PM Engineer articles from May 2008

PM Engineer archives from May 2008

Past "green is good," it's time for expertise.(Publisher's Note)
May 1, 2008... Two meetings that I attended recently have led me to one conclusion: The plumbing-and-mechanical industry is past the feel-good, "green is good" discussion on sustainable buildings. Now comes the hard part. What's up next are building...

ASPE a big winner at ICC: trade association tastes victory on numerous code changes.(Codes)(International Code Council)(American Society of Plumbing Engineers)
May 1, 2008... At the International Code Council (ICC) Plumbing Code Change hearings in Palm Springs, CA, in March, ASPE came out as one of the bigger winners, having submitted a number of code changes to the International Plumbing Code. ASPE proposed a...

Throttled down: setting the flow restrictor valve for a variable-speed injection mixing assembly.(Hydronics Notebook)
May 1, 2008... Variable-speed injection has been used in North American hydronic systems for well over a decade. A basic schematic for this method of water temperature control is shown in Figure 1. Two important details are crucial to proper operation:...

New solar column in PM Engineer.(Hydronics Notebook)(Column)
May 1, 2008... Many HVAC engineers have undoubtedly been asked if solar energy hardware can somehow be incorporated into more traditional system designs ill the interest of reducing operating cost. PME recognizes this need and is responding by launching a...

The battle of the experts: telling the truth is a serious matters, so always keep it simple and straight.(Fire Protection)
May 1, 2008... The lawyers refer to it as a "battle of the experts." In a courtroom setting, what often pales in significance to the actual facts may be the authoritative demeanor of an expert witness, the weight of his credentials, or the oratory skills and...

Sprinklers in cold environments: make no mistake about it: these areas are fire-susceptible and fall under specific installation requirements in NFPA 13, 13R or 13D.
May 1, 2008... A common misunderstanding is that automatic fire sprinkler protection is not needed in cold environments because everything is frozen and the chance of a fire occurring is viewed as minimal. However, history has shown that cold environments do...

Modified standards for boilers: negotiations between GAMA and ACEEE produce requirements that provide more energy efficiency than those proposed by the DOE.(Green Plumbing & Design)
May 1, 2008... Making products more energy efficient yet still affordable is a challenge that many of the 42 product section manufacturers that make up the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) have had to deal with at some point or...

The great water wars.(Director's Update)
May 1, 2008... Remember the great cowboy movies that dominated entertainment, both on the big screen and early television in the mid-1950s and early 1960s? Many had common themes: the triumph of good over evil, truth and justice over falsehood and duplicity,...

Sustainable retrofits: the future of green building: as the movement toward green retrofitting of existing buildings gains momentum, engineers will be called upon to recommend ways to retrofit restrooms to be more efficient.(Green Plumbing & Design)(Cover story)
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] New construction has stolen the sustainability spotlight so far. However, of the estimated 4.5 million commercial properties in the U.S., new construction comprises only a small percentage of the total. This means...

Anatomy of a plumbing project: part 1: every project is somewhat akin to a human body. Trying to cut off an "unimportant" part will cause the body to suffer--or even die.
May 1, 2008... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Let's begin by pinning the project drawing to a wall and looking at it for a moment. All walls are "soft" at this time, all lines are handwritten, even the size is not final. However, one thing is known for sure:...