What Is Heat?
Before I retired in 2016, I’d get a lot of calls from lawyers who wanted to hire me to be an expert witness at a trial. They were almost always representing a building ow...
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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
How Frank and John Taught Me To See
In 1989, when I was thinking about writing a book called, “The Lost Art of Steam Heating,” I went to see a young engineer named Frank Gerety. He had written a small book ...
How To Get The Best From One-Pipe Steam
How To Get The Best From One-Pipe Steam
A Practical Manual for Heating System and Boiler Optimization, Maintenance, Loss Prevention, Replacement, and Installation
By Fr...
Trane Mercury Seal Ad (1901)
This document contain an ad from Domestic Engineering (circa 1901) featuring the Trane Mercury Seal which was attached to an old steam heating system or to an old vapor p...
Trane Steam Heating System Patent (1901)
This document contains the Trane Steam Heating System Patent circa 1901. This system used mercury to produce vacuum.
Nearly Famous Heating Quotes
Gil Carlson, who was the first person to come up with many of the hydronic concepts we take for granted today, was also my teacher. He would often say, “For a difference ...
How Vacuum Can Cause Steam Problems
Back in the old days when most folks burned coal, vacuum was just about everyone’s friend. That slow and steady coal fire produced a steam that gently nudged the air from...
How to Size a Condensate Pump
Most manufacturers rate their condensate pumps in square feet EDR. You can easily convert whatever boiler rating you have to square feet EDR by using these conversion fac...
Trade Resolutions
It’s that time of the year when we’re supposed to get ready to make a resolution or two that will last a few weeks until we slouch back into our usual routines. You know ...
How to Make Steam Heating More Efficient: A Special Seminar
In this webinar, hosted by The General Society of Mechanics & Tradesmen on November 10, 2020. Steam heating expert Dan Holohan describes how steam heating is supposed to ...