PM Engineer

World Plumbing Day
Today has been designated as the first World Plumbing Day. The World Plumbing Council has created this event to help the general public better understand the vital role the plumbing industry plays in protecting public health and safety, the extent to which it helps limit mankind's environmental footprint and other important work performed by contractors, inspectors, installers, engineers, manufacturers and academicians. The International Code Council works with organizations such as the World Plumbing Council to build on each other's expertise and strengths. The March 15 release of the Public Version of the International Green Construction Code is timed to coincide with World Plumbing Day. A press conference held at ISH China officially kicked off the day. Kelly Faloon, from pme's sister publication Plumbing & Mechanical, is blogging from ISH China (click here to read Kelly's blog).

Residential Sprinklers Look Like Code Lock
pme has received word that the International Code Council did not receive any public comments on the residential sprinkler mandate in its International Residential Code. What that means is that residential sprinklers will continue to be mandated for all residential buildings in the 2012 edition of the IRC. All public comments for various code proposals will be published shortly on the ICC website.

Changes Proposed for Standard 90.1
Public input to help shape the technical requirements in Standard 90.1 is being sought through 21 proposed addenda, which could become part of the 2010 standard. ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, provides minimum requirements for the energy-effcient design of buildings except low-rise residential buildings. The proposed addenda cover a range of topic areas, including daylighting, air leakage, EER and IEER values and requirements for VRF air conditioners and heat pumps.

High-Performance, Green Buildings Committee Members Sought
Members are being sought and changes proposed for the new standard for the design of high-performance green buildings published in January. ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings, is the first code-intended commercial green building standard in the United States. Members also are being sought for the committee developing the standard with slots opening July 1. The deadline to apply is March 31.

Leonard Valve Announces Sales Additions
Leonard Valve Company has announced the adddition of three representative groups to its sales team. The additions include: JM Sales Hawaii LLC out of Honolulu, JSA Sales Inc., based out of Coquitlam, British Columbia (near Vancouver) and JF Taylor Enterprises Ltd. , which has offices in Saint John, New Brunswick and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia (Leonard's first rep in the Canadian Maritime provinces).

Kohler Faucets Comply With Low-Lead Standard
Kohler recently announced all of its residential bathroom and kitchen faucets have been converted for compliance with California legislation AB1953 and Vermont's bill number S.015 in regard to lead content in faucets that are used for drinking water.

New Grundfos Building Opens
Grundfos Pumps recently celebrated the grand opening of its new Peerless Engineered Systems (PES) building. The 45,000+ square-foot facility is located outside Houston in Brookshire, Tex. The building shares land with Grundfos Commercial Building Services (formally PACO Pumps) and will be home to the PES division of Peerless Pump Company. Photo: Grundfos Pumps recently celebrated the opening of its new PES building in Brookshire, Tex.

Guidelines Developed For Polyurethane Application
NCFI Polyurethanes , a manufacturer of foam products including spray foam insulation, and Lubrizol, supplier of CPVC resins for the manufacture of plumbing pipe and fire sprinkler systems, have created a Suggested Application Test Protocol Guideline. This is in response to a recent accusation concerning the safety of spray foam and Environmental Stress Cracking (ESC).

WaterSense Certification
IAPMO R & T is offering WaterSense certification for Showerheads. IAPMO R & T has been a licensed provider of WaterSense certification since 2007. To date, the agency has certified more than 1,800 lavatory faucet and toilet models to the WaterSense specifications.

Torony Named VP At ABS
ABS Americas recently announced the appointment of Jim Torony to the post of vice president of product management and marketing for the company's North American operation. Torony rejoins ABS from ITT Water & Wastewater USA where he was director of marketing and business development.

NSF Names Sustainability Head
NSF International has appointed Malcolm Fox to director of sustainability programs. Fox brings more than 20 years of experience in environmental management and governance programs for major manufacturers and their global supply chains.

