INSIDE INSIDE - Plumbing & HVAC

Hot Seat
November/December 2005
Volume 15, Number 6
ISSN 1499-5271
Burned once, twice shy
Holding on to an opinion about a
particular technology these days
can be dangerous. Products
change so rapidly that one-day’s junk
can become tomorrow’s industry mainstay.
The rapid evolution of plumbing
and HVACR technology means that a
contractor cannot afford to write off a
new technology, even where it works
poorly at first.
There are few examples that represent
this reality better than the
plumbers’ struggle with six-litre lowflush
toilets. Some of the early versions
– particularly those where a six-litre
tank was simply placed on an older
design – just plain didn’t work.
The problems were so severe that
there were reports of contractors from
the U.S coming up to Canada to buy
truckloads of “water-guzzler” 13-litre
models after six litres became U.S. law
in 1992. And municipalities – offering
grants to homeowners that installed
water conserving faucets and fixtures –
wondered about the validity of the
CSA B-45 code that every water closet
must meet before it can be sold in
Canada. In fact, they were so concerned
about it that they worked with
the Canadian Water and Wastewater
Association to develop their own tests.
First conducted in 2003, over half the
low-flush toilets failed.
HVAC contractors faced similar
experiences with condensing oil appliances
that used European technology
incompatible with the high sulfur content
in North American No.2 fuel oil.
Contractors faced enormous expense
and headaches in their efforts to rectify
these situations for their customers.
Today there are still many plumbers
that won’t install low-flush toilets and
many HVAC mechanics that want nothing
to do with condensing oil furnaces.
And that’s understandable.
But technology evolves. Manufacturers
don’t want and can’t afford
to develop a reputation for products
that don’t work properly. In the case of
low-flush toilets, many manufacturers
adopted the test procedures developed
for the CWWA. In the most recent
round of testing, over 90 percent of the
toilets passed – a remarkable turnaround
for the industry in a very short
time period and representative of the
fact that manufacturers had already
properly tested their products prior to
submitting them for the official test.
Today, there is little opposition to a
proposal to make six-litre toilets
mandatory in the National Building
Heat Transfer Coils &
Corrosion Protection Coatings
Code. Likewise, governments and oil
companies are working on low-sulfur
fuels while manufacturers have already
developed condensing technology in
anticipation of its availability by 2010.
Of course it’s easy to blame manufacturers
when problems occur, but the fault
does not always lie with the product.
Installation practices are more critical
with high technology equipment. Many
problems with direct-vent HVAC equipment,
for example, resulted from the failure
to properly seal all venting.
But the main point is this: the contractor
must remain open minded and
not let lingering anger from earlier experiences
make him/her turn a blind eye to
technologies that they must eventually
adopt if they are to remain competitive.
A narrow mind can be a recipe for business
disaster.
And, with that in mind, we wish all of
our readers and supporters a happy
Christmas season and a healthy and
prosperous New Year free from disasters
of any sort!
Editor
Simon Blake
(416) 614-5820
sblake@newcom.ca
Editor Emeritus
Ronald H. (Ron) Shuker
(416) 614-5816
rshuker@newcom.ca
Contributors
Roy Collver
John Carr
Ron Coleman
Barry Cunningham
Arthur Irwin
Publisher
Mark Vreugdenhil
(416) 614-5819
mark@plumbingandhvac.ca
National Sales Manager
John Pallante
(416) 614-5805
john@plumbingandhvac.ca
Design and Production
Tim Norton
production@nytek.ca
Circulation Manager
Pat Glionna
Corporate Services
Anthony Evangelista
PLUMBING & HVAC PRODUCT NEWS Magazine is
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