The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
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www.fueloilnews.com | FUEL OIL NEWS | JANUARY 2015 37 HVAC/ HydroniCs found leaves them at no disadvantage compared to the folks in the city. As the 50,000 square-foot facility's two, 59-year-old boilers became needier for maintenance attention every year, the mon- astery's number of live-in clergy has also dwindled. Rooms that were previously conditioned are now turned down for most of the heating season. What the parish needed was an oil system that could provide enough energy to heat the entire structure for special events, but yet coast along at low-load without short cycling. Petro has supplied oil and serviced the monastery's system for years, so when it came time for a retrofit, they already knew exactly what was needed. Smaller packageS "We proposed to pull out the two, 1 million BTU boilers, and install eight, 230 MBH Burnham MPO-IQ boilers, linking them all together with a tekmar multi-stage boiler control system," said Matt Plante, equipment specialist for Petro. "We've exchanged big boilers for numerous small oil boilers in apartment buildings before, but never at this scale." A mix of radiation is used throughout the building, includ- ing both residential and commercial fin-tube, hydro-air coils and cast-iron radiators. Three-way valves and constant-pressure pumping keep the distribution system relatively simple. "A challenge going into this project was convincing facility managers that they could maintain the same level of comfort, with less fuel expended, using smaller boilers," continued Plante. "I guess if you don't know any better, and you're used to looking at two large commercial units, an MPO-IQ looks pretty tiny in comparison. But, when they heard how much they could save in heating costs, their reservations disappeared." Unlike the old boilers, the MPO-IQ is a three-pass, cast-iron sectional boiler. It's 87% efficient, and offers a control system the likes of which is typically reserved for boilers in a higher price bracket. Divine DeSign "Glenn Stanton, manager of training and technical development for US Boiler, was absolutely instrumental to the success of the entire job," Plante continued. "He produced the venting and piping diagrams, and calculated the flow rates. He was there every step of the way." Luckily for Stanton and the Petro team, the mechanical room was perfect for their installation; plenty of floor space and high ceilings. Best of all, there was a set of double doors leading straight out to the parking lot. And straight out the old boilers went. The MPO-IQs were set right in place with a fork lift as soon as they were delivered by The Portland Group, in Providence. The entire mechanical room was re-piped to accommodate the change. For ease of service, ample space was left between the boilers when they were placed in rows. Above: Brothers of the Sacred Heart Provincial Community, in Pascoag, RI, is a retirement community for Catholic School clergy. Above Left: Glenn Stanton, manager of training and technical development for US Boiler (left) and Matt Plante, equipment specialist for Petro, stand in the finished mechanical room. Above Right: The MPO-IQ features plug and play accessory card slots for simple addition of outdoor reset sensor, low-water cutoff and auxiliary high-limit. Full schematic