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

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Rebirth

The Boyertown Foundry is the big guy on the stool over there who is sometimes quiet, but who rises with pinpoint violence when needed. There is a fury about him that you ...

Published on 02/15/2017 2:38 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
repiping with pex
The Power of Re-piping with PEX

For aging buildings — or newer structures with piping-performance issues — the decision to continue repairing the existing plumbing and heating systems versus doing a tot...

Published on 02/10/2017 4:34 PM by Kim Bliss
Posted in Hot-Water Heating
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Nature of the New Steam Beast

Steam systems ain’t what they used to be, or at least so it would seem to some homeowners. The fact of the matter is that many retrofit steam boilers – under certain cond...

Published on 02/03/2017 11:44 AM by Dan Vastyan
Posted in Steam Heating
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The Finicky Soap Pump

The Lovely Marianne and I were visiting daughters in suburban Maryland, and this almost always involves a stop at some shopping mall or other. It was lunchtime and I offe...

Published on 01/16/2017 3:13 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business
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Tips on Steam Heating Systems

Back in the early 1990’s, I worked for a mid-size HVAC company. We dabbled in hot-water boiler replacements but were primarily an HVAC company. I had been in the trade fo...

Published on 01/10/2017 2:38 PM by Dan Foley
Posted in Steam Heating
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Original Glory: Restoring an Old Firehouse

Christian Garibaldi lives in a firehouse, but the only fire he’s ever encountered was during a test drive in a Ferrari F430. He’d spent over a decade as an automotive tec...

Published on 12/18/2016 3:25 PM by Erin Holohan Haskell
Posted in Steam Heating
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Seven Years, Tops

So the washing machine, which had sat like a sorry old man and served our family for at least 25 years, decided to spring more leaks that a litter of puppies last Christm...

Published on 11/18/2016 2:17 PM by Dan Holohan
Posted in The HVAC Business