a Pellet-Fueled Boiler”
Hydronic Heating with Renewable Energy Heat Sources Hydronic Heating with Renewable Energy Heat Sources Designing for low water temperatures is critical to good performance This article focuses on using water-based hydronic distribution systems to distribute heat produced by renewable energy heat sources. It’s based on the premise… Continue reading “Hydronic Heating with Renewable Energy Heat Sources”
Download the Free Solar Heating Basics Guide Download the Free Solar Heating Basics Guide Used in Vaughan Woodruff’s Solar Approaches to Radiant Heating course. Solar Approaches to Radiant Heating is for serious professionals with relevant experience. You’ll learn the latest, most advanced concepts for integrating solar with radiant heating systems.… Continue reading “Download the Free Solar Heating Basics Guide”
Roy Collver on Materials & Manufacturers of Condensing Boilers On the Condensing Boilers in Hydronic Systems Discussion Board… Expert instructor Roy Collver discusses construction materials and manufacturers of condensing boiler machines. Student 1: Roy, great videos and a ton of great information! Thanks a million! I have a couple of comments… Continue reading “Roy Collver on Materials & Manufacturers of Condensing Boilers”
Wood Gasification Boilers: Circulation, Power Interruption & Pump Acceleration On the Hydronic-Based Biomass Heating Systems Discussion Board… Why we don’t use the UPS to drive the main circulator to continue operations in case of power interruption? What determines when wood gasification boilers begin to circulate? Do variable speed pumps allow… Continue reading “Wood Gasification Boilers: Circulation, Power Interruption & Pump Acceleration”
Free Hydronics Design Software from John Siegenthaler The Hydronics Design Studio Professional version is a set of powerful software tools to assist heating professional in designing high performance hydronic heating systems. It represents the state-of-the-art in computer-assisted design for modern hydronic heating systems. Powerful engineering simulation and… Continue reading “Free Hydronics Design Software from John Siegenthaler”
Free Lecture: Multiple Mod-con Boiler Concepts In this new free lecture, Roy Collver, President, OTBC Inc, examines important details you should know when combining two or more boilers into a single heating plant. He covers applications from large residential, up to bigger commercial and institutional systems. Enroll… Continue reading “Free Lecture: Multiple Mod-con Boiler Concepts”