Get a cleaner boiler room

The Taco radiant mixing block (RMB-1) does several jobs inside of one small package. Each mixing block contains an air eliminator, injection pump, system pump, check valve, air vent, and a Tekmar outdoor reset control. Instead of having each of these parts individually in your boiler room, you can just install one unit. This means quicker installation time, easier trouble-shooting, and a cleaner boiler room!

Radiant mixing blocks and other heating supplies can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Added Support for Tight Turns

When installing your PEX Plumbing system, there are likely to be a few tight turns. While PEX tubing is very flexible with a low bending radius, a plastic bend support is always helpful to assure that your tubing is and stays exactly where you want it to be. A bend support replaces the need for an elbow in many situations and is better because you do not need to cut the tubing at all. Just press your PEX tubing into the bend support and you're done.

Installation parts for PEX plumbing can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Isolation in plumbing

When designing your plumbing system, be sure to include a few ball valves. Ball valves will allow you to isolate different areas. This way, if there is ever a problem you can easily shut the water off to that specific area without needing to shut the water off to your whole house. Make sure that your ball valves are easy to access and that there is a place to shut off each faucet or fixture in case you ever need to find it in a hurry.

Ball valves and other plumbing valves can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Where are the pumps?

Pumps are located in the Hydronic System Components category under Heating Supplies. In this category, you can find Expansion Tanks, Aquastats, Valves, Switching Relays, Air Eliminators, Heat Exchangers, Zone Controls, Low Water Cutoffs, Tekmar Controls, and much more. Chances are, if you can't find a heating supply that you were looking for, it's in Hydronic System Components.

Taco pumps, and other heating pumps can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Triangle Tube Prestige Boilers

Triangle Tube Prestige Boilers are a type of high efficiency boiler (with over 95% efficiency!) that feature a stainless steel heat exchanger. The stainless steel burner uses pre-mixed air and gas providing a 25% to 100% modulating firing rate. The Prestige burner features a long life, quiet operation, reliable spark ignition, and clean combustion for low NOx applications.

Triange Tube Boilers including Prestige Boilers can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Regulating Boiler Pressure

An expansion tank will help to regulate the pressure within your system. When the pressure gets too high, the inner diaphragm will fill allowing the excess water to have a place to escape. Without an expansion tank, your water heater can distort or even explode from the pressure of hot water inside with nowhere for the pressure to escape. Most plumbing codes also require an expansion tank, so without a proper method of containing the pressure in your system, it will not pass inspection.

Expansion tanks can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Weil Mclain GV Boilers

The Energy Star rated Weil Mclain GV Boilers are high in efficiency and can be used in residential, commercial, radiant heating, multiple boiler and indirect-fired water heater applications. There is a simple conversion available if you need to use propane instead of natural gas. Lift gates are also available to help you to easily get your boiler off the truck.

Weil Mclain boilers such as the Weil Mclain GV can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Power of a Bosch AE-125

A Bosch PowerStar AE-125 Tankless Heater is powerful enough to send 3.7 gallons of hot water each minute to your faucets, baths, or showers. This unit is small in size but big in efficiency and can provide hot water for a single shower, dishwasher or simultaneously provide hot water for two sinks. The AE-125 is recommended over the AE-115 for areas that tend to get colder in the winter and where the average annual ground water temperature is less than 60°F.
Bosch tankless water heaters such as the Bosch AE-125 can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Now's the time to program that thermostat

With Fall coming into full swing and temperatures dropping, now is the time to program your thermostat to save money and be comfortable all winter. Programmable thermostats come with either 5-2, 5-1-1, or 7 day programming where you can set different times for the heat to come on on different days of the week. 5-2 has one setting for 5 days and a separate setting for the other 2. 5-1-1 has one setting for 5 days, a separate setting for another day, and a third setting for another day. 7 allows you to create different times for the heat to come on for each day of the week. Setting your thermostat to be a few degrees cooler when you won't be home can save you hundreds of dollars on your heating bill, and you won't even notice the change!

Programmable thermostats can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

How many feet of baseboard?

Baseboard heaters made by Slant/Fin such as the Fine/Line 30A and BaseLine 2000 produce about 600 BTU's of heat per one foot of baseboard when using 180 degree water. To determine how many feet of baseboard you will need for a particular room, you must determine how many BTU's are required to heat that space. Then, divide this total by 600 to get how many feet of baseboard to install. If you don't end up with an even number, it is always better to get a little more than not enough to be sure that your room will be warm all winter.

Baseboard heaters and Slant Fin Baseboard Heaters can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Do tankless water heaters really provide endless hot water?

