One Pipe Steam System Control

Scott31

The building I live in (15 units) has a one pipe steam system. It is controlled by a teckmar 269 and fires about every 50 min. for around 20 min. My question is how often should it fire and for how long? It seems to be firing more than needed and many of the units are much warmer than needed. Any help would be appreciated. We have two temperature sensers in the building and I would think that they should control when the boiler fires, but it doesn't seem like that is what is happening. Any help would be appreciated.

soot_seeker_2

That's how they work...

The length of the cycle is set. Fifty minutes is about right for a steam cycle. Then the outside temperature controls the "on" time in each cycle. In an ideal system, the boiler would run continuously at design temperature, which is usally zero or ten degrees.

At 35 degrees, the boiler should run about half the time, or thirty minutes.

All this is adjustable by the landlord, who should choose the proper settings for the construction and heat loss of the building.

Overheating of some apartments while others remain cold is a distribution issue. The steam system should be looked over by an expert who can properly balance it so all radiators heat at about the same time. Overheating of all apartments under certain conditions may be a matter of changing control settings. The Tekmar is a great unit.

Long Beach Ed

Bob W._3

Overheating could be addressed by installing TRV's on those radiators.

ChrisL

Tekmar steam

The tekmar uses outdoor temps to determine burner on time. However, if you install a room sensor, it will shut the boiler down if room temp gets over the setting you select. Consider having the system balanced, and then installing a room sensor in a unit that tends to be cool and you should be in pretty good shape.

ChrisL