Fuel Oil News

Fuel Oil News - November 2016

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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40 NOVEMBER 2016 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com steam boilers as the optimal choice to match heating load requirements, with two carry- ing the building load and one installed for redundancy. MacRitchie also was tasked with handling oil conversion to add gas for dual-fuel firing, boiler room valves, boiler feed unit, fuel oil pumps and controls, and associated electri- cal and plumbing work. The Weil-McLain 88 Series boilers offer up to 85.7% thermal efficiencies, are operational in single or multiple systems as gas, oil or gas/oil, and feature modulation control. The old oil-fired burners were removed and replaced with the Weil-McLain dual-fuel boilers and configured with gas as the main fuel source and oil as a backup. Each boiler was installed with its own pump plus a common manually valved standby pump. The project was completed and the units w e r e p u t i n t o s e r v i c e i n O c t o b e r 2 0 1 5 . According to O'Brien, the installation went smoothly and the school already is experienc- ing benefits. "We expect to save anywhere from 20% to 25% of our fuel costs with these new boilers because they are more energy effi- cient, feature low-range pressure controls and have the ability to modu- late," said O'Brien. M o d u l a t i n g b u r n - e r s a r e d e s i g n e d t o control the burner output to match the boilers' vari- able load requirements t o e n s u r e m a x i m u m combustion and boiler efficiencies during large heating demands. The modulation feature also has decreased the system pressure. "Thanks to modulation, we reduced the amount of operat- ing pressure from about 10 pounds on a cold day to about 5 pounds," said O'Brien. "Dropping the pressure created a lot of savings, yet we are still main- taining the temperature inside the building so that's a definite plus." Other benefits O'Brien and building staff are realizing include the adoption of a building man- agement system that will send notifications via email and sound an audible alarm in the school if an issue should arise. "If a boiler burner should misfire, for example, I immedi- ately get an email and an audio alarm goes off in the school," said O'Brien. "This alerts school custodian staff that an issue is happening, and it's an important safety feature to have." The expected duration and life of the boilers are another plus, according to O'Brien. "The life expectancy is typically 30 or more years for these boilers," he said. l F O N 40 NOVEMBER 2016 | FUEL OIL NEWS combustion and boiler efficiencies during large heating demands. The modulation feature also has decreased the system pressure. "Thanks to modulation, we reduced the amount of operat- ing pressure from about 10 pounds on a cold day to about 5 pounds," said O'Brien. "Dropping the pressure created a lot (Top) Built in 1923, Elm Street School in Gardner, Mass., houses more than 500 elementary students. (Bottom) Three Weil-McLain 88 Series low-pressure steam boilers are providing energy savings for Elm Street School. A School Learns the Benefits of Modulating Boilers 'We expect to save anywhere from 20% to 25% of our fuel costs with these new boilers because they are more energy efficient, feature low-range pressure controls and have the ability to modulate.' —Robert O'Brien, director of facilities for Gardner Public Schools PHOTOS AND TEXT PROVIDED BY WEIL-MCLAIN/MARLEY ENGINEERED PRODUCTS

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