14 minute read
HYDRONICS Who is in control around here?
Who is in control around here?
Beyond piping, integrated systems present some challenges
You take a few steps backwards, snap a few “glamour” shots and send your piping pics around the globe. It is a common practice these days to share mechanical room piping on the various chat rooms and social media sites. Some incredible piping can be found if you have time to search around. Perfectly piped, gorgeous back wall treatment, even custom lighting and unique artwork is sometimes included. There is no doubt the industry has been elevated with all the articles and training on best practices for boiler or mechanical room piping. I am particularly enamored with the clever blending of piping and connections. Back in the day threaded steel pipe and copper sweated together was the method used by most all fitters and installers. While those piping materials still are the go-to materials, an array of connection types are now being used. Press and grip fittings are working their way into piping systems of all types of pipe and tube. PEX and PP piping materials are also becoming more common for boiler room piping. The industry seems to have a good handle on the mechanical and piping component of hydronics. Equally important is how to control the piping “Picasso.” We will continue to see more blended mechanical systems. By this I mean a combination of heating and cooling components piped together. It is not uncommon in parts of Canada and the U.S. to see multiple boilers piped to take advantage of the best energy rates. Electric boilers, for example, can be piped with a fossil-fuelled counterpart. The electric boiler takes advantage of off-peak or desirable lowcost KWs. The oil- or gas-fired components will take over when the cost of operating the electric source increases. This toggling between the two or more heat sources could be done with a simple time of day clock, manually, or by a smart control attuned to the changing energy rates. The movement away from strictly fossil-fuelled systems is underway. Fossil fuel is no longer available in several jurisdictions for new construction installations. The obvious option is a heat generator and DHW source that is powered by electricity. Uncertainty of the reliability and cost of an electricityonly powered home has some designers and installers providing a hybrid option. Perhaps leaving the fossil-fuelled devices in place and connecting an electric powered partner makes better sense. The electric side could be a straight resistance style, or one of the updated heat pump options.
Things get complicated
Outdoor Sensor House Control Thermostats
The challenging part of these systems will be the controls. For the most part, the typical hydronic installer understands and can correctly pipe a hybrid system together. Many, perhaps most, hydronic technicians and/or plumbers are not wired to design elaborate hybrid control systems. A basic zone control or pump control relay box is within the comfort level of most hydronic technicians and plumbers. When microprocessor-based controls, digital signals and programmable logic controls (PLC) come into play, things can get complicated and sometimes frustrating. Which of the multiple electrical components will take charge of a hybrid, multi-fuelled, multi-component system? Will a sophisticated relay box be adequate? Which manufacturer’s Water to Water controls are provided to onboard a modern Heat Pump boiler? Would a microprocessor-controlled heat pump have enough understandable logic to run the show? Does a smart thermostat have enough intelligence and outputs to take charge? Should a stand-alone control system be considered? What about a PLC custom designed with a software program by the installer? I’m not sure there is one answer to these questions. It depends. In any or all cases, you would be well served to take a manufacturer’s class to understand what the device, be it the heat source or controls package, is capable of. In my experience the mechanical tradesperson struggles with complex control design, installation, commissioning and troubleshooting. Very often complex control systems are scrapped by the next technician to work on the system. This could be due to a lack of documentation; or the number of hours required to reverse engineer the existing wiring and controls; or because of obsolete control components; or because of incompatibility with the new hybrid components being upgraded. There are a handful, although a small handful, of excellent control manufacturers in Canada and the U.S. with hydronics experience which have evolved with hydronics and continue to raise the bar in control options and product offerings. I would recommend enrolling in their training classes to see if there is a fit in your system offerings. For less complex systems, a relay box control may be able to successfully integrate multiple heat sources along with some zoning control and outdoor reset functionality. Bob “Hot Rod” Rohr has been a plumbing, radiant heat and solar contractor and installer for 30 years. A long-time columnist and trainer, he is manager of training and education with Caleffi
North America. You can reach Hot Rod at bob.rohr@caleffi.com.
= Sensor Heat/Cool Coil Modulating Boiler w/ Pump Air Handler Unit Radiant Zones
Heat/Cool Storage Tank
Expansion Tank
tekmar Control Systems Offers a Better Control Multi-component systems can present challenges that are best solved by hydronic controls specialists.
