Steam System Maintenance Man Hours per Yr

Timco

The biggest problem is selling preventative maintenance. So what if it is banging or priming...the heat is still on. And when a rad stops heating, add a vent. A trap takes years to fail, and minutes to replace. Almost no one cleans a priming boiler, or flushes returns. Steam shooting out the main vent on the condensate box? Just put a trap on the entire return! Preventative maintenance is everything. I have seen 3 frozen-up LWCOs this season because they were not blown down or flushed. No one puts a simple y strainer on the return to catch the crap before it hits the tank. TRV's all failed? Just open windows!

Tim

Aaron Sirois

Steam Maintenance Costs

Does anybody know of a good resource that breaks down the typical maintenance (man-hours per year) of steam system components. I need the info for a life-cycle cost analysis and can not find any good sources that give this information. I am interested in equipment such as,

-Steam traps or steam unit heaters
-Stm-Water heat exchangers
-Pressure reducing stations
-Condensate pumps and receivers
-Anything else pertinent to steam or HW heating systems