NextGen Vacuum Heating endeavor started when in 1998 I bought a hundred years old two- family in Newton MA. Each apartment was heated by independent single pipe steam heating system. Pretty soon problem started with 2nd floor heating system. HVAC technician from local company put a ton of balooney on my ear, so I have no choice but to find solution myself. When technician left, I've fixed the problem and decided to educate myself on steam heating. By pure luck the first book I found on the subject was "The Lost Art of Steam Heating by Dan Holohan". My technical background (PhD in Petroleum Refining from Russia and MS in Chemical Engineering) was very handy.

After tinkering with steam heating system for a while I fell in love with this exceptionally simple and reliable technology and realize the great potential for improvements. Than a chain of serendipities took place:

  • Dan Holohan kindly listen to my story and suggested to focus on vacuum heating.

  • Stable performance of Steam heating system on 2nd floor apartment converted into vacuum heating with minimal cost.

  • In 2014 NGRID indicated interest in technology and carried out a pilot study in my house by independent vendor. Dan Holohan visited my house and even publish an article in P&M magazine. The pilot is in operation today without any problems.

  • Feasibility and benefits of novel steam retrofit technology was confirmed. Energy savings up to 50% reported. Infrared picures of radiators confirm that heat is distributed much quicker and evenly - Figure 1

Figure 1

  • I met another believer in vacuum heating – Edward Infantino@A&M services and five more residential steam retrofits into vacuum heating were successfully accomplished - this is link to dicussion on HeatingHelp. All of them are hundred years old one pipe steam heating systems, the most difficult to upgrade, and desperate house owners really do not have other reasonable options.

  • Luckily, I employed exergy analysis tool taught by professor M.V.Sussman at Tufts University. The Second Law of Thermodynamics defines the real energy efficiency of different heating systems, and enables to compare "apples" versus "oranges". Turned out that NextGen VH is a heat distribution technology superior to hydronic heating thanks to employed latent heat transfer concept.

Looking forward to help making your building more efficient an comfortable by NextGen VH technology.

Igor Zhadanovsky, PhD President Applied Engineering Consulting