BY IRWIN SANDLER, SCIENTIFIC COMPACTOR/BOILER
Now that winter is drawing to a close, residential and commercial buildings will be switching their heating systems off and their air conditioning systems on. This is the ideal time of year to begin preparing your boiler for the next heating season. There are a number of simple, relatively inexpensive, but necessary steps to prepare your boiler to operate properly during the spring, summer and fall seasons.
Recent inflated oil prices have alerted many buildings to the basic fact that an inefficient boiler will cost a building unnecessary wasted dollars that could be saved with proper maintenance. Such preparation assures the building that the boiler will continue to operate at peak efficiency, translating into meaningful dollar savings.
The first step, and one of the most important, is a major cleaning performed by a reliable company with skilled personnel and proper equipment. One prerequisite for a boiler to efficiently attain proper heat transfer is to free the fire tubes of soot and scale (which act as an insulator within the tubes). Soot build-up inside the boiler may lead to maintenance problems attributed, in part, to the high sulfur content contained in soot, which creates sulfuric acid and ultimately corrodes the boiler tubes.
Tests that have been conducted by municipalities, heating plant engineers and boiler manufacturers have proven that even a small amount of soot (1/8" to _") will drain boiler efficiency by as much as 30 percent depending on the system. This amount of wasted fuel means wasted dollars to any multi-family building.
Any #2, #4, #6 oil and gas burners should have a properly equipped company perform a "major cleaning" at the end of each heating season. This "major cleaning" consists of wire brushing all the fire tubes, vacuum cleaning the entire boiler, breeching, chamber and chimney base.
Many residential and commercial buildings continue to use their boilers throughout the spring, summer and fall seasons in order to provide hot water to the residents of these buildings. Boilers that are burning the heavier fuels such as #4 and #6 will continue to throw off a residue of soot into the fire tubes and reflecting plates of the boiler. These boilers should receive periodic supplementary cleanings throughout the spring, summer and fall months in order to keep the fire tubes, reflecting plates, tube sheets and chimney base free of soot accumulations which will result in increased boiler efficiency.
During the spring and summer months, all boilers should be checked for leaks, all tubes that may have been plugged during the heating season should be changed and all gasketing should be checked. Any leaking tubes or open seams should be attended to immediately.
Those boilers that are being used to generate hot water during these mild weather months should receive another major cleaning in the fall just prior to the start of the next heating season. This will ensure that your boiler is in proper operating condition enabling it to work at its peak efficiency throughout the next heating season.
HEATING TERMS
Breeching: Duct work from rear of boiler. Carries excess gases and solids (soot) to the chimney.
Chimney: Firebrick chute which goes from the boiler room to the roof, allowing expulsion of excess gases emanating from the burning of fuel oil or gas.
Soot: A residue by-product from the burning of fuel oil
Chimney Base: The settling chamber of the chimney where solids (soot) carried by the gases traveling through the breeching settle while the lighter gas travels up the chimney and exists into the atmosphere.
Fire Tube: Transfers heat emanating from the burner (fireside of boiler) to the waterside of the boiler.
#2, #4 & #6: Designated fuel oil from #2 (light) to #6 (heavy). Lighter oil (#2) has less sludge and burns cleaner. Heavy oil (#6) gives off the highest amount of residue (soot).
Scientific Compactor/Boiler is a veteran member of NYARM. You may contact Irwin or Michael Sandler at 718-241-0200. Visit their website at scientificboiler.com or email irwinsandler@scientificboiler.com.