It is in the interest of regulators, engineers, contractors, architects and system owners to find the most efficient paths to pump system solutions. The rising tide of standards plays a significant role in elevating the performance, reliability and quality of pump systems — minimizing the trial and error it often takes to arrive at the solutions best suited for the application. However, some standards stand out for the magnitude of their impact.

Dubbed the largest HVACR event of the year, the 2023 AHR Expo returns to Atlanta Feb. 6-8, while the co-located 2023 ASHRAE Winter Conference will take place Feb. 4-8 at the Omni Hotel at CNN Center and Building A of the Georgia World Congress Center.

Happy 2023, PM Engineer readers! Thank you for spending this part of your day with me as I discuss topics in compliance. Let me introduce myself. I, Misty Guard, am a policy wonk, bibliophile, gastronome, musicophile, techie nerd and scotch whiskey aficionado.

In 2012 the price of #2 fuel oil in upstate New York was approaching a previously unheard of $4 per gallon. This spurred many pending heating system projects to consider the use of cordwood or wood pellets.

As the United States moves to decarbonize commercial and residential building structures, all eyes turn to heat pumps as a way to increase energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions for not only space heating but domestic hot water as well.

Prior to the 1980s, all restroom fixtures required manual operation — an aspect that we have since learned coincides with a high exposure to germs and bacteria. In fact, manual faucet and toilet handles harbor anywhere between 107 to 17,976 germs per 10 square centimeters.

Across commercial applications and in different climate zones, the combination of ambient air temperature, humidity and pipes’ surface temperature can have a big influence on the efficiency and economics of chilled water piping systems.

In the past two years, the PVF sector has faced a multitude of challenges, that, when combined, created what some call the perfect storm. Concerns among plumbing professionals included supply chain shortages and trade disruption, material price increases, freight inflation, fleet shortages and more.

As with most things hydronic, there are multiple approaches, and the “best” approach for each installation has to consider cost, aesthetics, access to the existing piping, available wall space and the goal of how the overall system will operate based on existing or newly created zones.

This month marks the 28th anniversary of the founding of PM Engineer magazine. The magazine was started by four individuals: George Zebrowski, my publisher; Tim Fausch, the group publisher; Jim Olsztynski, my editor; and myself, the plumbing/mechanical engineer. Our concept was to create a new magazine addressing the wet side of plumbing and mechanical engineering.