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Ray Wohlfarth is president of Fire and Ice in Pittsburgh. He is currently a columnist for Plumbing and Mechanical and PM Engineer magazines and the author of “Lessons Learned in a Boiler Room.” Wohlfarth also taught a course for the Green Building Research Institute on green boilers and is the RP chair for West Virginia ASHRAE, membership chair for West Virginia Association of Physical Plant Administrators (WV-APPA), and a member of the Radiant Professionals Association.
I have been working with boilers for more than 40 years, and I’m convinced this event will be like no other, with more than 75 manufacturers of boilers and boiler room equipment and two action-packed days with everything you wanted to know about the boiler room.
I have been working with boilers for more than 40 years, and I’m convinced this event will be like no other, with more than 75 manufacturers of boilers and boiler room equipment and two action-packed days with everything you wanted to know about the boiler room.
Life is filled with unintended consequences and sometimes so are boiler rooms. When you’re tasked with designing and/or installing a replacement boiler for a customer, you’re certainly performing your due diligence, but there may still be problems that you do not anticipate.
Another great troubleshooting and tips collection looks at how to solve a wide assortment of problems and, maybe more importantly, how to avoid a range of others in the first place.
Understand the thinking behind a system that blends condensing and non-condensing boilers, from the attack on oversizing to a controls strategy that shifts with the weather.
From a missing pipe hanger three floors down to steam traps past their prime, these boiler replacement tales show that real system problems can originate inside the boiler room or far beyond it.
Famous mathematician Edward Lorenz coined the phrase “The Butterfly Effect,” which is the belief that some small occurrence could create devastating results in another location far away.
Well, that’s not really the whole story. “Lifecycle costs” could even include having to buy the same equipment all over again because it’s been ruined. It’s also about how adequate maintenance can steer a facility clear of avoidable and sometimes terrible boiler accidents that happen each year.
Does maintenance save money? Many numbers get thrown around when it comes to estimating the savings achieved by performing certain maintenance activities.
So many areas where a little forethought and awareness can avoid larger problems — sizing, velocity, piping and connections, double trapping, condensate return, proper pressure, blowdown tanks, and more. Read on for some good habits and why they’re worth having.
When designing or replacing a low pressure steam boiler, throw out everything you know about hydronic boilers. A steam system is closer in operation to an air conditioning unit than it is to a hydronic boiler. If you design a steam system using hydronic design methods, it will not operate properly.
The public’s taste for regional and local beer has flourished in recent years, but crafting a proper steam boiler system for its production can be sobering task. Pull up a bar stool and contemplate at least 23 design and maintenance facets to ensure that what’s brewing is all beer and no trouble.
Pumps, flues, valves, sizing, maintenance ... there’s a lot more to consider than just the boiler. Keep the car metaphor in mind, and your next replacement might not drive you to despair.
