SZÉKELYENGINEERING Tom Székely, P.E., LEED AP Newsletter Archives Home | Background and Experience | Services | Affiliations | Projects | Newsletter Archives | Newsletter Sources | Contact Us For over 30 years, Székely Engineering has produced a one-page technical/professional newsletter, Explanations and Examples , or, as a Contractor recipient has referred to it, "Engineering for Dummies," where the text to the right of each newsletter's link comprises the subject headings of the essays in that issue. Clicking the "Newsletter Sources" link in the Navigation Bar at the top of this page will take you to a similar listing describing the reference source materials linked to in each newsletter, in the event you are looking for backup or example data with regard to the points presented in a particular issue.  Text appearing in red,(with no underline; not a link) will display an inline explanatory note or definition only, as the cursor pauses over it, but only issues linked to before Volume 9 Number 1 (April 20th 2009) are HTML versions of newsletters which were originally snail-mailed (and later e-mailed as straight .pdf's), with the hand-coded HTML links so as to allow such explanatory text and definitions. Volume 9 Number 1, however, and following issues have been written with the links inserted automatically at the time of writing, with those links passed through as is by a very basic pdf converter to the .pdf versions on this site. Thus only the link URL will appear in the popup box rather than with the explanatory text of the older newsletters with hand-coded links. Explanations and Examples was optimistically intended to go out about once a month, but in actuality goes out only only every now and then (mostly then rather than now), as a .pdf e-mail attachment to over 800 recipients,  with a copy of each issue posted here as it's published. If you'd like to be added to the distribution list to receive the newsletter as its published, send us an e-mail via the 'Contact Us' link above. Vol1No1 6-7-91 - Bids, Negotiated Contracts, and Winging it, or, Revenge of the CSI - Estimated Electrical Loads Vol1No2 6-28-91 - Ingenuity and Risk - You Can’t Have All the Answers When You Don't Know the Questions - Single Phase 220 Volts and “Single” Phase 208 Volts Vol1No3 7-29-91 - Occam’s Razor [Voltage Regulation for Motors] - Conventional Wisdom Isn’t [The Coming of CAD] - Back Up Two Steps [Low Voltage’s Effects on Lamps and Heating Loads] - Lighting and Efficiency Vol1No4 8-27-91 - All Heat is Dry Heat - Rain, Dew, and Mirrors - “Natural” Incandescent Light Vol1No5 11-9-91 - Of Shields and Signals - Of Cables and Conductivity Vol2No1 10-19-92 - Of Bytes and Balusters - Electricians and Mere Mortals Vol3No1 5-5-93 - ‘Twas the Season [Why Steam Pipes Make Noise] Vol3No2 9-20-93 - Isolated Grounds, Dedicated Circuits and the Third Harmonic Syndrome, or, The Hysteria of the Week Vol4No1 10-22-97 - The Great Third Harmonic Scare, or, The Birth of an Industry Vol5No1 1-17-05 - If All Heat is Dry Heat, What’s the Big Deal about Different Types of Heating Systems Vol5No2 2-14-05 - OK, We Finished All the Pretty Pictures, Why is it so Hard to Get the Thing Built? Vol5No3 3-13-05 - OK We Got it Built, Now How Do We Get the Thing to Work, or, Commissioning, What's Commissioning? Vol5No4 4-11-05 - “Value Engineering” and Other Insults - Building Codes, Design Professionals, and Home Inspectors Vol5No5 5-16-05 - “Value Engineering” Part Deux - Public Safety, Building Codes, and Plans "Examination" - Home Inspection for Fun and Profit Vol5No6 7-1-05 - Professionals, Amateurs, and Design Professionals