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We got a tour of the mechanicals at Gillette that day. Everything there is big. There are three boilers, each pounding out 8.5 million BTUH. The pumps were moving 2,700 GPM at 125 feet of head over to the flat-plate heat exchangers and DHW bayonet heaters. It’s all so big there, but it’s not at all complicated.
When I was done with the seminar at Gillette, I stayed overnight and set out for the Isle of Long the next day. Normally, it’s a four-hour drive, but it took me 10 hours that day because of the snow, which was plentiful. We wound up with about 18 inches at home. The next morning, I checked the Wall at HeatingHelp.com to see what was going on, and there was Mad Dog Sweeney in a color, digital photo, standing on that driveway up there on the Gold Coast of the Isle of Long, and looking like the King of the World. There was 18 inches of snow on the ground, but not a flake on that driveway he had wondered about for six months. And I knew that he now owned the snowmelt, and that it would never again cause him to doubt. He was standing on that clear driveway on the most miserable day of the year, and he was smiling. I couldn’t believe my eyes in December of 1990 when I watched them lay that pipe in Stockholm, and when I walked the snow-free streets of Västeras. Back then, I never imagined we’d someday be doing this in America, but it’s becoming commonplace now, and more and more people are believing in the potential of hydronics, not only to warm us, but also to keep us safe on our roads and sidewalks.
On that same Sunday, I shoveled snow from our driveway and panted like an old dog. I longed for a snowmelt system, and I dreamed of Västeras. I thought about how far we’ve all come, and I thought about all the places we have yet to go. Can’t wait. Dan Holohan
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In the mountains of Colorado, in a place they call Copper, there’s a ski resort that has an area that’s bigger than the field at Gillette Stadium. No snow ever sticks to the streets of Copper. There’s so much large-diameter PEX under that place that I’m told the contractor actually ran the manufacturer out of all the supplies in all of the United States of America while the project was going on. It, too, is big, and it, too, made me smile.
The Pats kicked the snot out of the Dolphins. The field was a muddy mess by the time they were finished. They had put the tarp back down after the lines went down on that previous Thursday, and I’ll bet you they ran the turf-warming system all the while it was snowing on Saturday, even though you’re not supposed to. I’ll bet they did anyway.
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