boiler systems and open windows

Brad White

O Canada....! Where it gets pretty cold, eh? :)

Oh, those sensor systems... Hard to keep everyone happy but let's take a look.

What kind of system is it? Steam I am assuming but could be hot water. If steam, a Tekmar 269 or a Heat Timer system might be what you have, maybe others. More on those later.

An open window, if it is in the apartment with the indoor sensor, will cause the other units to overheat. Simply, that apartment sensor thinks it has a lot of work to do.

The conundrum is, the sensors you mentioned are in places where 1) Nobody is living and 2) Which have no heat loss.

Chances are the sensor in the basement is a strap-on sensor to tell the boiler that it has completed a full cycle and warmed the system including return back to the boiler.

The way such steam control systems work is to measure the outside temperature (on the north side and/or well in the shade) and use this outdoor temperature to tell the boiler to fire to complete so many cycles (warm from start to return as mentioned) in an hour. Colder out? More cycles. Warmer out? Fewer.

Some of these do not even need an indoor sensor. Even without that you can also ask the landlord about getting thermostatic radiator vent valves (TRV's) which go on most if not all radiators to control air venting (and steam input) based on room temperature. Great way to prevent overheating.

Any sleuthing you can do will help a lot, finding out if it is steam or hot water and what the control system brand and model is. Others will have ideas too I am sure.

Shannon_4

boiler systems and open windows

I am living in a 3 storey apartment (+basement) with a boiler heating system.

A new thermostat/sensor system has been installed, and we are trying to determine the optimum settings for all 3 floors - i.e. set the sensors, boiler temperature, etc. so that all 3 levels are in the comfort zone.

My questions is: to what degree will an open window in one apartment influence the the temperature of the main system (influencing the temperture in the other apartments).

Currently there are sensors in the basement (near the boiler) and on the stairwell between the second and third floors. There are no sensors/thermostats in the individual apartments.

Any input, advice, or experience would be wlecome!

Oh - and its approximately 10 C outside.

Thank you very much!

Shannon_4

Yes, Canada indeed!

It's been fairly nice until tonight...now its CHILLY >.<

Thanks for the quick reply! Your information is helpful already!

Anyway, the boiler system is water, not steam, and the sensors are 'bionaire', new, but the boiler itself is old (I believe).

As I said, there are no sensors in the apartments, but in the stairwell between the 2nd and 3rd floor as well as the basement.

Are those good areas?

Thanks again!
Shannon

Brad White

Properly done

good heating control should take into account the exterior temperature. Perhaps yours does already! Let us hope.

I am not familiar with Bionaire but it may well have a following elsewhere on this site.

The sensor locations you have now (stairwell, basement) have very little bearing on the heating needs if these are interior spaces, thus surrounded by heated space, they "know no season". They may well form a reference temperature which is taken into account but having an external sensor to me is more important. Even though no one lives outside, it at least has a bearing on your comfort.

Hot water is particularly adaptable and a beneficiary of what is known as outdoor reset (ODR) control.

It is really simple: Heat loss is proportional to indoor temperature minus outdoor temperature. Radiator output is proportional to water (radiator) temperature minus room temperature. The relationship between these is thus controlled along a curve. Heat is added at the rate it is lost, not in big bursts between cold spots as in on-off systems.

I take it that you have some character insistent on opening the window? The proverbial "double-hung thermostat" of yore?

Do you have a building management company and if so, what do they say? Do they pay heat (built into the rent) or is it by the tenants?

I think we will be getting your weather soon. We tend to get your used weather, we promise to give it back when we are done

Brad