Dead Men Tales

Consider this story the next time you’re installing an air separator, or wondering why the air keeps coming out of that compression tank.

Do you ever wonder about the path products take to get to us? In this episode, Dan Holohan follows a simple copper elbow on its journey to the job site.

In this episode, Dan Holohan explores the old heating system in a Fifth Avenue mansion in search of a missing chimney and shares how a blizzard shaped NYC’s heating history.

In this episode, Dan Holohan reflects on how hindsight has us shaking our heads at wacky decisions of the past, especially the one involving an asbestos hat.

At first, Eugene Bourdon was annoyed when he saw what his worker had done to the metal tube, but then it gave him an idea that would save countless lives. In this episode, Dan Holohan tells us about an invention that’s at the heart of every pressure gauge ever made (even to this day).

In this episode, Dan Holohan shares the fascinating story behind one of the world’s most widely used inventions.

In this episode, Dan Holohan tells us about the time he channeled MacGyver when fixing a radiator with a very unusual old air vent.

In this episode, Dan Holohan shares a whodunit mystery involving the hot-water-heating system at the sprawling mansion of Doris Duke.

In 1918, the person who could bring steam- or hot-water heat to your home was nearly a magician. In this episode, Dan Holohan explores how heating appears like a character in old novels and how things have changed over time.

John Bartlett Pierce grew up in Maine, worked in a hardware store, and fell in love with hydronic heating. He went on to build a tall building in New York City that looks like a coal fire and left a fortune behind.