Changing a company’s name is a huge process. Our company PexSupply.com, made that change late last night to SupplyHouse.com. We did this to reflect our rapidly expanding selection of products and our goal to be a “home” for consumers and contractors alike.

Our company has grown by over 25% per year since its inception more than 8 years ago. This process will expand the possibility for future growth.

When the company was founded in 2005, PEX, a plastic tubing used for plumbing and heating, accounted for over 60% of sales. Today PEX accounts for less than 15% of the business. We want to ensure our customers know about the full line of plumbing, heating, and HVAC supplies, hence the name SupplyHouse.com. In the wholesale trade distribution industry, a supply house is also known as a place you go to get your supplies.

Another main reason we are changing our name is that PEX was hard to pronounce and easy to misunderstand…

Today marks our first day as SupplyHouse.com, but we are still the same people committed to providing the same great service we always have, just under a name that better represents the broad range of products we sell.

Joining the AO Smith Vertex Power Direct Vent Water Heater family is the new 75-gallon model. The GDHE-75 offers the same high level of performance as its 50-gallon sibling, and you can find both on the site.

The GDHE-75, with its 96% thermal efficiency rating, is designed to specifically generate a constant flow of 4 gallons per minute, meaning continuous hot water in your home. It comes with a helical coil heat exchanger which keeps hot combustion gases in the tank longer to lengthen the heat transfer cycle. Positioned centrally in the tank and with its 96% thermal efficiency, you will save money on operating costs compared with a standard 80% efficiency gas water heater.

The GDHE-75 also comes with a large LCD display giving you precise temperature control and the ability to check diagnostics, and it can be vented vertically thru-the-roof or horizontally thru-the-wall with inexpensive PVC, CPVC , ABS or polypropylene pipe for intake and exhaust. The side-mounted hot and cold recirculating taps allows the Vertex models to be installed as part of combination space heating/water heating applications.

The ultra-low NOx gas burner meets low NOx emission requirements, and the Vertex family comes with a 6-year limited tank and parts warranty.

When a water heater starts to leak, it will not stop trying to produce hot water. In a worst-case scenario (a major leak with no one home to notice it), the damage can be severe. Taco’s WAGS valve senses such leaks to prevent this type of damage and provide peace of mind. The WAGS valve should be installed in a pan at the base of a water heater. All incoming supply water goes through the WAGS valve before it enters the water heater tank. When water levels in the pan get close to one inch, the valve cuts off the water supply so that the tank will not continue to refill. The valve cannot stop a leak, but it can limit damage to that caused by the water already in the tank. If used on a gas or oil-fired water heater, the WAGS valve must be used in conjunction with Taco’s GOKIT7200-1, which shuts off the supply of gas or oil to the unit.

Tankless water heaters offer the potential for increased efficiency because they do not waste energy heating water during periods of non-use. Takagi’s T-H3 Series of gas-fired tankless heaters offers several useful features in addition to extra efficiency. Created as new-generation T-H2 heaters, the T-H3 Series includes three models (each of which is available for either natural gas or liquid propane and either indoor or outdoor mounting): the T-H3, the T-H3S, and the T-H3J. The T-H3 (with no S or J suffix) is the most powerful unit in the series, and, with temperature-setting options up to 185°F, is the only unit that can be set above 140°F. It is also the only unit that can be linked easily to other heaters.

T-H3 Series models can condense flue gases, which enables them to carry .95 Energy Factor ratings and meet Energy Star guidelines. It also allows indoor models to be vented either vertically or horizontally with PVC. Featuring high-grade copper and stainless steel heat exchangers, T-H3 Series models meet all current lead-free requirements and are approved for use in space-heating applications. Indoor models include an outlet temperature adjustment screen that also displays incoming water temperatures, flow rates, and diagnostics. Outdoor models include a remote controller for temperature adjustments. Additional benefits include high-altitude compatibility (up to 10,000 feet for indoor models) and a variety of adjustable dipswitches.

Motors & Armatures, Inc, (MARS) was founded in 1946, and is known for being one of the biggest providers of replacement parts in the HVAC/R industry. MARS is a family-owned and operated supplier of quality motors, components and service and installation parts. They are headquartered in Hauppauge, NY and operate facilities in Earth City (St. Louis), MO and Mississauga, Canada.

We have recently added a wide selection of MARS and JARD branded aftermarket replacement products, all of which can be found on our site. These include contactors, capacitors, relays, pressure switches and motors.

Using a floor sensor is usually considered the most precise way to control an in-floor hydronic heating system. Surface temperatures above about 87°F can make floors uncomfortably hot to walk on. Wood flooring in particular can be damaged by excessively hot floor temperatures. Although the limit depends on the recommendations of flooring manufacturers, surface temperatures generally should not exceed 82°F to 85°F with wood floors. Floor sensors control surface temperatures while also preventing rooms with multiple heat sources from overheating and making the floor more comfortable for small children or pets.

Especially when tubing is installed in a slab, rooms can take a long time to heat up and cool down. This means that the rooms may overheat when a standard thermostat is installed (although some thermostats offer features designed to combat this, including Uponor WT1 and Nest models). It also means that programmability does not normally benefit in-floor systems.

A temperature controller such as part A419GBF-1C can be used to control systems based solely on floor temperature. It may take a little experimenting to figure out which floor temperatures are ideal for comfort in the room, and not having a wall thermostat could take some getting used to. Tekmar makes some thermostats (e.g. part 519) with floor sensor options. They operate just like standard thermostats, but you can also set high and low limits for the floor temperature. These limits take precedence over the ambient temperature settings on the thermostats.

When dealing with in-floor electric heating cables, thermostats with floor sensors and GFCI protection are normally required.

We’re in the process of changing our name from PexSupply.com to Supplyhouse.com! We are still the same people committed to providing the same great service we always have, under a name that better represents the broad range of products we sell.

Hear the story behind the name change: