how do apartment building boilers work

A significant percentage of the remaining 65 percent lives in apartment buildings. I've worked on those FST boilers. Sign up for email newsletters, alerts, and digital e-news to stay informed about what's happening in the co-op/condo community. This means that whether you're a board member responsible for helping to keep your boiler maintained and well-fueled, or simply a resident who needs to know in general how things work in order to keep a board on its toes, everyone needs a basic understanding of how the system — known as a building's "heating plant" — works. You could cremate someone in there and no one would know.

A. Fresh water being fed all the time will drastically shorten the life of a boiler. In addition, iron boilers usually have a lifespan of less than 25 years (as opposed to 30 for steel Scotch-marine) and are typically limited to smaller buildings because of their limited power generation (175 horsepower, compared to up to 700 HP). The drainage pipes always aim downward to let wastewater flow through. With that said, there are a few things you can do to optimize heating and cooling systems (and tenant comfort) in older apartment buildings.

But how does plumbing work in those buildings? Knowing how plumbing works will help you understand the problems you run into. Water in the boiler is heated by the tubes, producing steam, which is piped throughout the building to heating units such as radiators or baseboards in individual apartments.

Traps seal the drainage system so nothing can move back up once it drains away. In this article, we'll cover the basics.

They transport the wastewater to the proper vertical stack. The drain-waste-vent (DWV) system carries wastewater out of each unit in the apartment building. Ideally, rather than one large boiler (even if equipped with a separate hot water heater for use during warm-weather months), it's recommended to have instead two slightly smaller boilers (say, 75 percent capacity each). One-pipe: Wastewater and solid waste move through a single drainage system. The building's domestic (potable) hot water runs on a separate line from the water used for heating. Oct. 7, 2011 — Few co-op/ condo issues generate as much concern as a building's ability to produce sufficient heat and hot water. Since all these pipes stay hidden in the walls, most people don’t think about them until they run into a problem. Don't have his number handy. Your staying with gas/#2 oil? To know when to call a professional — and which one — it’s helpful to learn some basics about apartment plumbing. The wastewater system doesn’t need pressure, since wastewater moves down and out of the building.
These include waste stacks, soil stacks and drainage stacks.

and air-release valves that together distribute heat through a building. The systems also use a meter to measure water usage. The boiler has a coil which provides domestic hot water and therefore runs all year round.

Vertical stacks move from the building’s ground floor or basement to the roof. Are you on your co-op/condo board? We have been welding plates in there for a while, and now we need to replace one tube sheet and its tubes.

The NYC steam companies I use just want to replace what was there with the same. Finally, these systems also need control valves for each unit. Got elected? These pumps add to the system’s existing pressure. Maybe it’s because boiler technology has been around for so long and used for many different things in various ways over time (like powering locomotive steam engines! Return lines are all repaired now but the damage has been done.

A lot less to troubleshoot on Weil McLain low hi low fire compared to full modulating board. Engage, enrage, ask questions and give answers with your community of board members. Hours of Operation: Mon-Fri 7:00am-5:00pm, During regular business hours, Mon-Fri, 7am-5pm. About ten years later that big bad heating boiler died. © 2020 The Carol Group, Ltd. All rights reserved.

However, it still takes an experienced professional to fix them. On contract work the 30-gallon boiler is much used, but 40 gallons is a better size for apartment buildings having individual range boilers.
Seemed that 24/7 on boiler (steel fire tube) lasted forever. Iron boilers are much heavier and more difficult and expensive to replace. I remember a 28 suite building with HHW that used heating boiler for DHW. While it's less expensive to install one large boiler equipped with an integral coil for hot-water production, this setup leaves the building vulnerable to a complete loss of heat and hot water if the boiler breaks down. One of the main challenges in a multi-story apartment system is to get enough pressure for the water to reach each unit. Submit your questions and comments here! DL Mechanical LLC Heating, Cooling and Plumbing 732-266-5386. And now, you will. It will rust just like a coal stoker boiler or furnace. Apartment buildings are categorized as either multi-story dwellings or multiple dwellings.

The pipes of your central heating system circulate hot water, steam, and air through your building … Its almost 30 years old and has been leaking.

Sounds like the system has been losing a lot of water. It looks like you're new here.

Co-op and condo board business broken down into bite-sized bits - 2 stories each week. Most apartment buildings each use a steam-heat system consisting of: fuel, whether it's oil stored in an oil tank or natural gas that comes through a pipe called a gas train that runs from the utility's gas main (the line coming into the building); a burner, which  turns fuel into heat; a boiler, in which water is heated; and a heat-distribution system, which is the collective name for the risers, branch lines, heating units (radiators, baseboard heaters, etc.) Learn all the basics of NYC co-op and condo management, with straight talk from heavy hitters in the field of co-op or condo apartments, Professionals in some of the key fields of co-op and condo board governance and building management answer common questions in their areas of expertise. Q. The building has 90 apartments totaling approximately 103,000 sf, has a FST-200 boiler with an ICI DEG-84 burner (Heat Input: 8.2 Million BTU/Hr.) Your staying with gas/#2 oil?yes you could certainly install say (2) 100hp boilers which would be capable of 4,200mbh each (your existing boiler is 200hp) HB Smith 28HE is what I would use Weil McLain has a similar boiler.

Off line boilers can be isolated. Can anyone recommend a good steam-qualified mechanical engineer in the NYC area?

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