water heater market analysis - plumbing & hydronic contractor news

A Publication

Get the simple facts . . . . . . . .Pgs. 46-48VARIABLE

SPEED

CIRCS

Triumphing over the economy . .Pgs. 44-45CORPORATE

REPORT —

CONBRACO

See contest details . . . . . . . . . . .Page 22WIN A

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august 2009vol. 10, no. 8 Solar storage — Banking BTUs

Water heater market analysisWater heater market analysisSee story on page 38

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The three-speed family of wet rotor circulators from Bell & Gossett. The addition of the new NRF-25 gives you an even wider range of hydraulic capabilities for residential and light commercial heating systems. The complete line of maintenance-free circulators includes cast iron, bronze and stainless steel models, with variable speed and zone controls. The new NRF-25 features:

What gives you

NRF-45NRF-36NRF-25

in all three speeds?maximum performance


4 Phc News — AUGUST 2009In thIs Issue


www.phcnews.com

Owner

Tom M. Brown, Jr.

Chief EditorJohn MesenbrinkManaging EditorJames SchaibleContributing EditorsMary Jo MartinMark BrunoRichard DiTomaMorris R. BeschlossPaul RohrsDan HolohanEllen Rohr

Production ManagerCate C. BrownAdministrative AssistantDebbie Newberg

Editorial Offices1838 Techny Court

Northbrook, IL 60062Phone: 847/564-1127Fax: 847/564-1264,

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Fax: 714/[email protected]

Direct subscriptioninquiries to:Cynthia LewisCreative Data Services519 E. Briarcliff RoadBolingbrook, IL [email protected] 630-739-0900 x203Fax: 630-739-7648

TMB Publishing, Inc.

Tom M. Brown Jr., President

plumbing & hydronic contractor news

DepartmentsDesigned by,for contractors– pg. 50

Sending drains to college – pg. 20Sending drains to college – pg. 20

ColumnsDan Holohan: Indirect radiation — you might still see it . . . . . . .22Bob “hot rod” Rohr: Storing solar energy for when you need it . . .26Paul Rohrs: Hang it all, hang it all properly . . . . . . . . . . . . .28Ellen Rohr: Plan your time for its most effective use . . . . . . .30Richard DiToma: Selling all of those hours for the right margin . . . .32

Field ReportsEternal Hybrids save energy, space at government facility . . . . . . .16Smith+Guard floor drains go to college, pass with flying colors .20

In the NewsIndia asks UL, Commerce Dept. for help on water quality . . . . . . . .6Grundfos takes ALPHA circs on a road show; green business alliance formed . . . . . . . . . . . .8The Pulse: MAPP is a gas; fuel prices mostly down . . . . . . . . . . . . .10Movers & shakers . . . . . . . . . . . .12Texas second state to legislate HETs . . . . . . . . . . . . .14Santa Fe helps green firm start solar hydronic venture . . . . . . .24Contractor-designed VERSABLOCK fills need on the roof . . . . . . . .50Supply New England bestows mfr., rep awards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56Product update, tool news . . .52, 54

From the EditorsIt’s a tough market, so use all the business tools available . . . . . .58

44 Conbraco on a rollMorris Beschloss interviews the moving forces behind Con-braco: President Glenn Mosack and senior vice presidentsCarole Mosack Lee and Cal Mosack. They offer insight asto how Conbraco is thriving in a weak business climate.

46 Variable-speed circs — a primerYes, there’s math, but variable-speed hydronic circula-tors follow the universal hydronics formula; this articledemystifies the aura surrounding a technology that hasbeen with us for quite some time.

Features

On the CoverHow does the water heater market projectfor late 2009 and 2010? Industry expertsweigh in on the state of the water heatingindustry. See story on page 38.On the cover: Chuck Appleby, owner of Old Lyme,Conn.-based Appleby Plumbing Co., a third-generationfamily business, sweats a connection for a BradfordWhite eF water heater.(Note: For the sole purpose of this cover shot, safety goggleswere not used. However, safety eyewear always should beused while soldering.)

Who Says It’s Not Easy Being Green?

Fujitsu makes it hard not to be green with a Federal Tax Credit of 30% and utility bill savings of up to 50%.

With today’s economy in turmoil, green is the “in” color. Most people don’t realize that as much as half of the energy used in their home goes to heating and cooling. Fujitsu’s energy efficient ductless mini-split heat pumps can save homeowners up to 50% on their heating and cooling bill.*

Homeowners can claim 30% of the equipment and labor costs (up to a $1,500 limit) in 2009 and 2010 on qualifying Fujitsu systems: 9RLQ, 12RLQ, 9RLS, 12RLS, 15RLQ. Fujitsu has the most efficient heat pump in North America — 26 SEER, plus 10 Fujitsu systems are ENERGY STAR® qualified in 2009. Fujitsu not only manufactures green equipment, but we have reduced our factory’s carbon emissions to below 1990 levels while doubling production.

*Savings may vary based on model selected, hours of operation and geographical location. Example given based on 26-SEER system versus 13-SEER system.

To find out how you can become a Halcyon Dealer and how being green can

make you more green, visit

www.fujitsugeneral.com

26-SEER


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6 Phc News — AUGUST 2009

NORTHBROOK, ILL. — Underwriters Lab-oratories (UL), a global leader in drink-ing water quality and safety,participated in a U.S Department ofCommerce digital video conference todiscuss water quality and safety issuesin India. The conference was part of anongoing series of digital video confer-ences aimed to develop commercial re-lations between the United States andIndia through industry-specific techni-cal dialogues. The forum, organized by UL, fo-

cused on regulatory developments,safe drinking water standards and theexistence of conformity assessmentcapabilities to improve India’s’ drink-ing water quality and safety. “With increased pressures to manage

human and industrial water properly,India is seeking counsel to help safe-

guard its water supply,” said Dr. T.N.V.V.Rao, regional business developmentmanager for UL. “UL is working withgovernment and industry stakeholdersin India to address the country’s drink-ing water quality issues. Dialogues likethe one the Department of Commercehosted are essential to leveraging thebenefits of conformity assessment forthe Indian water market.” Key stakeholders from the United

States and India were invited to helplead the safety discussion. Representa-tives from the U.S. Environmental Pro-tection Agency, U.S. Food and DrugAdministration, National AccreditationBoard of Laboratories, Planning Com-mission of India, Bureau of Indian Stan-dards, Quality Council of India andConfederation of Indian Industries willjoin Dr. Rao at the conference.

FALLS CHURCH, VA. — The Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors — Na-tional Association will present severalthought-provoking sessions on emerg-ing markets and cutting-edge businessstrategies that increase profits duringthe Oct. 21-23 annual convention,CONNECT 2009, in New Orleans. Theeducational programs are geared to-ward helping p-h-c contractors learnthe newest trends and practices essen-tial to building business today and inthe future. The latest green practices will be

covered during several sessions, in-cluding GreenPlumbers® workshops oninspection report services and solar hotwater and separate seminars on selling“green” to commercial and residentialcustomers. A timely residential firesprinkler design and installation semi-nar will be offered to help contractorsevaluate this emerging market, whichhas been sparked by an InternationalResidential Code requirement for resi-dential fire sprinklers. Expert insight into what the future

holds on the economic, political andhome comfort fronts will be providedby featured speakers Stuart Varney,business and financial journalist forFOX News, and Richard Trethewey of“This Old House.” A diverse range ofseminars will be offered on topics like:• Is Fabrication for You? • How to Get the Net Profit You

Desire• Industry Panel: Determining

Roles for Success• Selling in a Down Economy• Year-end Tax PlanningMany other up-and-coming trends

and opportunities for new work will berevealed during a Product and Technol-ogy Showcase when contractors canlearn about new products, technologiesand advancements. Manufacturer-sponsored Learning Labs will delve intothe latest trends affecting the industry.For example, InSinkErator will presentimportant information about the bene-ficial impacts of food waste disposers. For more information, www.phcc

web.org/convention.

UL joins Commerce Dept.water standards dialogue

Industry news


PHCC CONNECT 2009 seminarsto help contractors build business

A NEW WEBSITE, www.hydronicworkshop.com, is a hydronic, con-tractor-direct, online wholesalerwith major discounts for contrac-tors. Hydronicworkshop.com is thepreferred online wholesaler for Pre-cision Hydronic Products line ofmanifolds, pre-assembled nearboiler piping modules and cost effec-tive hydraulic separators for pri-mary/secondary piping of hydronicheating systems. All Precision Hy-

dronic Products are pressure tested,warranted and made in an ISO cer-tified facility. These products areshipped factory-direct, saving youtime and money. Go to www.hydronicworkshop

.com and fill out a simple form toregister. Additional manufacturer direct

solar and modular radiant heatingboard products are available to ex-pand your hydronic business.

New hydronic website launched

AT&T, Xora Inc. to offer tracking solutionDALLAS AND MOUNTAIN VIEWS, CALIF. —AT&T and Xora Inc. announced a GPSlocator application that will providesmall and medium-sized businesseswith real-time visibility into the loca-tion of their mobile workforce. Thenew, easy-to-deploy solution is a Soft-ware-as-a-Service (SaaS) applicationdesigned to help AT&T business cus-tomers improve the productivity andaccountability of field-based employ-ees, as well as lower expenses related

to overtime and fuel costs. The application — Xora GPS Loca-

tor from AT&T — is compatible withmost AT&T mobile devices, from themost basic phone handsets, to theruggedized Motorola Tundra™ andSamsung Rugby™, to smart phonessuch as the BlackBerry® Bold™, tolaptops and specialty industry de-vices. For more information regard-ing Xora GPS TimeTrack, go tohttp://www.xora.com.

CARLISLE, PA. — Quietside Corpora-tion, the largest Master distributorof HVAC products in North America,has announced the launch of theirnew user friendly website. Thecompany recognized the need toredesign their current website notonly to share key information with

Quietside launches new websitetheir current whole sale distribu-tors and contractors that installtheir units daily, but also to informhome owners of the growing needto install energy efficient productsin their homes. To visit the newwebsite, visit online at www.quietside.com.

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8 Phc News — AUGUST 2009Industry news

ALLENTOWN, PA. — Grundfos Pumpslaunched the “Impossible Tour,” amobile education center for pumpsand pumping systems, with a specialdaylong event and celebration at thenewly renovated Allentown, Pa. dis-tribution center.

The Impossible Tour is part of the“Powered by the Impossible” cam-paign promoting the launch of the

New ALPHA circulator. With stops inover 40 cities across the UnitedStates, including Washington, D.C,Chicago, Denver and Portland, Ore.,the truck features many of GrundfosPumps products including the ALPHA

and recently released CR-H. Eachevent will allow contractors to gainhands-on training from Grundfos pro-fessionals and the chance to experi-ence interactive pump displays.

“The Tour allows contractors andengineers a chance to experience newtechnology that Grundfos has tooffer,” said Dennis Wierzbicki, presi-dent of Grundfos Pumps USA. “This

mobile education center allows the at-tendees to gain training and knowl-edge on the latest products GrundfosPumps have to offer.”

For more info, visit www.poweredby.grundfos.com.

WATERTOWN, MASS. — J.C. Cannis-traro, LLC is prepared to help lead theconstruction industry into thetwenty-first century through advance-ments in Building Information Model-ing (BIM). The New England basedmechanical construction firm has an-nounced the launch of its multi-di-mensional BIM services for buildingowners and facilities managers.

After months of research andproduct planning, Cannistraro hascompiled a suite of services thatgreatly improves the efficiency ofproject scheduling(4D), cost verifi-cation(5D), and facilities manage-ment(6D) using a computerizedbuilding model. Solutions can beadapted for both new constructionand existing buildings, and can becustomized for an owner’s projectneeds. To supplement its productlaunch, Cannistraro has begun host-

ing a BIM Breakfast Series to promotethe many benefits of collaborativeBIM for all types of projects.

For more information, visitwww.cannistraro.com.

Grundfos launches the ‘Impossible Tour’

Cannistraro provides full dimension of BIM solutions

DALLAS — On August 10, 2009,GREENERGY2030.com will launchits free media network as a place tobring “green change” to the worldthrough education, legislative efforts,media outreach and the dissemina-tion of information about alternativeenergy and sustainable businesspractices. Through the Green-ergy2030 BusinessAlliance, Green-ergy2030.comwill serve as acatalyst for en-trepreneurs andbusiness profes-sionals seeking totake an active role in their commu-nity/industry while positively impact-ing others’ lives, and the world. Greenchange is what the Greenergy2030Business Alliance is all about.

“Our vision is to have one millionentrepreneurs/professionals on thisnetwork by 2030 representing a con-servative $2/5B in overall annual en-ergy savings/reductions. Throughthe power of technology and realmember commitment to greenchange, we can accomplish thesegoals,” said JD Carr, co-founderGreenergy2030.com.

The Alliance also offers an eco-cer-tification program that is designed tostep a small business through theprocess of becoming an eco-friendlyorganization while implementing sus-tainable business practices that willpositively impact the bottom line.

Green business alliance launched

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Tool Tips feature trade tips from Lee “HACK-MAN” Breton, marketing services managerfor LENOX, team HACKMAN event manager

and car cutter extraordinaire. Every month, HACK-MAN shares insight from his 25+ years in the toolindustry.

A big advantage to using MAPP gas was that ithad the hottest burning gas temperature for handtorches in CGA600 disposable gas cylinders. Backin April 2008, the sole manufacture of MAPP Gas,a petrochemical company in Canada, closed theirdoors and as a result halted the production ofMAPP gas forever. This forced the industry to findan alternative to MAPP — a search that lead pro-fessionals to propylene gas.

Propylene gas is very comparable to MAPP inthat it has superior flame characteristics to otherfuels and can therefore be used for many of thesame applications like brazing, soldering, metaliz-ing, and flame cutting.

The following are the flame temperatures forMAPP gas, propylene gas and propane gas. Withthe elimination of MAPP, Propylene gas has takenits place as the hottest available for hand torches.

Flame Temperature (in air):MAPP gas — 3750 degrees Fahrenheit Propylene gas — 3730 degrees FahrenheitPropane gas — 3600 degrees Fahrenheit.

There are currently two choices avail-able when buying a disposable gas cylin-der for hand torches. The first is themore traditional 14.1 oz. size available inboth propylene and propane gas. Thesecond is the recently introduced Fat

Boy™ canister that contains 16.92 oz. of Propy-lene or Propane gas cylinders.

The Fat Boy cylinder delivers 20% more fuel thanthe traditional size allowing for longer running timeand less changing out of canisters on the job. Thenew design of this canister is 25% shorter for greateraccessibility in tighter work spaces. The new shapealso has a larger base diameter to increase stability.A Green Key™ in the cap can be used the drain out

any excess gas once the cylinder is empty –allowingit to be thrown out in the normal trash or recycledthrough a steel recycler. �


The

Pulse

U.S. average 2.557

East Coast 2.525

New England 2.578

Central Atlantic 2.578

Lower Atlantic 2.469

Midwest 2.512

Gulf Coast 2.433

Rocky Mountain 2.507

West Coast 2.829

California 2.896

Fuels

Metals

*Copper $2.82/lb. **Aluminum $0.86/lb.

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Gasoline diesel

Area $/gal. Change

U.S. average 2.550

East Coast 2.579

New England 2.637

Central Atlantic 2.671

Lower Atlantic 2.535

Midwest 2.520

Gulf Coast 2.513

Rocky Mountain 2.537

West Coast 2.643

California 2.763

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Prices valid as of 8/3/09. Fuel information courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energyhttp://tonto.eia.doe.gov/oog/info/gdu/gasdiesel.asp. Arrows indicate change from previous issue.* Copper prices according to NYMEX.com. ** Aluminum prices according to metalprices.com.

tool tips

with Hackman

MAPP™ gas vs.propylene gas

10

www.symmons.comCopyright © 2009 Symmons Industries, Inc., Braintree, Massachusetts

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BLACKWOOD, N.J. — Triangle Tube ispleased to announce the hiring ofRick Mayo as its Western regionalsales manager.

