column: No chimney? No problem!
The tale of an oil hot-water boiler project and a hot head customer. Looking over the new home plans in order to provide the builder with pricing, I noticed there was no chimney included. Way out in the country, where no natural gas was available and the owner had...
Adventures in Plumbing & Heating with Dave Yates | Volume 2
eBook Plumbing & Mechanical is proud to present to you the second 2021 installment of “Adventures in Plumbing & Heating,” featuring the expert advice of industry veteran Dave Yates. Be sure to bookmark this link so you can reference these...
Take a seat
Tips and tricks for repairing older faucets. My apprentice years were filled with a wide exposure to all manner of plumbing and heating jobs. At that time, F. W. Behler had just four seasoned employees who had been with the company for many years. Paul...
Oh, my aching back!
Considerations for designing and installing radiant snow-melt systems Snow is coming, and my back recoils in fear at the thought. I should have added snow-melting for our driveway, but I was 30 years younger when we built our forever home. Our home is the first of...
Adventures in Plumbing & Heating | Volume 1
eBook Plumbing & Mechanical is proud to present to you the first 2021 installment of “Adventures in Plumbing & Heating,” featuring the expert advice of industry veteran Dave Yates. Be sure to bookmark this link so you can reference these...
This way to egress
The key to success is having an exit strategy in place. PT Barnum had a real problem with patrons who lingered in his museum a bit too long, which limited the crowds and cut into profits. He needed a way to get people to leave and replaced the exit signs with “This...
Stone-cold crazy
Liars never win; and cheaters never prosper. Way back in 1972, I was working high steel, and we were laying out new Butler steel roof panels. Craig and I had started the same week and worked well together. Walking 2-inch tops of the bar joists did not come easy, but...
Troubleshooting an electric water heater
Tips and tricks of the trade. Troubleshooting tank-style two-element electric water heaters is relatively simple once the operation is understood. When newly installed, or heavy usage outpaces storage, the tank is full of cold water. The upper element will be...
Inverter air-to-water heat pumps
Tips and tricks for adopting this increasingly popular technology. Yates joins elite team of columnists and icons for industry-leading Plumbing & Mechanical, Supply House Times and PM Engineer titles. By now, most of you have either...
Immersed in your job
A leak detection investigation. I knew my day was going sideways when it was going to be necessary to change into a bathing suit and get wet in the customer’s master bath in order to find out what was causing a leak into the basement. Did I mention the owner was an...