Vol5No7 7-28-05 - Bechtel and I, or, Corporate vs. Personal Engineering Vol5No8 9-1-05 - CAD and the Lost Art of Draughtsmanship Vol5No9 9-27-05 - Jurassic Park and Hurricane Katrina - The “Eureka” Moment - Of Diffusers and Airflow, or, What’s With All Those Dampers and Access Doors Vol5No10 10-3-05 - Of Airflow, Balancing, and Engineering Progress, or, What's Inertia Got to Do With It? Vol5No11 11-1-05 - The Shareholder/Unit Owner Board Member Survival Manual, or, Engineering for Dummies Part 1 - Roof Tanks & Low Flush Toilets Vol5No12 12-1-05 - The Shareholder/Unit Owner Board Member Survival Manual, or, Engineering for Dummies Part 2 - Pressure Boosters & Plastic piping Vol6No1 1-3-06 - The Shareholder/Unit Owner Board Member Survival Manual, or, Engineering for Dummies Part 3 - Hot Water Temperature Maintenance Old Wiring & Gas piping Vol6No2 2-6-06 - The Shareholder/Unit Owner Board Member Survival Manual, or, Engineering for Dummies Part 4 - Education, Electrical Engineers, Electrocution and Electrical Fires Vol6No3 3-13-06 - The Shareholder/Unit Owner/Board Member Survival Manual,or,Engineering for Dummies, Part 5 - Electrical Demand Loads. Vol6No4 4-6-06 - Licensing, Consulting, and Education Vol6No5 5-9-06 - Digital vs. Analog Heat Vol6No6 6-26-06 - AutoCAD, Bldg Info Management and the Real World Vol6No7 9-18-06 - The Neverending Project, or Self-Inflicted Root Canal for Fun and Profit-Part 1 Vol6No8 9-18-06 - The Neverending Project, or Self-Inflicted Root Canal for Fun and Profit-Part 2 Vol6No9 12-15-06 - ‘Tis the Season- Mythbusters and Christmas Tree Lights Vol7No1 1-29-07 - Doing the Right thing, or Kermit, What Took You so Long [Introduction to the USGBC and LEED] Vol7No2 3-12-07 - Doing the Right thing, Part Deux [LEED Point System; LEED Category 1, Sustainable Sites] Vol7No3 4-18-07 - Doing the Right thing, Part the Third [Heat Islands, Water Efficiency, and Energy and Atmosphere; Commissioning, Ozone Depletion, and Minimum Energy Performance] Vol7No4 5-16-07 - Doing the Right thing, Part Four [Computer Modeling, Renewable Energy, Operation and Maintenance, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and, Innovation in Design] Vol7No5 7-5-07 - The Wackiest Ship in the Army, or, Of Airplanes and Buildings Vol7No6 7-12-07 - We the People and The Learned Professions Vol7No7 7-31-07 - Of Fuels and Explosives, or, Dynamite and the Octane Effect Vol7No8 9-12-07 - Of Airplanes and Bricks, or,The Gimli Glider vs. The Space Shuttle Vol7No9 10-9-07 - The (Almost) New Age of Submittals, or, "Lemme Fax this to you for Approval Vol8No1 1-8-08 - A Funny thing Happened on the Way to the LEED exam,or, Construction Codes and the Law of Unintended Consequences; Cast Iron Radiators and the Retention of Heat (Again) Vol8No2 8-11-08 - Construction Codes and the Law of Unintended Consequences, Part II; Collapsing Cranes, Building Commissioners, and Inspections, or, the Unqualified Tending to the Unknowing Vol8No3 10-28-08 - Special Inspectors, Directive 14, and Atlas Shrugged Vol9No1 4-20-09 - "It Was Better When it Was Worse" - Speaking of Exploding Boilers . . . - And Now for Something Completely Different [The Gimli Glider and U.S Airways Flight 1549] Vol9No2 8-28-09 - Of Heat Pumps, Air Conditioners, and Geothermal Energy Vol9No3 9-25-09 - Of Geothermal Energy - Part II; Life, Energy, and Civilization. Vol9No4 12-30-09 - Permits, Plans, and As-Builts, or,to Fix the City, First Fix the Agencies Vol10No1 5-28-10 - Designers and Builders and Design-Build - Airplanes, Dynamic Stability, Stalls, Spins, Landings, and Crashes Vol10No2 12-10-10 - The Last Revision, or, Victor Borge