Me, you and ISH

By Bob "Hot Rod" Rohr,

Radiant expert

My wife and I recently returned from a week-long visit to Frankfurt, Germany, home of the Messe Frankfurt exhibition hall. Every two years Messe Frankfurt hosts the ISH show. It’s billed as the world’s leading trade fair for bathrooms, building energy, air conditioning and renewable energy. And you better believe that mission statement!

The show is a massive mecca for viewing the newest and most innovative products available.

The sheer size of the show — over 250 square meters of floor space —  makes seeing every booth a challenge. Even with a week to do so.

We made a quick pass through several of the plumbing fixture halls, but spent the majority of our time in the heating and alternative energy halls.

We had an opportunity to speak with journalists in the press room on a daily basis. We also spent some time in cabs and got a good feel of what is on the minds of the locals.

The “big-name booths” were quite an eyeful. Many had entertainment of some sort spanning from dancers to contortionists to mega wide screen displays. The Viessmann booth reminded me of the scene in “The Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy meets the Great Oz for the first time. WOW!

I was surprised to see the size of some of the companies I have dealt with over the years. Certainly Viessmann and Buderus were leaders in sheer size and offerings. Baxi, Junkers and Wilo were some of the other large booths.

I was mainly seeking alternative energy manufactures and products. This year’s show focused on those areas. Solar and solid fueled boilers — both wood and biomass — were prevalent. Some showgoers felt the solar presence had doubled from the previous show in 2005.

What surprised me most was the focus of many of the “big players” on heat pumps. The largest component, and most photographed, was the drill rig in the Buderus booth.

The press was provided a show magazine called Top Fair. Inside the article, “All eyes on Heat Pumps” caught my attention. In this article, author Karlheintz Reitze wrote, “The current conflict surrounding the Russian oil supplies underlines the need to make energy production less dependent on imports. This applies in particular to the generation of heat, one of the most important applications of importer oil and gas. In the last year more than 40,000 heat pumps have been installed in Germany. Forecasts for 2007 indicate around 55,000 new units will be installed!”

Yet another intriguing “uber product” was the low energy consumption circulators. I suspect Wilo will be first to market with their Stratos series due here in June. These “mini energy” circulators equipped with permanent magnet motors and sophisticated controls can “get the job done” with a fraction of the power consumption of our current small wet rotor designs. I spotted these pumps at the Grundfos booth as the Alpha series. Also offerings from Laing, Biral and others were on display.

Solar panels, pump stations, controls and heat exchanger tanks were everywhere. Large 750 and 100 liter tanks with two or three coils were among my favorite “wish I could have” products.  These components are ideal for solar and wood-fired hydronic systems.

I’m trying to figure a way that more of these world-class products could get into the hands of the installers and customers in our country; or inspire the “hometown boys” to latch on to the great concepts from abroad. One could build them or outsource them. The buyers are ready. I get fired up about all this cool technology, and I tell other contractors and my customers about it. Then, I have to add, “Oh, we can’t get that in the States.”

Why not? Our knuckleheaded measuring system. Metric makes sense and there is no reason at all that we shouldn’t use it. Add that to the UL and other required listings approval processes. The result — fuggedaboutit. Too much hassle.

I’m not giving up. I will continue to preach about alternative energy and efficiency and support the forward- thinking companies who see the need and the opportunities. Speaking of solar… I will partner with Phc News, HVACtv.com and Oventrop to film a live solar panel and system installation on June 7. Peter Biondo, solar trainer extraordinaire of national fame and currently working with Oventrop Solar, will join me to explain the ins and outs of selecting and designing a solar domestic hot water system (SDHW). Then we will jump up on the roof to do an actual live installation on the HVACtv.com webcast. (See the ad on page 28 of the April issue of Phc News.) Stay tuned for additional HVACtv.com webcasts. We will also film the installation of a PHP Boiler stand with a Lochinvar Knight mod con boiler aboard.

Keep ‘em plumb, level, straight and leak-free. See you soon.

Bob "Hot Rod" Rohr is particularly interested in "hybrid" radiant systems -- systems that utilize solar and wood  energy in addition to, or in place of, fossil fuel. Also, systems that incorporate  different methods of heat delivery.  He owns and operates Show Me  Radiant Heat and Solar, Inc. in southwest  Missouri. Reach hot rod at  hotrodradiant@aol.com or by phone at  (417) 753-3998.