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    • What's New
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  • SketchUp Models
    • SketchUp Resources
    • Bureaucratic Affairs Building HHW System Logic Exercise
    • Bureaucratic Affairs Building Scavenger Hunt
    • Chilled Water Plant System Diagram Exercise
    • The HIjend Hotel >
      • Chilled Water Plant Scoping Exercise
      • Ballroom AHU Scoping Exercise
      • Cooling Tower Scoping Exercise
  • Tools
    • Altitude Correction Factor
    • Economizer Evaluation Checklist
    • Eikon for Educators and WindLGC
    • Effective Duct Length Tool
    • Excel Third Axis Tool
    • Excel Time Value Conversion
    • Insulation Savings Tools
    • Logic Diagram Tool
    • Mixed Air Calculations
    • Monitoring Plan Spreadsheet
    • Pipe Friction Chart
    • Plot Digitizer >
      • Plot Digitizer Pump Curve Example
    • Square Law Spreadsheet
    • System Diagram Symbols
    • Thermodynamic Diagrams Spreadsheet
    • Universal Translator Data Analysis Tool
    • y = (m * x) + b Spreadsheet
  • Useful Formulas
    • Affinity Laws
    • Circular Equivalent Duct
    • Effective Duct Length
    • FT Guide Appendix C
    • HVAC Equations and Concepts
    • Hydraulic Diameter
    • Pump Power and Energy
    • "Square Law"
  • What's That Thing?
    • Cooling Towers
    • Pumps
    • Valves
  • Resources
    • Bill Coad's Writings
    • Data Logging Resources
    • EBCx Skills Guidebook
    • Energy Design Resources
    • Fisher Controls Valve Cavitation Bulletin
    • Functional Testing Guide
    • Honeywell Gray Manual
    • MCC Powers Bulletins
    • NBCIP Reports
    • PEC Tool Lending Library
    • PID Resources
    • Pneumatic Control Resources
    • Resource List
    • Scoping Resources
    • TAB Resources
    • Vintage Carrier Design Manual
    • VRF Systems
    • Williams' Wisdom
  • Videos
    • Bureaucratic Affairs HHW Logic Answers
    • Cooling Tower Flow Variation
    • Economizer Stratification
    • Functional Testing
    • Induction Principles
    • Monitoring Plans
    • Ripple Effects
    • Testing a Pump
    • The Garden of Low Entropy
    • Variable Flow Systems
  • Training
    • Materials from Classes and Presentations >
      • ACEEE
      • ASHRAE
      • ASHRAE - Engineers Notebook
      • BCxA and NCBC
      • BEST Institute
      • Case Studies
      • ERDC 2020 RCx Academy
      • ELPNW
      • ICEBO
      • Marriott AEP
      • Magazine Articles
      • NAVFAC
      • Pacific Energy Center Design, Performance and Commissioning Issues Classes >
        • PEC Class Materials Archive
      • Pacific Energy Center EBCx Project Review
      • Pacific Energy Center EBCx Workshop Series >
        • EBCx Workshop Series 12
        • EBCx Workshop Series 13
        • EBCx Workshop Series 14
        • EBCx Workshop Series 15 >
          • Student One On One Discussions
        • EBCx Workshop Series 16
        • EBCx Workshop Series 17
      • Portland General Electric
      • U of W >
        • U of W Archive
    • On Demand Training >
      • Fans, Ducts and AHUs
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      • Introduction to Functional Testing
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Bill Coad's Writings

My first job in this industry was at McClure Engineering, a company that Chuck McClure founded in 1953.   While the specifics elude me, Bill Coad became Chuck's partner and the vice president of the firm fairly early on in its history.  I was fortunate enough to be mentored by both Bill and Chuck along with quite a few of the other senior staff what worked there at the time, and they all had a profound influence on my life and career.  
​
Bill in particular spent a lot of time writing, authoring numerous ASHRAE papers, a text book, and magazine articles, including a regular column that ran in Heating, Piping, and AIr Conditioning for a long time.  Because what he wrote was founded on fundamental principles, it is generally timeless, meaning the concepts he conveyed to myself and others in his articles in the 70's. 80's, and 90's are still valid and useful.
​Bill passed on several years ago and the things he authored are becoming harder to find out there on the web.   Since I have electronic copies of a lot of them on my computer, I thought i would post them here as a general resource.