Engineering? - Efficiency in Energy Conversion, or, Ya Gotta Think a Bit Once in a While Vol11No1 1-28-11 - Hydraulic Calculations and Mechanical Engineering, or, Einstein and Electric Heat - Hybrid Vehicles and Electric Cars Vol11No2 4-1-11 - Temperature, Ovens, and Radiation, or, The Chicken Little Method of Decision Making Vol11No3 8-29-11 - Of Connections and Cantilevering, or, Sometimes Words Just Aren't Enough - Ductless-Split Air Conditioning Systems and Why Specifiers, Installers, and Manufacturers Don't Always See Eye-to-Eye - But We've Always Done it This Way Vol12No1 8-15-12 - What the Frack? or, Reports on the Demise of the Followers of Ned Ludd and Reverend Malthus Have Been Greatly Exaggerated - Exhaust Systems or, Ventilation for Fun and Profit. Vol13No1 12-1-14 - The "S" in STEM or, Aristotle's Science was Setlled too but it was wrong or, the Emperor has no Clothes Vol14No1 8-4-16 - Air Conditioning (and Heating) in Rooms with High Ceilings - Airflow Throw, Noise, and Drafts - Plans, Permits, and Repairs, or "Whaddaya mean this work has to be [engineered and] filed!??" Vol14No2 8-15-16 - Internet Service, Grounded Outlets, Corporate Specifications, and - Lost Customers - Do You Really Need In-Home Fiber Optic Network Connections for HD or Even UHD Streaming Video? - Bless the Clerks for They Shall Keep us Humble Vol15No1 6-11-17 - Permits, As-Builts, Drawing Numbering and Delusions of Grandeur, or Even a NYC Skyscraper does Not Exceed a Process Plant in Complexity Vol15No2 9-21-17 - Of Websites and Browsers - Engineering for Dummies Redux - Part 1 - Hot Air vs. Radiant Heat Vol15No3 10-11-17 - Engineering for Dummies Redux - Part 2 - Radiant and Convection, or, Where to Put the Heat? Vol16No1 5-28-18 - Engineering for Dummies Redux - Part 3 - In Cooling High-Ceilinged Spaces, - And Now For Something Completely Different (Again With the Airplanes?) Vol16No2 6-11-18 - Big Red and Lamentations Over the Image of Engineering, or, The Rodney Dangerfield Profession - Really? - Engineering for Dummies Redux - Part 4 - High Voltage, or, Electricity Acts Funny on the Way to Your House Vol17No1 10-25-21 - A Tale of Three Projects, as Introduced by a Disaster, or, the Government Definition of an Elephant, and Why I Pro-Cert When Possible – Part I Vol17No2 11-5-21 - A Tale of Three Projects and two Agencies, as Introduced by a Disaster, or, the Government Definition of an Elephant, and Why I Pro-Cert When Possible – Part II Vol17No3 11-12-21 - A Tale of Three Projects, as Introduced by a Disaster, or, the Government Definition of an Elephant, and Why I Pro-Cert When Possible – Part III Vol18No1 3-20-23 - Thermodynamics and Knowing Where to Start, or, Why You Must Know What you Know - Cold Vol18No2 4-18-23   - From the Pyramids to ChatGPT, or From Roman Numbers (With a Stop Along, the Way to Napier's Bones) to Computers and Artificial Intelligence. - NYC Local Law 97 and CO2, or Are You For Real or is it Just Hubris? Vol19No1 1-15-24   - The 60-Second Shower, or Anyone Who Owns His Own Home Deserves It.                     - What is Pressure Anayway and Did I Really Understand What Was Going on                       When my Elementary School Teacher Overturned a Drinking Glass Full of                       With a Card on Top and it Didn't Spill? - Hydronic Radiant Floor Engineering Data Vol19No2 6-14-24   - Dimensional analysis and Engineering Formulae, or How Does the "A" in Civil Engineering's Q=CiA yield storm flow in cubic feet per second   from rainfall in inches per hour and site area in acres?                     - Engineering Catalog Data, Submittals, and Commisisoning