Easy Plumbing Knowledge

The heat source is an important part of a hydronic heating system. There are several types of heat sources. These types include solar thermal heating sources, solid-fuel boilers, conventional and condensing gas boilers, oil-fired boilers, electrical resistance boilers, hydronic heat pumps and ETS heating sources.  Indeed, it is important to analyze these different heating sources to see when it is best to use one to power your hydronic heating system. In the following blog posts we will cover these heating sources. In the region where we live the most common types of heating sources are conventional gas and oil-fired boilers. The reason for this has to be with the affordable nature of the fuels used. The other sources are not as popular as the two mentioned but some are gaining more popularity, including ETS heating sources and solar thermal heating sources.  Indeed, each of the named heat sources have technical or economical advantages when used in hydronic heating systems. I...

We have seen that heat can be lost through basement walls, basement floors and slab-on-grade floors. Conduction between materials allows for the heat transfer. In addition, heat can be transferred through windows, doors, and skylights. Indeed, heat is lost through all building surfaces separating a heated space from a nonheated space. Now, in addition of heat loss through conduction we also have infiltrated heat loss which has to do with uncontrolled air leakage. Many of these leakages occur through imperfections in all the building surfaces of a building, including cracks around doors and windows, air leakage through electrical outlets, and small pipes where pipes pass through.  Now, the faster that air goes into building from leaks, the more heat is transferred. Buildings with the best quality air sealing are designed to minimize the air that leaks i n. They do this through synthetic housewrap, vapor barriers, high quality windows, among other solutions. When looking at an existi...

Heat loss is influenced by many different factors. One of them is the thermal resistance of materials. Thermal resistance has to do with a material's resistance to heat flow. The higher the resistance, the more a material resist heat flow. Thus, the greater the resistance, given equal temperatures on the giving and receiving material, the slower the transfer of heat.  It is important to note that if the difference of temperature increases, so does the heat of transfer. In addition, the larger the surface area, the greater the heat of transfer. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For hydronic heating in San Francisco , please contact Arch Plumbing.  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Now, regarding the foundation, heat flow from it depends on several factors, including the surrounding soil, insulation materials, and the air temperature. In a building wi...

Good evening everyone! In order to design an efficient and cost effective radiant hydronic heating system, it is important to understand heating loads. A heating load, in a few words, is an estimate (based on calculators) of the rate of heat loss of a room or a building. Thus, there is a room heating load and a building heating load.  In order to correctly design a hydronic heating system, it is important to calculate the heating load of each room, which can then be added to produce the building heating load. Now, calculating the heating load perfectly is not possible as many factors can influence heat loss, including defective installation of insulation, traffic in and out of building, the quality of insulation materials and construction materials overall. It is also important to calculate and pay attention to the room heating loads individually so that one room receives the correct rate of heat.  Now, the design heating load takes into consideration the rate of heat loss dur...

When designing a radiant heating system it is important to take into account several factors and data points. For example, it is important to calculate the building and room heating loads. But, why is this important? Even though it takes time and effort, calculating the heating loads helps tremendously to design a heating system that is more efficient, both in terms of money and also in terms of cost. In addition, it will also affect the heating conform provided by the system, which in turn affects customer satisfaction. Now, one factor to study and calculate in designing such efficient system is heat load. Calculating heat load is not an exact science as there are many variables that affect the heat load.  In the next few posts you will learn more heat load and how this affects the design of a hydronic radiant system, thus helping you to design a system that is efficient and creates the highest customer satisfaction! Arch plumbing is here to help you with all your hydronic heating...

Hello dear plumbing team,  In today's post we will cover two additional elements that are added to a hydronic heating systems.  In the previous post we covered a few of the basic elements of a hydronic heating system. These elements include the boiler/heat source, the temperature limiting controller, the room thermostat, the circulator, the heat emitter, and the distribution piping. In today's heating system, all of these elements are part of a closed system. We also learned how the temperature limiting controller and the thermostat work as a stop and go light for the circulator and heat source to produce the necessary heat that the building requires.  In today's post we will cover about two additional elements. The first one is an expansion tank. This tank is added to hydronic heating systems to account for the fact that water expands when it is heated. The expanded water goes into the expansion tank which has air inside. The air gets compressed as the water comes inside...

What's up EKP team! In the previous post we learned how the main parts of a hydronic system work together to keep an equilibrium. In the hydronic system you will find the heat source, the distribution system, the heat emitters, and the control system.  All of these parts work together in a loop - in a circuit. The water travels as in a conveyor belt throughout the system - from the heat source to the heat emitters back to the heat source.  The hydronic radiant heating system, thus, uses two components that help the circuit remain in balance. These two components are the thermostat and a temperature limiting controller by the boiler. By working together these two systems help control the heat output so that it is in line with the heat requirements set by the user. The temperature limiting control helps turn on and off heat source so that it stays within a programmed operational temperature range and, when a higher demand is programmed in the thermostat, to make sure the new tem...

