As technology in the heating industry marches forward, the complexity and options within commercial heating designs presents an interesting paradox. The systems are getting both simpler, and more complex at the same time.

How is this possible you may ask?

Plug & Play Boiler Control

For certain smaller commercial applications, steam boilers now boast features like integrated lead/lag capability, up to 95% thermal efficiency, integrated outdoor reset, pretty touchscreen displays, data logging and more plug and play connections. Boiler manufacturers are doing their best to get on the bandwagon with all things digital and most have cobbled together rudimentary control systems into their boilers that allow them to achieve better efficiency and easier installation for professionals.

Still, most commercial HVAC contractors prefer a dedicated control system for anything but the most simple boiler configurations. Systems like these take energy management to a whole other level. Modern heating control systems like the Heat Timer platinum series have evolved to provide easier building integration, simpler user interfaces all controlled through a mobile app or our dedicated website, with wireless sensor integration that even removes the “plug” from plug & play.

Boiler Control Complexity Can Also Be Your Friend

Perhaps somewhat counter intuitive is that the ability to have complex detailed control, is not necessary the enemy of simplicity. It’s all about how you design it.  It’s possible to have both efficient plug & play operation that gets you 80% of the way there, and the ability to tweak our heating control to achieve a level of energy efficiency that is still unparalleled in the industry.

In this way, Heat-Timer® Platinum series controls give the HVAC professional an edge over all other commercial heating controls. Consider the following advanced features of the Heat-Timer® MPC Platinum control, designed to operate a steam boiler and/or steam valve to provide steam outdoor reset in a single-pipe or two-pipe steam heating system.

Wireless Remote Space Sensor Integration – With this capability, HVAC professionals working with building managers can debug the most complex heating distribution problems in their building. A well trained HVAC tech can intelligently move around the space sensors while looking at detailed heating, temperature, and energy usage curves to determine how to construct a perfectly efficient and comfortable heating curve for the problem area and the building at large. Like anything, the more you use our control, the easier this becomes. And once most HVAC Pro’s see what is possible with Heat-Timer® controls, they seldom use anything else.

Just some of other the wireless sensors integrated into the Heat Timer system include:

1. Boiler Stack Temperature Sensor:
2. Oil Tank Level:
3. Domestic Hot Water and other Temperature Sensors:
4. Flame Failure and other Switch Sensors:
5. Water Counter (Boiler Feed Meter):
6. Smoke Alarm Sensor:
7. Sump Pump Float Sensor:
   
   

The Heat-Timer® is also the only control on the market that “learns” the characteristics of your building, continuously anticipating demand and reducing your energy bill as time goes on.

With over 80 years of experience building heating controls, it’s no surprise that Heat-Timer® leads the heating controls industry in features, simplicity, yet comprehensiveness of our control.

For more information, contact a Heat-Timer® professional today.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/commercial-hvac-professionals-need-to-pick-a-go-to-control-system/

In college campus’ or apartment complexes, multiple boilers, multiple boiler rooms and multiple buildings present a real challenge for a complex manager. The tactics employed to keep energy usage at a comfortable minimum are complex and every campus is different, but here are a few of the common issues and solutions faced by these large, distributed, and often older buildings.

Thermal Shock

Thermal shock occurs when water cools down significantly during off times, shocking the boilers with cold water when the system pumps come back on line. Not only does this issue damage the boilers, it can also run the maintenance staff ragged as they fly around the building at all hours of the day and night manually adjusting valves.

Heat-Timer® products helped resolve these problems by providing motorized valves and Hot Water Reset (HWR) controls in each of the boiler plants. The Platinum Series HWR control helped resolve the boiler problems by operating the system based on outdoor air temperature, as opposed to an indoor thermostat reading. This greatly reduced the excessive on/off action of the pumps and saved our client so much in fuel and boiler maintenance that the controls paid for themselves through energy and maintenance savings, in the first months of usage.

Internet and Mobile Alerts and Control

While many campus’ are running some kind of remote connection capability, in some cases a master control room visit is still necessary to visually access information on all boiler rooms and buildings. The state of the art at Heat-Timer® in 2019 has moved way beyond this. Our Building-Net system integrates sensor, valve and boiler control, then provides complete visibility to you through our user friendly mobile app, the internet, or your iPad. Our system provides you instant wireless control of temperature settings while sensor data, diagnostics and alerts can be sent, viewed and changed in real-time.

With Heat-Timer® sophisticated self-learning controls, diagnostic routines run constantly and detect issues before they cause damage, reporting conveniently to you on your mobile device. Furthermore our newest systems allow real time access to up to 13 months of historical data, reports can be selected or customized, and emailed to you at a convenient frequency.

Heat-Timer® Controls are the Right Partner for HVAC Professionals.

If you’re going to spend the time to install and learn a commercial heating control that will address the maximum number and type of commercial jobs, you will never go wrong with Heat-Timer®. From motorized valves, to Steam and Hot Water Heating controls, and Domestic Hot Water Boiler Control solutions, we have the controls to support your best work.

