The busiest ‘beaver’

 

BY Bob “hot rod” Rohr

contributing writer

 

Under the definition of southern gentleman you should find the name Clarence Beaver. Clarence resides in the beautiful and historic area of North Carolina known as Salisbury. I’ve known Clarence for as many years as I have been a member of the Radiant Panel Association. I’ve known Beaver Brothers as a hydronic and radiant shop, as well as an HVAC installation and service operation. Over the years, we’ve chatted casually about wet heat and business in general. A world traveler, Clarence and his wife Barbara stopped by our Missouri shop while on their way to a Veterans of Foreign Wars (vfw) gathering. They visited and toured my shop, and he invited me to stop by Salisbury if ever I traveled that road. So I did. I was on a solar tour visiting dealers across the “First in Flight” state.

 

Over the years, we spoke of solar thermal and its history. Beaver Brothers was founded in 1919 by Clarence’s dad and uncle. Driving up to the Beavers Brothers’ shop, visitors are greeted by a large solar thermal array at the entry. This 14-flat panel collector array, installed when the shop was built 20 some years ago, still supplies most of the energy for the radiant slab heating system. Simple and efficient, this drainback system has the bare minimum of controls, piping and complexity. It has been virtually untouched since being installed. The age of the radiant system was apparent by the polybutylene tube coming out of the slab!

 

As with many radiant contractors, designers and suppliers, Clarence realized the perfect match of solar with the low operating temperatures radiant systems require. His location provides a good deal of sunshine to power the heating system.

 

Turns out, North Carolina is a fairly progressive state in the thermal solar discipline. The North Carolina Solar Energy Association was formed in 1978, with Clarence as one of the founding members. Located in Raleigh, N.C., the association is known now as the North Carolina Sustainable Energy Association. The association is now managed under the North Carolina State University’s College of Engineering at Raleigh, N.C.

 

Clarence’s sons Mike and Trip, third-generation plumbing and hvac contractors, handle most of the day-to-day operations now. Mike leans toward the hydronic and solar side, while Trip handles the HVAC side of things.

 

Clarence took me on a tour of Salisbury. Turns out Salisbury is chock full of hydronic and steam systems. As one of the first settlements in N.C., Salisbury is home to many historic mansions, one dating back to 1753!

 

As we drove through the oldest section of town, Clarence pointed out homes and buildings he had worked in with his with his dad, mid-1950s. Not surprisingly, we went by a number of homes with solar thermal systems installed by Beaver Brothers, dating as far back as 1970s.

 

My favorite part of the tour was of Clarence’s own home. Built in 1986, it has a very well planned and executed solar thermal component. Drainback panels are flush mounted into a step down section of the roof framing. Very low profile. The piping exits the sides of the array into the side of the rafters. This provided not only a clean mounting for the panels, but a system with no exposed piping, or problems with leaking penetrations.

 

The mechanical room houses a custom built 300-gallon pressurized drainback tank. The tank, like the one in the shop, is tall and skinny to take advantage of stratification. Notice the connection ports, with heating supply taken from the very top, and warmest portion of the tanks. The collector fluid, plain tap water, is stored in the tank, as is the drainback “space.” Pressurizing the drainback tank provides some npsh for the high head pump and raises the boiling temperature of the fluid. Heat for dhw and radiant is taken from the tank via a plate heat exchanger. An upgrade several years ago included some more up-to-date variable speed mixing methods and upgraded to Tekmar control components.

 

A Hobart generator fueled by natural gas is located in the mechanical space. A tube and shell hx on the exhaust adds thermal energy to the solar storage tank whenever it is operating.

 

A mix of generously sized baseboard and radiant floor zones keeps the home comfortable with a solar fraction in excess of 65%. A small mod con boiler provides back up into a primary secondary loop piping layout.

 

I admire Clarence most for his love of hobbies and the time he makes available to partake in them! A large ho railroad layout greets you as you descend into the basement. Rc model airplanes hang from the ceiling joist, some dating back to Clarence’s days in Korea as part of the 32nd Engineering Group.

 

Next room above is headquarters for a ham radio. Clarence keeps in touch with many of his service buddies with ham and also embraces the newer version of communication, Skype. A nice blend of new and old, which is a lot like Clarence himself.

 

I love learning about cool solar and hydronics systems…especially the older ones…because I get to meet the cool people who created them. With Clarence, I spent time with classic systems and a classy guy!