Welcome! Here are the website rules, as well as some tips for using this forum.
Need to contact us? Visit https://heatinghelp.com/contact-us/.
Click here to Find a Contractor in your area.

mutiple boilers

Rich L.
Rich L. Member Posts: 414
in THE MAIN WALL
Ok I'll show my ignorance! I've seen and installed numerous staged mutiple boiler set-ups on commercial hydronic applications and am a big fan of this approach. Can you do it with steam? I've never seen it done this way before, and am wondering why or why not. Thanks

Rich L

Comments

  • Joe_76
    Joe_76 Member Posts: 34


    It is done all the time in industrial applications. You can use one and maintain one or use for backup or use both when the demand calls for it.
  • Brad White
    Brad White Member Posts: 2,399
    Agree with Joe

    certainly on industrial and institutional work.

    Check our your local hospital. Chances are they use steam for everything from sterilizers, humidifiers, hot water heating and domestic needs. They also have to have an N+1 installation so if one boiler is down they have at least 100% capacity. See if you cannot get a tour of their boiler plant. Some places like to show them off!

    Key to this setup (and by no means all) are stop-check valves coming out of every boiler. Dropped headers are the norm.

    On low pressure setups, a surface skimming line is used on each, with an F&T trap to keep water levels even.

    Boiler feed pumps are essential and a deaerator is used on most systems to pre-heat and remove oxygen from make-up feed water.

    Much more to it than that, but this is to illustrate that it is a common installation method.
    "If you do not know the answer, say, "I do not know the answer", and you will be correct!"



    -Ernie White, my Dad
  • Rich L.
    Rich L. Member Posts: 414
    How Big?

    Thanks for the reply's guys. At what size does this become pratical? I have a small factory I take care of and they have a 50 BHP boiler they're starting to talk about replacing. Is something this size worth doing in mutiples? Two 25's, five 10's? Can you use something like a Tekmar or Heat-timer multi boiler control to handle them?

    Thanks again, Rich L
This discussion has been closed.

Categories