Rick joins Triangle Tube withmore than 30 yearsexperience in theheating industryand has a solidbackground in hy-dronic systems, in-cluding systemdesign, start-up,consultation and

troubleshooting. He is also an ac-complished technical trainer.

promoted to serve as regional salesmanager of new construction in theWestern division.

American Society of Heating, Refrig-eration and Air-Conditioning Engi-neers (ASHRAE) during the society’sannual meeting June 20-24 inLouisville, Ky.

The award recognizes ASHRAE

members who have served the or-

ganization faithfully and with ex-emplary effort.

ARLINGTON, VA. — North AmericanTechnician Excellence (NATE) recog-nized the Five Top Techs from acrossthe country: Tom Bush from Norton,Va.; John Drye from West Lebanon,N.H.; Keith Kane from Omaha, Neb.;Bob Millen from Pratt, Kan.; andThomas Neary from Rochester, N.Y.

Triangle Tube names Westernregional sales manager

Industry Movers


Mayo

WOODRIDGE, ILL. — Ed McCoy hasbeen hired to serve as regional salesmanager for Gerber’s wholesaleteam in Carmela, Indiana. In addi-tion, Melissa Berecek-Hays has been

Gerber Plumbing Fixturesnames regional sales managers

MENOMONEE FALLS, WIS. — BradleyCorp. has promoted Erik Mullett tovice president of Division 10 Sales.

Previously, Mullett was regionalsales manager forDivision 10 Prod-ucts. In his newrole, his responsibil-ities have expandedto develop the tradi-tional sales channeloperations forBradley’s Acces-sory, Mills Partitionsand Lenox Locker product lines.

Bradley Corp. announces promotion

Mullett

BALTIMORE — Danfoss product man-ager Mark Hegberg received the Ex-ceptional Service Award from the

Danfoss product manager receives ASHRAE award

Hegberg (center)

NATE honors Top Techs

ROLLING MEADOWS, ILL. — PlumbingManufacturers Institute president WaltStrader of Price Pfister has selected newchairs to serve on PMI’s Focus andStanding Committees.

The Materials Performance IssueCommittee will be co-chaired by AlstonWilliams of Price Pfister and CraigSelover of Masco, who was reappointedto a second term as chair. Maja Jankovof Duravit USA will chair the UniversalConformity Assessment Standing Com-mittee with current chair Jeff Baldwinof T & S Brass and Bronzeworks.

The Fair Trade Issue Committee wel-comes Dale Gallman of Bradley Corp.,who will serve with Robert Easter ofCoast WET.

PMI welcomes new chairs

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Roth Industries haspromoted Joseph Brown to senior vicepresident of sales and marketing. In hisnew role he will oversee both Rothcompanies, Roth Industries and RothGlobal Plastics, in North America.

Roth Industries names VPof sales & marketing

ROLLING MEADOWS, ILL. — A coalitionled by the Plumbing ManufacturersInstitute recently helped Texas joinCalifornia as the second state na-tionwide to require high-efficiencytoilets (HETs) in all new residentialand commercial construction. AnHET is defined as a water closet that

uses no more than 1.28 gallons ofwater per flush (GPF), or 20% lessthan the 1.6-GPF models mandatedby the National Energy Policy Act of1992 (EPAct).

Texas House Bill 2667, which wassigned into law by Governor RickPerry on June 19, also sets maxi-

mum showerhead flow rates at 2.5gallons per minute and urinal flushvolumes at 0.5 GPF. Effective Sep-tember 1 of this year, the legislationmandates that toilet and urinal man-ufacturers phase in HETs over thenext four years, starting with 50% ofin-state sales by January 1, 2010,and culminating with 100% by Janu-ary 1, 2014.

For more info, pmihome.org.

SALT LAKE CITY — MIRO Industries, aleader in rooftop support products an-nounced a new division that will con-centrate on innovative, economicalrooftop sleeper support products toprovide support for conduit and con-densate on commercial rooftops. Thenew division will be called RooftopSleeper Support, Inc. and will be a vi-able alternative to wood products thatare often fabricated on the commer-cial roofing job site. The initialRooftop Sleeper Support product,RSS4, is made out of recycled PVC ma-terial and unlike wood products willnot decay or rot over time, which cancreate failure in the support of con-duit as well as damage to the commer-cial roof membrane. Made in theU.S.A., the RSS4 sleeper supportcomes in a white color to match thetrend in commercial roofing to energyefficient white reflective roofs that re-duce building energy consumptionand decrease the effects of urban heatislands and air pollution.

PMI leads green coalition

14 Phc News — AUGUST 2009Industry news

www. f l owa ide .com 1 -800 -321 -8358

Flow-Aide is non-corrosive, safe to handle and biodegradable with a BOD value of 16 mg/l. This normally allows the solution to be water-flushed down sewers and through septic systems. Check local ordinances and regulations prior to disposal.

Flow-Aide Descaler Kit for Tankless Water Heaters

In just a few months, scale can reduce the efficiency of tankless water heaters. Whitlam now offers a biodegradable solution for restoring flow to the system by safely dissolving lime, scale and rust. Our kit has everything you need, and it’s environment-friendly and safe for potable water lines.

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MIRO Industriesboasts new division

ACCORDING TO Peter Schor, industryeducator, there are 200+ membersthat have joined the National Associ-ation of Plumbing Showroom Profes-sionals (NAOPSP) Association(www.naopsp.com). The mission ofthe NAOPSP is to develop and to givethe plumbing showroom consultantand showroom manager a network oflike professionals to interact with inall levels and responsibilities of theplumbing showroom profession, in-cluding: support, education and devel-opment resulting in positive changefor the profession on a national level.

“The NAOPSP is open to the plumb-ing contractors with showroomsacross the States and Canada. Thereare hundreds of plumbing contractorswith showrooms that will gain greatvalue from the membership, which,by the way, is free,” said Schor.

The association will accomplishthis via interaction of showroom pro-fessionals members manufacturers,and the media. The NAOPSP will seekto support its members through net-working, education and interactionwith plumbingware manufacturers.This association is not about negoti-ating better discounts on materialsfrom vendors or manufacturers.There are many “buying groups” thatcurrently do this successfully. Thewebsite currently has a member list;Linkedin group discussion on varioussubjects; an employment tab; and in-dustry link tab.

NAOPSP drawsshowroom pros

President Obama recently addressed thenation and announced his plan for reviv-ing the weakened U.S. economy. One of

the plan’s primary focus is on energy efficiency;by investing in the greening of homes andlifestyles, America can reduce waste and spurinnovative opportunities.The speech was well received and many saw

the trend before President Obama even an-nounced it. One such case is the partnership be-tween United Mechanical in Dallas, a private

design and build contractor with more than 60years of experience in specialized skill projects,and a 1-million-square-foot government facilitythat has an antiquated boiler system serving itsmodern hot water needs.The facility (its identity undisclosed due to

security) features an onsite commercial

kitchen, showers, numerous lavatories and evena salon. Two 1-million BTU gas-fired boilers,along with a 2,000-gallon storage tank, had beenserving the entire compound for decades. Whenthe new Administration made its green inten-tions known, the facility contacted United Me-chanical for advice and help.Gary Scoggins, design engineer, was charged

with the task of designing a system that wouldservice the needs of this mammoth facility. Theobjectives were to maximize efficiency, ensure

reliability, and improve serviceability. Garytackled the challenge by carefully monitoringand measuring the usage pattern and actualflows of each fixture. After studying the Facil-ity’s hot water needs, a plan was formed.United Mechanical’s highly talented Mike

Edenstrom, head installer, zoned the projectinto three separate loops servicing differentfunctions of the facility. Six Eternal Hybridwater heaters were chosen for ease of installa-tion with PVC venting and recirculation friendlycharacteristics. Each zone is serviced by twoEternal Hybrids in parallel manifold.The install is carefully planned as hot water

service cannot be interrupted even as newequipment is being installed. Mike skillfullymet the facility’s requirement by configuring aheader system that allowed quick switching ofequipment without stopping the hot waterservice. He also built a custom rack thathouses the six Eternals allowing any single unitto be swapped out quickly should any singleone go down.Even more impressive, the original equip-

ment took over 200 square feet of space andthe mechanical room was very difficult to walkin and out of. After replacing the old systemwith just six Eternals, the Facility’s mainte-nance crew is overjoyed by the newfoundspace and ease of access to servicing the equip-ment. The new system takes up just over 10square feet of space.The project was completed just before 2009

rolled around, and the facility is very happywith the results. Not only did United Mechanicaland Eternal meet the green challenge, but thehot water service is better than ever. �


16 Phc News — AUGUST 2009Field report

Challenge met at government facility

Mike Edenstrom, head installer who built the system at the government project, readies for another dayat the job site.

Three pairs of Eternal Hybrid water heaters servethree different zones of the facility. The units areon a header system, allowing for easy swap-outand recirculation to provide quick hot water deliv-ery. Six 200K Btu heaters can closely match theoutput of the original 2M Btu boilers.

Chicago Faucets Expands Electronic Lavatory Faucet OfferingChicago Faucets most recent efforts to unite reliability and durability with electronic

faucet convenience has resulted in the E-Tronic™ 40. The new line features above-deck

electronics for easy maintenance, long-term reliability, and offers a choice of a CRP2

battery or AC adaptor. Uncomplicated installation, easy maintenance and reliability,

combined with the water conservation and added hygiene offered with hands-free

faucets, make the E-Tronic™ 40 an attractive choice for public lavatories.

Antimicrobial Handles fromChicago FaucetsWhen you install antimicrobial handlesfrom Chicago Faucets, you benefit fromSureshield® Antimicrobial Technology; a process that provides a consistentrelease of antimicrobial compoundsregardless of the amount of moisturepresent. An easy retrofit for existingproducts, and a versatile option for new installations, Chicago Faucets antimicrobial handles are designed forprevention and provide an easy way toadd a new level of protection to a facility.

A New, Economical Option for Lavatory InstallationsThe new 420-CP Single Control Lavatory Faucet from Chicago Faucets combines

the durability of solid brass body construction with the dependability of a

time-tested ceramic mixing valve. Other features include a polished chrome

plated finish, metal lever handle, temperature limit stop, volume control and a

1.5 GPM laminar flow outlet. Easy to install and easy to maintain, the ADA

compliant Chicago Faucets 420-CP is a great option for any commercial project.

Chicago Faucets &The Buy American ActThe American Recovery and ReinvestmentAct recently signed into law includes aBuy American provision favoring domesticsources. Selecting products that meetthe requirements of this Act can helpsupport jobs across the USA and assistin our economic recovery. Over 95% ofChicago Faucets products, more than1,700 items, meet these requirements.Chicago Faucets... unwavering commitmentto quality, backed by know-how anddetermination that is uniquely American.






18 Phc News — AUGUST 2009industry

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ROCHESTER, N.Y. — At its recent national sales meeting, Liberty Pumps awardedCooper New England Sales with the number one rep award for 2008. Picturedfrom Left to right are: Chuck Shaver, Dave Kinnier, Chuck Schwabe (nationalsales manager — Liberty Pumps), Charlie Cook (president — Liberty Pumps),Randall Waldron (V.P. of sales & marketing — Liberty Pumps) and Scott Cooper.The 2-day meeting attended by over 90 sales reps included technical training

sessions, live product demonstrations and a tour of the newly expanded manu-facturing complex.

Cooper New England earns Liberty Pumps top rep award

ARLINGTON, VA. — Construction em-ployment declined in all but 19 com-munities nationwide this June ascompared to June-2008, according toa new analysis of metropolitan-areaemployment data released today bythe Associated General Contractorsof America. The analysis, whichranks the 12-month constructionemployment change reported by theBureau of Labor Statistics for 352metro areas, shows that few places inAmerica have been spared the wide-spread downturn in construction em-ployment over the past year.“Construction workers remain,

unfortunately, on the leading edge ofjob losses during this recession,”said Ken Simonson, chief economistfor the contractors association.“While other sectors of the economyhave been hit hard, constructionemployment has been devastated.”Simonson said that construction

employment declined in 333 metro-politan areas since June-2008. Theworst hit was Pascagoula, Miss. andReno-Sparks, Nev., which both lost

Construction employment declines in 333 out of 352 metro areas

one out of every three constructionjobs over the past year. More than200 metropolitan areas suffered dou-ble-digit percentage declines in con-struction employment in the past 12months, Simonson added.The association’s economist said

only 10 cities saw increases in con-struction employment since the pre-vious June. Those cities includeColumbus, Indiana where construc-tion employment shot up over 31%from the previous June and the Weir-ton-Steubenville area along the WestVirginia-Ohio border where construc-tion employment climbed almost17%. Nine other metro-areas saw nochange in construction employment.Stephen E. Sandherr, the associa-

tion’s chief executive officer, urgedCongress to pass a surface transporta-tion bill that the association estimateswould create or save over 616,000jobs for each of its six years. He addedthat Washington also needed to acton long-delayed legislation to financevital water, aviation and maritime in-frastructure projects.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — American Standardhas launched an e-Learning center toprovide free product knowledge andsales training to plumbers, showroomsand other building trade professionals.The e-learning center is accessedthrough the Resources for Professionalssection of www.americanstandard.com. The self-paced training is presented

in three modules. The toilets modulehelps professionals learn how to edu-

cate their customers about high-effi-ciency toilets, high performance toi-lets, and third-party performancetesting resources, such as MaximumPerformance Testing. The faucets mod-ule explains how ceramic disc valves,solid brass bodies and high-tech pro-tective finishes deliver guaranteed life-time performance. The third module, on water effi-

ciency, has been the most popular.

American Standard creates e-Learning Center

ALAMOSA, COLO. — A 40-panel solarheating system is helping to providethe heat for comfortable radiantfloors at the Kiva Apartments. Builtby owner Mike Peterson, the 18-unitapartment building was constructedto higher energy code standardsthan what is typically seen in com-mercial buildings. A tighter buildingwith higher R-values in the walls andceilings allow for less energy needsfor both the heating and cooling sea-son and allow for lower water tem-peratures supplied to the radiant

floor. This means the solar heatingsystem is capable of supplying alarger fraction of the space heat.The system was designed and sup-

plied by Low Energy Systems ofDenver, a wholesaler specializing inthe design of solar and radiant heat-ing, tankless water heaters, and highefficiency hydronic products. Instal-lation was carried out by RandyValentine, proprietor of ValentinePlumbing and Heating, in Alamosa.The system uses 40 Buderus SKN

3.0 flat plate collectors (972 squarefeet of net aperture area) that ex-change heat to a 5,900 gallon (22,335Liters) insulated and lined concretetank. The system provides 53 per-cent of all energy needed for spaceheating and domestic hot water(DHW). Other highlights of the systeminclude a wall hung condensing highefficiency boiler by Triangle Tube; asmart pump with ECM motor byWilo, which saves 80 percent overstandard on/off circulators; modulat-ing non-electric zone valve/thermo-stat combinations by Oventrop thatprovide more uniform air tempera-tures in the zones and are more reli-able than standard 24 volt zonevalve/thermostat combinations, pluscontribute to additional energy sav-ings due to their modulation.The owner applied and received a

grant from the Department of Agri-culture for 25 percent of the solarheating system’s installed cost. Inaddition, he is eligible for the FederalITC solar tax credit of 30 percentand no dollar cap after subtractingthe 25 percent due to the grant.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.— ReUze™, a new CPVCwater piping system from Charlotte Pipeand Foundry Company, gives engineers,and others in the green/sustainabilityindustry, a practical, easy-to-install sys-tem for non-potable water uses inside ofcommercial and residential buildings. Engineers and architects motivated

to design projects utilizing non-potablewater for indoor use was a major factorin Charlotte Pipe creating this product.

