Heat exchanger

dave_5

I am a co-owner of a six story 40 ft by 80 ft apartment building. A heating system was designed for us using a steam boiler hooked to a heat exchanger for circulated hot water heating. Another contractor recommended a water boiler rated for the appropriate psi thereby eliminating the need for the exchanger and extra cost. Can anyone comment on these choices?

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

If the only

task for the steam boiler is hot water heating, I'm with the contractor, i.e. just get a hot water boiler. A steam boiler with a HX will just complicate things without any advantages that I can see.

Best wishes,

Alan Forbes

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Art Pittaway_2

Pressure to consider.

It's only 6 storys @ 10ft(?)/story + basement, Div. by 2.3ft/1psi you get 30psi in static pressure. Add a min 4psi for pressure at the top and your at 35+/-. The pumps will be ok but make sure the boiler manufacturer will be ok with a 50psi relief valve. Refigure it with your buildings height and check the pressure. Make sure the guy sizes the comp.tank correctly for the volume also.

Frank_5

50 lb. boiler

You must notify the wholesaler that you need a boiler that is factory rated to handle 50 psi. That info must be placed on the rating plate of the boiler. Have a rep from pump mfg. size the pump and the ex.tank. Don't forget to use a roll air trol also (talk to the rep)

Tony Conner

High Pressure?

What's being proposed (steam boiler plus HX) may depend on local code requirements. Many jurisdictions will look upon any hot water heating system protected by boiler relief valves set at over 30 PSIG as a "high pressure" installation. One way to deal with this, is to have a "low pressure" steam boiler (safety valves set for 15 PSIG or less) supplying a steam to hot water HX. The HX is an "un-fired vessel", and can fall under different code requirements.

John@Reliable

Might consider install new boiler and keep old one as back up if you have the room in boiler room,things can happen!

Boilerpro

Another way to deal with high pressure

Move the boiler up in the building! Most boiler are very lightweight today, especially if you go with a copper tube design, So installingthem on an upper floor is no longer an issue.

Boilerpro

Boilerpro

HI ya Art

> It's only 6 storys @ 10ft(?)/story + basement,

> Div. by 2.3ft/1psi you get 30psi in static

> pressure. Add a min 4psi for pressure at the top

> and your at 35+/-. The pumps will be ok but make

> sure the boiler manufacturer will be ok with a

> 50psi relief valve. Refigure it with your

> buildings height and check the pressure. Make

> sure the guy sizes the comp.tank correctly for

> the volume also.

Boilerpro

HI ya Art

Just got Dan's deadman's steam school info and it provided me with the last info needed for developing a procedure for installing steam boilers sized to heat load rather than radiation. I think it will essentially be a modification of the Master venting approach, except the vents will be sized to the heat loss of the room and the volume of air that needs to be vented from the rads to meet this load, rather than just the radiator volume. When things slow down in a few months, I hope to write it out.

Boilerpro