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Bossman

Kenneyp
Kenneyp Member Posts: 2
Can anyone direct me how to calculate natural gas usage per PSI of steam?

Example; 1,000,000 BTU input atmospheric burner @ 200 gallon water in steam boiler. Can anyone show me gas usage in cubic feet @ 1PSI than 2PSI ?



I have a small building where the steam is on at 3 PSI and off at 8 PSI. I would like to show them how much percent gas savings they would incurr by lowering steam to 1 1/2 PSI.   Thanks  KP

Comments

  • Speed of Steam

    Hi- This article maybe of help to you.

    - Rod

    http://www.heatinghelp.com/article/11/Hot-Tech-Tips/263/The-Speed-of-Steam
  • Kenneyp
    Kenneyp Member Posts: 2
    gas usage

    Rod, Info was helpful, and made sense,maybe I failed to ask the right question, so I will put my thoughts out there.

    We know how many BTU to saturate water to steam. Then the latent heat is added to that saturated water to then make a pound of steam. Some where there has to be an old timer formula to calculate the total amount of gas used to acheive the above senerio.



    Now if we take that same pound of steam and add latent heat to acheive  say 2 PSI, the vaportstat or limit would satisfy the burner and shut off. So what I would like to know is how much gas would then be used if say a Knucklehead showed up and cranked the limit to 8 PSI? Now there is latent heat being added to push up the steam pressure to a range that we know is way too high.



    Its figuring out how much gas was then used to go from 2 PSI to 8 PSI. Do you follow what I am looking for?  Granted there can be a 100 varing factors, but using simple cast iron radiators with angle traps and trying to keep it simple; 2 pipe system with a 1,000,000 BTU boiler natural gas, atmospheric burner would be the starting point.



    Thanks  KP
  • Chart

    Hi Kenny- I've attached a chart which might be of more help. I don't know how far you want to calculate the btu usage. It's obvious to see that more fuel (btus) must be used to make steam as the pressure increases due to the fact that under pressure it raises the temperature where steam is produced. The previous link I gave you was to back up the fact that steam moves better at lower pressures. Ideally you run your system at the lowest pressure you can get away with. 2 PSI is normally the max and a lot of people run a lot lower than that.  More pressure = more fuel!

    - Rod
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