The use of non-potable water can con-tribute up to 10 LEED points on a proj-ect, an astounding 25% of the pointsneeded to achieve a LEED certifiedbuilding. Available points are evenhigher if any of these credits aredeemed a regional priority by theUSGBC regional council or chapter.ReUze™ is manufactured using the

highest quality CPVC compound alongwith a purple pigment (purple is the uni-

versally accepted color for non-potablewater systems). It is marked with twolines of type clearly identifying the con-tents as “WARNING: NON-POTABLEWATER DO NOT DRINK.” The type is180° apart so that no matter what angleyou view the piping system there can beno mistake that the pipe is carryingnon-potable water. This ensures thatwater lines for human consumption arenot crossed with non-potable lines.

Solar radiant heatedapartments lead way ineco-friendly building

Phc News — AUGUST 2009 19


industry news

Charlotte Pipe answers indoor non-potable water piping system needs


AMCO Mechanical, a mechan-ical contractor in Mont-gomery, Alabama, used the

Smith+Gard protective floor drainand cleanout covers to help themcomplete a project under tight timeconstraints. The College of Educa-tion and the Life Sciences Buildingat a university in Alabama were bothscheduled to be finished in one year.In order for this to be accomplished,all of the floor drain and cleanout in-stallations needed to be done with-out any time consuming setbacks.From the initial concrete pour to thefinished tile floor the entire projecthad to operate efficiently and stay onschedule.The Jay R. Smith Mfg. Co. repre-

sentative in Alabama, Fran Williams

of Williams & Associates, knew aboutthe situation and recommended theSmith+Gard floor drain and cleanoutcovers as a solution to typical job siteproblems. In the past, contractorswould use duct tape or some otherjob site material to protect floor drainbodies, strainers and cleanout cov-ers. A time-consuming techniqueknown as “boxing out” also would beused to create a void between theconcrete and the strainer or cover.After the concrete pour, the floordrain strainers and cleanout coversare exposed for long periods of time.During this time, the strainers andcovers can suffer daily abuse causing“tilting and dishing” problems thatlead to bigger issues when pouringthe finished floor. Cleaning the duct

tape or other job site material fromthe strainer or cover also can be amessy and labor intensive part of thecleanup process. Smith+Gard is designed to pro-

vide vertical adjustment of floordrain strainers and cleanout coversafter the concrete pour and protect

them from abuse during construc-tion. There are three Smith+Gardprotective cover sizes available: Fig-ure number 9910 cover fits Jay R.Smith Mfg. Co. 5" and 6" round, and5" square floor drain strainers; thefigure number 9911 cover fits 7" and8" round and 6" square floor drainstrainers; the figure number 9912cover fits most round cleanout cov-ers up to 7". The use of the Smith+Gard pro-

tective cover has several benefits:• Vertical adjustment after the

pour;• Protects floor drain strainers or

cleanout covers before, during andafter the concrete pour;• Negates the use of duct tape, sav-

ing time and labor during clean-up;• Helps align square floor drain

strainers and cleanout covers to tile• An economical and labor saving

installation aid; and• Patented punch and strip design

technology allows for easy removal.Both projects are ahead of sched-

ule. AMCO Mechanical has used theSmith+Gard protective covers onseveral other projects resulting in

time savings on the job in installing,adjusting, leveling and cleaning thefloor drains and cleanouts. The jobsite foreman for AMCO Mechanical,Rick Richburg, was impressed withthis new product and will continue touse them. In his words, “The finalfloor work can make or break the in-stallation so it’s nice to have someway to make it easy. We don’t have toreplace scratched strainers and thatsaves us time and money on the job.”For more information on

Smith+Gard protective covers or tocontact your local representative,visit www.jrsmith.com. �

Protective floor drain and cleanout covers complete college project

Field report


Smith+Gard — Figure Number 9910 — being installed in an above-grade applica-tion at the college job site.

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There once was a type of radi-ation that hung heavily insidemetal ductwork in the base-

ments of rich people’s homes. Muchof it is still there. The Dead Mencalled this “indirect radiation” andthey chose it for the wealthy be-cause it combined heating with ven-tilation. The name “indirect” comesfrom the idea that the radiators

aren’t in the same room as the richpeople. They preferred their radia-tors to be discrete. Indirects heat the incoming air,

which then rises through the duct-work to the first, second, and some-times even the third floor of a bighouse. They put together most of theindirect radiators just as you wouldsmall cast-iron, sectional boilers,and then they muscled them intoplace. Some of the indirects (andthese came later) were made fromrows of tightly spaced, finned-steelpipe. But whether they were steel orcast iron, it’s often difficult to figureout what size these indirect radia-tors are because you can’t see them.Unless you want to tear open theductwork. And you don’t want to dothat. So here are some tips thatshould help.First, watch out when you’re re-

placing a steam boiler. Any indirectradiator has to be at least 14 incheshigher than the steam boiler’s water-line. This is to allow for the gravity re-turn of the condensate back to theboiler. Most of these systems workedon very-low-pressure steam, usuallyjust a few ounces. If you’re replacingan old boiler you have to be verycareful where you position the newboiler’s waterline because indirect ra-diators often hang very low. If you setyour replacement boiler too high, itmay partially fill the indirect radiatorwith water, and that will seriously cutdown on the radiator’s output.

Look closely around any indirectsteam radiator and make sure the aircan get out. Ask yourself that keysteam-heating question: “If I wereair, could I get out?” Look for an airvent on the outlet side of the indi-rect. The air has to be able to makeit completely through the unit if thesteam is to arrive on time inside theunit. I mention this because many ofthose vents are gone now. Theyleaked and some knucklehead re-placed them with pipe plugs. Plugsdon’t vent well. That’s why we callthem plugs.Within the duct, the indirect radi-

ator has to be about 10 inches belowthe top, and eight inches above thebottom. The radiators has to be tightagainst both sides of the duct. Thesedimensions are crucial to the properflow of air across any indirect radia-tor. Sometimes, a cast-iron unit willfail and you might want to replace itwith a homemade nest of fin-tuberadiation because no one makescast-iron indirect radiation thesedays. Watch what you’re doing withthe fin-tubes, though, because theflow of air is so subtle here, and soimportant to the unit’s Btuh output.Respect those dimensions I justgave you.When the Dead Men used the in-

direct radiators for ventilation aswell as for heating (which was mostof the time), they always tried to getthe outside air to enter from the bot-tom of the indirect radiator. If thiswasn’t possible, they took the nextbest option, which was to bring thefresh air in from the side oppositethe warm air outlet. There are no re-turn-air ducts in this system. Theventilation air enters the house with-out benefit of a fan. The only way forit to do that is for warm air that’s al-ready in the house to leave thoughthe cracks around poorly fitted win-dows and doors. If you weatherizethe house, you’ll lose those leaks,and if the warm air can’t escape, thecold air can’t enter. All ventilation,and a good portion of the indirect ra-diator’s output, vanishes when youweatherize. Interesting conundrum, isn’t it?The Dead Men based the size of

the hot-air flue on the square feet ofconnected indirect radiation. Theyallowed 11/2 square inches perSquare Foot of E.D.R. when theywere heating with steam, and twosquare inches per Square FootE.D.R. when they were using hotwater. They sized the cold air flue tobe somewhere between two-thirdsand three-quarters the size of the

hot air flue.If you have absolutely nothing

else to go by, you can measure thelength and width of the hot air flueto get an idea of what’s happening.Multiply one by the other to getsquare inches. Then divide the totalby 2 if you’re heating with hot waterand 1.5 if you’re heating with steam.That will give you a good estimate ofthe square feet of radiation insidethat duct. Another way to guessti-mate is to look at the pipe size feed-ing the indirect radiator. For steam,the Dead Men would generally use a11/4" pipe to feed up to 80 SquareFeet E.D.R. of indirect radiation,and a 11/2" pipe to feed up to 100Square Feet E.D. R. of indirect radi-ation. If it was a hot-water job, theywould use 11/4" for up to 60 SquareFeet, 11/2" for up to 90 Square Feet,and 2" for up to 100 Square FeetE.D.R... And keep in mind that theyweren’t using pumps on those hot-water systems; this was based ongravity flow. Generally, the registers in the

rooms are 25% greater in area thanthe flues that serve them. Again,there are no fans to move the air inthis type of system. Everythingworks by natural convection. Thatmeans the air moves more quicklyto the upper floors than it does to thelower floors because of the chimneyeffect of the taller, second- and third-floor flues. Typical air velocities are11/2 feet per second to the first floor,21/2 feet per second to the secondfloor, and 5 feet per second to thethird floor. Notice how the air speedsup as it moves higher. Because ofthese differences in velocity, eachflue served only one floor. And sincethe air moved more quickly to theupper floors, the Dead Men usuallymade these flues about 25% smallerthan those serving the lower floors.They also used smaller registers onthe upper floors. This can get trickyif all you’re looking at is the register.And please don’t try to equate any ofthis to a modern forced-air system.It’s very different.Because they used this system for

ventilation as well as for heating,they had to allow for more radiation.Their general rule of thumb in theold days was to take a heat loss ofthe space using the Mills Rule, whichthe legendary John Mills of H.B.Smith fame came up with. The MillsRule allowed for one Square FootE.D.R for each 2 square foot of glass,each 20 square foot of cold wall, ceil-ing or floor, and each 200 cubic feetof room volume. The Dead Menwould total these three things andcome up with a radiation load for the

(Turn to Holohan, page 24.)

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BY DAN HOLOHAN,contributing writer

There are no return-air ductsin this system. The ventilationair enters the house withoutbenefit of a fan. The only wayfor it to do that is for warm airthat’s already in the house to

leave though the cracks aroundpoorly fitted windows and doors.

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Holohan(Continued from page 23.)

building, to which they’d add theirstandard pick-up factor for the pipeload, which in those days, was 1.56for both steam and hot-water work. Once they had this figure, they'd

add 25% more if the system washeated indirectly by steam and awhopping 35% more if they wereusing gravity hot water. This allowedfor enough output to heat the coldincoming air. And, by the way, if youuse the Mills Rule today you’ll comeup with a boiler that could probablyheat the house with the roof re-moved. Consider how all of this can affect

a replacement boiler size if you’renot going to be bringing in fresh ven-tilation air. Nowadays, even wealthyhomeowners often decide to aban-don the ventilation side of their in-direct systems so they can save onfuel. You can seal the fresh air inletand work only with the air in the

house, but you will have to find away to get the upstairs air backdown to the basement. Often, a lou-vered basement door is all it takes tomake that work.If your indirect radiation is on a

steam system, you’ll have to knowits size in Square Feet E.D.R. tocome up with the proper size for thereplacement boiler. Take all of whatI’ve told you here into considerationwhen you do. I hope it helps.If the indirects are serving a hot-

water system, begin with a heat-loadcalculation on the building as it istoday, and base the size of your newboiler on that. These systems, withtheir high water content, get alongbeautifully with outdoor-air resetcontrols and modulating-condensingboilers. Use that approach and the in-directs will find the proper output forany given day. Just make sure the airfrom upstairs can find its way backdown into the basement. And don’tforget to open the ductwork panels sothat return air has a way back intothe cool side of the heater. �

Industry news


THE CITY OF SANTA FE is taking ad-vantage of its long history in thesolar industry by helping tolaunch a local, renewable energycompany. SolarLogic, LLC, a new,solar hydronic technology andmanufacturing company foundedin Santa Fe in 2008, is leading theway in the creation of seamless,easy-to-install solar heating sys-tems. As an investment in job cre-ation and the local greeneconomy, the City of Santa Fe’sEconomic Development Divisionhas awarded SolarLogic a grant of$30,000.SolarLogic’s mission is to in-

crease and speed the adoption ofresidential and commercial solarhydronic heating systems world-wide by manufacturing and sellinga family of products that will spurthe development of a large, newgeneration of system installers.The Company is developing andwill manufacture and distribute

two, flagship products: the Solar-Logic Integrated Controller(SLIC) and SolarLogic AssistedSolar Heating Design (SLASH-D).Utilizing the SLASH-D web-deliv-ered design service and the SLICcontroller, an individual with anexisting heating and/or plumbingbusiness but no previous specifictraining in solar hydronic heating,will be able to specify, quote andinstall a custom, solar hydronicsystem.Along with significant new inno-

vation, SolarLogic is successfullycommercializing design conceptsdeveloped from the extensiveknowledge and years of experi-ence gained in Santa Fe by theprofessionals at Cedar MountainSolar.Further information regarding

SolarLogic can be viewed on thewebsite at www.solarlogicllc.com or email [email protected].

OAK BROOK, ILL.— On June 12, 2009,Mayor Bloomberg attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony at PS 205K, one ofmany New York City public school-yards that have recently been reno-vated as part of the PlaNYC 2030Initiative, a comprehensive sustain-ability plan for the city’s future. Acollaboration between the New YorkCity Department of Parks & Recre-ation, the Department of Educationand the non-profit The Trust for Pub-lic Land, the PlaNYC Schoolyards toPlaygrounds Program aims to in-crease the amount of open space inunderserved neighborhoods through-out the five boroughs of New YorkCity and ensure that all New Yorkerslive within a 10-minute walk of apark or playground. Along with the multitude of im-

provements and additions beingmade to the schoolyards, many willbe updated with custom outdoordrinking fountains from Halsey Tay-

lor. The PlaNYC team has chosen toinstall new Endura™ Steel Wall-mount Drinking Fountains (4705),customized with a specially designed“NYC water” logo and attractive bluecolor, in many of the newly createdparks throughout the city.

City of Santa Fe funds solar start-up Halsey Taylor drinking fountains selected for PlaNYC Initiative

battery charging time; work time percharge; comfort (size, weight, bal-ance); power/torque; tool life/durabil-ity; weight; length of warranty;whether the tool was recommendedby someone else; inclusion of a work-light; and battery service life.Participants rated tool life/dura-

bility as the most important cordlesstool feature. Battery service liferanked second, followed by worktime per charge rounding out thetop three.

