The Loveland, Colo.-based Radiant Panel Association was established in 1994, but its roots go back several years and incarnations. Executive director Larry Drake saw the writing on the soon-to-be hydronically heated wall back in the late 1980s, while working for a manufacturer.
    “A number of manufacturers got together and formed the Hydronic Radiant Heating Association. And that organization kind of struggled along for four or five years,” said Drake. “I was actually president at the time we determined that the industry wasn’t really ready for it yet, and we then merged with the Hydronics Institute. It became a radiant heating division of the Hydronics Institute. And we did that for about three or four years.” Drake said the industry was fairly small then and not getting much respect. “The hydronics industry looked at the radiant people as kind of an unwanted stepchild at that time. In fact, boiler manufacturers wouldn’t warranty their boilers if they were equipped with radiant systems.”
    After a few unproductive years at the Institute, Drake, by then working as a consultant, got together with several companies and manufacturers of radiant systems, to finance a study of the feasibility of starting a new, more inclusive organization. The results were encouraging and the Radiant Panel Association was born.  

Evolving Goals
Drake’s duties vary widely now but his goal originally was just to get the group up and running and to foster some internal cooperation. “The industry was kind of really disjointed and there was a lot of controversy going on,” remembered Drake. “In fact, it was at a point where we were losing more business than we were gaining because…the competition was not real clean. The homeowner would be interested in radiant and they’d talk to one company and that company would tell the homeowner how terrible everybody else’s product was and they’d say ‘well, since I don’t know who to trust, I’ll just stick with forced air.’”
    Over the next two years, the group put together radiant guidelines for the design and installation of radiant heating and cooling systems, which Drake considered one of RPA’s first major accomplishments. “We had a roomful of people and they were there mostly to protect their interests. And by the time we were done, we had a roomful of people working together to come up with a good set of guidelines. That was a real turning point for the industry.” With that completed, Drake’s role changed to one of educator.
    “Radiant Experts Found Here,” announces RadiantPanelAssociation.org. About 850 companies’ worth, Drake estimated. Membership is open to contractors, distributors, reps, architects and engineers, as well as manufacturers. The site offers information under the headings, “Education,” “Certification,” and “Installation.”  

Getting the Word Out
“We have a core group of contractors who are really radiant aficionados, I guess you could say.” Drake said, adding, the biggest challenge continues to be one of education. “A large number of systems are being installed by plumbers or mechanical contractors that maybe do one or two systems a year and haven’t really gotten the training. They’re just kind of winging it. And so our number-one challenge is to educate those people.”
    RPA courses focus exclusively on radiant heating. Drake said classes address the many ways radiant is used to distribute heat, but don’t teach basic hydronics. “We assume people have that knowledge when they come to our course.” The Association offers three kinds of training: off-site schools, company sponsored classes and online courses. “We have live online classes and recorded online classes. Or you can order the home study kit that’s got courses on CD. What we call Radiant Basics right now—there’s a 14 section course, so it’s basically 14 hours,” Drake said. “Then we have an advanced course which we call Radiant Precision. That one is nine hours of training.”
    Drake admitted it’s taken a while for the two-year-old online program to catch on. “It’s really quite easy to take, but a lot of people just aren’t computer savvy.”
    Which leads to RPA’s other big challenge: to expand the educated and trained contractor base. “Because there’s far more business out there than we have contractors available to do the business,” noted Drake. “We get calls all the time from homeowners that would like to put in radiant heating but they either can’t find somebody that’s trained to do it or they find one contractor in the area and he’s so busy that he’s charging accordingly because he’s getting so much work.” Drake is returning a function to the Web site that can search for local RPA members.  

Teaming Up
What’s next for the RPA? More collaboration— this time with other trade organizations. Drake said in the last few years, things have really started to open up. “We can work with other organizations to provide them the proper training resources [rather than] them having to reinvent the wheel.”  Through this kind of partnership, members can receive the radiant training from RPA and be redirected for other subjects to the appropriate organization.
    The Association is just finishing up a rewrite of its Radiant Precision course and book and by next spring expects to update its Radiant Basics class.
    The Web site’s member search button isn’t the only thing making a comeback. RPA’s recently dormant annual convention, Radiant Exposition, or REX, returned this year as well. According to Drake, “We had combined with PHCC and ASA and CIPH in putting on the ISH show. That’s a pretty good-sized show but it didn’t serve our members well.”
    Drake said RPA will continue to support that show, “but our members also wanted the intimacy and the focus of a radiant show which we haven’t done for a number of years because of ISH. But this year we brought it back.” The conference and trade show were held August 22-24, 2007 in Hartford, Conn. The next REX will take place in Schaumburg, Ill., August 13-15, 2008.