Sloan Hires Marketing Director
Sloan Valve Company recently named Sherry Davenport executive director of marketing. Davenport will direct and manage the strategic development, design and implementation of product positioning and launches, as well as brand and marketing awareness campaigns, including design and advertising. Davenport was most recently director of product management and marketing for U.S. Cellular.

Watts' Joyce Receives Award
Watts recently presented its lifetime acheivement award to the Joyce Agency's Skipper Joyce. The award is presented to one individual each year, recognized for active mentorship of others and for selfess dedication to the betterment of the plumbing, mechanical and hydronic industry.
Photo: Skipper Joyce (second from right) was recently presented with a lifetime achievement award from Watts.

PMI Hires Technical Specialist
The Plumbing Manufacturers Institute (PMI) has hired Charles Hernandez as technical specialist. Hernandez will be responsible for fielding and researching members' technical questions, analyzing and reporting on proposed code and standard changes and attending and monitoring code and standard hearings and meetings. Hernandez most recently worked as an independent consultant, providing guidance on project management, efficiency improvements and maintenance management. He also has worked with the Illinois Labor Relations Board as a board member.

Ask The Expert

Got a question about plumbing, fire protection, hydronics or process piping? Just send it to me at miazgam@bnpmedia.com, and we'll get an answer within days.

Meantime, check out what others have been asking lately.

Products at AHR Expo Exercise Greater Degree of Control
by Bob Miodonski

ISH China: Greetings From Beijing!
by Kelly Faloon

Electronic Codes and Standards
by Julius Ballanco, P.E., CPD 

Innovation Still Matters
by Tim Fausch

How to Avoid Tax Audits
by Jim Olsztynski  

What About Green?
by Joseph Sanchez

Got something to get off your chest? You, too, can be a blogger sharing opinions, insights and experiences with fellow professionals.

Send us your article or just tell us what you want to say by contacting Jim Olsztynski at olsztynskij@bnpmedia.com, or Bob Miodonski at miodonskib@bnpmedia.com.

HOT OFF THE PRESS
  
Greening Steam: How to Bring 19th-Century Heating Systems into the 21st Century (and save lots of green!)  -  $30.00  
Author: Dan Holohan  
When it comes to saving money on heating, old steam systems are delicious low-hanging fruit. There is so much you can do to make them better, and most of what you do won't cost a fortune. - Dan Holohan There are many steam systems in service today, and they'll be around for some time to come. It's not that easy (or inexpensive) to rip out a steam system and start anew, and that's why so many of them are still around. Dan Holohan's Greening Steam: How to Bring 19th-Century Heating Systems into the 21st Century (and save lots of green!) walks you through your old steam heating system and shows you how to get the most out of it without putting a lot of money into it. It's an entertaining and informative book that will have you looking at steam heating in a whole new light. You'll be amazed at how small changes can make a big difference when it comes to efficiency and savings. Read this book and start greening your steam heating system (and your wallet) today! Follow this link to view the table of contents or to purchase this item. Visit AECStore.com to view all of our products for the Radiant & Hydronics Pro.
      
BEST SELLERS for 2009

Piping Databook - $112.95
Whether it's the thermal conductivity of insulation materials or a conversion factor for viscosity, sizes and types of metallic or nonmetallic pipe or fitting dimensions, manufacturers' names or that elusive bit of terminology, the Piping Databook will spare you hours of frustrating fact-hunting. Follow this link for a complete description.

Pocket Guide to Flanges, Fittings, and Piping Data - $60.95
Packed with pictures, definitions, and descriptions of ANSI and API piping materials, such as flanges, fittings, bolts, gaskets, and required wrench sizes. It contains basic information and data to answer common questions that arise in materials handling, pipe fitting, and engineering.  Follow this link for a complete description. 

