Troubleshooting Condensing Boilers in Hydronic Systems – What is the System Doing? This a guest post from Roy Collver. Roy is a condensing boiler expert. Here’s what John Siegenthaler, author of “Modern Hydronic Heating,” says about Roy’s work: “When I have a detailed question about the inner operation of a modulating / condensing… Continue reading “Troubleshooting Condensing Boilers in Hydronic Systems – What is the System Doing?”
5 Ways the Biomass Heating Industry is Laying the Foundation for Explosive Growth At HeatSpring, we connect and build communities of learners and experts. Sharing knowledge is our passion. We collaborate with people in technical, complex industries to develop awareness, inspire creative ingenuity, and push boundaries. Most recently, we’ve focused on the biomass… Continue reading “5 Ways the Biomass Heating Industry is Laying the Foundation for Explosive Growth”
Designing Wood Gasification Boiler Protection Systems: T & ∆T Pumping: An application that leverage both strategies This is a guest article from John Siegenthaler. In the fall, John is teaching an advanced design course on Hydronic-Based Biomass Heating Systems. This is the most advanced and technically challenging biomass design course that you’ll find anywhere. The capstone… Continue reading “Designing Wood Gasification Boiler Protection Systems: T & ∆T Pumping: An application that leverage both strategies”
John Siegenthaler, Biomass Thermal Energy Council, and HeatSpring Launch Hydronic-Based Biomass Design Course Hydronics expert John Siegenthaler, the Biomass Thermal Energy Council (BTEC), and the online technical training experts at HeatSpring have teamed up to launch a 10-week online course: Hydronic-Based Biomass Design. The course starts on September 15th. The course is capped… Continue reading “John Siegenthaler, Biomass Thermal Energy Council, and HeatSpring Launch Hydronic-Based Biomass Design Course”
5+ Trends that will Drive the Growth of the Hydronic Industry in the Next 3 Years: A 30-Minute Conversion with John Siegenthaler There are a variety of forces changing the dynamics of the hydronic heating and renewable thermal industries that were not happening five years ago. While hydronic distribution is still attractive for similar technical reasons that it was five years ago—comfort,… Continue reading “5+ Trends that will Drive the Growth of the Hydronic Industry in the Next 3 Years: A 30-Minute Conversion with John Siegenthaler”
Part Two of John Siegenthaler’s Free Hydronics Lesson: Pipe Expansion John Siegenthaler is the grandmaster of hydronic heating systems and in our last video, he covered fittings. In this 12 minute segment, John discusses pipe expansion. This is obviously critical information for anyone designing high-performance hydronic systems. Click here to… Continue reading “Part Two of John Siegenthaler’s Free Hydronics Lesson: Pipe Expansion”
Free Hydronic Design Video From John Siegenthaler This ten minute video is all about fittings. Fittings can be an afterthought, but they are a critical component for designing a high-performing hydronic heating system. In this video, John Siegenthaler outlines the universe of fittings, and even tells you… Continue reading “Free Hydronic Design Video From John Siegenthaler”
Success Begets Success: Why Your Trip to Ball State’s GeoCon is a Great Investment in the Future of Your Business I’m not a fisherman, but I have plenty of stories about the one that got away. Big, fantastic opportunities don’t come along frequently, so they tend to catch us off guard. Ball State is the one that didn’t get away.… Continue reading “Success Begets Success: Why Your Trip to Ball State’s GeoCon is a Great Investment in the Future of Your Business”
John Siegenthaler and BNP Media Launch Online Course for Hydronic Heating Professionals: ‘Mastering Hydronic System Design’ John Siegenthaler is teaching an advanced hydronic design course this fall for 50 professionals. It’s a 10-week hands-on design course delivered on Cammpus software. BNP Media and HeatSpring Learning Institute are partners on the event.