WEST CHESTER, PA. — Metabo Corp.,an international manufacturer ofprofessional grade portable electricpower tools and abrasives, recentlycompleted a blind survey of profes-sional and do-it-yourself (DIY) toolusers on important cordless powertool features in anticipation of thecompany’s new 18 V lithium ioncordless tool series launch. Two ofthe three top-rated tool features re-lated to battery life.The 10 features evaluated included

Cordless tool survey indicates battery features most important

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26 Phc News — AUGUST 2009solar solutIons

Solar storage: Banking BTUs

BY BOB “hot rod” ROHR,contributing writer

One thing becomes quite ob-vious when you start de-signing and installing solar

thermal systems: you rarely get ex-actly the amount of solar energy youneed, exactly when you need it.The easiest and most practical use

for solar thermal is DHW, or SDHW(solar domestic hot water). Thesesystems are more often than not apre-heat system designed to offset apercentage of the total DHW load. Theinstaller or designer determines asolar fraction to what to design andassemble. The solar fraction (SF) isthe percentage of DHW load that thesolar can be expected to deliver. Ba-sically, it is the amount of energy re-quired to cover the DHW load dividedby the energy the solar can con-tribute to the load. Determining theDHW load is easier said than done.The industry has some rules ofthumb, such as 20 gallons per per-son per day. I think that may be atad high. Others prefer 20 gallonsper day for the first two and 15 gal-lons for additional family members.One common sense method is to

look at the hot water supply theyhave and ask if that is sufficient. Ifthey have a 50-gallon 37,000 BTU/hrinput tank, that’s the number.Another method would be to put a

water meter on the cold supply totheir water heater and get a real-time figure. No need to grossly over-size the supply, but then again I havenever had a customer complain oftoo much hot water supply. But Ihave under-estimated more than

one job and have had to correct it onmy nickel. Determine to the best ofyour knowledge, and maybe docu-ment what you intend to provide, orsupplement with solar.Back to the supply vs. demand

challenge. Generally, these days, theDHW load in a typical residence is re-quired in the morning and eveninghours. It may change a bit on week-ends when schedules change andclothes washing goes full blast. So re-ally, a residential SDHW system calcu-lates out nicely. Your solar window isopen the widest between 10:00-2:00. In a perfect scenario, you wantto present the coldest possible tankto the solar array as the sun rises.This drives the efficiency to the bestpercentage.When all the calcs are said and

done, a solar fraction of 45 - 60% iswell within reach pretty much any-where in the United States. We cal-culate that over a 12-month period,of course. It is quite possible to get80 - 100% in the summer monthsand drop back to 30% or less in thecolder, less sunny months. Using ac-tual data and software simulations, Ifeel confident in those projections.So in a nutshell, a 60-120-gallon

storage, with an appropriately sizedcollector array will provide the solarfraction. It also presents a reason-able payback for a SDHW system.But all this gets a bit foggier when

you start looking at covering heatingloads with solar thermal. Right outthe gate you realize you get the best,and most, solar when you need itleast. You can warm a lot of water allsummer long. But what are yougoing to heat with it? So the dilemma becomes how,

and how much, do you try to store.This is the challenge solar installershave always faced. It hasn’tchanged in the 30-plus years I havebeen involved with active solarthermal systems. In a perfect ther-modynamic world you could ex-actly match the solar input, orharvest, to the ever-hanging heatingload. I have read about projects inEurope that have DHW and heatingfractions right up to 100%. Examinethe numbers carefully to see whattype of storage capacity is requiredto accomplish. Snoop aroundwww.jenni.ch to see some of the 90- 100% SF systems they have builtand installed. On one apartment in-stallation, an 8-unit complex re-quired 205,000 liters of storage toget that SF. If my math is correct,that is around 54,000 gallons ofsolar storage. Could you spec that

With the solar thermal

industry ramping up

again, we are seeing

high-tech approaches

to tank design.

sized insulated tank to your cus-tomers?But there is some encouraging

news for those interested in chasingdown the solar storage challenges.Water, being the medium we all workin, becomes the best shot at storage.It’s cheap, easily stored and shuffledand a fairly good conductor of heat.Here are a couple examples of how

to put it to use: Cedar MountainSolar owner Bristol Stickney writesa monthly column for Phc News. Inhis writings, Bristol has described adeveloped means to store excesssolar energy in the mass of the build-ing. Typical jobs he installs have aradiant heat component. They use aseries of controls and zoning to storethe energy in various zones of the ra-diant slabs. Care must be taken toprevent overheating the space andallowing uncomfortable tempera-tures in those zones, of course.Bob Ramlow of Wisconsin loads

up a large sand bed under the slab asa parking space for solar gained dur-ing the summer months. This cantake him deep into the heating sea-son, depending on the building loadsand storage capacity available.Still the most common thermal

storage remains insulated tanks con-taining plain old tap water. Tanks arereadily available in all sorts of sizes,shapes and configurations. Tankswith coils inside for heat exchangehave been popular over the years.We now see tanks available withmultiple coils inside for various tem-perature outputs and loads. With thesolar thermal industry ramping upagain, we are seeing high-tech ap-proaches to tank design. Stratifica-tion chambers, lances or fibermaterials are being used to encour-age the tank temperatures to stratify.Several manufacturers offer tankswith a wax-like product on the topfor some latent heat storage. Tank-in-tank designs are another ap-proach. Several manufacturersinstall small capacity stainless steelflash tanks inside the solar storagetank. The concept is to store smallquantities at elevated temperature toaddress Legionella concerns. Somewild stratification tanks are beingbuilt these days. Yet other brandsuse small ECM circs to “stack” thetank in layers. Clever concepts.Tanks with external heat exchang-

ers are another ideal way to look atthermal storage; this allows you topurchase less expensive storage-onlytanks. Now you have more optionsfor capacity and this also allows youto size the external heat exchanger

exactly to the load and conditions. Ifor when the tank springs a leak, anew insulated tank can be installedat a much lower cost.This is especially true when you

start looking at tanks in excess of120-gallon capacity. Still, othercontractors limit tank size to 120gallons to take advantage of com-mon off-the-shelf products. Theythen manifold together multipletanks to configure the exact capac-ity to match the design. Clever pip-ing and 3-way motorized valves canallow you to “load” these tanks atdifferent temperatures or to matchthe daily gain, providing sufficienttemperatures to meet that load.Large quantities of lukewarm waterdoesn’t help much for covering youheating loads. Certainly, designingyour heating distribution tempera-tures as low as possible will helpmaximize the solar contribution.So at the end of the day, and the

end of the article, there really isn’t a“one size,” or one method that fitsall approaches to solar storage.Research and educate yourself on

the options for tanks, heat exchang-ers and controls. Talk to the old solardogs with years of experience.Jump at any chance to attend the

Frankfurt ISH show. InterSolar inMunich is another great show to seewild and unique solar storage prod-ucts. These shows and others haveU.S. versions now. Most of the bigplayers in the industry — both for-eign and domestic — bring productto the plumbing and solar tradeshows across the States.Domestic tanks suited for solar

have been around for many yearsand new players are entering themarket with high-tech solutions.Rheem has built the external coil So-laraide for many years. Vaughnstone-lined tanks are another oldname in the industry. Heat TransferProducts has some clever hybridsolar tanks, some with high effi-ciency back-up burners built in.Lochinvar has a clever approachcalled the LockTemp, available insizes from 78 - 2,500 gallons. Brad-ford White offers 10 or more solarspecific tanks. Heat-Flo builds dualcoil, stainless steel and solar storagesolar tanks. Many solar storage tankswill have a provision for a back-upelectrical element. This provides anice, simple dual-fuel option. �

Bob “hot rod” Rohr has been aplumbing, radiant heat and solarcontractor and installer for 30years. Rohr has been a long-timeRPA member, and has since joinedCaleffi North America as managerof training and education.

Visit us at www.heliodyne.com, or call 1.888.878.8750 for information about us and our products.

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12:54 PM Page 1


28 Phc News — AUGUST 2009radIant InsIder

Don’t leave me hangin’

BY PAUL ROHRS,contributing writer

Walk into any hardware store and it won’t takelong to find a variety of items designed to hangpictures, cabinets, quilts or curtains. The

plumbing and hydronic industry is no different. As an in-dustry, we are required to adhere to codes by correctlysupporting supply and return lines for potable water, aswell as drain, waste and vent pipe according to the linesize we are running. Manufacturers cater to these needsby giving us that same, but expanded variety.A very common method of supporting equipment in-

volves the use of Unistrut. This article will show samplesof strut installs and other ideas of how different contrac-tors use it. Not all of these are for hydronic and plumbinguse. The installs can range from garage storage rack, to astraight edge for tile, to a bike rack. My point is that yourimagination can be your greatest guide. Struts come in many styles: Galvanized or painted, with

accessories such as pipe rollers, raceway enclosures,mounting brackets and anti-vibration clamps. These fewlisted items barely scratch the surface for hardware you canattach, mount or secure with struts. When coupled with thenecessary washers, nuts and bolts, you have an arsenal ofitems to support your project. (Feel free to email me if youwould like me to send you a pdf guide from one manufac-turer that lists all the strut accessories they offer —[email protected]. As it is available indifferent styles and lengths, a chop saw, reciprocating saw,or even a hacksaw will be necessary to cut this to length.A common sight, as in Figure 1, shows a trapeze assem-

bly supporting hotand cold potablewater supplies aswell as a vent pipe.You can see thateven with a smallpiece of strut andhangers supporting

multiple items, there is still plenty of room left if need be.You could hang supply and return lines for heating sys-tems or boiler vents. Figure 2 is a boiler install by Frank Wilsey of “All

Steamed Up” inNew York City.Frank used strutfor a chase for hisfuel oil line as wellas a convenientmount for an elec-trical disconnect. Figure 3 is a sim-

ple bike rack thatwas put together.Who doesn’t needmore storage roomin the garage? If you are like most families with bicycles,it doesn’t take long for bikes to be scattered all over. Thiswas a central way with a little bit of 15/8" painted strutand some “inside 45° brackets to have a way to pull your

bike into its ownrespective stall. In-side that samegarage there is astorage rack sus-pended above thegarage door thatprovides storage

space in an other-wise unused area.Figure 4 illustratesan effective placeto store frequentlyand infrequentlyused items that arenow readily acces-

sible. (This was an excellent space for the Christmas treeand ornaments.) It is important to note that this storagerack was supported so that it was above any garage-doorhardware. This particular project might also be a good il-lustration of how engineered steel like unistrut has an ad-vantage over dimensional lumber. The smaller profile ofsteel, properly supported, can lend itself to long spans.Figure 5 takes us back into the world of hydronics and

how strut was usedin one job to sup-port a shell andtube heat-ex-changer, backflowpreventer, a circu-lator motor, as wellas some supply andreturn piping. The angled bracket built out of strut wasbuilt with function in mind. A few linear feet of strut cou-pled with inside 45° and 90° brackets did not cost muchto build and as space was a premium, the amount of wallspace used was negligible.In addition to its price, a primary benefit of Unistrut is

its availability. Coming from a wholesaling backgroundbefore becoming a contractor, I commonly referred tostrut as an “A” item. There are catalogs available for strutaccessories and with a lengthy list, it is up to you to con-vey your needs and wants to your preferred vendor. Strutclamps for steel and copper are usually readily availableas is vibra-clamps. Vibra clamps are just like strut clampsbut feature an addi-tional plastic insertthat keeps the copperfirmly isolated awayfrom steel clamps andstrut. One commonitem I really like iscalled a “Slick Nut.”Figure 6 shows thissmall galvanized inserthas plastic tabs that,when pushed together, slide directly into the channel andcan be easily slid to your desired location before beingtightened to secure it to a final location.

There is a tidalwave of solar proj-ects heading ourway and it seemsthat Unistrut iscurrently, and willcontinue to be,used in the mount-

ing of solar panels and associated components. Figure 7is a fine example of how unistrut was utilized in mountingsolar collectors to a standing seam roof. I hope this article can be used as an illustrative guide

for you and your company to see different uses of Unistrutso that they can be modified to your next project. Again,let your imagination be your guide. �

..Engineered steel likeUnistrut has anadvantage over

dimensional lumber.The smaller profileof steel, properly

supported, can lenditself to long spans.

Figure 1

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 7Figure 2Figure 2

Figure 5Figure 5

Figure 6

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30 Phc News — AUGUST 2009Bare Bones BIz

Discipline is another word for…

BY ELLEN ROHRcontributing writer

It’s summertime in the Ozarks and nature is workingher way into my house, my garden and my car. Thespiders are creeping their way into my office. The

birds are nesting in the roof of the shop. A raccoon ran-sacked my birdseed in the well house. And yesterday, Iwatched a big black snake slither its way into the un-dercarriage of my car!Life in the country is about beating back nature. You

move to a rural community to enjoy the grass and thetrees and the critters and the bees. You just don’t wantthem all moving inside. So, you beat them back withbroom, mop, weed whacker, power washer and the oc-casional shout. “Hey, get out of the birdseed.” You canslow the tide and carve out your own space. It takes dis-cipline and the right action. (I have no idea, however,what I am going to do about that snake!) Discipline is a loaded word. According to my diction-

ary, it means punishment inflicted by way of correctionand training. It also means activity, exercise or a regi-men that develops or improves a skill; training. Boundby the first definition, I used to hate this word. As I ex-plore the second definition, I am growing to love it.

Discipline your timeThe busiest people I know have empty Calendars. If

you don’t block out your time and plan your week, youwill find your time sucked away by everything andeveryone. If you don’t block out time to work on proj-ects, the projects won’t get done. Instead, you will spinon the hamster wheel of too much work and too littleto show for it. Once a week, sit down with your To Dolist and your Calendar. In my May article, I encouragedyou to set Goals for this year, and create your Top Proj-ects list. Have them handy. Review where you want togo and commit to a few hours of focused activity thatwill move you in that direction. What are the projects –a project is activity that has more than one To Do in it– that will help you solve a problem or expand an op-portunity? Block out time on your Calendar to work onthem. Here are a few projects, for example…• Work on Top Projects List (a good start!)• Redesign the Service Truck inventory • Create a Training Program for the Customer Service

Reps• Increase calls in through Acquisition• Revamp the bonus and compensation program• Establish a safety program• Write the Operations ManualsWhen the project time appears on your Calendar,

shut the door, forward the phones and get to work. Irarely schedule more than two hours at a time to workon any project because if I do, I waste time. If I sched-uled a whole day to clean my office, I would screwaround for six of eight hours anyway. I’d make a cup ofcoffee, call my sisters, check out USAToday.com, afterall…I have ALL day. I noticed that I only do about twohours of focused work if I plan eight hours for a project.So, now I just schedule two hour blocks. Having the time blocked out on your Calendar in-

creases the likelihood that the project will get done. And,I guarantee that you are wasting two hours every day. Or,spending two hours running around dealing with the fallout of a bad system. If you fix the system, you free thetime. Stephen Covey calls this “sharpening the saw.”

Discipline your financials Once a week, compare actual performance to Bud-

geted. Once a month, close the previous month with a

line by line review of the Balance Sheet and the Profitand Loss statements. These are simple procedures thatcan make all the difference to your profitability. Intendto implement these systems and move in that direction.If your financials are a slinky-knot mess, consider a fewprojects that will move you in the direction of a KnownFinancial Position (KFP.)• Meet with your CPA and review the financials, line

by line. • Attend a Quick Books class. • Read “Where did the Money Go?” by yours truly. Put these projects on your Calendar. And, schedule the

weekly and monthly meetings. Hold to them. Hold yourbookkeeper accountable for working with you to get toKFP. Be disciplined about your Financial Stewardship.

Discipline your marketingThe phone’s not ringing? You may panic, and wonder,

“What can I do right now?” Marketing takes discipline.Block out your Marketing To Dos on your Calendar. Forinstance, if you want to send out a Direct Mail piece oncea quarter, pick those dates. Create appointments that say,“Send out Direct Mail pieces!” Then, move backwards intime and plug the needed To Dos in that will help youmake sure you can meet those appointments:• Update Marketing Plan and Budget. • Brainstorm headlines for Postcards. • Work with designer on postcard layout. • Finalize postcards and order them. • Assemble mailing list. • Break the project into steps. Block out the time.

Are you seeing how elegant and powerful your Calen-dar can be?

Discipline your counselI highly recommend using a consultant. I am one! If

you want to learn how to golf, you would take a lesson.Maybe a group lesson, maybe a private lesson. Youwould practice the techniques you learned. You wouldexperiment with your balance, grip and swing. Youwould keep score and track what works and whatdoesn’t. You’d take another lesson, maybe from anotherPro. And, if you are disciplined, you will get good. If youare talented and disciplined, you could get great. You can over-do the consulting, however. Are you a

guru junkie? Do you search high and low for the next,best, brightest, smartest person to make sense of yourbusiness? Do you want someone to just tell you what todo to fix it? You can spend too much time and too muchmoney avoiding what you need To Do to be successfuland searching for someone to do it for you. Be disci-plined in your approach to consulting and supportgroups. Too much information is confusing and can bedistracting. I use consultants to help me develop discipline. For

20 years I have been meaning to meditate for 15 min-utes twice a day. In 20 years, I don’t think I pulled it offeven one day. So, I signed up for a meditation class. At7:30 a.m. and 9:45 p.m. we meet on the phone and ourmeditation coach takes us through an exercise. Yep, theappointments are on my Calendar. I am developing thehabit, the discipline, and I am enjoying the benefits ofmore focus and peace of mind.

