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Dan Holohan: Adventures in pumping

The evolution of pumps, circulators and radiant heat.

November 30, 2021

I read somewhere that the most prevalent machine in the world is the electric motor. I thought about that for a while and it made sense. Just look around. But then I began to wonder what the second-most prevalent machine in the world is. Turns out it’s the pump! And most pumps are connected to electric motors of one kind or another, so there you go. Throw a rock and you’ll hit a motor. Or a pump. They’re everywhere.

Dan Holohan: Marbles and ghosts

Visual thinking is the key to understanding hydronic systems.

Dan Holohan

October 6, 2021

I worked for a manufacturers’ rep when I was first learning about hydronics. A guy I worked with was 15 years older than me. He knew that I had absolutely no training as an engineer so he took a different tack with my education. He made me close my eyes and imagine myself as a marble rolling through the pipes.

Dan Holohan: Troubleshooting the cuckoo's nest

Help your contractor customers be well-rounded in heating systems.

Dan Holohan

August 30, 2021

The steam seminar was to be in North Carolina, which was strange enough, that being the state where most folks only know how to say, “Heat pump, please.” It was also going to be sparsely attended. Oh, and the location was a nasty, windowless, brick-walled basement room in what used to be a hospital, but was now an office building. I immediately looked around for Jack Nicholson and Nurse Ratched. Welcome to the cuckoo’s nest.

Dan Holohan: The two sides of hydronics

A history lesson on the two profitable sides of hydronic heating.

Dan Holohan

August 11, 2021

Steam-and hot-water heating joined hands a long time ago to make up what we today call “hydronics.” Both systems run on water, and they’ve been around for hundreds of years. The Institute of Boiler and Radiation Manufacturers coined the term hydronics in 1946 to make the science of heating a building with water sound sexy — like “electronics.”

Dan Holohan: Baseboard adventures

Sometimes you have to re-think the usual way of doing things.

Dan Holohan

June 25, 2021

So this fella comes up to me after a hot-water seminar and tells me about a problem he's having with this copper-fintube baseboard loop he installed in this big hall with a bunch of offices. "I can't get the end hot," he said.

Dan Holohan: The subtlety of steam

Help your customer be a better troubleshooter.

Dan Holohan

June 7, 2021

You may think steam is just, well, steam. But there’s a lot more going on when it comes to steam heating a building.

Dan Holohan: Sludge, scale and bouncing boilers

Understanding the causes of pipe scale.

Dan Holohan

May 5, 2021

Clogging up heating surfaces is sort of like having all the traffic lights in your town turn red at the same time, and then stay red.

Dan Holohan: Nearly famous heating quotes

Certain quotes always stick with you.

Dan Holohan

December 28, 2020

Gil Carlson, who was the first person to come up with many of the hydronic concepts we take for granted today, was also my teacher. He would often say, “For a difference to be a difference, it has to make a difference.”

Dan Holohan: Trade resolutions

Ideas for a new year.

Dan Holohan

November 30, 2020

It’s that time of the year when we’re supposed to get ready to make a resolution or two that will last a few weeks until we slouch back into our usual routines. You know how it goes. The stationary bike sure makes for a great clothes hanger, doesn’t it?

Dan Holohan: What's in a name?

Questioning the plumbing industry's lexicon.

Dan Holohan

June 8, 2020

We have so many names for common things and tools that we use in this business; and because I have way too much time on my hands, I started wondering how those names came to be.