College of Product Knowledge CD - NOW $89.85
The Best-Read, most highly acclaimed product training series ever published in the plumbing industry has been made available to fill the gaping hole in the plumbing industry's knowledge training.  The College of Product Knowledge  is ideal for wholesalers, manufacturers, agents, designers, contractors, technicians, engineers, architects and other pros that need to understand a variety of plumbing systems and components. Follow this link for a complete description.

History of Plumbing CD -- Sponsored by American Standard - $35.00
PM magazine's wildly popular History of Plumbing Series is available on CD-ROM. History articles cover informative topics such as ancient plumbing, water-borne diseases, early-American innovation, the history of hydronic heating, and more! Follow this link for a complete description.

Visit AECStore.com to view all of our technical resources, CDs and DVDs.

Solar Pumping Station
Taco's newest solar technology package combines the necessary products for a closed-loop water-heating system. The station includes an integral variable-speed solar control pump, isolation ball valves, air elimination flow meter and safety group.

Fire & Ice Master
UTILITY's Fire & Ice Master is a nontoxic, ready-to-use, glycerin-based antifreeze specifically designed for fire sprinkler systems. It should be used in place of water where freezing may damage or interfere with the proper operation of systems or equipment. 

Avenir Software
Avenir recently released LoopCAD 2010, a new version of its LoopCAD software for the radiant heating industry. The software, which can be used for the quick drawing of floor plans and circuit layouts, is available in Standard Edition and Professional Edition (which includes integrated heat loss calculations).

Installation Diagram
Webstone's 11 x 17-inch laminated reference diagram depicts proper plumbing of systems and easily highlights the amount of time and leak paths saved by using the proper Webstone products in hydronic heating systems.

Edge Series Regulator
Thermadyne Industries' Victor brand recently introduced its ESS3 medium capacity Edge Series regulator. The ESS3 gas regulators are single stage and immediately available for Acetylene, Oxygen, Inert and LP gases. A carbon dioxide version of the ESS3 will be available this summer.

Bell & Gossett BIM Library
Bell & Gossett recently unveiled an extensive online library of 3D BIM content files in Autodesk Revit 2010. A total of 113 Revit families and 5,252 types have been created.

Raypak Adds BIM Files
Raypak recently released Autodesk Revit BIM files of its entire product line of commercial boilers, water heaters and storage tanks. The Revit family files are available to assist architects and engineers in dropping the product directly into their Autodesk Revit building plans.

Codes on CD
IAPMO's Uniform Mechanical Codes and Uniform Plumbing Codes are both available in CD-ROM version.  

Horizontal Boiler
Fulton's firetube steam and hot water boilers (up to 800 horsepower) feature a three-pass wet-back design and are offered with an open protocol burner with a pressure rating up to 300 psig MAWP. A programmable logic controller boiler control system shows current boiler status and provides high-tech display parameters for burner firing rate, stack temperature, steam pressure, boiler water temperature and stack oxygen levels.

Flow Valve
Bell & Gossett's The Low Flow Circuit Sentry valve features a unique field-adjusted cartridge that allows the selection of exact flows for specific applications and is designed for automatic flow-limiting style balancing of both HVAC cooling and heating circuits.

Heat Exchange System
The RAUGEO is a high-efficiency geothermal engery source for heating and cooling. Composed of RAUGEO PEXa pipe, EVERLOC fittings, geothermal manifolds and a horizontal or vertical ground loop heat exchanger, the system capitalizes on the earth's ability to provide and store heat energy.

Hybrid Heating
The Eternal Condensing Hybrid uses a full-flow design and stainless-steel heat exchanger with a built-in 2-gallon reserve. It combines the flow capacity of traditional tanks with the continuity of modern tankless units to supply consistent hot water with good pressure for up to five simultaneous applications.

Piping Alternative 
The Aquatherm Lilac was developed exclusively for applications such as toilet/drain water, rainwater collection, laundry/cleaning and irrigation. The Lilac, which uses a simple heat fusion to create seamless connections, also features a durable and corrosion-resistant polypropylene material that is a fully recyclable, environmentally friendly alternative to plastic and metal piping.

