HVAC

Feature StoryA doctor’s stethoscope may be your most important tool in diagnosing chimney problems By George Lanthier I know I left you hanging last month, but I didn’t want to give the best part away, so finally, my $64,000 solution to the noise problem. Remember my ‘Lanthier’s Laws” article about noises and using a stethoscope? Well, as it turns out, ...

Feature StoryUsing ‘scare tactics” may be necessary when installing a new heating system by george lanthier Without a doubt, one of the things that has plagued us as an industry for some time now are the complaints about operating noise. Regretfully, we also have a paradox. It has been proven time and time again that new oil burners in new ...

Cover StoryBoiler & Hydronic Equipment RoundupA selection of ‘wet heat” products for indoor comfort Here’s a selection of products chosen to provide an overview of the technologies available in ‘wet heat.” It is by no means a complete list of equipment currently on the market, just a sampling. Amtrol’s BoilerMate line of indirectsBoilerMate from Amtrol, Inc. offers the industry’s most ...

Feature Story By George Lanthier Last time we looked at setting the damper motors and the servicing of the linkage on commercial burners equipped with a damper. In this article, we’ll look at the controls that make these burners operate. When used to their full abilities, they can save a customer 20 percent or more on their oil bill. It’s ...

Feature Story By Alan Mercurio The following story is one that I have had the privilege to share with many of our fellow technicians around the world, through my book Carry The Torch: Life experiences and technical data to live by. As we head into the winter months, I thought you might enjoy reading the story as much I enjoyed ...

Feature Story Used properly, steam heating can still be a valid way to provide indoor comfort By Frank ‘Steamhead” Wilsey So, you get a call where someone wants you to fix a steam-heating system. What comes to mind? Antiquated?Noisy?Uneven?Inefficient?Why doesn’t this stuff just go away, like they said it would back in the 1950s and 1960s?Why, indeed? Let’s take a ...

Cover StoryUpdated heating system cures the ills of century-old Baptist church By william montgomery Driving up Connecticut’s old Route 7 through the towns of Norwalk, Wilton, Redding and Ridgefield, up into Danbury, you pass through some of the state’s most beautiful scenery. As we took a ride up that route to take a look at a recent steam boiler installation ...

Feature Story By George Lanthier A lot of us do work on what I call commercial burners. Those burners are, by my definition, anything that fires lo-hi-lo, also called two-stage, and that normally means a firing rate between 6.00 gallons per hour and 35.00 gph. All those burners that fire single-stage below 6.00 gph are nothing but big residential burners ...

Cover Story Too much money and fuel are wasted every year because of the difficulty in choosing the right capacity boiler. When a residential or commercial boiler is specified, it must be sized to provide enough heat to overcome the coldest anticipated outdoor temperatures. However, because these extreme temperatures occur very rarely, the boiler chosen is usually forced to produce ...

Feature Story Testing your equipment before the onset of the heating season can save a lot of headachesBy George Lanthier A lot of my recent articles have focused on meters, testers and gauges, and in response to those articles a lot of my e-mail surprised me, but I guess in some ways it didn’t. When writing articles I’m finding out ...