The House Control 406 is a heat pump control that operates up to two stages of air-to-water or water-to-water heat pump, in either heating or cooling mode in a single storage tank, 2-pipe system. Mild to wild controls The 406 operates a boiler for Domestic Hot Water, set point load, Boiler manufacturers are offering more and more boiler zones, and backup for the heat pump. options for advanced controls and multi-component integrations. Here again, I would recommend manufacturer or rep presented training as a first step. Many rep firms offer hands-on training at their locations. www.tekmarcontrols.com/alternativeenergy.html Time spent in front of a simulator can make control understanding and installation much less frustrating. Some savvy contracting shops build simulators or training walls and provide in-house training. There will be a movement towards hydronic cooling in residential applications with various heat pump offerings, both geothermal and air to water. Cooling control does offer some unique challenges. It is not just temperature control ... dewpoint comes into play with chilled surfaces or emitters. Fluid temperatures need to be tightly controlled to prevent condensation. In many cases, some air movement will be required and that needs to interface with the control system as well. If you are creative and capable, there are plenty of components available to build from-mild-to-wild controls. I have seen it done with basic relay mash ups or more complex PLCs. A wood boiler chat room that I visit has some clever owner-built microprocessor-based control discussions. The same challenges are present when integrating a wood-or pellet-fired boiler with a fossil-fuelled partner. Or try throwing solar thermal and buffer tank control into the mix. I have seen unique German-built PV controls that dump excess generation into a thermal tank to store the excess PV production. That may be a better approach than giving it back to the utility for a thank you, or maybe even a utility fee added when you push back your generated surplus. Decide early on in the job if you are in control of the system, or if the system will be controlling you.
An Open Letter … on this, the occasion of my retirement:
As I look back with pride at my years with Viessmann Canada, I want to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks and appreciation to all those I’ve come to know and rely on during my tenure here. I had the honour of being the second manager – and third employee overall – hired by Viessmann Canada, over 40 years ago now. The first manager was my father, Rudolph Prell, who emigrated from Germany with my family to take on the challenge of North America. What a privilege it has been to represent this prestigious company through the intervening years!
Thank you to all the fine friends I’ve made in this industry, and to our outstanding customers for their unwavering support – especially in the early years.
Thank you to the hardworking mechanical contractors, the wholesalers and engineering firms, our wonderful suppliers, the industry associations, and the media. I must also highlight our absolutely tireless sales team and sales agents across the country. What would we do without you?
Thank you to the dedicated staff, customers and volunteers who helped Viessmann raise money for charities across Canada, including STARS Air Ambulance, The Lookout Foundation and local food banks. It has been my pleasure to support all your good works over the years.
My heartfelt thank you to our long-term Viessmann employees in North America, and our colleagues at the head office in Germany. It’s been an honour and a privilege to work alongside you. What a team!
And last, but certainly not least, my career would not have been possible without the love and steadfast support of my wife, Uta. My travels regularly took me across Canada and around the world, but ‘home’ was wherever and whenever we were together.
I have every confidence that our new president of Viessmann Canada, Jerry Leyte, will brilliantly lead you into the future. With an array of new products and services to forge our path into the future, these will be truly exciting times for all!
It has been an exhilarating and rewarding 41 years for me. Please know I will be cheering on your achievements from the sidelines. Wishing you success and health in the good times ahead.
With my thanks,
Rahul Singh:
INNOVATING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE
Rahul Singh is all about getting maximum benefit to the people who need it when they need it. While on a restorative trip in 1997, the Toronto paramedic saw first-hand the shortcomings of rescue and aid programs in developing countries. It led Rahul on a journey that ultimately resulted in his founding the David McAntony Gibson Foundation in honour of his best friend, and its operational arm GlobalMedic. To date GlobalMedic has conducted more than 238 opps in over 78 countries.
It is GlobalMedic’s internationally deployable Rapid Response Team (RRT) that is responsible for executing its responses. “The RRT is composed of professional emergency workers, as well as other skilled and trained professionals, who volunteer their time and skill set in order to deliver aid,” explains Rahul.
The group has learned to be nimble and apply solutions to what’s needed most. “When we rolled into the Bahamas in 2019, they didn’t need our hospital, but they had a whole bunch of rescued pets that needed shelters. So, we put up the tents intended for the hospital, and air conditioned them to house all the rescued dogs and cats, and other pets,” says Rahul.
