Bornquist Training and Education -

Bornquist offers many opportunities to enhance your knowledge of hydronic heating, cooling and plumbing systems. This includes specific product information and application, system design, and maintenance seminars. You can choose from the many vendor sponsored schools offer by ITT Bell & Gossett, Viessmann, and Tekmar or one of our own seminars listed below. We will even custom tailor seminars to meet your requirements. Our venues include our home offices in Chicago, The Metropolitan Club on the 67th floor of the Sears Tower, Bell &s Gossett's "Little Red Schoolhouse" in Morton Grove, IL, other vendor factory locations or locations convenient in your region. Look at our calendar of events to see what seminars we have planned for the near future or send us an email to inquire about setting up a seminar for your group.

Bornquist Schools

To Register for Bornquist Lunch Box Seminars, click here for the registration form.

Selection Software and Slide Rules - Thursday, March 4

This course covers the use of powerful selection and analytical tools for the design of pumping, heat transfer, steam, and energy related projects. From key selection tools such as ITT Bell & Gossett’s powerful ESP-PLUS selection/CAD/BIM/Revit software to Watts Radiant’s design software for radiant systems, to energy related programs from Danfoss Drives, to expansion compensation calculations from Metraflex, we will show you how to get the most from these top-line programs. This course will cover the basics and the nuances of using the software, and will allow you to register for your copies.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Radiant Heat and Snowmelt Design - Wednesday, March 10

Learn the basics of designing a complete radiant heating and snowmelt system, from load calculations to tubing layouts, to pump and boiler selections to the proper choice of controls. This class is a soup-to-nuts course that will give you a complete overview of a hydronic radiant or snowmelting system and how all components are interrelated.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Variable Speed Pumping Applications - Thursday, March 11

This course will explain how a variable frequency drive works and how it helps to save energy when applied to pumping applications. We will discuss the effects of variable speed pumps in new and retrofit applications as well as how to apply a VFD on a constant volume system.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Large Chilled Water Design - Wednesday, March 17

Roy Ahlgren will once again join us to present a one-day course of the fundamentals of designing large chilled water systems, including variable primary systems, primary/secondary systems, primary/secondary/tertiary systems, controls and air management. This is a condensed version of the 3-day course held at Bell & Gossett’s Little Red Schoolhouse.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Metropolitan Club, Willis Tower

Basic Heat Transfer - Thursday, March 18

What is the best time to use a shell and tube heat exchanger vs. a plate heat exchanger? What is the difference between a gasketed and a braze plate heat exchanger? In this course, we will discuss methods of heat transfer, parallel, counter-flow, and multi-pass flow patterns along with physical and thermal fluid properties. We will look at various types of heat exchangers and their limitations with respect to pressures, temperatures, velocities, and performance ranges.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.

Location: Bornquist

Design and Application - Wednesday, March 31

Roy Ahlgren will present a one-day version of the Little Red Schoolhouse’s Design and Application school. This course will cover pump selection principles, series and parallel pumping, primary/secondary pumping, controls, tank sizing, and more. A good class for those who are involved in the design and application of commercial pumping projects

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Metropolitan Club, Willis Tower

Venting - Thursday, April 1

Even the best water side designs can run into problems if the venting is not right. This course covers the basics of good vent design for both condensing and non-condensing boilers and water heaters, including multiple boiler applications. This will be taught by Don McEnroy of Security Chimney and will include the latest software.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Pumping Considerations for Plumbing Systems - Thursday, April 8

This course covers the applications and sizing of constant and variable speed pressure boosting systems, domestic hot water re-circlulation systems, as well as sump and sewage pump sizing. A special consideration will be made to green concepts.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Efficient Boiler Plant Design - Wednesday, April 14

Condensing? Non-condensing? Hybrid? This class provides an overview of the issues affecting the efficiency of boilers in a system. These issues include boiler type, boiler sizing, temperature, pressure drop, volume, thermal efficiency and cycle efficiency. We will also discuss ways to maximize plant efficiency for specific systems. The tips given are simple and easy to apply to the designs you are using.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Systems Balance - Thursday, April 15

Why do systems need to be balanced? How? What are the differences between manual balance valves, automatic valves, and pressure independent balance valves?

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Mixing - Wednesday, April 21

In almost every design, there is a mixing of flows and temperatures somewhere in the system. Learn the many ways to use this mixing to create greener designs. This course will discuss the use of valves, variable speed injection pumping, buffer tanks and other methods of providing accurate flow and temperature control.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Hi-Rise Pumping Considerations - Thursday, April 22

This course is specifically designed to look at hi-rise buildings and some of the pumping applications that are unique to these types of buildings. We will review pressure boosting and domestic hot water recirculation for plumbing systems, and tenant use condenser water systems. We also will discuss hydronic equipment requirements and special design considerations for hi-rise HVAC applications.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Variable Frequency Drive Retrofit - Thursday, May 6

There’s more to replacing starters and older variable frequency drives than just taking out the old and putting in the new. Learn the latest technologies and how to get the most out of your variable frequency drive retrofit. This course will be taught in part by Ken Fonstat of Danfoss Drives.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist

Green Concepts - Wednesday, May 12

This is a presentation of various green opportunities, including rainwater and gray water systems, solar domestic water heating, condensing boilers, heating domestic water with condensing boilers, cycle efficiency for boilers, variable speed applications, and much more. This course will also discuss the LEED rating system for green buildings.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

Location: Metropolitan Club, Willis Tower

Servicing Centrifugal Pumps - Wednesday, May 19

This hands-on course will show you the right way to service and troubleshoot inline and base mounted centrifugal pumps, take gauge readings, and understand the various components and accessories of a proper pump installation. We will specifically cover the Bell & Gossett Series 60 and Series 80 inline pumps, 1531 and 1510 Series end suction pumps, and the VSX double suction base mounted pumps.

Time: 9:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.

Location: Bornquist