Vendor-Bender: As in, I want to suggest we bend Hearth/ Forum rules a little bit.
I generally _really_ value the fact that sales pitches and huckstering are verboten in the forums. I think it increases the quality & integrity of the information exchange [and I simultaneously [loudly] applaud people like HR, Heaterman, Tom in Maine, Tarm Sales Guy, and others who I may not be thinking of who are 'in the trade' and generously share their knowledge and experience with no commercial push attached].
That all said, it strikes me that there are some really interesting high efficiency wood boiler designs (the Varmebaronen and Effecta come to mind; Viessman too- and I expect there are others I don't even know of yet) that are in one way or another innovative beyond the bounds of most of what we have seen so far in the US-- but we're in a catch-22: they're only beginning to be distributed/ marketed, which means few detailed photos from installer-users-- and the lack of information on what might become sought-after features slows advancement of new and different designs in moving the market. Pellet boilers seem in the same category-- there are apparently scads of different makes and models in Europe, yet we barely know about them here (I have friends who are highly interested in pellet boilers, but there seem to be few choices and little information about them).
Since these have barely hit the market, if at all, here in the US, no one but those associated with the products is in a position to educate us about up and coming technologies and features. It's be in the interest of both consumers and resource conservation for the US market for these products to become more diverse, more quickly.
So here's what I'd like to ask/ propose: a rule-bend authorization from Webmaster Craig and the moderators, to allow postings in the boiler room, by manufacturers and vendors, of:
1) Quality photos with brief identifying fact-based text of products [wood/ biomass boilers, heat storage, and useful auxiliary system parts] and close-ups/ text descriptions of unique/ particular sub-components/ features.
2) Links to literature (brochures, specification sheets, and operating manuals).
3) Ways (contacts) to learn more about a given product.
Limit this to products that have not yet entered mainstream/ wide distribution here in the US, and have a condition that a post may be pulled if/ when a product is actually being marketed/ sold on a significant or rapidly growing scale.
Well, those are my thoughts, for what it's worth. Given the factors I try to describe above, I think the "general good" of promoting innovation and efficiency can be accelerated by a slight/ careful bending of the rules on this.
I generally _really_ value the fact that sales pitches and huckstering are verboten in the forums. I think it increases the quality & integrity of the information exchange [and I simultaneously [loudly] applaud people like HR, Heaterman, Tom in Maine, Tarm Sales Guy, and others who I may not be thinking of who are 'in the trade' and generously share their knowledge and experience with no commercial push attached].
That all said, it strikes me that there are some really interesting high efficiency wood boiler designs (the Varmebaronen and Effecta come to mind; Viessman too- and I expect there are others I don't even know of yet) that are in one way or another innovative beyond the bounds of most of what we have seen so far in the US-- but we're in a catch-22: they're only beginning to be distributed/ marketed, which means few detailed photos from installer-users-- and the lack of information on what might become sought-after features slows advancement of new and different designs in moving the market. Pellet boilers seem in the same category-- there are apparently scads of different makes and models in Europe, yet we barely know about them here (I have friends who are highly interested in pellet boilers, but there seem to be few choices and little information about them).
Since these have barely hit the market, if at all, here in the US, no one but those associated with the products is in a position to educate us about up and coming technologies and features. It's be in the interest of both consumers and resource conservation for the US market for these products to become more diverse, more quickly.
So here's what I'd like to ask/ propose: a rule-bend authorization from Webmaster Craig and the moderators, to allow postings in the boiler room, by manufacturers and vendors, of:
1) Quality photos with brief identifying fact-based text of products [wood/ biomass boilers, heat storage, and useful auxiliary system parts] and close-ups/ text descriptions of unique/ particular sub-components/ features.
2) Links to literature (brochures, specification sheets, and operating manuals).
3) Ways (contacts) to learn more about a given product.
Limit this to products that have not yet entered mainstream/ wide distribution here in the US, and have a condition that a post may be pulled if/ when a product is actually being marketed/ sold on a significant or rapidly growing scale.
Well, those are my thoughts, for what it's worth. Given the factors I try to describe above, I think the "general good" of promoting innovation and efficiency can be accelerated by a slight/ careful bending of the rules on this.
Warm your butt and cook your eggs all with the same appliance.
