Condensing boilers are very efficient (up to 98%), but not if you don’t optimize their controls! This was the case with our client’s new office building.
In newly constructed buildings seeking very energy efficient designs, it is commonplace to install condensing boilers. That was the case in this project, a brand new office building constructed to house our customers’ office staff. The customer sought a design that would minimize their energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas emissions and paid a premium to add condensing boilers to their building.
Condensing boilers are water heaters fueled by gas or oil. They achieve high efficiency (typically greater than 90% on the higher heating value) by condensing water vapour in the exhaust gases and so recovering its latent heat of vaporisation, which would otherwise have been wasted. In some cases, the efficiency of condensing boilers can reach as high as 98%, which is far greater than conventional boilers which are typically in the 70%-80% range. CopperTree’s Kaizen platform was used during the commissioning process of the new building and began analyzing all mechanical systems as they were being commissioned.
Kaizen made quick work of analyzing all the data from the heating systems in the building and uncovered a loss in efficiency in the condensing boiler system. The heating water system was operating with an inlet temperature above 131 deg F, outside of its condensing mode range, meaning that it was not achieving the efficiency it was designed to deliver. Some basic control changes were recommended by Kaizen and CopperTree provided the findings to the client for remedial action. These changes, once implemented, greatly increased the heating system’s efficiency, and reduced the loss of energy. This translated into a significant reduction in natural gas used to supply the same amount of heating to the building. Since gas has a relatively high greenhouse gas emission factor, the building now has a much smaller environmental impact than it had previously.
The changes made to the boiler system’s controls translated into a significant reduction in natural gas used to supply the required amount of heating to the building. Since gas has a relatively high greenhouse gas emission factor, the building now has a much smaller environmental impact than it had previously and occupants are as comfortable as ever.
