Warm in the Woods
by Jack Sweet
December 8, 2008
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| Mac Plumbing of Yucaipa, Calif., used hundreds of feet of PEX tubing during its recent
radiant hydronic heating installation in a pair of new bunkhouses at Blue Sky Meadow near Big Bear City, Calif. Photo courtesy of Viega. |
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Mac Plumbing of Yucaipa, Calif. brings some warmth to Blue Sky Meadow.
Not often do people think of “Sunny Southern California” as the kind of place with a big need for heating. After all, this is where laughing, nubile hardbodies frolic in the surf while old Beach Boys tunes play in the background. It’s in all the commercials on TV…
Well, that’s only a fraction of the real story. Southern California also has mountains. Large ones. And overnight low temperatures in some of Southern California’s alpine areas can stay in the 40s all through the summer months.
One such place is Big Bear City, located 6,700 feet up in the San Bernardino National Forest on the eastern tip of Big Bear Lake. Located near there, with an elevation of 8,000 feet, is Blue Sky Meadow, a 183-acre property owned and operated by the nonprofit Los Angeles County Education Foundation. The campus offers children many learning and discovery opportunities through the programs of the Blue Sky Meadow Science Institute.
Encircled by a road that provides access to bunkhouses and other structures, there are two lodges along with four bunkhouses that sleep up to 140 visitors. This year, a pair of new, fully accessible, 2,800-square-foot bunkhouses opened across from the main lodge, and that’s where Ryan McMackin comes into the picture.
McMackin is the owner of Mac Plumbing in Yucaipa, Calif., and his services were enlisted to put hydronic heating systems in the new bunkhouses.
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| This installation made good use of Viega’s Manabloc water distribution manifolds. Photo courtesy of Viega. |
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“The project started in August 2007 and got finished in March 2008,” said McMackin, who has been a plumber for 15 years. “Even in September, like right now, they are getting lows down to 32 degrees Fahrenheit. They’re already using it—they’ve got students in there now and they’re using it now. The real cold times up there are probably October through April.” McMackin said he had previously installed a radiant heating system in a smaller home and, because of that experience, he was able to convince the Blue Sky Meadow staff about the benefits and comfort of radiant heat. “It was the idea that the owner liked [radiant heating] and the general contractor had heard a little bit about it,” he said. “Viega came out and did a demonstration for us and showed us how the radiant operates and how it works. It basically took off from there.”
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| The new bunkhouses were laid out in quadrants, with the utility rooms situated in the center of the floor plan. Photo courtesy of Viega. |
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McMackin said the bunkhouses are laid out into quadrants, with the utility rooms located in the center of the structures. The project used Vega’s ProRadiant Viega PEX Barrier tubing, which was laid out and secured with ZIP ties prior to the floors being poured in concrete. Also on tap in the project were Manabloc water distribution manifolds, also from the company’s PureFlow line.
Each building received its own Munchkin T80M boiler. McMackin said they were chosen because they modulate between 19,000 and 80,000 BTU and they feature small footprints compared to some others.
The installations themselves were drama-free and straightforward, McMackin said: “Everything works great; everybody loves the heat,” he said. “Everybody says very often how much they’re looking forward to the winter when it snows.”
Mac Plumbing does a mixture of both custom residential and commercial plumbing. McMackin said manufacturer training played an important role in the company’s involvement in radiant heating installations: “We called them up and they demonstrated everything in a very professional way, to where we were convinced that system would be the best one for this project,” he said, adding that training is the key to hydronic success.
“The most important part is to understand how the radiant system works so that you can install it in the right way.”
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