The benefits of indirect water heating systems are well-known throughout the industry and include system versatility and aiding in electrification to lower utility costs (if it is used in co-generation environments). Other advantages are higher operating efficiency, lower maintenance costs and longer system life.
The conversion of office buildings to residential is a lasting and growing byproduct of the COVID-19 pandemic, which catapulted remote working to the forefront and made it a continuing trend. Plumbing and fire protection will be central to the conversions, with plumbing the big beneficiary.
Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) tap into the constant temperature of the Earth to provide both heating and cooling in a highly efficient manner. As concerns about climate change and the need for sustainable energy solutions grow, more and more businesses are looking towards more sustainable methods of regulating their buildings' temperatures. These systems use the earth's relatively constant underground temperature to reduce the electrical energy required to provide heating, cooling and even water heating.
Morris had me on the phone. It was 1974 and he was calling from Brooklyn, New York. I had a waxed handlebar mustache that year, and my workmates at the manufacturers’ rep were calling me Rollie Fingers because he was pitching for the Oakland Athletics in the World Series. Looking at those 1974 photos, I realize that the ‘stache was not one of my best ideas, but the 1970s were their own time and no one can change that.
This month of June, six months into 2023, is a great time to review the activities of Standards Development Organizations, or SDOS. These organizations develop standards through voluntary consensus processes for product performance and safety, services, processes, systems and personnel.
Those who evaluate the performance of HVAC source equipment such as boilers, furnaces and heat pumps have to work with a wide variety of acronyms. Some of them were spawned by government bureaucrats, mostly the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Others were created through a consensus process based on input from manufacturers and other industry stakeholders.
The U.S. is currently experiencing the largest nursing staff shortage in history with no end in sight. Affecting health care facilities, nursing homes and assisted living facilities alike, lack of resources, ongoing patient care challenges, health and sanitation concerns along with simply being overworked, are all factors fueling this nursing shortage.
The very first installation of the Mikrofill 3 hydronic pressurization unit in North America took place recently in a mechanical room of an assisted- and independent-living community in Southwest-suburban Chicago. You might say the flower of this innovation grew from the soil of an old industry friendship.
At a busy, large seafood restaurant — one that specializes in southern-fried dishes — kitchen grease was moving faster than customers’ forks. But the restaurant’s concrete interceptor couldn’t handle the flow, causing lotchen grease to be discharged directly into the sanitary sewer system. The discharge created a blockage at a nearby municipal pumping station used to pump effluent to the local sewage treatment plant. The blockage clogged the station’s pumps, reducing its ability to transfer wastewater.
For over 10 years, Inland Sales Group has been trying to raise awareness of Legionella. Most people in the United States know nothing about it — where does it come from, how does it get into our bodies and what does the plumbing world have anything to do with it?