boiler efficiency results

ctjomac

Just had the steam boiler cleaned out 2 weeks ago by a guy with a few wire brushes and a vacum. Today the service tech showed up to tune the boiler (it's oil fired) spent 30 minutes and gave me this prinout that reads:
O2=8.2%
CO=16ppm
Eff=79.9%
CO2=9.1%
Stack Temp=526 degrees
Incoming Air=74 degrees
EZ=65.4% ?
CO(O)=27ppm ?

Don't know what they all mean, but it's a 1950's oil fired one pipe steam boiler and he seemed in too much of a hurry to explain them to me. Are these ok, or should I call his boss or another company?

r. perry

Your boiler is running at 79.9 percent efficency. Which is about as best you'll get unless you spend several thousand dollars for a new boiler and then the best new steam boiler on the market today will only get you 83.9 percent efficency, so relax. If you want all the other numbers explained, call the office of the service company and ask for an explanation. You paid for it, so ask for an explanation, but all the numbers look fine to me. I wouldn't worry about a thing. Just look for a different service company next time, one that will spend time with you and answer your questions. It's your money, spend it wisely and where you feel you get the best value for your dollar.

Steamhead (in transit)

Which burner

do you have on that boiler? If it's an older one, those aren't too bad. But I'd expect better from a newer one such as Beckett, Carlin or Riello......

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jcarta

8%o2 and 64% ex air is alittle to much air--you may get better efficiency with the o2 in the 5-5.5% range-be sure you are not making smoke as you reduce air-but overall your readings are not that bad

GW

service

when I was the cheap guy in town, I didn't have much time to explain anything either. Now, I'll make personal appearences when something hits the fan, but most often a phone call, letter or an email does wonders. gw

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mtfallsmikey

I used

The forms Bacharach sold with the Fyrite...explained it all. Are they still around?

Robert O'Brien

Low

CO2 in older CI boilers with flame retention burners is usually secondary air leaking between the sections.Unless you think that a 50-60 year old boiler should last forever or that oil will be at current levels for the foreseeable future.I would take a serious look at a Burnham Megasteam.Combustion eff is not AFUE and AFUE does not take into account the amount of time that clunker takes to make steam vs the few minutes a Megasteam does.Your savings will be many times what you think it would based on comparing combustion Eff to AFUE

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don_185

this is

This is how it start.You give a customer a piece of paper
with some numbers on that they have no clue as to what they mean.

And,with any smart person they take the numbers and come to a site to find out what they all mean.
Then some guy on the site will say they are good,ok,or even could be better.

Now he off in search of how much better he can get them.

The question would be what does these numbers mean as far as how much heat is being transfer to my distribution system and inside my home?

If I were to change how fast the air gets out or how slow the air gets out would that change the numbers?

And how do I know what my thermal efficency is with mt steam boiler?

After all with a furnace I could change fan speed and get more or less out of it.
With water I can do the same.

What about steam,what can I do to get more for my money?

JackR

correction

The Megasteam is 86%...............

nicholas bonham-carter

boiler efficiency

you could check the following aress of your system to get the best results, and have the system back as undoubtably it once was. just remember that comfort and silence are not new inventions!

get the air out of the main pipes as quickly as possible at the start of the steam cycle. if you have more than 1 length of return coming back then try a few different sized vents to enable the simultaneous arrival of steam at each vent [this a situation where adjustable main vents would be useful!] wait until the mains are behaving before tinkering with the rad vents because sometimes bigger is not better for them.

keep your pressure down to below 16 ounces.my 6 mains and vents feeding 60 rads get the air out at 3 oz. a vaporstat and a 0-15 oz. gauge [gaugestore.com] are helpful.

check your pipe insulation, and correct any "naked" spots.

if you have any banging, correct it asap. noise is NOT a normal part of steam heating, and energy is being wasted swinging the water hammer.

get a thermometer with a "max/min" feature so you can see if you have any excessive temperature swings. i have wireless indoor/outdoor so i can see some correlation with whats happening outside. this may lead to some thermostat experiments later.

perhaps others may spot something i have missed.good luck--nbc