When winter approaches the operators of commercial buildings and apartments prepare for the high cost of energy during cold months. Heating systems across the country come alive and for many, a season of soul crushing angst as the complex interplay of multiple boiler rooms and irate tenants conspire to make you look forward to spring

As a smart commercial building manager, you are aware of all the band-aid solutions to heating inefficiency, better door and window insulation, smarter thermostats, pro-active steam-valve management, etc… but despite the expense and effort of implementing these systems, the big dollar savings may still elude you. You’ve got an orchestra full of instruments, but you’re playing all the parts yourself.

Heating Control Systems Could be Your Missing Link

Energy Management Systems like the Heat-Timer® Platinum Series, may be the key to solving many of the boiler management challenges of your energy consumption.

For instance, old buildings may have older steam heating systems with their noisy radiators and such. While new construction has largely left these steam systems behind in favor of more modern solutions, old steam heating systems can still be made much more cost effective to operate through installation of high efficiency boilers and an intelligent control system.

Systems provided by Heat-Timer can be configured to control and integrate many parts of your Heating, Cooling, or Domestic Hot Water solution. With features like wireless sensors, motorized valve integration, outdoor reset, and intelligent learning algorithms, they are the most advanced controls on the market, suitable for any building and any boiler configuration.

Control Features include:

• Integrated Platinum Series hydronic controls are chosen to efficiently meet specific building heating needs by expert HVAC installers.
• Solutions for condensing, non-condensing, and hybrid boiler applications
• Boiler sequencing and modulation – operates boilers at their peak efficiencies.
• Water meter surveillance.
• Typical systems have day/night programming with definable peak load and light load intervals.
• Heat-Timer solutions can integrate pumps, motorized valves, dampers and Domestic Hot Water (DHW) controls
• Minimizes cycling thereby saving fuel on new and retrofit boiler applications.
  
  

For more information contact a Heat-Timer Professional today.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/why-heating-control-systems-may-be-your-best-investment-this-winter/

With the US currently leading the world in AI, and spending trillions of dollars through private investment, it was just a matter of time before AI found its way into the  Building and Energy Management systems responsible for HVAC control.

That’s also because In the Internet of Things (IOT), the things are getting much smarter.

Today’s sensors are smaller, more accurate, measure more things, and consume less power than your grandma’s heating sensors. They’re also wireless, allowing placement in buildings where running complex wiring was a non-starter. Couple sophisticated sensor data with smart control algorithms that can coordinate the actions of dozens of boilers and valves across multiple boiler rooms, buildings and campus’ and you have a system that is crying out for the kind of intelligence only AI technology can bring.

The Justification for AI in Heating Controls

As far as HVAC is concerned, building owners know it is all about the money. How can they reduce their energy usage the maximum amount possible, while still providing acceptable levels of comfort for their tenants?  Times of peak demand are the most expensive times to use energy and they occur when HVAC is needed the most. Some utilities also use a building’s highest peak in energy usage to set rates and apply costly demand fees. The capability to optimize the amount of energy used, the amount spent on energy and energy used during times of peak demands will greatly impact operating costs and hit your bottom line directly.

A Heating Control with 7th Generation AI – Worth its Weight in Platinum

Heat-Timer® has been ahead of the curve on the use of AI in its heating controls for almost a decade. Algorithm’s used in our premier Platinum Series control are currently 7th generation, and have been designed to actually learn the heating characteristics (loss rates, thermal loads, peak periods etc..) of your building. Armed with data through our diverse network of wireless sensors, heating profiles are created that allow us to anticipate usage in parts of your building and drive the operation of your boilers and/or domestic hot water supply accordingly.

Another benefit of the sophisticated AI in the Platinum Controls is that they are more plug & play than many HVAC professionals or building managers expect. When coupled with our motorized valves, these systems can be installed without complex training or hours spent configuring the control. They provide all alarms and parameters to authorized users right on their mobile phones, desktops or laptops, and so control and service calls in the middle of the night are all but eliminated.

The Heat-Timer Platinum Series Controls are at the top of the food chain when it comes to heating controls and AI. For more information please contact a Heat-Timer® representative today.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/the-future-of-heating-controls-is-ai/

As a commercial building owner/operator you know that operating budgets are being pinched at the same time that volatile fuel pricing in the marketplace compound the issue. All this has the effect of squeezing your profit margins. Energy costs quickly get out of control, and it can be difficult to pinpoint what is driving them upwards. Experts at Heat-Timer® have been at work on the bleeding edge of energy cost reduction and energy efficiency for over a century and below we share some perspective and a few simple tips to help monitor and react to rising energy costs.

Energy Cost of Building Heating Systems

The cost of heating in the colder climates of the USA is often the most significant energy expenditure in your building’s portfolio. Therefore, small gains in performance can translate into big financial savings. While much of heating system optimization is in the realm of professional HVAC technicians, there is some low hanging fruit for building operators. Below are a few easy observations in your building and the boiler room that can help keep you on top of problems before they cost you big dollars.

Items to keep track of for the building are:

1. Fuel Consumption – Is your fuel consumption high compared to previous years? A comparison of therms used per heating degree day for each month can highlight when system performance started to suffer and help pinpoint problem areas.
2. Hot / Cold Calls – Are building users reporting hot / cold spots throughout the building? Tracking these, and understanding how these spots reveal issues in the distribution system can make finding issues easier. Cold spots might indicate an air lock somewhere in the system, whereas hot spots might be caused by control valves that have failed open.
3. Heating Equipment Scheduling – Does your heating equipment run at the same schedule / setpoints when the building is unoccupied? Significant savings can be realized with simple set-backs without disruption to building occupants.
   
