For hotels, motels, office buildings and other buildings with large hot water demand, domestic hot water systems must deliver water that is always bacteria free, and at the right temperature, even during peak periods. Additionally, increased environmental awareness and sound economics is driving the need for more efficient and durable domestic hot water heating solutions than in the past.

Part of the solution to a better DHW system is certainly the boiler. Traditional direct-fired storage water heaters can have efficiency ratings in the low 60% range as compared to 90% or more for modern condensing boilers. Depending on where they are, these heaters can last less than 5 years due to hard water mineral build-up, adding another burden to our landfill and recycling capabilities.

Creating a Domestic Hot Water System for the 21st Century

It may go without saying but we’ll say it anyway: when designing a commercial DHW system you first want to contact a commercial HVAC professional with good experience. Unlike residential the solution to DHW especially in older buildings, is way beyond the talented handyman. A good HVAC company will provide a design which takes some important principles into account:

Reliability. This is probably the most important consideration for commercial domestic hot water solutions. When the system fails to perform adequately or breaks down repeatedly, the entire building is without hot water and residents/occupants are upset. Reliability is achieved by specifying proven high-quality products and by building redundancy into the design.

Efficiency. Operating cost and efficiency (EFUE) are important and have much to do with the design of the boilers, and the control systems that regulate the hot water mixing valves and other motorized valves that may be part of your system design.

Longevity and serviceability. A well designed system should have a 15–20 year service life. The system design should take into account future service, maintenance and component replacement. Mechanical components should be accessible. Valves should be installed so that pumps and control valves can be replaced without draining down the entire system.

Heat-Timer Solutions for Commercial Domestic Hot Water

When looking at domestic hot water solutions your mixing valve and its associated control and monitoring system should be a key part of your design. No one wants a solution that has people running to the mechanical room with wrench in hand because the guy in 14B has no hot water!

The Heat-Timer® tempering station is rapidly becoming the solution of choice for DHW applications requiring 3 way mixing. It encapsulates an electronic tempering valve under control of dedicated control module. The entire unit is pre-plumbed for professionals. Just connect the hot and cold water to it and plug it in.

The control and valve operate together to quickly restore the desired water temperature, even after large changes in load conditions. The ETS is a great solution for challenging DHW applications being both cost effective, and saving installers a massive amount of time.

For more information on state of the art domestic hot water solutions for your commercial building, contact us or find a Heat-Timer® authorized reseller in your area.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/domestic-hot-water-solutions-for-hotels-and-more/

According to a new report from Pacific Northwest Group, the average commercial building spends over 50% of its energy costs on HVAC. And in the cooler northern areas of the country, most of that is certainly related to heating costs. Depending on the size of your facility, this can be thousands, tens of thousands or even millions of dollars every month.

Despite this there is often reluctance for building managers, apartments, schools and universities to undertake the cost of reworking their heating system to use some form of an Energy Management System. Large institutions budget carefully and well in advance and so the foresight to spend the upfront dollars is often not there. These professionals understand that boiler efficiency is part of cutting energy costs but the question is often “how much will I save”. Depending on your situation, that can be a hard question to answer, and an important one when considering the timeframe for payback on an HVAC system control upgrade or an even more extensive system overhaul.

Thoughts on Heating System Upgrades

As the premier manufacturer of commercial Heating Controls in the United States, we can confidently tell you that the cost of the actual control is not the problem for building managers. Most are happy to spring for the best heating control they can find (Heat Timer Platinum Series). This becomes insurance that you are getting the most savings potential, performance, and control flexibility out of your heating control system investment.

Instead, the issue is often the ancillary costs of a heating system upgrade that get considered along with the control. Depending on the age of your building and mechanical equipment, you may be considering new boilers, new piping, replacing aged radiators, a domestic hot water upgrade, valve replacements etc… Once building managers start down the road of upgrades, everything tends to get looked at and the final bill can be daunting and become a reason to do nothing at all.

But the real cost of Heating Controls, is the cost of doing nothing.  That’s a cost you pay each and every month. It comes right off your bottom line, long after the upfront cost of a system install would have been amortized by your accountants.

A Solution to Managing Up Front Costs

Another thing we can say from experience is that the improvement in energy usage provided by a new Heating Control system is typically both the cheapest, yet most impactful move you can make toward reducing your energy bill. With systems like the Heat-Timer Platinum series, you don’t have to replace everything all at once to see savings. Because our systems are so intelligent and flexible, the system you install today can be easily reconfigured to run at maximum efficiency, for that replacement boiler you buy next year.

