Dead Men Tales

In this episode, Dan Holohan shares the story of a century-old family business and the quiet pride that accompanies their manufacturing process.

In this episode, Dan Holohan takes us back to 1917 when the gas lighting industry, threatened by Edison’s lightbulb, branched into the business of gas boilers and furnaces.

In this episode, Dan Holohan takes us to NYC’s Dakota Apartments, where John Lennon once lived. It has a circa-1880 steam heating system and was home to one of the world’s first co-generation systems.

Oliver Schlemmer’s fitting was the first tee capable of consciously diverting water into a radiator. In this episode, Dan Holohan shares how the O-S fitting paved the way for modern hot-water heating systems.

If a shoe factory had been present in Thomas Engel’s vicinity at the time he invented PEX, we would perhaps today be walking around on shoe soles made of cross-linked polyethylene. In this episode, Dan Holohan shares the fascinating story behind PEX and its brilliant inventor.

In this episode, Dan Holohan tells us about Frank Lloyd Wright’s unique heating system at Taliesin and how a horrific 1914 event took its toll on the home and its inhabitants.

Take a walk through history in this episode with Dan Holohan and his friend Bob as they explore Doug Starbuck’s circa-1872 workshop and the treasures that lie within it.

In this episode, Dan Holohan shares advice for keeping old churches and other buildings with lofty ceilings comfortable in the winter without sending fuel bills soaring.

In this episode, Dan Holohan talks about the success and decline of Stephen Gold’s mattress radiator, the first safe and successful steam radiator for house heating.

The East River Homes were built by the Vanderbilts as a model tenement for tuberculosis patients in 1911. The engineers chose hydronic heating for sanitary reasons, perhaps making this NYC’s first large-scale hot-water heating system. In this episode, Dan Holohan recounts memories of how he later grew up in this housing development and why its heating system was unique for the time.