Boiler installations: Which boiler is best for your commercial property?

As it is the beginning of the year you may well be looking down your scheduled maintenance work going grey with the thought of escalating costs. In this situation, many facilities managers try and re-shuffle the list putting off the most expensive jobs.  This often means that your premises will go another year with the old boiler in place.

It may not come as a surprise to you that we will not recommend you adopt this strategy for two main reasons;

1. This is false economy as an old boiler will often cost you much more in heating bills throughout the year.
2. With the new environmental regulations coming in this may well be key to improving your EPS certificate.

Assuming we have convinced you to look at installing a new boiler you now have to choose the best one for your premises. This can be confusing as there are plenty to choose from. To help you out we have put together a guide of available commercial boilers for your review below:

• Firetube Boilers

If your facility has hot water applications, high-pressure steam applications, or low-pressure steam applications, you may able to utilize a non-condensing firetube boiler. Firetube boilers are commonly used for applications ranging from 51 up to 2,200 horsepower.

These types of boilers use a cylindrical vessel with the combustion gases inside of the tubes and the flame located in the furnace. In addition to housing the tubes and furnace, the vessel also houses the steam and water. Firetube boilers achieve optimal efficiency when the burner, boiler, and control scheme are engineered and designed to function as an integrated system.

• Wetback Design vs Dryback Design

Firetube boilers can be purchased in either a wetback or dryback design. In the wetback design, the boiler has a water-cooled turnaround chamber used to funnel flue gases from the furnace into the tube banks.

The dryback boiler design features a larger and swingable refractory-lined rear door integrated with the vessel. This door is used to direct gases for combustion from the furnace into several tube banks. In general, the wetback design needs significantly less refractory maintenance. However, tube removal and cleaning can be much more difficult.

• Watertube Boilers

The watertube boiler produces hot water or steam for industrial or commercial applications. Watertube types of boilers are extensively used for comfort heating applications. With this type of boiler, tubes house water and/or steam. At the same time, the combustion products are circulated through the tubes.

In most instances, the watertube design includes several drums. The lower mud drum and upper steam drum are connected by tubes that form the furnace area and convection section. These systems have a BTU input ranging anywhere from 500,000 to over 20,000,000. As a result, watertube boilers are able to provide exceptionally fast steam capabilities and fast response to changing demands due to the relatively low water content.

• Industrial Watertube Boiler

Industrial watertube boilers are mainly steam boilers used for a wide array of applications requiring large amounts of steam and higher pressures. These types of boilers have the ability to provide extra heat through the use of superheaters that are integrally mounted.

• Commercial Boilers

Commercial boilers are designed with a firetube, small water tube, and electric resistance. They work ideally for universities, libraries, office buildings, schools, laundries, hospitals, and other similar facilities,

Among the different types of boilers, commercial boilers are some of the most diverse. These units can use propane, natural gas, non-fueled electric only, or light oil to provide hot water or steam for process requirements or comfort heating. Based on the commercial boiler selected and application, these systems boast a fuel efficiency as high as 99%.

• Condensing Boilers

Essentially, condensing boilers are water heaters fueled by oil or gas. These units can achieve an exceptionally high level of thermal efficiency up to 98%. This high level of efficiency is achieved through the condensing of water vapor in the exhaust gases.

With the condensing design, the boiler recovers a portion of the latent heat of vaporization, which would otherwise be wasted. Most models boast efficiencies over 90% when the temperature of the return water is at or below 110 ºF. As the temperature of the return water decreases, your efficiency gain will increase.

• Electric Boilers

Most notably, electric boilers are known for being quiet, clean, compact, and easy to install. Without combustion considerations, these types of boilers have no exhaust stack, no fuel handling equipment, and no fuels, which means they have minimal complexity.

Among the different types of boilers, electric units are ideally the perfect solution for overcoming stringent emissions regulations. Clients choose electric boilers in areas where the cost of electricity is favorable. These boilers range anywhere from 9kW up to 3,375 kW output.

• Electrode Types of Boilers

One type of electric boiler is the electrode-type. These units utilize water to generate steam and carry electrical current. With this type of system, electric current is transferred through water, which converts it into steam or hot water. Electrode-type boilers can achieve almost 100% efficiency.

We hope you have found our boiler guide useful and that we did our bit to support your maintenance plan for 2018. Do give us a call if you need some further help.

Categorised in: Property maintenance

This post was written by Express Property Services