Aerco Boilers

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

I visited a 200 room Howard Johnson's hotel yesterday at the request of the general manager; said he was running out of hot water. His boiler room is set up with an A.O. Smith BC 650 boiler with what looks like a 1,000 gal. storage tanks. The boiler runs non-stop. He's asking me for suggestions.

My first take is that boiler is too small and there's not enough storage. I've heard good things said about Aerco hot water systems from Ken Secor, Jeff Perry, Brad White, et. al., but that was quite a while ago. Are they still considered quality?

Best wishes,

Alan Forbes

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Joannie

Water Heater Sizing

Hi, Alan.

I plopped 200 single bedroom hotel rooms into a couple sizing guides, and they are indicating that the job is undersized. Can't be sure without more detail, but that would be the direction I'd go if I were you.

Also, look at the piping, to deterimine if you are getting the most out of the 1000 gallon tank.

Joannie

Joe Lambert

Aerco

We use Aerco here in NYC, although they are usually the steam driven variety. We are impressed with the quality and have had no major problems.

Dana

I had a similar problem with this boiler. Once I determined that all the piping was ok, circ. was sized propoerly and working, I pulled the boiler apart. It was pretty well plugged up, even though it wasn't spilling co. I cleaned it and everything has been fine since. I also had a slight gas pressure problem at the manifold on one of these once. It was the meter. Gas Co. replaced the meter and it's been fine ever since. Did this system work ok at one time.

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

The owners

just bought the place and there's no history on the mechanical equipment.

Joan: thanks for running it through your sizing program. The piping is 2" supply and return between the boiler and storage tank; any larger sizing probably wouldn't be of much benefit since the boiler is always running.

This is a terrible picture, but you can see two storage tanks. They used to operate off a steam boiler and have heat exchangers that have now been capped off. The top tank is valved off and they are only using the lower tank; each one seems to be about 1,000 gal. (a wild guess based on what a 500 gal. tank looks like).

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hot_rod

Sizing Water Heaters for Hotels/ Motels

Is the cover story on this months PM Engineer mag. Well written by Ron George CIPE, CPD. Check it out. Good questioneer and drawings.

http://www.pmengineer.com/

hot rod

Alan(CaliforniaRadiant)Forbes

Thanks, hr

I just got my copy too. Funny how these things pop up just when you need them.

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