Discipline your mindIt is easy to do what needs to be done to be successful.

Why then, do we fight the flow and embrace the strug-

It is easy to do whatneeds to be done to besuccessful. Why then, do

we fight the flow andembrace the struggle?

(Turn to Discipline, page 34.)

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32 Phc News — AUGUST 2009Plumbing business

That costly unsold hour factor

BY RICHARD DiTOMA, L.M.P.,contributing writer

As a human, your primary language is second na-ture to you. But it had to be taught to and ab-sorbed by you to give you the ability to speak

without consciously thinking about the actual words yousay. However, you should keep in mind that putting yourbrain in gear before opening your mouth is always thewiser way to utilize the gift of speech.As a plumbing contractor, you rely on Drainage Fix-

tures Units (DFUs) to determine the size of drainage pip-ing needed to allow for the proper flow of waste fromplumbing fixtures. Many plumbing contractors probablydon’t consider DFU calculations every day because themethodology of pipe sizes becomes second nature toplumbers who are in the field everyday. The same holds true for heating and cooling contractors

with regards to Btus. These measuring units are examplesof things that are presumably constant. Even so, it’s al-ways wiser to calculate the loads of each situation to makecertain that your pipe sizes and heating/cooling equip-ment are properly sized before quoting any prices andperforming any tasks.As a business person, the use of the correct application

of formulas needed to be successful is also a constant. How-ever, circumstances revolving around factors used in thoseformulas are in a constant state of flux. Therefore, the coststo run a business must be constantly monitored in orderto be certain that you will recover the cost you incur to dothe job and give yourself an opportunity to make a profitfor your performance. That’s what business is all about.You must correctly calculate your budget in totality.

You probably figure your jobs on the time and materialneeded to perform the task. A correct budget calculationwill allow you to interpolate your total operational costsfor labor and overhead into your actual cost per techni-cian hour. Even so, as soon as you itemize your costs andadd them up the total amount is subject to change be-cause any of the items included in the budget may haveincreased in cost to you. Therein is one of the causes ofthe constant state of flux.After you become adept at calculating and monitoring

your budget constantly and correctly, you will develop theability to build in buffers that will address the everydayfluctuations. To arrive at your labor/overhead cost pertech hour, you would divide your total cost of operationby your annual maximum available technician hours toarrive at your labor/overhead cost per tech hour. But, ifyou leave anything out or use a wrong number, you willget a wrong result.In a 5-day/40-hour workweek, a 52-week year will pres-

ent you with 2,080 annual hours of payroll and overheadexpenses per technician. An annual two-week vacation,six holidays and 244 non-billable tech preparatory hours(for daily checking and restocking of truck, etc.) per techdrops your maximum available billing time to 1,708 hoursper tech year while you pay for 2,080 hours.

Labor/overhead costsAs of 2009, the overhead cost for one set up truck

stocked to deliver PHC services in the USA is probably be-tween $75.00 and $150.00 per tech hour without thetech’s salary and salary-related expenses. The size andstructure of any business could make the overhead costof any business higher or lower than that particular range.The $75.00-$150.00 range is based on contractors sellingall 1,708 annual potentially productive hours for everytech all the time. At an annual technician salary of $25,000, you would

have to add to your overhead cost about $25.00 per tech

hour to cover the salary and salary related expenses forwhich you pay. That would make the minimumlabor/overhead cost to you per tech hour $100.00. At a$60,000.00 annual technician salary, your minimumlabor/overhead cost per tech hour would be about$125.00. And at $90,000.00, it would be about $147.00. The key word to consider is “minimum.” Your overhead

costs could be higher. At the $150.00 overhead cost thosehourly labor/overhead costs are $175.00, $200.00 and$222.00 respectively. And, in either case, if less than1,708 hours are sold your labor/overhead cost per soldtech hour will rise even higher.The 1,708 hours is the maximum possible per tech

without overtime. It’s a benchmark. By using the maxi-mum available hours, no one can accuse you of paddingyour cost with regard to any service performed. Figure 1is based on the aforementioned maximum 1,708 hoursper tech. At the top of Figure 1 you will see a range oflabor/overhead costs to the contractor starting at $100.00per tech hour and increasing in $25 increments to$250.00 per tech hour. The majority of contractors acrossthe country will probably fall in the $125.00 to $200.00range. Figure 1 shows the effect upon your labor/overheadcost per tech hour when all your maximum available an-nual tech hours are not sold. The lower left portion of the chart shows different levels

of average daily tech hours sold in a year. The left mostcolumn describes the economic times. No one sells alltheir tech hours all the time. You probably only sell anaverage of four to six hours per tech per day during nor-mal economic times and less during recessionary times. The column to the right of the economic times indi-

cates the annual percentage of hours sold compared tothe hours that were available. Next, you will see the aver-age annual hours sold per tech. After that, the averagenumber of hours sold per tech starting at seven hours perwork day and decreasing in increments of 30 minutes. Tothe right of the hours sold is the real cost of the hour toyou as it relates to the number of hours sold. For example, if your true labor/overhead cost based on

1,708 potential tech hours is $100.00 per hour and youonly sell an average of five hours per day, your labor/over-head cost per tech hour is really $140.00. Since your totalannual cost of operation is constant; and you only sell anaverage five hours per tech day (1,220 annual tech hours-71% of your potential tech hours) the unsold hour factorcauses your $100.00 cost to rise to $140.00. The unsoldhours become an unapplied labor expense. A budget costof $175.00 per tech hour would cost you $245.00 at anaverage of five sold hours per day.

Choosing the correct profit marginYou must now consider your unapplied labor expense.

Except for the liars and deniers, no one sells all their avail-

Since the revenue thatkeeps your business

alive only comes fromconsumers, if youdon’t use correct

numbers you will makeyour situation worse

not better. Fewer hourssold increase your

labor/overheadcost per hour.

Figure 1

(Turn to Selling all... page 34.)

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able tech hours all the time for alltheir techs. Therefore, the sellingprice must reflect a profit marginthat considers the unsold hour factorand seven-hour benchmark cost cal-culation. If you don’t choose theproper profit margin, you will surelyfail to attain your goals. As the riskincreases so should the profit mar-gin. Before delving into an example,I should first clarify the difference be-tween a profit margin and a markup.A profit margin is that portion of

the selling price which is left afterthe total cost of the selling price issubtracted from the selling price. Ifyour selling price to perform a serv-ice was $1,000.00 and you wanted a10% profit margin, the cost for labor,overhead and material would be$900.00. The $100.00 profit would10% of the $1000.00 selling price.That’s different from a markup on

cost. Ten percent of the $900.00 costfor labor, overhead and material isonly $90.00. Taking 10% of your costwhich is $90.00 and adding it to thatcost would make your selling price$990.00 instead of $1,000.00. You can use this method, but keep

in mind, it doesn’t give you a true10% profit margin. If it did, you coulddeduct 10% from the $990.00 sellingprice and recover all of your $900.00cost. But, 10% of $990.00 is $99.00.Since you only charged $990.00, de-ducting $99.00 would only give you$891.00 to cover the $900.00 labor,

overhead and material cost you in-curred. With the $1,000.00 sellingprice a 10% reduction would giveyou the full $900.00 cost.Figure 2 shows that a certain profit

margin is needed just to recover con-tractor cost. Example, at an averageof five tech hours per day, the con-tractor with the $100.00 hourly techlabor/overhead cost (based on allavailable tech hours being sold) hasa $140.00 cost reality. He/she wouldhave to apply a 28.57% profit marginto the $100.00 cost just to breakeven. $100.00 divided by 71.43%(the difference between 100% sellprice and 28.57% profit) would givehim/her a selling price of $140.00 foran hour. Unfortunately, that sellingprice would still defeat the only rea-son for which businesses exist. Thatis, to make a profit.To make a 10% profit that will cover

the risk, that contractor would haveto charge $155.55. That means a35.71% profit margin must be appliedto the original $100.00 cost. Theproof is $100.00 divided by 64.29%(the difference between 100% sellprice and 35.71% profit) = $155.55.When you subtract the $140.00 costfrom the $155.55 selling price,$15.55 is left. When you divide the$15.55 profit by the $155.55 sellingprice you get a 10% profit margin.In the current recessionary times

you may sell even less hours. Sincethe revenue that keeps your busi-ness alive only comes from con-

sumers, if you don’t use correctnumbers you will make your situa-tion worse not better. Fewer hourssold increase your labor/overheadcost per hour. That means loweringyour prices without thinking willonly serve to hurt you, not help you.You can lower your profit margin.But, keep in mind the effect of theunsold hour factor. In the aforemen-tioned example, the contractorcould choose to lower his/her profitmargin to 29%. That would makehis/her selling price per hour$140.85. It covers his/her cost andmakes an 85 cent profit. It is a mea-ger profit for the value that contrac-tor delivers. But, it’s still abovehis/her cost. If he/she loweredhis/her profit margin another ½ %,he/she would lose money.The percentages you would have to

use are determined by the factors sur-rounding your business. Don’t go anduse the aforementioned examplenumbers without being certain thatthey will address your situation. Thatmeans you must do some calculating.I realize I have thrown a lot of

numbers at you. Don’t panic. Justkeep in mind the logical proportion

between the numbers and apply thecorrect factors to arrive at your sell-ing prices. It’s easier than it initiallyseems. And, if you need help, I amas close your phone. Just call me at845/639-5050. Denying the importance of factual

information is a trait of the prover-bial ostrich who buries his head inthe sand while leaving his butt ex-posed to face reality. When he getskicked in the butt, he is to blame. As always, I wish you good health

and much prosperity. �

Selling all your hoursPlumbing business

Discipline(Continued from page 30.)

gle? Emotional and spiritual issuesget in the way. Ultimately, your pathis a personal journey and your busi-ness a reflection of that. A lifetime ofnegative self-talk and toxic relation-ships can wreak havoc on the bestplan and intentions. Happiness andpeace can be cultivated through dis-ciplined practice. Two thousand five hundred years

ago, Lao-tzu dictated 81 verses ofwisdom, known as the Tao TeChing, the Great Way. The 64thverse includes the oft-quoted line,“A journey of a thousand miles be-gins with a single step.” Discipline is about at once con-

sidering the horizon, where you areultimately heading and taking onesingle step in that direction. It’s

about acknowledging when you fallshort and gently correcting course.There is no secret to your success.Apply the basics, today, then to-morrow, and keep moving in thegeneral direction of your intention. Another definition of discipline…

is love. It takes discipline to keep a

house in order, a business hum-ming, a relationship working. Mosttimes, you know what needs to bedone. I encourage you to take ac-tion. If you don’t know, sit with it abit and ask for inspiration. About that snake…. �

Need help? Reach me at417.753.1111 or [email protected] You can also join inon our FREE “We love solvingproblems” Teleseminars at www.barebonesbiz.com.

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BY JOHN MESENBRINK,chief editor

“Adventures” as in relatingto the volatile economy.Consumer confidence is

not exactly where is should be andsome economic experts believe that,in time, the economy eventually willdig itself out of this recessive ravine,but not nearly replicative of some ofthe high times seen from the last halfdecade. The fact is that the water heater

industry still looks sluggish. “2010 isgoing to look a lot like 2009, with aslight uptick late 2010,” said Chuck

Rohde, wholesale market manager,Rheem Water Heating.The ever-so positive news is that

according to the U.S. Census Bureauand the Department of Housing andUrban Development, June housingstarts and building permits issuedsaw a slight increase — 8.7% build-ing permits, 3.6% housing starts —from May revised numbers. How-ever, the movement appears minutecompared to last year’s numbers —down nearly 50% in both categories— but builders will take any goodnews when they see it.So where do we go from here?“The economy is certainly one of

the most frequently discussed top-ics, but most contractors are takingadvantage of this time by workingwith homeowners and facility man-agers to upgrade their systems in-stead of waiting for their next job tocome to them. We have found thatcontractors who proactively seek outopportunities, and who do a fair jobof selling ROI, are being successful,”said Sterling Boston, director of mar-keting, Lochinvar.“Along with its partner represen-

tatives, distributors and contractors,we have all felt the burden of theeconomic crisis. The biggest con-cern we face collectively is from the

global economy and the impact thatit has on homeowner’s ability anddesire to purchase new heatingequipment,” said Todd Romig, vicepresident of sales and marketing,Heat Transfer Products.A great reference point to get a

pulse of the water heater industry isto examine shipment data. Everymonth, water heating shipment datareleased from the Air-Conditioning,Heating, and Refrigeration Institute(AHRI) can be a good barometer of thewater heating market. According tothe latest AHRI May shipment num-bers, residential electric water heatershipments for May totaled 313,492,an 11.5% drop from the same montha year ago. Residential gas waterheater shipments totaled 299,013, a10.8% decrease compared with ship-ments for the same month last year.(See Figure 1.) For the year-to-date,about 1,603,970 residential gas water

heaters have been shipped, a 7.4%drop compared with the same perioda year ago. For the year-to-date,about 1,597,548 residential electric (Turn to Water Heater... page 40.)

Adventures in water heating

Water Heater market

Even in this economy, manufactur-ers continue to look to the future

with their product offerings. Energy ef-ficiency is driving the market, with En-ergy Star and green building pilotingthe ship. “The economy is the biggest con-

cern, no doubt. However, while theoverall market size continues to con-tract, there are opportunities for cus-tomers to incorporate new technologiesand expand into new markets, likesolar,” said Bruce Carnevale, vice pres-ident of sales and marketing, BradfordWhite Corp. Some key examples include:Bradford White — Bradford White

Heaters recently introduced 14 newindirect solar water heating units, in-creasing the company’s offerings inthe solar category to a total of 32models.The new water heaters include six

EcoStor2 SC double wall, single coilgas backup models, six EcoStor2 SCdouble wall, single coil TTW gasbackup models and two EcoStor2 SC

double wall, single-coil Eco-Defendergas backup models.

Laars Heating Systems subsidiary

Laars will soon introduce a volumewater heater version of the successfulNeoTherm mod-con boiler. These willbe fully condensing, 95% efficient, witha welded stainless steel heat ex-changer. There will be five sizes rang-ing from 150 to 500,000 BTUs.

Heat Transfer Products — The newPhoenix Evolution combines spaceheating, domestic hot water, and totalsystem control into one compact, highefficiency mod-con unit.Just five connections — supply and

return for heating, inlet and outlet forDHW and system feed — and you’re

done. There’s no primary-secondaryloop to install, no near boiler piping,no boiler/indirect electrical connec-tions, and no isolation valves.Imagine fitting a 55-gallon water

heater, 135,000 Btu boiler, and buffertank into a space as small as 34" � 53".The new Phoenix Evolution does it!

The Evolution’sadvanced mod-contechnology deliv-ers a system effi-ciency of 96%,reducing electricaland gas con sump-tion without sacri-ficing comfort. Thehigh output heatexchanger puts out135,000 BTU/hrfor space heating,

with system isolation for low tempera-ture baseboard, radiant heating, andhydro air applications built in.

A.O. Smith — The Cyclone® Ximodel from A.O. Smith achieves thefirst water heater endorsement fromthe Green Restaurant Association(GRA). These models are ideal forrestaurant applications due to the high

efficiency of 96% percent and versatileventing capability.

