Systems Help Center
Commercial Heating
Commercial Heating 49 Articles
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Is The Safety Valve Actually Bad?
“Our safety valves keep popping. We’ve had a contractor replace them, but they keep going bad.” It was late on a Friday afternoon and the boiler operator was angry.
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The Relief Valve is Leaking!
"The valve keeps leaking. I can't keep steam. Help!" the text message read.
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Troubleshooting Steam Heating Systems
Dan Holohan, probably the smartest person I know on steam, has a saying, "The problem and the solution are rarely in the same room with steam." That holds true I...
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Steam Is Coming From the Vent. Should I Be Concerned?
Makeup water is considered a steam boiler's worst enemy. Fresh water can take a system designed to last several decades and cut the life expectancy to only a few years.
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How to set and adjust the boiler pressure control?
A question often asked is how to adjust the steam boiler pressure controls properly.
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Can you lift condensate?
Inside the vessel, the steam surrenders its heat and reverts to condensate or water. The condensate has to be returned to the boiler feed unit and boiler.
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Safety in the Boiler Room
Look around and see if there are obvious dangers. Take a mental picture of the layout of the room in case of a malfunction.
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Avoiding Scale in Heating Systems
Having scale on heating surfaces is like having all the traffic lights in your town turn red at the same time, and stay red. Most movement stops.
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Commercial Domestic Hot Water
My company does not do a lot of commercial work but one specialty niche we have is servicing the boilers and mechanical systems in the turn of the century apartment...
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Commercial Steam Boiler Replacement
Around the turn of the last century, Washington, D.C. was a growing metropolis. In an effort to house the burgeoning population, a building boom ensued.
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Commercial Steam Heating
My company has installed and serviced residential steam boilers since it started more than ten years ago.
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How Boiler Maintenance Affects Life Cycle Costs
There are many numbers thrown about estimating the savings by performing certain maintenance activities. I remember meeting with a potential customer and showing him the list of estimated savings possible...
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Boiler-Jacket Loss
A debate has continued in the industry about whether boiler jacket loss should be factored into the calculation of boiler efficiency. Most of the old boiler rooms were very toasty places.
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Are boilers dangerous?
John was a custodian for a local school district. We used to call him “20 Questions” because he would constantly ply us with questions about the boilers when we would...
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Six Boiler Replacement Mistakes
As we are entering the time that most commercial boiler projects are being planned and installed, I would like to share some common steam boiler oversights that I rarely see...
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Four Things To Look Out For in Steam-Boiler Pressure Controls
"Something is wrong with the boiler control. I have to keep pushing the reset button,” the frantic school custodian said when I answered the phone one cold January morning.
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Great opportunities to increase the safety of our clients’ buildings
Russell Conwell, founder of Temple University, would often tell a story about a man named Ali Hafed.
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Why Did The Boiler Fail So Quickly?
The following are a couple projects that resulted in boiler failure because the heating equipment was not installed or maintained properly. This may help you on your next boiler project.
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Boilers Outside the Box
Helping clients increase comfort and lower utility costs with a limited budget.
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Question Everything When Replacing Commercial Boilers
Designing and replacing commercial boilers
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Connecting New Boilers to Old Pipes
The project is going to be a series of assumptions, educated guesses, design skills, and some good old-fashioned luck.
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Why Boilers are Still Great
Boilers can still provide a comfortable cost effective heat for our clients. Here's why.
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Learn the difference between safety-- and relief valves
Each boiler requires some sort of pressure-relieving device. They are referred to as either a safety, relief or safety relief valve. While these names are often thought of as interchangeable, there are subtle differences between them.
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Boiler-Venting Considerations
What category flue?
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The Human Thermostat
For years, a custodian with a name consisting of only consonants, who was simply call Lou, worked as the custodian. He spoke in broken English with a thick accent.
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Boiler-Startup Dangers
I mentally tried adding all the boilers I sold and started and replied with a sense of confidence, "I think between 300-400 over my career." His question had kind of...
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Boiler-Safety Lessons in a School
The solitude of this peaceful West Virginia town was interrupted on a frigid Monday night in February when the smoke and fire alarms shrieked at 11:30 pm inside the fire department.
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More Power!
While we may not have to jettison and explode our warp core to get more power, there could be things we do that affect the performance of our heating systems....
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Understanding the Boiler Gas Train
The first component of the gas train is the sediment trap or more commonly referred to as the "dirt leg" This is used to catch any dirt or moisture that...
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Controlling an existing hydronic boiler
If left alone, they will control or monitor everything that moves, slides, shakes, or switches. I like to reign them in a bit when controlling a hydronic heating system.
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Are manufacturer's representatives and distributors becoming extinct?
I wonder if this will be the future boiler purchasing model. Will boilers be sold directly from the factory via a flashy website? I warn my family that the traditional...
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When was the last time that you read the installation manual?
If you do not, you may be held responsible for any omissions that were recommended and not implemented in the installation manual.
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Two-Pipe Systems
In some instances, both complaints may come from the same room. One of the systems with the most comfort complaints is a Two Pipe System.
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Steam, the original Bad Boy
Many will suggest replacing the steam system with a new system but it may be fiscally unrealistic to do so.
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What is a Barometric Damper?
The barometric damper is used to control the draft inside a boiler. It is installed on boilers that use a Category I vent. To understand how the barometric damper operates,...
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Boiler-Safety Controls
Operating Control
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Boiler Choices
Existing System
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Common Steam-Boiler-Replacement Mistakes
Condensate Tank or Boiler Feed?
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Four Boiler-Room Myths
When I asked about these, I was told that neglecting these rules would bring bad luck to the person or the family, sometimes for years. No other explanation was ever given.
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Understanding Flame Safeguards
The purpose of my visit was to offer some suggestions to help the client lower their fuel costs. They were having a difficult time paying their gas bill.
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When is the best time to perform a boiler combustion analysis?
There is a disagreement in our industry as to when is the ideal time to perform a combustion analysis on boilers.
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Thermocouple Testing Procedure
Here is a step-by-step procedure for troubleshooting a thermocouple on gas systems:
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Troubleshooting Intermittent Ignition Systems for Gas Furnaces and Boilers pdf
Thanks to Tim McElwain for sharing his extensive knowledge with us. You can contact Tim at his Gas Training Institute: 401-437-0557.
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Procedure for Troubleshooting Powerpile Systems pdf
Thanks to Tim McElwain for sharing his extensive knowledge with us. You can contact Tim at his Gas Training Institute: 401-437-0557
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Charts for Troubleshooting Thermocouples and Powerpile Systems pdf
Thanks to Tim McElwain for sharing his extensive knowledge with us. You can contact Tim at his Gas Training Institute: 401-437-0557