​If you want to get a sense of Bill, you may find the article Jerry Williams wrote about him (its the link below Bill's Picture) and/or the 
blog post I wrote in his memory to provide you with that.   He really did have an important impact on our industry.  
Picture
Bill in his Office at McClure Engineering
Jerry Williams' Memories of Bill Coad
File Size: 722 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

​​ I believe all of what follows is in the public domain at this point, so I don't think I am violating any copyright laws by posting it here.  Certainly that is not my intention;  all I am trying to do is make what I consider to be valuable resources easily accessible to people who might have an interest in them and a need for them.  If someone objects to any of these items being here, please let me know and I will take them off line or work out a mutually agreeable solution to keep them available.
Jump to the Energy Conservation is an Ethic ASHRAE Journal Article download
Jump to the Fundamentals to Frontiers column downloads
Jump to the Fundamentals of Steam Heating download
Jump to the Engineering Discussions downloads
Jump to the Energy Engineering book download
 

Energy Conservation is an Ethic

This paper had a very significant influence on myself and others I know that work in the energy conservation field.  In it Bill proposes that we have an obligation to practice our profession with an emphasis upon our responsibility to protect the long-range interests of the society we serve and, specifically, to incorporate the ethics of energy conservation and environmental preservation in everything we do. I very much agree with that.  If you are working in the energy conservation field, I really think you will appreciate the content of this paper and will perhaps find it to be inspiring to you, just as I did.

Energy Conservation is an Ethic - ASHRAE Journal, vol. 42, no. 7, p. 16-21 (energy_conservation_is_an_ethic.pdf)
File Size: 65 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

 

Fundamentals to Frontiers Columns

The first file link below is a zip file with all of the Fundamentals to Frontier's columns in it.   The list below is a table of contents for what is in the zip file.  Notice that in addition to the name of the article, the list includes the month when the article was written.

The reason that matter is that back when the article were scanned to make the .pdf files, computers would not support long file names.  So the file names are in the form of YYYYMM where YYYY is the year the article was written in and MM is the month.  

For me, the easiest way to find an article is to do a search for a key word in the list below, note the month and date, and then find the article in the zip file that way.   For instance, A Dissertation on Loads, which was published in September 1985 is called 198509.pdf in the zip file.

You can search for key words directly on this web page, If you are not comfortable doing that or are having trouble doing that, I have also included links to a ,pdf file with the articles sorted alphabetically by title and another ,pdf file with the articles sorted by date of publication. 
​
Fundamentals to Frontiers Through 1980 (fundamentals_to_frontiers_-_part_1.zip)
File Size: 141840 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

Fundamentals to Frontiers 1981 On (fundamentals_to_frontiers_-_part_2.zip
File Size: 185766 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

Index by Date (00_-_articles_by_by_date_-_old_to_new.pdf
File Size: 33 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

