All too many times a bid is turned in only to be told, “We need to look at VE options.” There are plenty of mechanical units that can be downgraded, architectural features that can be sacrificed, or peel back every division to see what can possibly be optimized for that extra dollar.

Previously only common in high-performance computing (HPC), a growing number of data centers are adopting liquid cooling. The driver — an increasing number of high-density racks being deployed to support artificial intelligence and other latency-sensitive and processing-intensive business applications.

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.

Gary Hayden is a man of many talents. A licensed Professional Engineer in Virginia and eight other states, the 63-year-old’s career has taken him from product development to design and finally, the implementation of radiant and hydronic systems.

His Taco career path led to his most recent position as senior vice president, North American OEM Sales. He was loved by Taco employees and his customers as much as he loved them.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Sept. 28, carving a path of destruction through the state and killing more than 100 people. The real magnitude of Hurricane Ian’s death toll is still unknown, with media outlets reporting differing numbers as officials are still digging through debris some three weeks later.

I love design-build mechanical projects, and York Arts was one that presented many challenges. The basement level would be two large pottery classrooms with a third room isolated for the electric kilns, the first floor an art gallery and offices and the upper floor was to be classrooms and a large open space where lectures, painting classes or gatherings would be held. With such a diverse and wide-ranging load for maintaining thermal comfort, multiple zones would need to be created.

There is a battle going on in the industry when it comes to domestic water distribution systems, and it lies in how plumbing engineers size domestic water piping. System longevity, pressure drop, water age, noise and building codes will influence the approach taken in sizing a domestic water system.

In this weekly feature, Plumbing Group Chief Editors Nicole Krawcke and Natalie Forster highlight the industry’s latest news stories.

In 2012, the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials (IAPMO), the University of Cincinnati (U of C), and the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) began to work on a new sizing technique 80 years in the making. The main drivers were Dan Cole (IAPMO) and Steve Buchberger (U of C), and later Toju Omaghomi (U of C). As part of this effort, hundreds of thousands of data points were taken and evaluated to determine actual human behavior and plumbing fixture use in residential homes.