When the Pittsburgh Housing Authority needed to replace its boiler units in several buildings, it looked to be a contractor's worst nightmare. The boiler rooms are located in the buildings' basements and reside at the bottom of two flights of stairs that are joined by a hairpin turn, sharper than any turn NASCAR drivers have ever seen.

The contractor and engineer assigned to the job suspected that sectional cast iron units would be the only feasible option. However, they figuratively and literally "saw the light."

Starting at 8:00 a.m. on a Monday morning, with nothing more than a 5/16" nut driver, a 1.8 million BTU boiler was separated into five manageable sections by two men and was literally carried down the steps into the basement. It was reassembled by 11:00 a.m. and was ready to pipe. The most important part was the heat exchanger, which came out in one piece, headers and all. The ASME stamp was never compromised and a time-consuming rehydro-test was not needed. The units were fully packaged Raypak copper tube boilers.

"Due to their lightweight nature, copper boilers can almost always be installed with less manpower and in less time than the traditionally preferred cast iron boiler," notes Chris Morgan, Regional Sales Manager for Raypak. "One of the primary benefits is the fact that copper tube boilers can easily be disassembled in order to get them into hard-to-reach areas, such as the Pittsburgh Housing Authority buildings' basements. The time it took with the Raypak unit was impressive. I'd like to see two guys carry the sections of a 1.8 million BTU cast iron boiler down the steps and have it together and ready to pipe in that amount of time."

The same can be said of Raypak residential units. One 135,000 BTU cast iron residential unit weights upwards of 300 pounds. A comparable Raypak 135,000 BTU unit weighs 135 pounds. The compact size and light weight saves considerable time and money for both the installer and the end user.

Raypak, Inc. was founded in 1949 by Al Whittell, a Stanford graduate who developed a hot water heating system that utilized a highly efficient gas-fired copper finned tube exchanger. The unique features of this new design were that it was light in weight, could operate without becoming clogged with lime, and could maintain peak efficiencies, year after year. The Raypak water heaters, called boilers, were initially used for residential hydronic heating.

Copper is an excellent heat transfer material, which helps improve system efficiency and minimize standby losses that are usually attributed to high mass cast iron boilers. Raypak units were initially used for residential hydronic heating (the name Raypak came from Radiant Package Boiler Company).

The company quickly discovered that the copper fin tube design was compatible with commercial hot water supply and residential and commercial pool heating. Again, the unique Raypak copper fin tube design allowed all applications to operate year after year, with no reduction in efficiencies.

Since 1986, Raypak has been a subsidiary of New York-based Rheem Manufacturing, one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of tank-type water heaters and heating and air conditioning equipment. Today, the Raypak corporate office and principal manufacturing operations occupy a brand new, modernized facility in Oxnard, California. The new, technologically advanced facility will help Raypak in meeting the increased demands for the company's products and services. Additionally, Raypak has operations based in Canada and Australia.

"Raypak is dedicated to providing quality products and services," says Morgan. "Don't be misled by the weight. Copper units are often stereotyped as inferior to heavy cast iron units. However, in applications calling for a gas-fired hydronic appliance (natural gas or propane), copper boilers almost always hold an advantage. Our units' style allows them to be fit into smaller spaces, and they can also be stacked on top of another unit in order to save space."

In just 52 years, Raypak's innovative product designs have enhanced the company's dramatic growth and market penetration. Don't count this product line out. Despite their lightweight features, when it comes to heating technology, Raypak's copper tube boilers are heavyweight champions that last for years.

For more information on Raypak copper tube boilers, visit their web site at www.raypak.com.

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