Closing radiators saves gobs on heating costs?

t. tekushan

Me again.

Any informal opinions out there on what follows?

I'm a part time manager of a 20's vintage theater/apartment/storefront complex (when the landlord is away). North side is apartments and storefronts. W-M boiler for this side is LGB type for and EDR of 1650. I've descaled the boiler, matched fire to load, replaced main steam traps(fought tooth and nail for those, "thats too much money"), balanced the system, installed minimum run time timer (designed and built it myself; LL would NEVER spring for such a thing), and added a return vacuum assist thats triggered on rising main temp and timed for about 3 minutes of vacuum assist(designed that too). What we have here now is a system that consistently runs at 12 ounces of pressure and only begins to rise a bit near end-of-cycle in very cold temps. Fuel consumption has dropped measureably (not that I get any credit for this from LL).
Heat distribution is even throughout the building IF ALL THE RADIATION is OPEN (there's one centrally located t-stat). LL now has two vacancies and has completely shut off all the radiators in those units at the far end of the building. Now I am getting complaints from tenants of inadequate heat at that side of the building,esp in mild temps. I claim that the main size to EDR has been thrown off. (Besides, I now have to kick up the t-stat to keep them happy). LL freaks out if I open one rad. per suite to put the system closer to balance. I don't think its my imagination that the perifery away from the boiler heats faster with a few more rads open. LL claims he's saving a bundle by shutting rads down completely. I really don't think savings are proportionate to closed EDR in this instance.

Any thoughts?

t. tekushan

Closing radiators saves gobs of money on heating costs?

Me again.

Any informal opinions out there on what follows?

I'm a part time manager of a 20's vintage theater/apartment/storefront complex (when the landlord is away). North side is apartments and storefronts. W-M boiler for this side is LGB type for an EDR of 1650. I've descaled the boiler, matched fire to load, replaced main steam traps(fought tooth and nail for those, "thats too much money"), balanced the system, installed minimum run time timer (designed and built it myself; LL would NEVER spring for such a thing), and added a return vacuum assist that's triggered on rising main temp and timed for about 3 minutes of vacuum assist(designed that too). What we have here now is a system that consistently runs at 12 ounces of pressure and only begins to rise a bit near end-of-cycle in very cold temps. Fuel consumption has dropped measureably (not that I get any credit for this from LL).
Heat distribution is even throughout the building IF ALL THE RADIATION is OPEN (there's one centrally located t-stat). LL now has two vacancies and has completely shut off all the radiators in those units towards the far end of the building from the boiler room. Now I am getting complaints from tenants of inadequate heat at that side of the building,esp in mild temps. I claim that the main size to EDR has been thrown off. (Besides, I now have to kick up the t-stat to keep them happy). LL freaks out if I open one rad. per suite to put the system closer to balance. I don't think its my imagination that the perifery away from the boiler heats faster with a few more rads open. LL claims he's saving a bundle by shutting rads down completely. I really don't think savings are proportionate to closed EDR in this instance.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I don't have to tell you how LL received my suggestion that protection against frozen plumbing is worth the cost of a little heat. <<sigh>>

gehring_3

closed radiators


In my opinion it will cost more in fuel to close those radiators since the system will then behave as if the boiler is oversized (not to mention out of balance). LL is behaving as if those vacant units have electric baseboard heat (which would then make sense to turn off) but this is steam. Steam heat is sometimes counterintuitive - what you think may be right is actually the exact wrong thing to do. Buy him some of Dan's books on your expense account.