Skip to Content

Systems Help Center

Our comprehensive HVAC Systems Help Center covers a wide range of HVAC-related topics, including air conditioning and heat pumps, geothermal, hot-water heating, thermostats and controls, solar, steam heating, and warm air. We also have a section of informative and entertaining articles to help you sharpen your HVAC business skills. And our Heating Museum is a captivating journey through the evolution of HVAC technologies. 

Find help by category

Archive for 2015

160104 r27509web 1200x898 1450485623
A New Yorker in The New Yorker

This article from the On The Town section of The New Yorker is such a nice way to end my speaking career. Many thanks to the very talented Zora O'Neill for writing the pi...

Published on 12/28/2015 9:01 AM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
igor zhadanovsky
A New Look At Vacuum Heating

So let's say you're in one of America's older cities and scratching your head over an antique building that has a very confused steam-heating system. What to do? Of cours...

Published on 12/18/2015 11:33 AM by Dan Holohan
Posted in Steam Heating
running lady hi
The Great Temperature Race

Someone just asked me this question: If the temperature is 55 and you want it to be 65, will it get to 65 quicker by setting the thermostat to 80 rather than 65? I said n...

Published on 12/08/2015 11:57 AM by Dan Holohan
Posted in HVAC Thermostats and Controls
Troubleshoot
The Art of Troubleshooting

Sometimes, you just stumble over the answer. I think that the art part comes in recognizing that you got lucky that time. Now you have to figure out why you got lucky.

Published on 12/07/2015 1:18 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in Steam Heating
ratched
The Steam Niche

The steam seminar was to be in North Carolina, which was strange enough, that being the state where most folks only know how to say, “Heat pump, please.” It was also to b...

Published on 12/07/2015 12:53 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
Chemicals used to treat diseases of fish
Does My Boiler Need Chemicals?

I was wondering about boiler chemicals and how many contractors (if any) were using them on brand-new systems. Do we need them? Hydronic systems are closed to the atmosph...

Published on 12/07/2015 12:20 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in Hot-Water Heating
maryland retrofit home
A Maryland Hydronic Retrofit

My husband, Andrew, and I purchased our home four years ago right before Thanksgiving. Like many young couples, we began our home search with a rather unrealistic list of...

Published on 11/20/2015 11:03 AM by Erin Holohan Haskell
Posted in Hot-Water Heating
cigar
For What It's Worth

There was this day in the summer of '88 when it dawned on me that in 12 short years all four of our daughters would be in college at the same time. Kelly would be a senio...

Published on 11/18/2015 2:38 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
water spouts
Black Cloud

I fished for the first time in my life six years ago, which may seem strange since I was born on an island (Manhattan) and grew up on another island (Long). But my father...

Published on 10/14/2015 4:40 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business