  • A Dissertation on Loads, September 1985
  • Air Distribution Techniques, A new Challenge, July 1982
  • Air in Hydronic Systems, July 1980
  • Air Transport Factor, Opportunities and Limitations, July 1986
  • An Overlooked Objective of System Testing, November 1987
  • An Overlooked Objective of System Testing, Part II, December 1987
  • A Perspective on Operation and Maintenance, January 1981
  • Applying the Dry Bulb Economizer, October 1982
  • A Primer on Electric Rates, March 1980
  • A Reexamination of Engineering Education, January 1978
  • A Renewed Interest in District Heat, April 1981
  • A Single Equation for Cogeneration Analyses, December 1979
  • Basics of Combustion - I, June 1982
  • Basics of Combustion - II, February 1982
  • Building Automation Systems, September 1977
  • Causal Analysis of Machinery Failures, December 1985
  • Causes of and Cures for Building System Defects, February 1985
  • Central Plants - I, August 1984
  • Central Plants - II, September 1984
  • Centrifugal Pumps, Construction and Application, September 1981
  • Chilled Water Hydronic Systems, December 1980
  • Complementary Technologies, May 1987
  • Cost control through Design, September 1982
  • Curiosity, Hallmark of an Engineer, April 1987
  • Dalton and Vapor Migration, May 1985
  • Demand Control, April 1982
  • Design Parameters, February 1975
  • Domestic Hot Water Systems, New Way to Size Components, February 1983
  • DX Control Problems with VAV, January 1984
  • Education, The Key to the Energy Dilemma, October 1976
  • 198308 EMCS and Digital Controllers, August 1983
  • Energy Analyses for Existing Buildings, September 1980
  • Energy and Your Home, Part I, February 1986
  • Energy and your Home, Part II, March 1986
  • Energy Audits II, Components of Energy Use, August 1979
  • Energy Audits III, Components of Energy Use, October 1979
  • Energy Audits I, The Energy Profile, July 1979
  • Energy Audits IV, The Uses of Audits, November 1979
  • Energy, A Unique Commodity, December 1977
  • Energy Concepts of Air Handling Systems, August 1980
  • Energy Economics, A Design Parameter, June 1973
  • Energy Economics, A Needed Science, January 1975
  • Energy Economics of Domestic Hot Water Systems, July 1984
  • Energy Management, January 1977
  • Energy Management Systems, A Spontaneous Technology, November 1982
  • Energy Profile - The Base, November 1980
  • Energy Profile - The Electrical Variable, November 1981
  • Energy Profile - The Thermal Variable, October 1981
  • Energy Transportation, April 1976
  • Engineering, Can We Afford it!, April 1975
  • Evaluation Functions, December 1978
  • Expansion Tanks, May 1980
  • Extending the Cogeneration Equation, February 1980
  • FADS, Their Influence on Design, October 1978
  • False Loads, March 1983
  • Fan Curves, Development and Use - Part I, July 1988
  • Fan Curves, Development and Use - Part II, August 1988
  • Fan Curves, Development and Use - Part III, September 1988
  • Feeding the Mechanical Slave, April 1980
  • Freeze Prevention of Steam Heating Coils, I, February 1984
  • Freeze Protection of Steam Heating Coils, II, March 1984
  • From the Laboratory to the User, The Widening Gap, September 1986
  • Fundamentals of Thermodynamics, February 1981
  • Hydronic Systems Overview, Part I, May 1977
  • ​Hydronic Systems Overview, Part II, July 1977
  • Hydronic Systems Overview, Part III, August 1977
Index by Name (00_-_articles_by_name.pdf)
File Size: 227 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

  • Ideal Terminal Control and Distribution Systems, I, Oct 1984
  • Ideal Terminal Control and Distribution Systems, II, Nov 1984
  • Improved Control for Steam Systems, April 1986
  • Improved Thermal Envelopes, A New Challenge, December 1981
  • Infinite Sink!, January 1979
  • Infinite Source, February 1977
  • Inspect Existing Buildings, March 1987
  • Integrated Loop System for Campus Cooling, May 1973
  • It's Time to Re-Evaluate Computer Use, January 1980
  • Keep it Simple, May 1976
  • Legislative Regulation and Engineering, May 1981
  • Life-Cycle Costing, December 1975
  • Local Building Codes, December 1976
  • Look to the Obvious, July 1976
  • Minor Details!, September 1978
  • More on Simplicity, November 1983
  • More on the Energy Hypothesis, September 1975
  • New Energy Technology, Closer Than We Think!, May 1979
  • On Evolution and Innovation in Engineering Design, April 1985
  • Phase Change, August 1982
  • Phase II, Energy Analysis for Existing Buildings, October 1980
  • Picking an Energy Source and Conversion System, November 1975
  • Planned Versus Breakdown Maintenance, March 1975
  • Planning future opportunities, August 1981
  • Psychrometric Principles, October 1985
  • Pure Versus Applied Science, March 1977
  • Refrigeration Piping for DX, Part I, February 1990
  • Refrigeration Piping for DX, Part II - Discharge Line Design
  • Refrigeration Piping for DX, Part IV - Suction Line Design
  • Reliability by Design, April 1978
  • Retrofit Design Requires Painstaking Engineering, January 1983
  • Retrofit Opportunities for Building Systems, July 1987
  • Return to Regionalism in Building Design, January 1976
  • Safety Factors in HVAC Design, January 1985
  • Second Law Concepts, I, February 1979
  • Section 12, An Overview, October 1977
  • Seven Years in Retrospect, March 1981
  • Simplified Sizing of Pipes and Ducts, July, 1985
  • Specialty Devices (or gadgets!), February 1978
  • Standards 1, The Cornerstone of Commerce, July 1978
  • Standards 2, The Role of Consensus Standards, August 1978
  • Steam, A State of the Art Update I, June 1975
  • Steam, A State of the Art Update II, August 1975
  • Steam Hammer, Causes and Cures, November 1986
  • System Commissioning, A Concept Whose Time Has Come, May 1989
  • System Energy Losses, May 1983
  • System Tuning, Part I, August 1976
  • System Tuning, Part II, September 1976
  • The 10 Years Since the Oil Embargo, April 1984
  • The Air System in Perspective, October1989
  • The Computer and HVAC System Design, October 1975
  • The Design Process, March 1978
  • The Energy Budget, An Invaluable Device, July 1983
  • The Fan Curve, A Useful Tool!, April 1977
  • The Fan Inlet Box, January 1989
  • The Heat Pump, December 1983
  • The Key to Vapor Lock, March 1976
  • The Laundry List, April 1979
  • The Myth of Free Steam, November 1977
  • Thermal Effectiveness of a Vapor Compression Cycle, February 1976
  • Thermodynamic vs. System Efficiency, March 1979
  • The Sprayed Coil Option, November 1988
  • The Status of Total Energy, May 1978
  • The Unoccupied Cycle, A Design Requirement, September 1983
  • Unavailable Energy, March 1982
  • Vibration Isolation for Fans, March 1988
  • What is Energy!, May 1975
  • What's the Load!, November 1976
 