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/solving-the-unique-problems-of-large-distributed-heating-systems/

The skyrocketing cost of energy, coupled with advanced developments in heating and cooling technology, means that being “green” may refer to the color of money, as much as the environment. The government is involved too, setting and updating energy efficiency standards at both the state and federal level. All these changes conspire to create an ecosystem in 2020 that is more fuel efficient, uses more renewable energy sources, and increases comfort while decreasing energy use overall.

Trend 1 – Smarter Heating System Designs

As more and more older buildings are faced with increasingly challenging comfort and energy usage issues using their aging boilers, they will continue to replace these with newer, high efficiency systems. These new system designs will almost universally include some kind of advanced building energy management system that acts like the conductor of the boiler orchestra. Additionally, using control technology with features like outdoor reset, will insure that these new mechanical rooms provide maximum comfort for minimum cost.

Trend 2 – The Internet of Even More Things

Wireless connectivity will continue to penetrate more of the devices we formerly loved to wire. In the heating world that means that things like room sensors will integrate into old buildings more easily, and they will provide more data than ever before, allowing more sophisticated, predictive algorithms to be developed for heating and hot water control.

Trend 3 – Remote Monitoring

In 2020, modern mechanical rooms will make midnight site visits to turn valves or investigate leaks, a distant memory. Pioneered by Heat-Timer® almost 10 years ago, modern heating control systems like the Heat-Timer Platinum series send alerts and notifications directly to your cell phone through an app designed for this purpose. You can view your boiler operation and energy usage in real-time and all parameters can be adjusted reliably from the comfort of your couch. The apps and intelligence of these wireless systems will only continue to get better in 2020.

Trend 4 – Integrated Building Management Systems

More and more buildings are looking at comprehensive solutions for monitoring and control for everything from your HVAC system, to the lights, sprinklers, and alarm systems. Heat-Timer® foresaw this continuing trend many years ago and created Building NET, and internet communications backbone that allows remote operation of our system. In many installations our system is integrated into a complete building management system using this sophisticated interface allowing our Platinum series control to apply its best-in-class heating management but still allowing the building manager to use a higher level, fully integrated BMS.

The Future for Heating Controls Looks Hot

For commercial building managers, for buildings new or old, your first step into the future really is the application of a wireless, self learning, outdoor reset based control like the Heat-Timer Platinum series.

Call our team today to see what control is right for your application.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/top-4-green-trends-for-commercial-heating-systems-in-2020/

Owners of older apartment buildings and complexes sing a common lament: “there’s only so much I can do in my old building, I can’t afford to rip the walls down to install new heating or distribution components, no matter how efficient they make things.”

The thing is, that’s yesterday’s news.

Modern heating controls can certainly run your high efficiency replacement boilers better, and more efficiently. But in 2019 the controls, room sensors, and valves can all be deployed and controlled wirelessly, putting a high efficiency, lower energy consuming building into your future too.

Consider the following example of how a Heat-Timer® Platinum series control system, in the hands of a skilled commercial HVAC crew, can make your old building a deeper shade of green.

Problem Statement

Common to older apartment buildings like the Executive house in Albany NY, are problems associated with manual control of one or more boilers and even many different mechanical rooms. Hot spots, windows open all winter, chemical treatments, etc… substantial, but common problems in a building without proper boiler management.

A Heat-Timer® Solution to Heating Problems in Old Buildings

Our Commercial HVAC Contractor had long experience with the installation of our controls in old buildings. He immediately knew that an updated Multi-Mod Platinum Series control system, replacement of aged out steam valves, and the incorporation of outdoor reset would be necessary to achieve the maximum fuel savings that would make the property manager a hero.

With these controls the solution at Executive house got better quickly. The Multi-MOD provided much needed boiler control by modulating multiple boilers using PID-type logic. This energy efficient control strategy incorporates rate of change into modulating decisions.  The PID logic analyzes how quickly the current boiler load is affecting the system and the control reacts accordingly. As soon as the control recognizes that the system temperature is approaching set point, it begins to back off the boiler, gradually coasting toward set point. This minimizes energy usage while avoiding overshoots and short-cycling issues.

While life got quickly better for 90% of the tenants at Executive House, there were still hot and cold spots in the building. But because the system selected used Heat Timer’s ICMS (Internet Communications Management System) the team was able to dynamically move space sensors around the building to diagnose that a bizarre  steam distribution system had been feeding certain apartments from two entirely different sources. By monitoring and tweaking the many parameters designed into the Heat-Timer control, the team was able to beat the odd distribution system into submission. With the use of SRC and the fine tuning capabilities exposed by the ICMS, 100% of tenants are comfortable at all times of the day or night. Not to mention the reduction in energy expenses that paid for the entire upgrade in short order.

Conclusion

Now, building managers can receive alerts, tweak efficiency, and diagnose issues from couch, with one hand on the cell phone, and the other deep into a bag of potato chips. The heat timer ICMS and wireless space sensors make it all possible, even for your old building. For more information, Contact the team at Heat-Timer® today.

Original content posted on https://www.heat-timer.com/your-building-is-not-too-old-for-new-technology/