10 Questions for . . . Dan Holohan, Founder of HeatingHelp.com

In this installment of 10 Questions for . . ., Associate Editor Gian Trotta speaks with Dan Holohan, a former heating-industry pro whose 10-year-old HeatingHelp.com provides plumbing- and heating-related information and lively, active forums for consumers and industry members. Here's his take on how the industry is dealing with the recession; Joe the Plumber; and energy-saving technologies.

Your site is full of history of the industry as well as current plumbing and heating practices. Why the mix?
The history on the site makes people feel a part of something big and important, and it makes problems timeless. I want readers to know they're not the first to have banging pipes. I spent 19 years as a writer and sales-promotion guy in the heating-equipment business trying to get contractors to buy our products. I did a lot of research and realized there's also so much social history tied in with the mechanical engineering of heating. Much of this came out when I started writing books, such as The Lost Art of Steam Heating, in 1992, doing seminars, and publishing newsletters.

Who is your audience?
It's a combination of contractors, engineers, wholesalers, manufacturers reps, manufacturers, homeowners, industrial people—just about everyone who has a heating system or needs to work on one. The visitors are mainly from North America, but we also get people from all over the world.

During the recession, has there been a shift to more maintenance work as opposed to new construction? How has the downturn affected the green part of the business?
New construction has tanked, but people still need heat since Mother Nature makes no allowances for budgets or ignorance. Stuff breaks, so there's a part of our business that's recession-proof. I was seeing a shift toward green things, but this seems to be slacking off since the price of fuel went down. I think there's going to be a huge business in insulation.

Joe the Plumber certainly made a lot of news during the presidential election. What's your take on Joe?
The visitors to our site had a lot of fun with him. Opinions, as you might expect, split along party lines. I think Joe was making the most of his moment, and I'm glad that moment has passed.

What advances hold the most promise for cutting the cost of heating water?
Heat-recovery systems, which recover thermal energy from drainpipes, and small-pipe systems that consume smaller volumes of hot water make sense to me. But I think solar water heaters hold the most promise, and not because the technology is green but because it's simple and proven. I'm also following a new type of hybrid water heater that uses heat-pump technology to extract heat from the air to preheat the incoming water. And some new commercial water heaters are getting efficiencies that are close to 100 percent.

I can qualify for a $1,500 tax incentive to upgrade the plumbing supply at my home. What do you recommend I do?
Upgrade the water heater to one with better efficiency and install a domestic-hot-water recirculating pump, which will save a lot of water and fuel.

Congress has renewed the 30 percent tax credit for solar water heaters. Is this a good option for consumers, or are there better ways to go?
It depends on where they live, the siting of the house, whether they can place the panels on the ground if their roof doesn't face south, whether there are tall trees that will block the sunlight. But if the conditions are right, that's the way to go.

You've compared tankless water heaters to thoroughbreds and storage-tank heaters to workhorses. Why the equine metaphor?
With tankless heaters, you need someone who knows what they're doing. They have to look at the family, consider how the folks in the house live, size the unit properly, install it well, and be around to service it. Storage-tank heaters are much more forgiving.

Your weekly e-newsletter frequently covers technologies and energy policies in other countries. What impresses you?
I'm a fan of district heating, especially the way they use it in Scandinavia, where people in a small town might share one boiler. Some foreign district-heating systems are using abandoned and flooded mines as the heat source. They use heat pumps to extract the heat from the mine water and pump the hot water they make to hundreds of homes. That's smart.

Where will HeatingHelp.com be five years from now?
We'll continue to build the community, because a collection of brains is better than just one. We'll keep finding, scanning, and uploading older product literature because when it comes to heating, not everyone is going to rip out everything old in the next five years. I'd like HeatingHelp.com to continue to be the place where people can go for that information 24/7. And I'm going to continue to spend most of my days scouring the Internet for things that are new in heating, and I'll try my best to put things together and make sense of it all. I believe that the more consumers know about all of this, the better off they'll be when they go to buy. Heating professionals appreciate smart consumers—no one wants a dummy for a client.

Essential information: Find out whether it's time to replace your water heater and read our guide to tanked and tankless models. And learn about the popularity of solar water heaters in Israel.

Comments

[sean hegarty]

thi sight has been very helpfull in getting infomation about system 2000 . alot posative some negative.iwas very happy to find this site and will be putting one in . thank you for all coments

[Mike]

Heatinghelp.com is a great resource for any question to be answered. It doesn't matter if you are a homeowner or contractor, there is someone else who has been in the same situation as you and they can help. Simply the best HVAC help site on the Internet.

[Steve Giordano]

Hi Dan,I work for a district steam company in a major city and I've found in a lot of old buildings there are no steam traps on the condensate returns only what I refer to as a loop seal system. Could you explain exactly how this type of system works?

[John Mon]

How do I get your weekly newsletter? I so miss your informative columns!