Rheem Water Heating — Con-sumers enjoy remote, fingertip controlof their domestic hot water from virtu-

ally anywhere inside the home. RheemWater Heating recently announced that

Water heater options

(Turn to Options, page 40.)

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storage water heaters have beenshipped, a 10.4% drop compared tothe same period last year. “Many experts were predicting a

turn around in the economy in the3rd or 4th quarter of 2009. I thinkany improvement will be minor, andprobably not until 2010,” said BruceCarnevale, vice president of salesand marketing, Bradford White. Commercial numbers have de-

clined more with commercial gaswater heater shipments for May total-ing 6,220, dropping 15% comparedwith the same month last year, whilecommercial electric water heatershipments totaling 4,691, an 18.9%drop compared with the same montha year ago. For the year-to-date, com-mercial electric water heater ship-ments (24,250) are 16.6% behindtotal shipments of this product duringthe same period last year (29,083).

Commercial gas water heater ship-ments (34,011) for the year-to-dateare down 12.8%, compared with thesame period a year ago (38,999). “Water heater unit sales will be the

lowest we’ve seen in a number ofyears. The softening seems to haveflattened out, but we don’t foresee asignificant recovery in 2010. We see2010 producing similar results to2009 in terms of overall industry vol-ume. Where the residential marketseems to have bottomed out, we donot see a significant rebound in 2010.We also see a softening in the com-mercial market that will continueinto 2010,” said David Chisolm,brand manager, A.O. Smith.But not all news is doom and

gloom. The high efficiency marketwill continue to grow as a percent ofthe overall market.“Our concern is a combination of

OptionsWater heater forecast

Water Heater Market

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(Continued from page 38.)a wired remote control with a liquidcrystal display screen (LCD) will beoffered on its 40-gallon and 50-gallon,tall and short, power-vent gas-firedwater heaters. Available in late July2009, the remote-controlled waterheaters will be Energy Star® compli-ant, displaying the insignia on the ex-terior of the units, which will bedistinctively identifiable with its blacktop and bottom pans and whitejacket.

Lochinvar — Lochinvar’s newly in-troduced SHIELD Commercial WaterHeater comes with a $50 cash rebatepaid to the installing contractor forevery unit installed (up to 20 units)through the end of the year. With inputs up to 500,000 Btu/hr, 96percent thermal efficiency and storageup to 125 gallons, SHIELD has every-

thing it takes to provide the ultimategreen operation — without the risk oflime scale buildup inside the tank. De-signed to provide a 100% effective de-fense against this problem, SHIELD isequipped with the industry’s most ad-vanced stainless steel heat transfersystem located outside of the tank, en-suring the same high efficiency andlow operating costs throughout its lifecycle.


(Turn to Water Heater... page 42.)

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the weak economy, regarding thecommercial market, and frustrations

with new technology — there will bea continued push for higher effi-ciency products, this can only bedone with more advanced technol-ogy,” said Chisolm.The tax incentives on efficient

water heaters gets mixed reviews onwhether it will completely stem thetide. “2009 has not been spectacular

for our industryas a whole, butwith incentivessuch as the$1,500 FederalTax Credit forhomeowners touse for efficiencyupgrades andstimulus moneybeing pushed outon commercialwork, there is def-initely enough tokeep us busy right

now,” said Boston. However, “While the tax incentives

will help drive sales for some high ef-ficiency products, I don’t believe theywill overcome the lack of consumerconfidence in spending. Consumers

are investing in higher efficiencyproducts, but there is also a trend to-ward more basic, lower cost optionsto heat water as well. We also see thatconsumers are more likely to repairequipment rather than replace it,”Carnevale added.Although 2010 may forecast soft,

it appears to be slowly getting better.“All indications from the econo-

mists that we are listening to is that2010 will start soft but should beheading back to normal by the 3rdquarter,” said Boston.Although the forecast doesn’t look

all too rosy for 2010, many manufac-turers are clinging to the ideals ofmore efficient products and helpingtheir customers any way they can. “Idon’t foresee a lot of improvement in2010. But, in times like these, some-times you have to ‘make your ownlight at the end of the tunnel.’ Themarket is down, so we see it as ourresponsibility to provide our cus-tomers with the highest quality,most comprehensive product line

available to them. Some of our newproducts and technology will opennew market niches for contractors –a good way to grow business for allof us,” said Carnevale.High Efficiency — A new line of

power direct vent (PDV), tank-typewater heaters from Rheem Manufac-turing Co., for example, is designed tomeet the rigorous demands of today’stightly constructed new homes thatseek to maximize both energy savingsand air quality. With an Energy Factor(EF) of 0.67, Rheem PDV WaterHeaters exceed the new, phase oneEnergy Star criteria of 0.62 for waterheaters, which the Department of En-ergy made effective on January 1.A. O. Smith, State Water Heater

and American Water Heater brands,for example, all have a comprehen-sive line of Energy Star®-rated waterheaters. Likewise, the A. O. SmithVertex line, the State Premier PowerVent line and the American Polarisline also qualify for the $1,500 Fed-eral tax credit. �

Water heater forecastWater Heater Market



Contractors examine the “nuts and bolts” and inner workingsof a water heater at a Bradford White training seminar.

Speedfit ®


Dan Holohan’s Web site, HeatingHelp.com, features a message boardcalled “The Wall” where hydronic heating professionals post ques-tions and offer answers of all kinds regarding hydronic heating

systems. Dan has kindly allowed Phc News to reprint some of the more in-teresting postings here each month. This section will surely whet your cu-riosity, so log on to the web site and click on “The Wall” for a treasure troveof useful and just plain interesting information.

Q: Can you settle a debate I’m havingwith a friend? We live in Savannah,Georgia – mild winters. I am convincedthat a hybrid or dual fuel heat pump isideal for our climate. My friend says hy-brid systems are not good products andsays they are hard to repair, and theycost too much compared to straight gasfurnace & A/C or all electric heat pump.He also insists that they are “overkill”and not beneficial to the bottom line.Can you settle this argument?

—Alan

A: I’m with you. Great concept. I’m onmy second hybrid system. Started in1995. I’d say we sell as many or morehybrid than we do furnace & coolingunit combos. Where we are, wintersaren’t too bad and electric rates arereasonable.

—John Q: As a wholesaler I would like you tofinish the following question: If youcould run your current suppliers busi-ness for 60 days, what changes wouldyou make? Do they offer enough train-

ing? Is their inventory up to snuff? Arethere products that you would like to seethem carry that they currently do not?I’m asking because starting on Mon-

day I am going to pose the same ques-tions to my customers via a suggestionbox and I would like to compare myselfto suppliers throughout the country.There is no better way to grow my busi-ness then to help my customers grow.

—Chris A: Having been a wholesaler and atradesman, there are many areas thatmy local suppliers have forgotten.A) Tradesmen pay your paycheck,

so go the extra mile to take care ofyour customer. Yes, some of us arepains, or we do not explain things well,or we call you at closing time and wantthings immediately. But, we are asking

you for a reason. Learn to look pastour personality traits and understandwe are asking for a reason. When youfind the way to look past our issues,you will become the go-to guy.B) Do a better job of getting product

information from the reps to the con-tractor. This is the biggest issue in thedistribution line. There are greatproducts that we learn about throughtrade magazines, or forums, or wher-ever else. The wholesaler has theseproducts come across their deskevery day. Instead of throwing it inthe circular file, ask the tradesmenwhat they think. Often great productsget overlooked because someoneabove the tradesman decides what weget to see.

—Bob

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BY MORRIS R. BESCHLOSS,PVF and economic analyst emeritus

Conbraco Industries Inc.,headquartered in Matthews,N.C., has triumphed over the

adversity of the ongoing recessionwith remarkable skill and courage.This 80-plus-year-old family-

owned PVF industry paragon hascontinued to grow and flourish at atime when lesser companies would

have sought the benefits of a corpo-rate buyout or a merger with a largeconglomerate.But the family team, comprised of

president Glenn Mosack and seniorexecutive vice presidents Cal Mosackand Carole Mosack Lee, decided tostrengthen this manufacturing leaderof commercial, residential and indus-trial ball valves.What’s particularly remarkable is

that the buyback of the large shareof company stock not held by thefamily core group came before the fi-nancial crisis of September 2008. Inspite of this tidal wave of adversity,the Mosack family decided not onlyto maintain Conbraco as a familycontrolled enterprise, but movedboldly ahead in continuing their cap-ital expansion and aggressive marketdevelopment. Conbraco achievedcapital expenditures of $23 millionin the past five years, with $7.8 mil-lion spent in capital equipment inthe volatile 2008 year alone.In the past year, Conbraco added

immeasurably to its executivestrength by bringing into its fold aleading valve industry marketer,Tony Favilla, as vice president-salesand marketing. His credentials in-clude a multi-year stint at Nibco,after which he headed up CraneValve’s commercial division, whichincluded the revival of StockhamValve.

As one of the largest independ-ently held valve manufacturers, Con-braco has 1,200 employees, acherished industry brand name inApollo, an international presence, in-cluding Canada and Great Britain,more than 2,000 authorized stockingdistributors and a finished productinventory of up to $20 million. Con-braco deserves the highest respect asit has continued to expand its domi-nant industry position.To help the PVF industry in gen-

eral and our readers inparticular understand thisunprecedented achieve-ment, we were privilegedto receive the followinganswers in an exclusiveinterview with Glenn andCal Mosack.

Beschloss: I have longbeen an admirer of Con-braco’s achievements.Not only because of yourgrowth to well over $100million in revenue annu-ally, but that you havebeen able to grow

stronger internally, while consoli-dating the family’s hold by buyingback outstanding stock. This wouldhave been a remarkable achieve-ment in strong economic years, butmost incredible in the past ninemonths. What is the secret to thisunparalleled success?

Mosacks: Morrie, we’ve actuallysurpassed the $200-million mile-stone in annual revenue. We attrib-ute our success to a complete focuson marketing and promoting ourcore Apollo products to specificmarkets, including industrial PVF,commercial and mechanical, water-works, irrigation, fire protection,and power, to name a few.We are blessed to have a dedicated

and highly talented work force thattruly cares about the viability andsuccess of the company. We are for-tunate to have a strong relationshipwith our lenders to help facilitate thetransaction. Our stock buyback wasaccomplished in May 2006.

Beschloss: While there are stillmany independent PHCP distribu-tors, family-owned manufacturersin our industry are becoming fewand far between. Based on your sig-nificant revenue stream, you cer-tainly are at the top in size ofindependent valve manufacturers— and rival even those publiclyheld. Since you must carry a heavydebt to accomplish both your con-

tinued internal growth, as well aspaying off the stock buyback, steer-ing the Conbraco ship through theseshoals so successfully has mystifiedthe industry. Could you clarify thisaccomplishment?

Mosacks: We owe our ability tocontinue to pay down debt to severalfactors. The single most importantfactor has been the tremendous sup-port we’ve received from our cus-tomer base. We’re indebted to themechanical contractor, who specifiesApollo and asks for it by name. We’regrateful to the industrial end user,who demands Apollo for numerousapplications, including severe serviceand has a need for exotic alloys thatwe pour in our Conway foundry. Weare also in this fortunate position dueto strong and loyal support from ourextensive distribution.We were almost at a zero debt

when we took on our new arrange-ment for the stock buyback. Sincethe deal was done in late April 2006,we have reduced that debt by 28%.Even in this tough environment, wehave reduced our debt another 10%in 2009. Our lean manufacturing en-vironment and commitment to con-tinuous improvements allow us to

quickly adjust our cost structure towhatever level of sales we are beingblessed with. Late 2008 to the cur-rent date are a great example of this.

Beschloss: The Apollo brandname has risen to the top of theheap among architects, engineers,mechanical contractors, OEMs, in-dustrial maintenance engineersand project managers alike. Withthe rapidly changing turnover ofmany of these personnel positions,how have you kept your brandname so brightly burnished?

Mosacks: We push the Apollobrand everyday. We focus heavily on

presenting our unique story of beinga third-generation, family-ownedand operated business. We wave the“Stars & Stripes” to all markets weserve. And most importantly, wevalue the relationships with our cus-tomer base deeply.Even with personnel changes that

occur with some regularity, it’s para-mount that we maintain a close re-lationship with whoever occupiespositions that are critical to ourbrand preference.

Beschloss: Could you refresh ourreaders regarding what aspectcomprises Conbraco’s major end-use industries, serviced by yourmassive team of authorized distrib-utors?

Mosacks: The industrial end userbase, the E&Cs, A&Es, power are allserviced by our industrial PVF dis-tributors. The mechanical contrac-tor, plumbing contractor andindustrial contractor are serviced byboth the industrial PVF distributorand the commercial/plumbingwholesaler. We have a massive arrayof products that we manufacturethat are sold through these specificchannels. We offer everything frombackflow prevention devices to spe-cial alloyed top end ball valves.We’re not overly dependent on

any one market, which has served uswell.

Beschloss: With the unparalleledmomentum Conbraco has achievedand with the magic of the Apolloname, are you planning to expandyour product offerings to take ad-vantage of your overwhelmingmarket position?

Mosacks: We maintain an activeR&D group. We are always looking toadd complimentary products to all ofour core product offerings. We havecommitted $2.5 million annually todevelopment and introduction ofnew products, some of which arecoming out as we write this. We arecommitted to accomplishing thisthrough internal development orthrough an acquisition.

Beschloss: Despite the judiciousguidance through your complex fi-nancial problems, have you se-cured the durable credit linesnecessary to see you through thestill fragile financial restrictionsfacing American business?

Mosacks: We actually just refi-nanced in November 2008 with afive-year arrangement with betterterms and rates than our previousarrangement. Our current financing

Q&A with Glenn and Cal Mosack

Conbraco triumphs despite recessionary economy

Corporate report

At the helm (from r to l): President Glenn Mosack,senior executive vice presidents Carole Mosack Leeand Cal Mosack.

Valve industry marketing professionalTony Favilla, Conbraco vice president ofsales and marketing.


is with Bank of America and RBCCentura. To use their words, “Welike your growing financial metrics,your management team, your com-mitment to grow your business, andyour commitment to continuousimprovements.”

Beschloss: Please give us youroutlook for business in the PVF-ori-ented industry for the rest of 2009and 2010.

Mosacks: We believe 2009 and2010 are unprecedented difficulttimes that do give us opportunitiesto gain market share. We are thelone industrial ball valve manufac-turer that designs, pours, assembles,tests and ships as a “real” U.S. man-ufacturing company. There’s no oneelse that can make this statement. Amajor advantage for us is we havethe ability to react quickly to non-planned demand for product.We’re not waiting on a slow boat

from China or India or anywhereelse for that matter. We control ourentire industrial ball valve manufac-

turing process. There are a lot ofvery slow industrial markets that arespending very little on MRO require-ments and have “shelved” capitalprojects for the near future.However, there are industrial mar-

kets that are continuing to expand.We’re maintaining our focus andcommitment to the industrial PVFmarket place. We are also active inthe international industrial PVF busi-ness. We believe there are pockets ofopportunities in the global industrialbase. We must be more creative andrun our business smarter than weever have in our 82-year history.We also see significant growth op-

portunities in our OEM and contractmanufacturing. Many folks are look-ing for U.S. foundries and metal-working capabilities, and we are wellpositioned from a cost structure toaccomplish their goals.

Beschloss: You have proudly re-sisted going offshore as a cost-effec-tive basis for even part of yourproduct line. Are you encouraged by

the significant swing to buy Ameri-can, especially when it comes togovernment-financed stimuluspackages?

Mosacks: We are encouraged bythe push in the stimulus package tohave American-made content in thepurchases. We are one of only a fewwho can accomplish this and withthe amount allocated to infrastruc-ture, we are positioned well to cap-ture this business. We just wish, likeall others, it would come faster thanit appears it will happen.