“A few weeks after Category 5 Hurricane Dorian made landfall over the northwest Bahamas, we were still making food and we were still giving people clean water and still running our medical programs. But we realized the biggest need on the island was to do mould remediation and apply fungicide in the flooded homes. We hired 45 local folks, trained them, and then we provided a free service to those homeowners. We ended up remediating 240 homes.
“It’s just applying these same models and getting people what they need right then and there. While we were running that program, we also went out to McLean’s Town and we saw that all the fishermen and fisherwomen had lost their boats. We put up one of our big military tents − the same tent that was used to house those pets, who had since been reunited with their families. We filled it with fibreglass and materials and hired four local guys to repair boats. 119 boats later, we restored livelihoods,” recounts Rahul.
“It’s funny because people think of us as an organization that will kick down the door, be the first team in, and we’ll get you clean water, get your medical care, and we’ll save lives. But our true strength is our innovation and how we’re just developing these programs that are really built for the need at the moment. We make sure our core skill set gets utilized properly and you see this massive impact.”
FRESH FOOD, FRESH IDEAS
Closer to home, Rahul is particularly concerned with the growing use of food banks and the lack of fresh food on offer. He has found it to be far more economical to buy staples such as rice, peas and beans in bulk and have volunteers repack them in 500-gram bags. The initiative is part of McAntony’s Menu, a component of a program called the Grassroots Revolution which GlobalMedic started in 2020. “The whole idea is to get people the right products such as good, healthy food, drive cost down and engage volunteers,” says Rahul. “We’re at a point where this food program is so effective, and it’s working, that we’re looking at what other gaps exist in the system. One in seven families are accessing food banks. This is not a small number. I’m not talking in a war in Syria right now, I’m talking in our backyard. This could be your neighbours. This is not a nice statistic − it is not something we should be proud of. “We thought about what else do those folks need? They’re not getting fresh produce. We said look, let’s get on the supply side of this. If I went to buy a head of lettuce in the store it’s $4 or $5. Food banks can’t afford that. Even if I ran the leafy lettuce hedge fund for the poor, and could buy truckloads of greens, I still have distribution and logistics problems, and half my lettuce is coming on a two week call up from California and Mexico,” says Rahul. With his new vertical garden initiative Rahul solves those issues and has an affordable product. “Every Wednesday or every Thursday I have my harvest, and I’m telling the same food banks I’m going to come to you at 11 a.m. on that day with freshly picked lettuce or microgreens or baby greens. And you can now put this out to your clients,” explains Rahul. “This is true supply chain management. I’m at a lower cost point, I’m on the supply side, and I’m delivering locally. We have thousands of volunteers. So now a volunteer day could be in helping harvest the lettuce, or helping harvest the greens, packaging them and then taking them to the food bank. What a great way to spend your day. That’s what we’re working on right now. We’ve got a little place in Oakville where we’re building the grow room and the germination room. It’s all volunteers that are doing the work.
GlobalMedic is also being pressed by supply chain issues. By breaking down the components of water purification buckets for assembly on-site Rahul was able to cut costs from US$50 each to US$12.50. Space in and around the buckets is then filled with solar lights and hygiene products for shipping. “I think in my mind I’ve got the next thing lined up where I want to grow peppers. I’m going to try and grow different products because we don’t want to grow something people aren’t going to eat. Lots of people understand what peppers are but if you go to a store and buy a pepper, you’re paying $2. If you’re a family that can’t afford food, how do you afford $2 for a pepper?” asks Rahul. “We can get on the supply side and grow peppers, and then those same food banks are serving these families a steady supply of peppers if I can get them down to one-eighth of the cost of retail. This is the same mentality we apply to getting into war zones, getting hospitals up and running, getting people clean water and just delivering aid. How do we lower costs? And how do we reach more people?” In an industry sometimes mired in bureaucracy, Rahul is particularly proud of the fact that under three per cent of the foundation’s funding goes to administration. “I want to see our money going to aid. We are sometimes criticized for our low admin costs but I see it as a badge of honour,” says Rahul.
Eyes-in-the-sky
GlobalMedic’s RescUAV Program deploys Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to provide situational awareness, emergency mapping and search and rescue. “Following a disaster, Situational Awareness is critical,” notes Rahul. “Our teams can relay information in real-time to responders on the ground to identify hazards, damaged infrastructure, and assess issues to reaching communities in need. This allows responders to deliver aid as quickly as possible to those who are in the greatest need.”
