Seafaring hydronics pro creates

mechanical masterpieces in Alaska

Most of us have seen Discovery Channel’s captivating television show, “The Most Dangerous Catch.” From the safety of our homes, we watch as men and women battle the raging sea for a harvest from the deep. But relatively few have braved those conditions repeatedly, risking the threat of the “Perfect Storm” at sea. And even fewer plumbing and mechanical professionals can chalk it up as an experience they’ve had.

One of those who can is Rob Weinfurter, owner of All Seasons Plumbing & Heating based near Homer, Alaska, a destination that ends at the foot of a glacier bay. Most Alaskans simply refer to the area as “the end of the road.”

Weinfurter was raised in upper Michigan but moved his family to Alaska in 1986 after being honorably discharged from the Marine Corps. His interest in Alaska was stirred when his father, serving in the Coast Guard, was stationed there years earlier. Weinfurter enrolled in the Alaska Bible Institute, supporting himself and his family though construction work as a welder in the winter. During the summer months he served as a deck hand with the Homer-based commercial fishing fleet for three years.

“Mostly, we did salmon seining and commercial gill-netting in the Falls Pass area,” he said. “It’s a desolate, dangerous area with nothing but water in every direction. We’d be out for a couple weeks at a time. The seasons could be lucrative back then, especially for a young guy. But the Exxon Valdez accident in ’89 just about killed the Homer fleet financially. That was the end of my fishing experience.”

During his college years, Weinfurter met fellow student Lucy Morgan who, in 1986, became his wife. Today, Rob and Lucy have five children: Rebekah, Eric (who eagerly helps his dad on jobsite work, and who especially enjoys cutting and sweating pipe), Jessie, Jody and Sarah. Weinfurter’s an admitted “homeboy” who wants nothing more than to return home after a day’s work. Long duty and dangers at sea are gladly things of the past.

Following his high seas fishing experience, Weinfurter joined a local plumbing firm, Eayrs, and quickly became a technician with a passion for hydronic work. It was during those years that he did jobs occasionally in the bush country, the rugged terrain known as home to some of the world’s largest carnivores, mountain ranges and glaciers that demand respect, and where the nearest supply store may be 500 miles away.

“I wish in some ways that I could amuse lower-forty-eighter’s with stories of great danger from the bush, or that I’d had a close encounter with a giant grizzly... but I can’t,” he lamented. “The bush work entailed mostly plumbing work at remote camps and airports. Supplies had to be flown in and what I remember most were the incredible hassles, the time and logistics needed to get the simplest thing accomplished.”

“The owner of the firm, Steve Eayrs, was a good teacher, and I learned a lot while I was there during those years with them,” he said. “I acquired an interest in hydronics work and couldn’t get enough of it. I learned to deliver heat evenly and reliably, how to use a wide range of skills and techniques that worked well and developed a real sense of how to get the job done conceptually. Of course, there were plenty of plumbing and forced air jobs to tackle routinely, as well. But I was always looking for the hydronic work. That’s what I most wanted to do.”

In October of 2000, after nine years with Eayrs, Weinfurter struck out on his own, determined to build his reputation as one of the region’s top hydronic pros. “That’s where my real interests were, and they’ve only solidified since then.” His recipe has worked. All Seasons now has three full-time employees and the list of projects spans a period of several months.

Given the chance to “wax nostalgic” on the topic of hydronics, Weinfurter can go the distance. In fact, perhaps only the topics of faith and family stir him more enthusiastically.

According to Weinfurter, technology -- and a willingness to present the case for what’s best when building a heating system -- plays an important role. “There are a few basics to the recipe,” he insists.

“For 15 or 16 years now, I’ve installed nothing but Grundfos pumps,” he said. “The wet rotor design is made for endurance runs. It’s also our product of choice because of the multi-speed function. The three-speed SuperBrute line now has three circs. The combination of settings replaces dozens of pumps offered elsewhere, and we don’t have the luxury of stocking a bunch of single-speed pumps. But most of all, it’s the success rate I’ve seen with them. I’ve never had a call-back because of Grundfos.”

In addition to the SuperBrute circulators, Weinfurter also uses the company’s UP 10-16 hot water recirc pumps and isolation valves whenever possible. At one job, a condo complex overlooking Homer’s glacier bay, he was completing a hydronic heating and domestic water system with several SuperBrute pumps and a UP 10-16 recirc set within a dedicated return line to deliver steady, programmable, hot water recirculation.

Weinfurter also uses pressure-connect copper fittings to artfully join his hydronic fabrications. As you’ll see in the photos that show his work in progress, it’s a skill he takes seriously. He said that he wants his installations to look as well as they perform. But, when it’s all said and done, bullet-proof performance is the most important facet of the job when doing duty in Alaska.

“Hydronics, in many ways, really is the only heat form capable of battling the rigors of winter up there,” he said. “Winter conditions in Alaska are hard to describe to some people. They simply don’t understand how dangerous it can get. And heating homes isn’t just something you do for comfort, you do it out of dire necessity. There’s no choice. Sure, you heat a home for comfort, but you also heat it to keep it from freezing like a block of ice -- not in days, but in hours. This is, after all, Alaska.”

According to Weinfurter, they’re at war with the elements. A well-designed hydronic system is the best defense against the absolute certainty of freezing.

But, strangely enough, and with the harsh reality of extreme winter conditions, there’s an even higher level of the skill -- he likes to think of it as an art form -- in creating hydronic systems that not only function well, but look like a mechanical masterpiece.

Mechanical system function and artful design live compatibly in Homer, Alaska. And the designer/builder of the system works with a “pallet” of copper and steel, moving heated water as a defense against Old Man Winter at his worst. Rob Weinfurter take a bow. You’ve bested the toughest of foes.