Beschloss:With such a strong em-phasis on multi-generational familyownership, are there future genera-tional young men and women beingprimed to come into the business?Mosacks: We have eight children be-tween the three of us and some arealready in college, so time will tell ifthey show interest in becoming ourfourth generation in the business.We certainly hope so!

Beschloss: I’m sure you are awareof the thousands of well-wishers

who have been concerned aboutConbraco’s and the Mosack family’sgood and welfare. Is there any mes-sage you would like to share withyour customers, admirers and in-dustry well-wishers who have seenin Conbraco the American successstory personified?

Mosacks:We are incredibly appre-ciative and grateful for the supportwe’ve experienced, especially sincethe buyback. We could not have ac-complished what we did without thededication and support of our cus-tomer base, reps, suppliers and ourworld-class group of employees. Wewill never forget the overwhelmingsupport, letters, e-mails and phonecalls. We even received support fromsome competitors. With our ability tomanufacture the best quality productavailable, ship 97% within 48 hours(10,000 “H” Skus), 95% fill rate, ourcontinuous improvement dedicationand our development of new prod-ucts, we are excited about the futureof Apollo! �

Corporate report



BY JOHN VASTYAN

Renowned Taco trainer JohnBarba opened a recent web-cast this way: “I’m John

Barba, and today’s topic is variablespeed pumping. It’s not a new con-cept and it’s not very hard to do.”Well, I’m not John Barba, and

that’s why the topic of variablespeed hydronic circulation has been

something of a mystery for me. Butbeing the talented educator that heis, I’ve come to learn a lot moreabout the technology. I’m eager toshare it with you. John goes on to point out that

2004 was the year Britney Spearsgot married and broke his heart,twice. Also in 2004, America’s do-mestic engineer, Martha Stewart,was sent up the river for crimesagainst humanity. And, 2004 wasalso the year that Taco introducedthe world to a full line of residentialvariable speed circulators. That was

five years ago, but we’re still grap-pling with this “new” technology. Let’s take a closer at the concept

of variable-speed pumping. I’veasked Barba and professional con-tractor Bill Riley (www.rileyplumbing.com) to explain when it’s best to

apply the technology, where you’duse it, and what the key benefits are.

The universal hydronics formulaThe purpose of a variable speed

circulator is to automatically adjustits speed based on heating load de-mands, or how many BTUs areneeded in a structure. To understandhow it does that, let’s take a quicklook at the universal hydronics for-

mula which states that GPM is equalto BTUH divided by delta-T, multi-plied by 500.Let’s define the terms. GPM is gallons per minute. That’s

the flow rate needed to deliver therequired amount of BTUs.

BTUH or BTUs per hour, or the re-quired amount of heat for a house,or zone, at any given point in time.We all know that outdoor temps orthe number of people in a home willalter the BTU load.

Delta-T (�T) is the designed tem-perature drop across the piping cir-cuit. In a baseboard zone, the design�T is usually best at 20 degrees,meaning the water might enter thebaseboard zone at 180°F and returnto the boiler 20 degrees cooler, atsay, 160°F. In most residential radi-ant floor heating systems however,the design ��T is usually about 10degrees, meaning water would entera radiant loop at 130°F and return at120°F.This 10-degree ��T is important

because it ensures an even, comfort-able floor surface temperaturethroughout a room. A wider ��Twould likely create greater variationin floor surface temperatures; not agood thing. The final element of this equation

is 500. That’s a shortcut that repre-sents the weight of one gallon ofwater (8.33 pounds) multiplied by

60 minutes in an hour, again multi-plied by a specific heat characteris-tic of the fluid, which is “1” for 100%water. After all, it takes one BTU toraise the temperature of one poundof water one degree Fahrenheit inone hour. 8.33 � 60 � 1 = 499.8 . . .so we’ll just call it an even 500.

Sample project “Let’s say we have a house with a

heat loss of 75,000 BTUH with anoutdoor design temp of 0°F,” saidBarba. “We need three zones of fin-tube baseboard; each zone has a25,000 BTU-per-hour heating level.Each zone will be designed to a 20-degree �T.“Now, let’s plug the numbers into

our formula,” he continued. “Re-member that GPM equals BTUH di-vided by �T times 500. In this case,GPM = 75,000 ÷ 20 � 500, or[75,000/20 � 500] = 10,000. So,75,000 ÷ 10,000 gives us a flow ratefor the job of 7.5 gallons per minute(remember 7.5 GPM for later). Eachzone has a heating load of 25,000BTUH. If we plug this informationinto our formula, we would dividethe load, 25,000, by 20 times 500[25,000/20 � 500] or 10,000, for aflow rate per zone of 2.5gallons/minute.” Knowing this, said Barba, we can

now size the pipe. Using the follow-ing guidelines, the proper pipe size

for the boiler supply pipe and theboiler return pipe, the distributionheader, and the zone piping can bedetermined. “The piping arrangement would

be next,” added Bill Riley, presidentof Warwick, R.I.-based WJ RileyPlumbing and Heating, an admitted

hydronics junkie. According toRiley, “this hydronic recipe calls for1-inch pipe and 7.5 gallons perminute. At the header, I’d branch offinto 3/4-inch lines for each base-board zone, then doing the samething, only backwards, for the returnside of the system.” Next up, said Barba: estimate the

head loss of the piping system sothat circulator(s) can be selected. Todo this, measure the longest zonefrom the discharge side of the circu-lator all the way around the system,through the boiler, and back to thesuction side of the circ. Let’s just saythat for this application the longestrun is going to be 150 feet of pipe, in-cluding the baseboard element.“To estimate head loss, we’re going

to take the length of the longest run(150 feet) and multiply it by 1.5 toallow for the additional pressuredrop through the fittings, the valvesand all the other stuff that gets in theway,” added Riley. “If we take that150 and multiply it by 1.5, we’regoing to find that we have a totalequivalent length of 225 feet. Next,we multiply that number by .04(representing 4 feet of head loss per100 feet of straight, properly-sizedpipe, based on the maximum flowvelocity of four FPS). “Now if we ‘math that out,’” said

Barba, “225 multiplied by .04 equalsnine feet of head loss. Remember,the circulator must be sized to pro-vide 7.5 GPM while overcoming ahead loss of nine feet.”

To size the pumpfor the total flow rateneeded for the job, weknow the need is for7.5 GPM at nine feetof head to deliver75,000 BTUs. Size forthe worst-case headloss zone. If the circcan overcome thehead loss of the worst-case baseboard zone,it can certainly over-come the head loss ofall the others.

System curveAccording to Barba,

we already know howto locate two pointson the system curve.At 7.5 GPM we have ahead loss of nine feet

and, for clarity, at 0 GPM we have ahead loss of 0 feet of head. “Using aformula, we can calculate otherhead-loss points at other flow rates,and then plot them on the pumpcurve graph against a pump perform-ance curve. Once we do that, we can (Turn to Variable... page 48.)

Variable speed circulation — the simple factspuMp teCHnology

Remember that virtually everything in hydronics — from

pipe sizing to circulator selection — is tied to the

universal hydronics formulawhich, states that

GPM = BTUH ÷ �T and multiplied by 500.

Pipe sizing guidelines are all based on minimum and max-imum flow velocities, a minimum of two feet per second(FPS) and a maximum of four FPS. If we exceed the max-imum of four FPS, flow velocity noise will occur.

Harry Grattage, technician for Riley Plumbing, installs a variable speed circulator.

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see that the actual operating point ofthe system will be where the systemcurve intersects a pump curve. Aha!,but the system requires 7.5 GPM onlywhen all zones are calling, and onlywhen it’s zero degrees outside,” addedBarba with a wild variety of facial ex-pressions and the waving of hands. “The building will need fewer

BTUs when the zone valves begin toclose,” continued Riley. “If just two

zones are calling, we drop to 50,000BTUs. If only one zone calls, we’redown to a need for only 25,000 BTUs— meaning progressively higher flowthan we want or need.” Through experience, many of

you know this soon translates toboiler short-cycling, possible evenin the dead of winter — and thiswill substantially impact overallsystem efficiency.

The perfect hydronic storm:dropping Delta-Ts

Another concern is pressure dif-ferential within the system. As zonevalves close, the system curve inter-sects the pump curve at higher andhigher pressure differentials. Thisgreater pressure differential cancause higher flow velocities withinthe system, and that can quicklylead to velocity noise. It’s the perfecthydronic storm: with a fixed-speed

circulator, it’s easy tohave poor heat transferand inefficient, noisyoperation, all at once. One way to deal

with the noise wouldbe to install a pressuredifferential bypassvalve, like the Taco3196, which preventsflow when all of theheating zones are call-ing. But as those zonevalves close, increas-ing pressure differen-

tial within the system, the 3196bypass valve opens to allow excesspressure and flow to pass throughback to the suction (inlet) side ofthe circulator. A better solution for noise would be

to use a mid-flow, low head, flat-curvecirculator like the Taco 007. Withsuch a pump, system pressure risesminimally, nixing the need for a by-pass valve. But — if the job has higher

head requirements than the 007 candeliver, we may need another solu-tion: a variable speed pump. With all of the zones calling, we

know that ��T = 75,000 ÷ 9 ÷ 500.“So, we find that the actual systemdelta-T at this point may be closer to16 degrees, not the 20 we designedfor,” said Barba. “Doesn’t sound likemuch, right? But that also equates toabout a 20 percent difference. Withonly two zones calling the delta-Tdrops to about 15 degrees (a 25% dif-ference), and with only one zonecalling, the delta-T drops again to 12degrees . . . a whopping 40% differ-ence.” “All of this can happen, even when

it’s zero degrees outside,” assertedRiley. “What if it’s, say, 35 degreesoutside and the heating load at thattemperature is only 38,000 BTUswith all zones calling? As you cansee, the potential for smaller andsmaller delta-T’s, over 60% differ-ences to design, can quickly lead toinefficient boiler short-cycling andplenty of velocity noise.” Barba’s waving his arms again to

emphasize his point: “Solve thedilemma of dropping Delta-Ts byusing a fixed �T, variable-speedcirc,” he said. Looking back at the universal hy-

dronics formula, we know that if wefix the �T at 20, and divided thetotal load of 75,000 by 20 times 500or 10,000, we find that the flow ratehas to be 7.5 GPM. With two zonescalling, a load of 50,000 BTUs, and afixed 20-degree �T, we find that the

flow rate has to be 5 GPM. And withone zone calling, the flow rate has tobe 2.5 GPM. Clearly, with a fixed �T,flow will vary automatically to thezones, it has to. You’ll never have toworry again about over-sizing a circ. So, rather than searching for the

point where the system curve inter-sects the pump curve, we know thatthe pump curve will self-adjustevery moment and every day of theheating season. In a variable speed circulator, the

�T control is built in. They’re sim-ple to install and easy to program.There’re no surprises during instal-lation. The only difference is theneed to wire the sensors on the sup-ply and return. Variable speed circs, by design, are

also easy to set up. You simply dial-in the pump to meet the �T youwant. Just remember that the �T isdirectly related to flow rate. It’s partof the universal hydronics formula:GPM = BTUH ÷ the �T x 500. Another pump control concept on

the streets is Delta-P (�P), or pres-sure differential. But where is �P inthe universal hydronic formula?What we’re trying to do here is tosatisfy the heat loss of the structurein the most efficient way. The bestway to do that is to allow the circu-lator to adjust its speed to deliver therequired BTUs. By maintaining aconsistent �T (10 for radiant, 20 forbaseboard, higher for panel radiatorsystems, etc.), we can vary the flowas needed to ensure optimal per-formance and heat transfer. And, the�P is always on, always drawingpower, 24/7/365. One final thing about �T: it

doesn’t flat-line. A �P circ is notonly always on, always drawingpower, 24/7/365 but it will alwaysmaintain a constant delta-P in thesystem regardless of what the systemactually requires. If the pro-grammed-in �P isn’t accurate, ac-tual system flow rates may be muchhigher than required, and that willmean a smaller �T than designedleading to much less efficient systemoperation. A �T pump, on the otherhand, will always run at the lowestpossible speed, maximizing systemperformance and efficiency. Now, that’s a hydronic recipe Barba

says is better than Martha Stewart’sbest, and a thing of even greaterbeauty than Britney Spears. �

John Vastyan is president of Man-heim, Pa.-based Common Ground,Uncommon Communications, LLC.He specializes in communicationsfor the hydronics, radiant heat, ge-othermal, plumbing and mechani-cal and HVAC industries.

Variable speed circulationPumP Technology


Making the final connection to the variable speed circ.


50 Phc News — AUGUST 2009ProducT APPlicATion

It’s all very simple, really —plumbers with great ideas seeingtheir innovation come to fruition.

Ken Smart and Terry (T.K.) Tidwellwere instrumental in launching theVERSABLOCK pipe pier system, Free-

dom Inc.(www.versablock.com), aninnovative, inexpensive, and versatileinstallation solution for gas piping,HVAC, solar heating, and electricalconduit applications.Both active plumbers, Ken andTerry get their ideas on the jobsite, always thinking of ideasfor new products to save othercontractors labor and materialcosts. With 30 years of mechanical,

plumbing and contracting ex-perience, these guys have runmiles and miles of gas pipe,condensate, etc., on roofs andflat floor applications. Afterstruggling with single pipeblocks, expensive foam blocksthat deteriorate, and especiallyblocks of wood, they decided tomake something better. TheVERSABLOCK is a perfect exam-

ple; unlike wooden blocks that causerips and cuts in membrane roofs, theunique footprint of the VERSABLOCKsupport system disperses the weightevenly with no sharp edges to harmthe roof — insatlled to roof manufac-turer’s specs.A single pipe can simply be placed

in the support groove, or single ormultiple pipes can be secured byusing two hole straps, or with strutmounting components. Strutmounted pipe roller systems elimi-nate support movement completely.The VERSABLOCK can be used withstrut in various configurations tosupport heavy loads.VERSABLOCK has been engineered

with specially designed screw bossesto provide superior holding powerfor both strut and two-hole strap ap-plications using common drywallscrews. The six inch height allowsfor easy installation of valves andregulators without disassembly. Byusing a 90-degree angle bracket, in-stallation of condensate drainagepipe is easily achieved.The VERSABLOCK meets all codes

nationwide, and they are stackableso you can carry and store easy.They are light, yet strong, and aredurable on the roof. It also allowspipe to be fastened tightly if required,or loosely but securely to allow forthermal expansion if desired.Since starting Freedom Inc. seven

years ago, the company has receivedtwo U.S. patents and have patentspending on two other plumbingproducts. Their guiding principlesare to make construction a little eas-

VERSABLOCK — designed bycontractors for contractors

Looking at their newest version of the VERSABLOCK (from l to r), owner Ken Smart,Bruce LaVassar, president of Adaptive Technologies, Inc. (ATI), Ryan Cowgill chiefengineer, ATI, and owner T. K. Tidwell, discuss the new capability to accept Strutclamps without Unistrut for securing gas pipe onto the VERSABLOCK.

The VERSABLOCK pipe pier is an innovative, in-expensive, and versatile installation solution forgas piping, HVAC, solar heating, and electricalconduit applications.

ier, provide dependable products forless money and to make them asversatile to use as possible. “Freedom Inc. was started with

our original VERSABLOCK. Since then,the VERSABLOCK has undergone sev-eral design changes. We designed theshorter, smaller, E-Block for electri-cal conduit. It’s also a great conden-sate support. Subsequently, wedesigned the Versa-roller and Versa-saddle to make a complete system,”said Ken Smart.ATI of Nampa, Idaho, ati@atiplas

tics.net, has been instrumental in partand mold design and development ofall Freedom Inc. products. They arenot just molders but great businessand design partners that help makeFreedoms products better and morecost effective. They have a great dealof plumbing products that they makefor large and small suppliers.