Put simply, yes. Tankless water heaters provide endless hot water. Since there is no storage tank of water that a tankless water heater uses, as long as water flows through your pipes, it will be heated and sent where you want it to go, for as long as you want it to go there. In traditional heating systems, there is a set amount of water that is heated and stored, so when that runs out, your hot water has run out. Since the tankless heater has no tank, you can never run out of hot water.

Tankless water heaters can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Germs from your showerhead

An old shower head can store swarms of potentially disease-causing germs and release them each time you turn on the shower. Since the warm, moist environment is where bacteria thrive, cleaning your showerhead and replacing it regularly is important for keeping your bathroom clean and your family healthy. Metal showerheads hold less bacteria than plastic, and can be cleaned using a steel brush. Shower heads should be replaced every year to be sure that your shower stays clean.

Showerheads can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Replacing a bronze pump

If you have a Taco bronze pump and are looking to replace it, you might want to consider stainless steel. Taco stainless steel pumps are much less expensive than their bronze counterparts, and will not rust even in a system with no oxygen barrier in the tubing.

Taco pumps can be found in the Hydronic System Components section of www.supplyhouse.com

Using heat tape with PEX Tubing

The use of heat tape is allowed with PEX tubing as long as the tubing has automatic thermostatic control capability and the temperature does not exceed the maximum rating listed on the tubing. Heat tape should be wrapped around the tubing and secured with zip or cable ties, not tape; then insulated with closed cell pipe insulation.

Supplies for PEX Plumbing and Radiant Heat can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Save water with a bigger kitchen sink

A dishwasher uses 3 to 5 times as much water as washing your dishes by hand. With a larger kitchen sink such as a double basin sink, you can put dirty dishes in one basin and use the other to do the washing. It's a faster, easier, and cleaner way to wash the dishes while saving some money and a lot of water.

Kitchen sinks can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Setting a VisionPro for Auto Changeover

All Honeywell VisionPro Thermostats can be set for Auto Changeover (including models TH8110U1003, TH8320U1008, TH8321U1006, TB8220U1003, and TH9421C1004).

To set your thermostat for Auto Changeover, first press "System". There are 5 blank buttons on the VisionPro, press and hold the 2nd and 4th buttons at the same time until a new screen appears. Hit the up arrow on the left hand side until the number on the screen reaches "0300". Then, select the up arrow on the right hand side to change the setting from 0 to 1 and press "Done".

Honeywell thermostats can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Colors of PEX

PEX Tubing for PEX Plumbing comes in red, white, and blue colors. All three colors are made of the same material, and will function exactly the same. The colors are only there to make looking at your pipes and knowing which pipe goes where easy. Red is typically used for hot water and blue is typically used for cold water. If you don't want the colors, you can use white everywhere.

PEX Tubing can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Removing lime and calcium from a tankless water heater

If your water is hard, you can get a lime or calcium buildup in your tankless water heater. To clean it out and flush the system, shut off all of the inlets and outlets to your heater, turn off the power and release the water inside of the unit. Then, fill a 5 gallon bucket with 2-3 gallons of white vinegar and a gallon of water. Connect a sump pump to the outlet of the heater and place it into the bucket, allowing the vinegar/water mixture to cycle for approximately 45 minutes. This should remove the majority of the buildup and allow your tankless heater to run like new again.

Tankless water heaters can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Taco Venturi Tees

Taco Venturi Tees are typically used for retrofit applications. A Taco Venturi Tee is a tee with directional flow so that you can direct water where you want it. On the tee, there is an arrow which will point in the direction of flow, so you can just adjust the Venturi tee so that the arrow points where you want it to go.
Standard copper tees have no direction so water goes in and moves to the path of least resistence, or the path with the least amount of pressure.

Copper tees and Venturi Tees can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Water Temperature for Radiant

When installing radiant heat underneath hardwood floors, it is important to install a floor sensor so that the wood does not warp or distort in any way from excessive heat. The maximum temperature for the water flowing through your PEX tubing is 140° and the maximum surface temperature for the floors should be 84°

Radiant PEX Tubing and radiant heat supplies can be found at www.supplyhouse.com

Quality of PEX Tubing

PEX tubing comes in three grades, PEX-a, PEX-b, and PEX-c. The grade of PEX is determined by the process in which the poly-ethylene is cross-linked and this process greatly effects the quality of the PEX. PEX-a is the highest quality PEX, with a superior bending radius and the ability to hold its shape where PEX-b and PEX-c cannot. PEX-a also features an even cross-linking of the molecules which creates a more uniform and stronger product.

PEX tubing for PEX Plumbing and radiant heat can be found at www.supplyhouse.com