Real Time Data on Actual Geothermal COPs – Part 2 of Lessons Learned from 100,000 Hours+ of Real Time Geothermal Monitoring Data This is a very nervous time for the geothermal industry and I can feel it when I’m on the phone with installers. There’s a lot of geothermal companies that have been around for 20+ years and now there’s a lot… Continue reading “Real Time Data on Actual Geothermal COPs – Part 2 of Lessons Learned from 100,000 Hours+ of Real Time Geothermal Monitoring Data”
3 Reasons Why Education Technology Is Needed to Save the World: Low Cost, High Speed, Very High Quality This is the first, in what may become, a lot of video articles. In some ways writing is the best medium for clear and concise communication (although I’m a poor writer), I also think are times when video is a… Continue reading “3 Reasons Why Education Technology Is Needed to Save the World: Low Cost, High Speed, Very High Quality”
Lessons Learned from 100,000 Hours+ of Real Time Geothermal Monitoring Data – Part 1 This is a guest article by Matt Davis, co-founder of Ground Energy Support (GES). GES provides a top quality real time monitoring package for monitoring geothermal heat pumps. Matt is an expert in geothermal monitoring. Matt has over 25 years of experience… Continue reading “Lessons Learned from 100,000 Hours+ of Real Time Geothermal Monitoring Data – Part 1”
ASHP vs GSHP and The Importance of SEER and EER in Utility Air Conditioning Demand Side Management Programs Update: this article does not include the new regional efficiency standards that took effect on Jan 1, 2015. See this article on furnacecompare.com for updated definitions. The following post is by Mark Faulkenberry, Manager Marketing & Communications and Kalun Kelley,… Continue reading “ASHP vs GSHP and The Importance of SEER and EER in Utility Air Conditioning Demand Side Management Programs”
Performance Based Contracting is the Future of the Residential Geothermal Business. Prove Me Wrong (Screen shot of the Ground Energy Support Geothermal Monitoring dashboard) If you’re serious about geothermal, you need to be monitoring your projects in real time. Click here to buy a Ground Energy Support monitoring package. Note, I advise Ground Energy… Continue reading “Performance Based Contracting is the Future of the Residential Geothermal Business. Prove Me Wrong”
How New England Can Eliminate Oil Use For Single Family Homes for Less Than We’re Spending on Solar PV I first published this post in Renewable Energy World and it received a lot of comments, mostly getting into all the silly technical details of geothermal and not addressing how to implement policy to eliminate oil use. My hope is… Continue reading “How New England Can Eliminate Oil Use For Single Family Homes for Less Than We’re Spending on Solar PV”
The Most Complete List of Commercial Geothermal Cost Data This is a list of the best resources I’ve been able to find for commercial and public geothermal projects. We need to be creating more case studies in order to reduce risk for property owners. By showing property owners, specifically… Continue reading “The Most Complete List of Commercial Geothermal Cost Data”
Geothermal and Solar Installers: Get to Know Your Municipal Utility (It’s not a Waste of Time) “Municipal utilities are more open to trying new things than investor-owned utilities.” This is the lesson I took away from my visit to the Wyandotte Municipal Services as part of a delegation from the Great Lakes Renewable Energy Association. They’ve… Continue reading “Geothermal and Solar Installers: Get to Know Your Municipal Utility (It’s not a Waste of Time)”
State-by-State Comparison of Geothermal Heat Pump Legislation I want to thank John Rhyner, Greg Mueller and LI Geo for putting together this report. If you’re new to legislation around renewable thermal technologies this article will provide you a great overview and direction for where you can get… Continue reading “State-by-State Comparison of Geothermal Heat Pump Legislation”
A Guaranteed 5 Year, $100/MWh FIT For Renewable Thermal Sources Could Eliminate Oil Use for Single Family Homes in Vermont “A Simple Plan for Eliminating Oil Usage for Single Family Homes in Vermont” was the message of my talk at Renewable Energy Vermont 2012 last Monday. If you’re working in the renewable energy industry in Vermont, you should join REV.… Continue reading “A Guaranteed 5 Year, $100/MWh FIT For Renewable Thermal Sources Could Eliminate Oil Use for Single Family Homes in Vermont”
Two Things I Learned at the 2012 IGSHPA Conference On Tuesday October 2nd we hosted an evening program titled, “How to Make Money in Renewable Energy” for 45 brave souls who traveled to Indianapolis for the International Ground Source Heat Pump Association (IGSHPA) Conference. These were the panelists: Allan… Continue reading “Two Things I Learned at the 2012 IGSHPA Conference”