The Versablock can be used inmany configurations on flat floor orflat roof installations. A clampgroove allows the use of clamps with-out strut, or strut can be attached,allowing several pipes to be sup-ported with a single block.The pyramidal design is very

strong and stable, lightweight, andallows the VERSABLOCK to nest to-gether tightly for storage and trans-portation. It has a 100 lbs. weightrating, and is constructed of U.V. re-sistant ABS. Versatile and inexpen-sive, it is easy to use and quick toinstall. By rotating one block 90ºatop another, a 2" height increase is

achieved, allowing pipe to remainlevel on uneven roofs. Freedom Inc. has been very suc-

cessful in getting its product coast tocoast. Architects and engineers areincreasingly specifying VERSABLOCKS,and installers who have usedVERSABLOCKS keep requesting them.Terry says if you have worked on alarge commercial building in the lastfour years there is a good chance

you used VERSABLOCKS. They haveestablished their quality with hun-dreds of plumbers and fitters aroundthe country. Their products can bepurchased through most major sup-pliers and many local suppliers aswell. The American-made VERSABLOCK

is ideal for plumbers and pipe fitters,electricians, HVACR installers, archi-tects roofers, building maintenance

technicians, federal, state and mili-tary installations. Anyone who in-stalls gas, plumbing, condensate,hydronic or conduit piping will ben-efit from using the VERSABLOCK sys-tem. The VERSABLOCK is inexpensive,lightweight, easy to transport, userfriendly, extremely versatile, and thefinished product is a professional-looking installation. For more info,www.versablock.com. �



ProducT APPlicATion

E BlockThe efficient, versatile conduit

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52 Phc News — AUGUST 2009ProducT news

Engineered no-hub fitting restraintNo-hub fitting restraint application,

the HOLDRITE #117 Series isideal for no-hub DWV jointsin excessive pressuresituations at 90 de-grees or less. 3-minute product

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Variable speed pump controllerTechnologic® 502 variable speedpump controller utilizes the latestgeneration hardware platform with

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Water line installation solutionsThe EZ Quick family installs new ap-pliances to existing water supply

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Electronic lavatory faucetThe E-Tronic™ 40 faucet has manyof the features of the popularHyTronic™ line, providing anotherelectronic option for commerciallavatory applications. The faucet hashermetically sealed above-deck elec-tronics for easy maintenance andlong-term reliability, with a choice ofa CRP2 battery or an AC adaptor. Anefficient dual beam infrared sensorhas multiple modes and ranges thatcan be adjusted manually or re-motely from a palm-enabled device.Makes monitoring battery levels andtrouble shooting accurate and con-venient. Chicago Faucets.

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PUREFIRE® boilersTwo new sizes in the PUREFIRE® gas-fired condensing boiler line includethe PF-210 residential unit that de-livers 97.3% efficiency and is ENERGYSTAR® approved. The commercial-sized PF-399 offers efficiency of95.5%; all six PUREFIRE sizes haveASME and ETL certifications for boththe U.S. and Canada. Boilers are di-rect vent, sealed combustion avail-able for natural or LP gas. Acondensate system with built-inneutralizer component and floatswitch protection is a top feature ofthe boiler. Peerless Boilers.


Hydro separator: primary-secondary solution Hydraulic separator line offers one of the most effective means of accomplish-ing primary-secondary piping for residential and commercial hydronic sys-tems, typically, those with multiple zones. By creating a low pressure zone,the units enable the connected primary and secondary loops to be hydroni-cally independent of each other. The flow in one circuit does not create flowin another. Newest in the line-up is the residential-sized “Hydro Sep ™,” aunit with seamless copper body, an automatic air vent to discharge air withinthe circuits, and a drain valve for removing system sediment accumulated inthe bottom of the unit. The Hydro-Sep can be connected to 1" and 11/4" lines,permitting a maximum flow of 11 to 15 GPM and insuring proper flow througha boiler as it eliminates the potential for boiler flash. Taco.


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Equipment replacement keysWEATHER GUARD® replacementkeys can be ordered online in just afew steps. The user chooses whatequipment the key belongs to: vanor truck. Then the user selects thecorrect type of lock from the choicesshown on the page; enters the keycode; and indicates the number ofsets needed. Finally, the user pur-chases the sets online. The user-friendly site provides additionalassurance to the user that the rightkey is being ordered by providingmatching pictures of key and locks.Knaack LLC.


ExcavatorsNew M-Series skid-steer and com-pact track loaders feature the mostsignificant design changes under-taken by the company. This new de-sign enables the operator toaccomplish more work through per-formance and durability enhance-ments that provide more power andkeep the loader working longer,while increasing operator comfortthrough improved visibility and amore spacious and comfortable cab.Bobcat®.


Drain inspection systemThe SeeSnake® microDrain™ inspection system allows for quick inspectionin places previously difficult to inspect, providing accessibility, efficiency andreduced job time. The SeeSnake microDrain inspection system features a 30-foot flexible cable and a small 22-millimeter diameter camera head that allowsfor more accessibility and efficiency in inspection jobs. The flexibility of thecable and tight turn radius of the camera head allows for access through manytoilet traps and small P traps without the need to disassemble or dismantleplumbing fixtures. The durable and rugged microDrain inspection system islightweight and easy to carry making it more accessible for everyday use andan easier fit on every truck. The unit is 19" high and 41/2" wide. RIDGID.


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56 Phc News — AUGUST 2009industry news

ATTLEBORO, MASS. — Supply NewEngland has awarded its annual

manufacturer and rep agencyawards to Slant/Fin and Emerson-

Swan, respectively. Both are previ-ous winners of the awards, whichare voted on by Supply New Eng-land’s employees at its 15 locations.The awards were presented re-cently to both companies at SupplyNew England’s Attleboro, Mass.headquarters. “These two firms, each in their

own way, have done an outstandingjob of supporting our branch person-nel and management team in thesedifficult times,” commented DavidCorcoran, president of Supply NewEngland. “It’s no surprise that theyare repeat winners.”Slant/Fin, based in Greenvale,

N.Y., manufactures a wide range ofoil, gas and electric-fired commercialand residential boilers, residentialand commercial baseboard prod-ucts, and radiant tubing, fittings andcontrols. They won the Manufac-turer of the Year Award from SupplyNew England in 2008.Emerson-Swan, Inc. is one of

the largest manufacturer rep,agencies in the U.S., and sells itsproducts throughout New England,Upstate New York, Pennsylvania,West Virginia and Ohio. The com-pany represents over 30 manufac-turers in the plumbing, heatingand HVAC industry. Supply NewEngland honored them with itsManufacturer Rep. Agency Awardin 2006.Supply New England, headquar-

tered in Attleboro, Mass., operates 15supply house locations in Mass., R.I.and Conn. and seven retail kitchen& bath galleries. For more informa-tion visit online at www.supplynewengland.com.

ELKHART, IND. — With a January 1,2010, deadline for lead-free compli-ance in California and Vermontquickly approaching, NIBCO INC.launched a new website www.NIB-COleadfree.com, to help keep cus-tomers informed of importantlead-free product updates. NIBCO’s“Lead Free Resource Center” is a

source for those in the plumbing in-dustry who do business in Californiaand/or Vermont. Both states willbegin requiring all plumbing productsthat convey or deliver water forhuman consumption to be lead-freebeginning January 1, 2010. Visitorscan download NIBCO’s Lead FreeReference Guide, glance through anever-expanding list of FAQs and stayabreast of the latest product info.

Supply New England honors Slant/Fin, Emerson Swan

Classified ads

Slant/Fin’s Adam Dubin accepts the Manufacturer of the Year Award from DavidCorcoran, president of Supply New England.

Bob Oppel of Emerson-Swan accepts the Manufacturers’ Rep. Agency Award fromDavid Corcoran, president of Supply New England.

NIBCO® launches lead-free micro site

CLEVELAND — The Lubrizol Corp.’sTremco TREMstop IA+, Fyre-Sil andFyre-Sil SL firestop sealants arechemically compatible with Flow-Guard Gold®, BlazeMaster® andCorzan® CPVC piping systems andhave been added to the FGG/BM/CZ™System Compatible Program.

Tremco firestop sealantsadded to FGG/BM/CZ™ System Compatible Program

CHICAGO — Engineers and pipingsystem designers can now accessCAD drawings that meet BIM stan-dards at the Metraflex website,www.metraflex.com.Available in 2D and 3D, Metraflex

product BIM drawings can be down-

Metraflex introduces BIM drawings for piping productsloaded and imported in a variety ofsoftware formats, meeting BIM stan-dards set in place for constructionprojects in a variety of sectors in-cluding government projects,schools, commercial buildings.A significant asset in the effort to

contain costs, Building Infor-mation Modeling offers theability to decrease errors byallowing the use of conflict de-tection. Design and construc-tion team members can seeimmediately when parts ofthe building come into con-flict, and through detailedcomputer visualization ofeach part in relation to thetotal building solve issuesearly in the design/buildprocess.

Phc News — AUGUST 2009 57Classified ads

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and start reaching YOUR target audience!

I have to admit Iwas never one forself-promotion.

Sure, confidence is one thing, but cockiness is an-other. But as I get older and wiser, I realize it’s in-evitable. And, in today’s economic environment,it is imperative to sell yourself on a daily basis. Let’s take social networking. At first I was a bit

skeptical. I mean, I believe there is an aspect of itthat lends itself to status. Bobby has 75 friends onFacebook®, Timmy has 25 connections onLinkedIn®. Who cares, right? Also, I’m not surethat I need to know what someone else is doing24-hours a day from a Tweet! It all seemed a bitself-smarmy to me, but to be honest, I havewarmed up to the potential benefits of social net-working. I can self-promote, connect and keep incontact with other like professionals, keep othersupdated on my professional and personal career,and I can even be contacted by some blast-from-the-past, high school unknowns. Okay, maybe notthe latter, but it does happen.Starting my career in editing/publishing, I

moved in Portland, Ore., for a brief stint in theNorthwest. As I combed the classifieds, I tried tofind jobs that matched my experience. A-HA! Ifound it — an entry-level communications job fora major shoe manufacturer. I sent my resume andeagerly awaited their response. And I waited, andwaited… Nothing. No callback, no letter of denial,

nada. I was pretty distraught. I remember think-ing, “How can this company endorse an 14-year-old soccer player for millions?” How could theysign a 14-year-old with the athletic potential, yetlittle experience, and me, not even a sniff?! As Ilook back at it now, it was all about companyimage and the endorsements that potentiallywould drive their shoe business. Sure, this com-pany had its “slam dunk” endorsements, but thenagain, it had some that made them tremble withhesitation and trepidation. Aligning the companywith endorsees who exhibit questionable “off-the-field” behavior does not exactly embolden thecompany image with the public. The companypays billions in endorsement deals, and some haveworked. But when you endorse somebody, you en-dorse their talent, their life and their character.How does this relate to you? It’s time to endorse

yourself a little harder; endorse your business, en-dorse your local wholesaler and endorse the prod-ucts in which you firmly believe. Don youremployees with professional attire, for they are arepresentation of you and your company. Deckout your entire fleet to become an attractive bill-board for your business. And, in this volatile eco-nomic climate, get a leg up on the competition anymeans possible, and social networking might bethe answer. Profess to your customers which man-ufacturer’s products you swear by. Endorse hardyour character, work ethic and professionalism ona daily basis! �

Letter to the EditorJune 2009 — Are we willing the harness the sun?I just wanted to say the new magazine format

looks great. I must say, even though I’m not aplumbing professional, I find myself reading a lotof the editorial content. I thought the piece JimSchaible wrote on the potential for solar was righton the money. Because I work in the solar indus-try, Jim was pretty much preaching to the choir;but it just amazes me how many Americans over-look the potential for this uptapped resource —especially plumbers. Plumbing and solar waterheating are like two peas in a pod. It’s pretty easyfor a plumber to offer his customers solar waterheating as an add-on. I just wish more plumbersknew how simple it was to install. Anyway, keepup the great work!

— Michael Stough,marketing coordinator, Heliodyne

BY JOHN MESENBRINK,editor

Work hard, endorse harder

next issue...

• Green Mechanical Systems

• PEX Report

• Snowmelt Systems

58 Phc News — AUGUST 2009in Our OpiniOn

Phc News (USPS number 022-074) is published 12 times yearly by TMB Publishing Inc., 1838 Techny Ct. Northbrook, IL 60062; tel. 847/564-1127; fax 847/564-1264. No part of this publicationmay be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, photocopying, electronic recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of TMB Publishing Inc.Phc News is delivered free of charge to qualified subscribers in the U.S. and Canada. Others: U.S., U.S. Poss. and Canada, $100/yr.; two-year annual subscription rate U.S. and Canada, $155; othercountries, $200/yr. or $300 for two year (U.S. funds) plus $20 surface postage. Single copies, $15.Application to mail at Periodicals Postage Rates is pending at Northbrook, IL and additional mailing offices.POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Plumbing & Hydronic Contractor News, Creative Data Services, 519 E. Briarcliff Road, Bolingbrook, IL 60440. [email protected] mail agreement No. 41499518: Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to PO Box 503, RPO West Beaver Creek, Richmond Hill ON L4B 4R6

AHR Expo .....................................51www.ahrexpo.com

Alternative Fuel Boiler .................10www.alternativefuelboilers.com

American Standard ........................7www.americanstandard.com

Anvil International .......................31www.anvilintl.com

Bare Bones Biz..............................43www.barebonesbiz.com

Bell & Gossett .................................3www.bellgossett.com

Benjamin Franklin Plumbing.........9www.thankyoubenjaminfranklin.com/phc

Bradford White .............................47www.bradfordwhite.com

Buderus.........................................13www.buderus.net

Burnham.....................................IFCwww.burnham.com

Chicago Faucets ...........................17www.chicagofaucets.com

Crown Boiler.................................24www.crownboiler.com

Dormont Mfg...................................8www.dormont.com

Dunkirk.........................................23www.dunkirk.com

Energy Kinetics ............................45www.energykinetics.com

Eternal Hybrid Water Heater .......49www.eternalwaterheater.com

Fujitsu .............................................5www.fujitsugeneral.com

John Guest....................................42www.johnguest.com

General Pipe Cleaners............33, 50www.drainbrain.com

Grundfos..................................36-37www.grundfos.com

Heatinghelp.com ..........................19www.heatinghelp.com

Heat-Flo Products.........................29www.heat-flo.com

Heat Transfer Products....Back Coverwww.htproducts.com

Heliodyne......................................27www.heliodyne.com

Liberty Pumps ..............................41www.libertypumps.com

Lochinvar......................................21www.lochinvar.com

Navien America ............................35www.navienamerica.com

Nexus Valves.................................16www.nexusvalve.com

The Noble Company ....................20www.noblecompany.com

Precision Hydronic Products .......48www.phpinc.net

Simpson Dura-Vent ......................40www.duravent.com

Slant/Fin .......................................53www.slantfin.com

Smith Mfg. Co., Jay R. ....................6www.jrsmith.com

Spirotherm....................................25www.spirotherm.com

Stanley Virax ................................55www.stanleyvirax.com

Stiebel Eltron................................12www.stiebel-eltron-usa.com

Symmons......................................11www.symmons.com

Taco...............................................15www.taco-hvac.com

Takagi............................................18www.takagi.com

Watts .............................................39www.watts.com

Webstone ........................................4www.webstonevalves.com

J.C. Whitlam.................................14www.jcwhitlam.com

Zoeller.........................................IBCwww.zoeller.com

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water heater market analysis - plumbing & hydronic contractor news

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