Heroes and zeros

Heroes and zeros

Texas PHVAC contractors face unprecedented challenge. BanksPhotos/iStock / Getty Images Plus via Getty Images As Texas settled into a deadly-serious Polar Vortex, you could predict the pattern emerging based on your own past experiences with bitter-cold sustained...
Run away boilers

Run away boilers

Scary stories to keep you awake at night. mevans/E+ via Getty Images If you have never been face-to-face with a run away boiler, I can assure you it makes your sphincter pucker! My first one was during my first year as an apprentice. It was a steam boiler in a...
Trial by fire

Trial by fire

The climb to success doesn’t include an elevator or escalator; there are only stairs to climb. I always hated the business side of being in business. After a hard day’s work, we would retire to our home office to do billing, write checks and fill in the books. Truth...
Vented or vent-free gas logs and heaters

Vented or vent-free gas logs and heaters

Ensure your customers are aware of the advantages and disadvantages. Remember the wall-vented, gas-fired space heaters with standing pilots? It sure was fun trying to relight those pilots through the peephole on windy days — not. I had one customer who heated their...
Adventures in Hydronic Heating Volume 4

Adventures in Hydronic Heating Volume 4

eBook Plumbing & Mechanical Magazine is proud to present to you the fourth and final installment of these hydronics eBooks in 2020, featuring the expert advice of industry veteran Dave Yates. Be sure to bookmark this link so you can reference these...
Winterizing buildings

Winterizing buildings

Do it the right way to avoid future disaster. I have far too many memories of freeze damage in “winterized” homes where the winterizing procedure consisted of shutting off the main valve, opening a basement drain in the potable water system, opening all...