Radiant heating, hydronic or otherwise, is a field whose technical aspects can leave many plumbers cold. Sometimes sitting through even the best of classes on the subject can leave folks with questions about the systems and their application. Enter Dan Holohan, founder of the Web’s HeatingHelp.com.
    The site serves many purposes, providing advice to DIYers, referrals to DISomebody-elsers and resources for and from professionals. Holohan’s first online foray began in 1998.
    “We started in January, and the URL was DanHolohan.com, which I thought was a fine URL until I realized that anyone who didn’t know me wasn’t going to find the place,” Holohan said.  So in 1999, he started again as HeatingHelp.com.
    “The goal was to provide as much content as possible, and to build a community around it.”  

The Online Community
That community has an active population, with about 5,000 visitors a day. Holohan said many of them gather at The Wall, the site’s online discussion forum. There cyber-stands salvation for anyone who has ever been stumped on a heating project: a massive listing by category of advice on subjects ranging from steam vent recycling to cracked boilers to bleeding baseboards. More than 100 categories (in a week!) appear, including questions, comments and shared advice. The site also features “Green” and steam heating sections, and a “Virtual Trade Show” of manufacturers.   
    So how’s business in the www-world? “I think the Internet has changed the way we work,” Holohan said. “No one is alone anymore and any pro or homeowner can get instant information, 24/7. If a product works well, people know about it right away, and the opposite also applies.”   
    Holohan said he gets all types of visitors. “Contractors, engineers, wholesalers, manufacturers and their reps, institutional people, co-op apartment people, lots of homeowners.” He credits his high Google ranking for the traffic, noting that regular contributors to the site are a small percentage.   
    But they do have an audience. “The homeowners listen to what they have to say, sometimes for a year or more, and then they chime in,” Holohan said. “Many of the contractors who advertise with us get their business, which is nice, because the homeowner has chosen that person based on the give and take of The Wall conversations.” Holohan called it a nice way to eliminate the competition. “Also, by listening in, the homeowners gain a great sense of the difference between good work and bad work. When they’re ready to hire, they often hire the people on our site. Everyone wins.”   
    Doesn’t the easy accessibility of expert advice encourage novices to get in over their heads? Not according to Holohan.
    “The DIYers who hang out on our site looking for free information also quickly realize how much is involved in a well-done professional job and they decide to hire one of our regulars," he said. "They come back and post those feelings all the time.”  

Bringing the Heat
Dan Holohan began his career in 1970 as a manufacturer’s rep in Long Island, N.Y. His father recommended the industry where Holohan would spend the next 30+ years. “He said to me, ‘Kid, you should come into the heating business because everyone needs heat, especially in the winter.’ Such wisdom.”  
    Holohan started as a clerk, moved into inside sales, then outside sales, then became the “contractor boy,” on-call to any contractor with a problem.
    “New York being a heating museum, most of the jobs were fascinating. Few people knew what was going on with these older jobs, so I spent a lot of time in the library, researching old engineering,” Holohan said. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in 1986 from Hofstra University. “The degree was in Sociology, which is an excellent degree for anyone involved in the heating industry.”   
    Heatinghelp.com’s creator certainly knows about hooking people up. The site links homeowners with plumbers, shoppers with products, and professionals with education, through books sold online and in-person seminars in the New York area. Holohan recently added a Web page for heating news and a “High Efficiency System Showcase,” where finished installations are displayed, explained and often praised by peers.   
    Holohan ranks the Find a Professional page the second most popular, after The Wall, followed by the Library and Hot Tech Topics, noting, “The secret to a popular site really is no secret; it’s all about content. Which gives you an indication of his future plans for the site.
    “More and more content—heat pumps, solar, whatever technology is on the horizon,” Holohan said . “I want HeatingHelp.com to be the Google of heating. It’s my full-time pursuit and I’m having a ball with it.”