Hello Plumbing Team! Hope everyone is doing great this Saturday evening. Today we will elements of a basic hydronic circuit. The basic hydronic circuit consists of a heat source (from an energy input) that then heats water. The water then travels through the piping system to a circulator, which then makes the water travel until it reaches a heat emiter. The heat than can be transferred to the air to heat each room of the house. After passing through the heat emitter, the water is distributed back to the heat source for another round of heating. Now, a hydronic heating system will follow the laws of physics to find an equilibrium point and remain at this point. The equilibrium point happens when the rate of heat input to the water is exactly the same as the rate of heat release from the heat emitters. The rate the boiler injects heat into the water is the same as the rate the heat emitters extract heat from the water.  The idea is to design a system that makes sure that the point of...

Hello friends! Hope everything is going well during these critical times. We sincerely hope that everything returns to normal soon! In the past two posts we have covered two modes of heat transfer: conduction and convection. We learned about heat transfer from one solid to another solid and from a fluid (gas or liquid) and the surface the fluid moves along. We have also learned that heat transfers more quickly when the difference in temperature of the two objects is larger. In today's post we will cover a third mode of heat transfer: thermal radiation. Thermal radiation is a type of electromagnetic radiation that produces no heat until it reaches and is absorbed by an object. The energy carried by electromagnetic energy then becomes heat. Thermal radiation travels through air (like visible light) without heating the air. Thermal radiation is part of the nonvisible infrared rage of the electromagnetic spectrum. Now, we can ask, do humans give off thermal radiation. Yes, the answer i...

Hello team at Easy Plumbing Knowledge! In previous post we have learned a lot about heat transfer and in the very last post we focused on conduction as one of the types of heat transferred. We learned that conduction has to do with heat transfer between solid objects.  In today's post we will learn about a second mode of heat transfer: convection. In convection, heat transfer occurs when a gas or a liquid moves along a surface. Of course, for the heat transfer to occur, the liquid or gas is at a different temperature than that of the surface.  One important fact to notice about convection is that the speed that the fluid (gas or liquid) moves at while touching the surface influences the rate of the heat transfer. This is why when you feel a burst of air, you feel refreshed in a hot day. The speed of the gas as it touches your skin increases the rate at which heat transfer from your skin to the air. In heating system, there is two types of convection used. One of them is natura...

In the previous blog post, we learned about heat, temperature, and heat transfer. In other to keep learning more about heat transfer as it pertains to heating systems, we will now cover three of the modes of heat transfer. We will start with the first of these three modes of heat transfer: conduction. Conduction - Conduction has to do with heat moving through solid objects, such as heat moving from the inside wall of a copper pipe to the outside surface of the pipe, or from the inside of a house wall to the outside of the wall. Energy is being transferred between the atoms in a solid object. It is good to now that there are objects that are better in transferring heat than others. In fact, there is an indexed called thermal conductivity index that helps to categorize materials by their ability to transfer heat.  Here are some facts to notice about heat transfer: 1) The higher the temperature, the higher the rate of heat transfer. 2) The larger the difference in temperature across m...

Good evening plumbing fans! In today's post we will dive into learning more about heat. We will cover what heat is, what temperature is, and what is behind heat transfer. Ready? Heat is basically energy, not in electrical, chemical or mechanical form, but rather in thermal form. It is measured in British thermal units, which measure the amount of heat required to raise 1 pound of water by 1 Fahrenheit.  Now, what is temperature? Temperature measures the vibrations of particles in matter. Thus, heat is our perception of the intensity of vibrations. Now, how does heat travel from one area to another? This following point is very important: heat moves from areas of higher temperature to areas of lower temperature. Yes, indeed, without a difference of temperatures, there is no heat transfer.  Thus, if two areas have similar temperatures, there will be no heat transfer. If the difference between those two areas is small, the transfer will be small too. If the difference in temperat...

Good evening everyone! In the last few posts we have covered three of the benefits of installing a hydronic radiant heating system for your home. We covered the benefits of comfort, energy savings, and design flexibility. Indeed, the early hydronic systems have nothing on today's modern hydronic systems. In today's blog we will cover a few additional benefits of having a hydronic heating system installed at your property: 1) One very important benefit of radiant hydronic heating systems is clean operation. The reason for this is that hydronic heating systems do not move dust and pollen particles throughout the building as do forced air heating systems. In addition, forced air heating systems that consist of vents and ducts collect dust and other particles and needed to be cleaned. These forced air systems can cause quite a problem for those with allergies. In addition, they may promote the movement of dangerous air pathogens.  2) Another benefit of radiant hydronic heating syst...