Fundamentals of Steam Heating

Steam was one of the most common ways to heat a building back in the very olden days​.   But in more modern times, hot water has supplanted it for many if not most comfort heating applications.  

Unfortunately, knowledge of how to pipe hot water seems to have supplanted knowledge of how to pipe steam and condensate.  They are not the same and if you go about it improperly, like in the picture to the right, you end up with a number of problems including water hammer, condensation induced water hammer, and poor comfort control.
Picture
I was fortunate enough to be sent out to look at an old steam heating system in a church very early in my career and was thus exposed to characteristics of steam and how to apply it from early on.  This included having the benefit of mentors like Bill to keep me from messing things up to horribly.   The article below is one Bill wrote for Heating, Piping, and Air Conditioning that is a really good primer on steam system basics;  its kind of like a written version of what he and others shared with me.
Fundamentals of Steam Heating (hpac_11-95_steam.pdf)
File Size: 334 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

The second file is a photocopy of a chapter from one of Bill's text books that he lent to me when I was learning about all of this.  I didn't copy the title page, but in hindsight, I think the chapter might have been from a copy of Willis Carrier's book Modern Air Conditioning, Heating, and Ventilating because it is very similar to the Steam Heating Systems chapter in my 1950 vintage copy of the book.   You can still find copies around, but I suspect you can find one for a better price than the one this link takes you to (who knows, maybe it has Mr. Carrier's autograph).
 
In any case, in my experience, the information in the chapter in Bill's text book (and the information in Mr. Carrier's book) is really hard to find these days.  So I am risking a copyright violation to share it in the fond hope that doing so will help prevent the sort of thing you see in the picture.   ​There is also a post on my blog that will link you up with some additional resources on steam.  Most of them are also included in the resource list.
Principles of Steam Heating (bill_coads_steam_text_book.pdf)
File Size: 16822 kb
File Type: pdf
Download File

 

Engineering Discussions

When Bill had is website up and running, he would occasionally write what he called an "Engineering Discussion";  now we would probably call it a blog post.   Among the discussions he posted were the ones about how to make your own psych chart, which are the inspiration behind my blog posts showing how to do that trick in Excel (still a work in progress as I write this).  In any case, the zip file below contains all of the Engineering Discussion articles from Bill's site which include discussions of psychrometrics, loads, the design process, and design parameters.
Bill Coad's Engineering Discussions (engineering_discussions.zip)
File Size: 161 kb
File Type: zip
Download File

 

Energy Engineering and Management for Building Systems

This is a book Bill published in the early 1980's.  It contains a lot of the content from his Fundamentals to Frontier's columns and then builds from that to provide a pretty comprehensive discussion of the engineering principles and concepts that you need to embrace if you are interested in good design practice and energy efficiency for building systems.   At some point, he made the book available as a .pdf on his website, and this is a link to a copy of that file.  

As with Bill's other writings, this was written in the 1980's, and thus, to some extent reflects some of the thinking and financial metrics of that time.  But the underlying principles are based on fundamental physics.  As a result, I feel that you can still gain a lot from studying what he had to say on the topic and then applying it to your current projects.
Energy Engineering and Management for Building Systems (energyengineering.pdf)
File Size: 17620 kb
File Type: pdf
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