   

Items to watch for in the boiler room are:

1. Shortcycling – Is your equipment turning on and off frequently? This behavior is an inefficient way to meet load, and puts a strain on equipment, leading to shorter service life.
2. Water leaks – Water leaking from a distribution system is a sure sign of BTUs being paid for and wasted. Tracing back leaks is good for energy savings and for safety in the boiler room.
   
3. Flame condition – The color and shape of the flame in your boiler can highlight issues with your fuel delivery, air delivery, or drafting. Ideally a short well defined blue flame will be present. A red or orange flame, or a long wispy flame, are indicators of inefficient combustion.
4. Stack condition – The color of exhaust coming out of the stack can also highlight combustion issues. Incomplete combustion means you are sending BTUs, and dollars, right out of the stack.
   
   

Energy Management Systems

More and more in 2019, building operators are installing some form of energy management system for their HVAC.  An Energy Management System (EMS) can diagnose and even predict issues throughout the building.. Modern digital control systems can be easily scheduled, and reset back to unoccupied set-points. Short-cycling might not be obvious if you enter a boiler room for only a few minutes a day, but a quick plot of the system status that is available from your heating control system, will show how the unit has performed over time. A more integrated system can provide an output of all valve positions with temperature rises across the coils they serve, which can quickly show which valves are leaking and may need to be replaced.

Heat-Timer® boiler controls are an example of a robust heating control solution that can provide a these useful streams of data. Heat-Timer® controls can operate at a “heating system only” energy management system and can even be integrated to common industry EMS or BMS systems through standardized interfaces. Through a series of remote wireless sensors, and motorized valves, complete multi-room information is available in one place.   Add to that the ability to receive all this information, alarms and settings on your cell phone, iPad, or desktop computer, and you have a completely modern solution to heating control.

Building Operators Trust Heat-Timer®

Heat-Timer® is dedicated to providing the highest quality heating controls on the market. Our team of technical experts can help you choose the right controls package for your building that will optimize heating performance and will reduce energy costs and hot/cold calls to the maximum extent possible. Our controls are the most sophisticated in the market. When you speak to your HVAC contractor about heating automation, ask for Heat-Timer®

Contact us today and speak to a technician or visit our website at https://www.heat-timer.com.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/why-your-buildings-energy-costs-are-so-high-and-what-to-do-about-it/

Building operators are often stretched for time to accommodate daily issues as they arise. Its difficult to plan days or weeks ahead, let alone a whole season. But planning ahead for an upcoming heating season will payback in the end with a smoother transition for your building, and less disruption for occupants.

Commercial boiler maintenance

There are a number of relatively simple items that can be checked out with some simple observations:

1. Check for cracks, holes and other water leaks. Visually inspect for any water or steam leakage locations. Any sign of past leaks should be repaired before winter season rolls around.
2. Recheck for leaks upon startup. Fire up the boiler and look again for any small leaks. Recent cracks might not have left sufficient evidence until the unit is running.
3. Check the pressure gauge. Once at operating temperature check the pressure gauge to verify it is at its design condition. This information can be found in your owner’s manual.
   
4. Check the burner. Inspect the burner and verify that a  consistent flame is being produced. Any flame movement or fluctuations could be caused by clogged injectors.
5. Test safety devices, stroke valves and verify interlocks. All pressure relief valves and control valves should be checked to verify operation. Stroke all valves verify that interlocks are working as intended.
6. Check exhaust pipes. Proper venting of exhaust gasses is critical to building occupant safety. Make sure all exhaust pipes are in good conditions and carbon monoxide sensors are powered and functioning.
   
   

Control System Verification

Depending on what type of control package is included with your boiler system, there are a number of additional items to verify including:

1. Outdoor reset controls – Reset controls are important to have functioning on day one of operation during the heating season when loads are relatively low. Verifying these controls work ahead of time will reduce calls of overheating on that first cool day.
2. Heating plant staging – For multi-boiler systems proper staging is necessary for proper system operation. Verifying that the correct boilers fire as needed is a critical check.
3. Staging or modulating burners – Turn-down can introduce issues if the fuel or airside components have issues tracking each other. Verify that low-load operation is functioning properly before heating season highlights any deficiencies.
   
   

Heat-Timer® boiler controls are an example of a robust solution that can actually cut down on the maintenance headache in a number of ways. First, they provide a useful stream of data and alarms pushed right to a phone or through a BMS/EMS system that can help spot operational issues before they become maintenance emergencies. Secondly, systems that use Heat-Timer® controls, run much more efficiently, extending the useful life of equipment. That’s good news for your maintenance costs long term, not to mention your energy costs short term.

Professional Boiler Maintenance

The checklist above is a solid foundation to make sure a boiler is ready for winter season. If in doubt about any of the procedures or operation of your boiler system, don’t hesitate to reach out for professional assistance by a licensed HVAC technician.

Building Operators Trust Heat-Timer®

Heat-Timer® is dedicated to providing the highest quality heating controls on the market. Our team of technical experts can help you implement the right heating control system that will save you money on heating costs and maintenance.

Contact us today or visit our website at https://www.heat-timer.com.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/getting-a-jump-on-winter-boiler-maintenance/