In today's post we cover a third benefit: flexibility of design. In the p ast, buoyancy was the method used by hydronic heating systems. Unfortunately this limited the design as piping had to be made to specific sizing and simple piping patterns. Today's systems are much more flexible. Hello cool cats and plumber students! In the previous posts we have covered two benefits of radiant heating systems. We covered conform as one of the most important benefits and energy savings as another vital benefit. I n fact, today one system can carry out multiple heating tasks: they can heat a home or space, melt snow, and even heat a pool. You can, thus, really build a flexible system that satisfies a customer's aesthetic tastes, energy usage specifications, and budget. By using just one system, costs are cut considerably as there is no need for paying for multiple heating sources, extra piping, the additional electrical hook ups and safety mechanisms.  When multiple systems are needed,...

In the previous post we covered the benefit of comfort from a properly designed hydronic system that can help control air and surface temperature at either the whole building or at different zones in the building. In addition to the benefit of comfort, there are many other benefits available from a properly designed hydronic system and one of them is energy savings.  Heat loss in structures has a lot to do with the type of heating system installed. As a result, buildings with a radiant heating system usually have lower heating energy use than similar buildings with forced air systems.  Two factors that contribute to higher energy usage in buildings that do not use a radiant heating system have to do with air pressure and air temperature stratification. Air pressure Forced air systems create air pressure changes in each room and the lack of an efficient design system results in heat loss as the heated air goes out through cracks, holes, and other openings as it is pushed by the...

When people are asked about the different benefits of hydronic systems, one of the most popular ones is comfort. Other benefits are design flexibility, energy savings, clean operation, among others. In this post, we will learn more about comfort offered by hydronic heating systems. Heating system installers should keep in mind that comfort is of uttermost importance when designing and installing heating systems.  Heating  systems have the power to affect several people for many years. They can affect the health, the productivity, and  well-being for a very long time. For this reason, building owners should consider investing time and resources in choosing the correct heating system for their buildings. Many times, however, owners choose to add other amenities that are more visibly appealing.  Hydronic systems that are designed properly have the ability to control both the air temperature and surface temperature of the entire house at once or of different zones. By do...

Early hydronic systems used buoyancy to move water. Hot water is  less dense than cold water and as a result the early hydronic systems were designed so that water from a boiler would rise up. The hot water would then travel through the pipe system until reaching a heat emitter. Then as the hot water would cool down, it would flow downward again. This cycle would then continue. Hydronic systems have come along way in the past century. In the past hydronic systems were not nearly as flexible as they are today. How did hydronic systems work? Today, thanks to electricity, hydronic systems can be configured in complex ways to deliver heat to specific areas. In contrast, early systems were limited. In addition, the flow rate created by buoyancy would be very weak. Electrical systems are able to circulate heat much more powerfully. Indeed, today's systems are much more modern. But it is always instructive to learn about the old ways of being.

Good evening dear Plumbing Knowledge team. Today we will cover one more topic related to working with water piping.  We will start with vacuum breakers that are helpful when working with water supply systems that are designed to not allow water to back up into the house. Vacuum breakers prevent air locks and back-siphoning of water. The vacuum breaker works as a type of sensor that detects when back pressure is building and then activates so that the air lock is eliminated. In a previous post we covered how vacuum breakers can be very useful to create freeze-proof sillcocks that help to deal with the situation when a house creates an air lock which then allows water to freeze.  The next topic will cover in this post has to do with check valves, designed to keep water from flowing backward through a line. The check valve does this by implementing a flapper that is designed to allow the direction of water in just one direction, and thus, as a result, prevent cross migration thro...

Hello team! We continue on our plumbing adventure through the jungles of copper and steel to cover one more topic related to working with water piping. In the last post we covered sillcocks, their vulnerability to freezing water, and the solution that is used to eliminate such vulnerabilities.  Now, freeze-proof sillcocks are not infallible. When a freeze-proof sillcock breaks, an important thing to keep in mind is to clear all debris that is left inside before the replacement washer is installed. This happens because pieces that break off go into the faucet body and can be a little difficult to remove.  To repair a freeze-proof sillcock you need: a replacement washer, a screw driver, a long-handled needle nose pliers, and an adjustable wrench. First, start with removing the handle and losening the bonnet nut. For this, you will the wrench. Then, the next step is remove all the debris using the pliers. This is if the washer has been broken to pieces. If it has not, then you ca...

Hello team! In this post we will learn more about working with water piping and, to be exact, to  work with utility fauc et valves, which can help control water to a yard hose. However, in cold weather, water can freeze and damage the faucet valves. Thus, a solution had to be created so that the sillcocks can last the harsh winter weather. How can this be accomplished? Freeze proof sillcocks use a vacuum breaker threaded onto the spout. This helps to solve a problem when a house is attached, as the attached house created an air lock, which held water, which would then freeze. This problem would be encountered usually during the following spring when the sillcock was used again. Thus, the vacuum breaker by releasing the air lock created by the attached hose, would solve this problem. In addition to sillcocks that are already designed with the vacuum breaker, you can also buy an aftermarket vacuum breaker to be added to the existing sillcocks to have your freeze-proof solution. ...