Hey, you can buy it with all the money you saved from the installation of the heating control!

For more information on what kinds of savings you can expect from the installation of a Heat-Timer® control, call our team today.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/the-real-cost-of-heating-controls/

A commercial HVAC system in an apartment complex or industrial building can represent some complex and expensive hardware and no matter how well you maintain it, eventually, even the best systems will wear out. So, if you’ve wondering how long the HVAC system for your apartment building, retail center, factory, hotel or other commercial property can be expected to last, here are some insights from the experienced professionals at Heat-Timer.

Factors that Determine the Lifespan of Commercial HVAC Systems 

Generally speaking, a commercial HVAC system will last around 10 years with minimal care, which can be extended to around 15 years if it is properly and proactively maintained. Factors that can impact on this lifespan include:

• The quality of the key components of the system
• Voltage imbalances in the area
• The efficiency of the system’s design
• The quality of the installation of the system
• The use of an advanced control system to maximize boiler efficiency and minimize energy usage.
• The climate where the building is located
• The usage demands on the system
• The regularity of maintenance and the expertise of the technicians involved in maintaining and repairing the system
  
  

Constant monitoring of the building’s HVAC system is key to staying on top of maintenance issues and tracking the system’s performance. As the system ages, repairs will likely become more regular and efficiency will degrade. At some point, the running costs of the system may make it more cost-effective to do a full replacement.

One strategy for older heating systems which can prolong the lifetime of boilers and associated equipment significantly is the introduction of an energy management system. A system like the Heat-Timer platinum series is so flexible that it can be configured to manage the most complex distributed staging boiler systems for the absolute maximum efficiency. It does this through a series of wireless sensors which provide 24/7 input to the control. It provides “outdoor reset” so that you don’t send heat where it isn’t needed on warm days. This heating control system not only helps manage boiler cycle times, but sophisticated algorithms monitor the sensor input to predict maintenance needs and upcoming repairs in a way that is far more efficient, cost effective, and timely than having a technician poke around the system every month. Information is then reported remotely through a mobile app or website, so that much of the heating system oversight can occur without visits to the mechanical room.

Preventative maintenance and partnering with a skilled commercial HVAC contractor is another key to ensuring the longest and most cost-efficient running of your system, so be sure to find a service provider skilled in commercial heating systems.

For more information on a Heat-Timer authorized Commercial HVAC contractor near you, call or visit our website at https://heat-timer.com

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/extending-the-lifespan-of-commercial-hvac-systems/

For maximum flexibility in the implementation of heating controls in both old and new buildings, wireless sensor technology has become the key. This technology makes for ease of installation and ensures your heating control can monitor all elements of your system so it has all the information it needs to run your boilers most efficiently.

A ready example is the Heat-Timer Wireless Network Sensor System for our platinum series controls. These wireless sensors can be mounted virtually anywhere. By adding new Transceivers/Routers to the wireless network, the system can get temperature, pressure and other data from areas that are otherwise difficult to reach. A major advantage of the Heat-Timer Wireless Network Sensor System is its Transceiver /Router capability to communicate and exchange data with other Transceivers/Routers on the same network, breaking many wireless barriers that existed in other systems. The entire system runs at 900MHZ for improved performance and range.

An Example of our Platinum Control with Wireless Sensors in Action

Using the flexibility of our wireless space sensors not only helps with installation but allows them to serve as excellent debugging tools in old buildings with complicated steam or hot water distribution systems.

One of our HVAC Partners reported a situation where apartments in the North and Southeast of a building were reporting vastly different temperatures. By using our Space Sensors to do some sleuthing in conjunction with the Heat-Timer® ICMS, the team found the old building to have an odd distribution system. This system was causing some apartments to be fed steam from two different sources. The situation was exacerbated by the southern exposure causing 86 degree temperatures in some spaces while certain spaces on the northern side of the building never reached a comfortable temperature.

By using the remote monitoring features of our Platinum Multi-Mod Control, the mechanical team was able to slowly move space sensors all over the building to tweak the Heat Timer control using our SRC control, and the many fine tuning features built into our control software and ICMS. Only Heat-Timer Controls provide this kind of detailed parameter control and monitoring over so many elements of your heating system, making them the only real solution to complex distribution in older buildings.

The World is Wireless, Your Heating Control Sensors should be too.

Call Heat-Timer® today to discuss how our wireless sensors and control systems can propel you into being a greener, more profitable building.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/the-word-on-wireless-sensors/