Air Balancing Tutorial

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Hydronics

We will be discusing hydronics in great detail in this tutorial. Hydronics is one of the most important tasks that a technician will learn due to the few number of people that can understand and troubleshoot all the different types of hydronic systems. Hydronics unlike air systems will not be on every project, therefore the learning process is slower for most people. Lets begin by defining hydronics and the different types of piping systems.

Hydronics may be defined as the process of heating and cooling through the use of fluids. A hydronic system is also known as a closed circuit system in which water is used to transfer heat or cooling to or from a conditioned space with the use of a boiler, water heater, or chiller. The most common types of piping classifications used today are:

Two Pipe Systems may be direct return where the return water from each unit takes the shortest path back to the boiler, or a reverse return where the return main flow is in the same direction as the supply flow.
Three Pipe Systems provide both supply heating and cooling water to a single secondary coil which has a three way modulating valve at the inlet of the coil that allows hot or cold water through depending on the temperture demand. The water leaving the coil is carried in a common return pipe to either the secondary chiller or boiler.
Four Pipe Systems have two seperate suppy lines and two seperate return lines for heating and cooling. There will be two coils used, one served by heating water and the other by chilled water. This type of system is most commonly used. All water systems and there components in this tutorial will be in reference to the four pipe system.

Now that you understand the different types of piping systems we can move on to hydronic system components.