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. 

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Recent Articles

The Roots of Radiant Heating Seminar

This seminar was filmed on June 5, 2018 as part of the Labor Lecture Series at the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York. Radiant heating wit...

Published on 06/06/2018 1:28 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in Hot-Water Heating
warranty
How to Talk Me Out Of It

We were once a five-car family. That was when the four daughters were in college. Three of them had cars, which The Lovely Marianne and I paid for, of course.

Published on 05/30/2018 10:42 AM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
the contractor stories holohan
Buddy's Beaters

It wasn’t a very long list – just 25 people in all – but it nagged at Buddy in the night and robbed him of his rest. He’d toss and dream unsettling dreams of Mrs. Gibbing...

Published on 05/17/2018 2:37 PM
Posted in The HVAC Business
How to Calculate Steam Velocities

Every effort was made to verify the validity of the formulas but we are not responsible for errors and omissions. These do not take the place of engineering calculations....

Published on 05/09/2018 12:36 PM by Ray Wohlfarth
Posted in Steam Heating
hand in pocket
Hands In Pockets, Please

Have you ever found yourself in some dank basement staring at (and totally appreciating!) the simple beauty of some old one-pipe, gravity-return steam heating system? You...

Published on 05/09/2018 10:53 AM
Posted in Steam Heating
copper leak
A Copper Mystery

We’ve lived in this little house in Bethpage, NY since 1977. Bethpage was once home to Grumman, which built fighter planes, canoes, campers, buses, and the Apollo Lunar M...

Published on 04/25/2018 11:13 AM by Dan Holohan
Posted in Hot-Water Heating
bank
How Much Should I Charge?

That’s the title of a fine book by my dear friend, Ellen Rohr. Ellen wrote it years ago and she offers great advice to anyone in business who’s looking to stay in busines...

Published on 04/24/2018 11:22 AM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
nagging need to know
A Nagging Need to Know

I got a letter from a friend who is a relocated New Yorker. He now lives in a part of America where people with excess money build second homes that they’ll use for a few...

Published on 04/23/2018 1:40 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business