Condensing Boiler
Lochinvar's new CREST Heating Boiler will be available in five models with capacities of 1.5, 2.0, 3.0 and 3.5 million BTU/hr. inputs. The boiler will also feature an advanced burner and combustion system and a SMART TOUCH operating control platform enhanced with an 8-inch touchscreen display.

Elkay's EZH20
Elkay's EZH20 bottle filling station is environmentally friendly and provides a pure, clean and affordable filtered water option. The system provides a rapid fill of cold, filtered water at a rate of 1.1-1.5 gpm and can be retrofitted to any existing "EZ style" Elkay water cooler, or installed in new construction or as a stand-alone in-wall unit.

Tankless Water Heater
American Hometec's AHQ-C10 electric tankless water heater features coilless technology, which eliminates lime scale build-up. The C10 also comes with three capacity settings allowing for adjustable power consumption and energy savings. The unit is suitable for all water conditions and provides an unlimited supply of hot water, heating water only on demand for increased efficiency and conservation.

Sioux Chief Stainless Steel Finish Line
This line offers stain-less steel drainage fixtures that can be installed for factors such as corrosion, sanitation/hygiene and appearance. Strong corrosion resistance makes it suitable for applications where harsh fluids may be present (breweries, chemical/textile plants, dairies, laboratories) and a more sanitary surface is applicable for commerical/restaurant kitchens, health care facilities and food processing plants.

Heat Pump
The Versatec Ultra series is a compact water source heat pump for water loop and geothermal applications. Featuring a 17.2 energy efficiency ratio and a 3.5 coefficient of performance, the series uses enviornmentally friendly R-410A refrigerant and is availabe in a wide range of capacities (9,000 to 70,000 Btuh output).

Potable Water Pump
Bell and Gossett's ecocirc potable water recirculator pump features electronically commutated motor technology and a spherical motor design, eliminating the need for a conventional shaft, seal and bearing assembly. The rotor/impeller is the only moving part in the pump. The design allows the pump to use 68 percent less energy and can save an average family of four more than 12,000 gallons of water a year by delivering instant hot water while using 10 watts of power.

High-Efficiency Toilet
Briggs' Maelstrom HET with Turbo 3 Flush Valve promotes water conservation by using only 1.28 gpf. The unit, constructed from vitreous china with 3-inch glazed trapways, also has a MaP of 900 grams, which easily exceeds the EPA requirement of 350 grams.

Commercial PEX Tubing
Uponor is the first PEX manufacturer to offer 3-inch tubing for commercial plumbing applications. The corrosion-resistent tubing is a complement to current 1/4-inch to 2-inch tubing and comes with a 25-year limited warranty. Available in 100- and 350-foot coils as well as 20-foot straight lengths (custom-cut lengths available as well).

Suction Strainers
Industrial Specialties Mfg.'s new line of suction strainers and pick-up filters feature an all-plastic construction that eliminates rust to prevent chemical contamination. Styles include cylindrical, flat bottom or raised bottom and connection options include hose barbs or male NPT threads. Bottom and side inlets are also avaibale and unique styles to meet end-user specifications can be produced.

Low-Flow Spray Valve
T & S Brass' B-0107-C low-flow spray valve operates at 0.65 GPM and can save nearly 100,000 gallons of water per year compared to a federal-limit spray valve at 1.6 GPM (based on five hours of use per day at 60 psi).

Digital 2010 Radiant Flooring
Guide Now Available
The 2010 Radiant Flooring Guide is an indispensable tool for engineers and other project team members. It provides all the information for making proper choices on flooring over radiant heating systems, including an updated directory of radiant floor product manufacturers.

To purchase printed copies of the 2010 Radiant Flooring Guide for $15, contact Stephanie Weingartz at weingartzs@bnpmedia.com, phone 248-244-1275, or visit www.AECstore.com.