Heat Timer Corporation

Boiler Control Systems – Why they matter even for Small Buildings. The cost of energy to run large heating systems like those found in office buildings, schools, apartment complexes, government buildings, and industrial buildings can constitute some of the highest expenses in your P&L statement, coming right off your bottom line. For building managers, it’s a never-ending balance between keeping your residents or work area’s comfortable, without paying too much for energy.  As such it has become essential that building operations managers implement technology and systems that reduce these costs without compromising on comfort.  With utility bills running into the tens of thousands of dollars a month, even a fairly small percentage decrease in heating costs can quickly pay for the cost of installation of a modern boiler control system. But what about the manager of smaller, say 20-unit garden apartment, with a single boiler in the boiler room? Will the hassle and expens...

In the 1920’s, there is no doubt that steam heating was king in apartment buildings and high rises throughout New York and other parts of the country. The boilers were all fired by coal which was abundant, and cheap, if not a dirty and back-breaking affair when it came to shoveling it into the boiler or cleaning out the ashes. But in the 1930’s the cost of coal soared and the switch to oil heating was on. Oil was cheaper, cleaner to deal with (relatively speaking), no damper regulator was required to control the fire, and it worked with this amazing thing called a thermostat, that controlled the firing of the boiler automatically! Magic! The problem was that in all those buildings designed with vent-work for coal heated systems, oil (and gas) heating behave differently. Coal burns for hours and hours, creating a slight pressure that is constant. With this near-constant pressure, steam was always pushing at the air, nudging it from the main vents and the radiator vents. The only tim...

Everyone has purchased something with an irresistible mail in rebate.  Sometimes that product is even free after the rebate. Yet, the Wall Street Journal has estimated that about 40% of mail-in rebates are not redeemed. Many sources say that the number is well over 50%.  According to the research done by the Wall Street Journal and others, many people forget to mail it in within 30 days of their purchase. Or, they lose the receipt. Others actually receive the rebate check and forget to cash it. These customers are literally leaving money on their kitchen table. Do not leave money on the table when it comes to upgrading your heating system this summer. Both Consolidated Edison and National Grid are offering rebates to their gas customers who upgrade their boiler controls for their multi-family or commercial building. These utility rebates will pay property owners to purchase an energy saving internet boiler controller with apartment sensors.   Adding an internet boi...

  In many organizations, it’s common practice for IT to standardize equipment. It might seem that this policy only benefits IT, but everyone in the organization wins. By doing this, technicians only need to learn to configure and troubleshoot one type of system, over time familiarizing themselves and improving service. When there is only one supplier, it reduces compatibility problems that leave two suppliers pointing fingers at each other, while the technician and users are left without a solution. Similarly, large manufacturers will specify the same brand of equipment in all factories worldwide. A technician can walk into a factory in Shanghai, Tennessee or Germany and know how to operate and repair the equipment. Cost savings discovered in one plant can immediately be used in the other plants, maximizing efficiency worldwide. Most building managers don’t have properties located all over the world, but wouldn’t it make life easier if an HVAC professional could walk into any b...

  Provocative article title isn’t it? Perhaps, but let us reassure you that it is based on a set of data that is 100% factual, and almost 100% misunderstood or misrepresented. If your building has a boiler system more than 10 to 15 years old, then you are probably looking at investments in newer boiler designs now, or in the near future. These new boiler designs will probably carry a number of new features that make them more energy efficient, more maintenance free, and provide more stable temperatures throughout your building. One of the ways new boilers achieve this, is by the introduction of boiler control features like outdoor reset, built directly into the boiler (on board control).  As the USA’s largest and longest manufacturer of heating controls, it turns out that we know something about this.  Indeed if outdoor reset features are designed into the boiler correctly, this can help the boiler make more intelligent firing decisions based on the outdoor temperatur...

  Heating season is beginning in many parts of the country, so building managers and HVAC professionals are out in the field getting boilers ready for use.  The first few weeks of heating season can be hectic, as dormant boilers are lit and unexpected startup problems pop up all over.  HVAC professionals must be able to see when a start-up problem occurs in a building so that they can get on site and fix it quickly, then be able to move on to the next issue.  Professionals rely on remote boiler management software to keep them informed.  BuildingNet® by Heat-Timer®  does not let them down. Why is BuildingNet® a better boiler management software interface?  To a user, the connection between a  Heat-Timer® Platinum series controller  and the BuildingNet® web-based or mobile application is just part of the “cloud” that few people think much http://platinumout.  The engineers at BuildingNet®, on the other hand, think about it all the tim...

  As HVAC professionals begin getting their sleepy boilers ready for the upcoming heating season, they know that the first few weeks of heating season can be hectic, as dormant boilers are lit and unexpected startup problems pop up all over. It’s typically a time with some long days and a steady stream of calls from residents and building operators. Professionals who’ve been doing this for a while, know that even if a boiler has been professionally inspected and serviced during the summer months, idle heating systems are still susceptible to both sediment and corrosion. Sediment settles out of the cold motionless water and compacts in pumps and valves, and of course as Mr. Young famously said, “rust never sleeps.” The physics of heating system inactivity conspires to create a rich set of winter startup problems for commercial heating professionals. As a premiere manufacturer of advanced heating control systems, the experts at Heat-Timer® have seen their share of these startup p...

  Many years ago Heat-Timer® introduced smart, boiler controls that dramatically improved boiler efficiency and service monitoring. For the first time, Heat-Timer® provided building managers and service technicians with  digital control  that intelligently managed boiler cycling and reported and controlled all heating parameters from one place. It was a big leap forward from watching gauges and turning valves and saved building owners thousands of dollars every month in energy costs and maintenance calls. The internet allowed us to evolve even further, making remote boiler control possible through our web-based portal. With this evolution, the remote operation was possible from any device with an internet browser. However, most users were still tied to their laptops, either in the office, balanced on the seat in the truck or at home. An alarm email/text late at night means booting up the computer and logging into a website to find out what is going on in the building. ...

The complexity of modern distributed heating systems for apartment complexes, schools, hotels, and campus’ require careful planning and implementation by commercial HVAC experts . At stake are tens of thousands of dollars of monthly energy costs that would otherwise go directly to your bottom line. Certified Heat-Timer® HVAC Contractors are not only heating system experts, but are partnered with the world’s leading solutions for modern heating controls. The combination creates an automated, optimized solution that leaves no money on the table. Key Elements of Cost Optimization in Commercial Boiler Systems Whether your building and its heating system is old or new, sending BTU’s up the stack is like burning hundred dollar bills at a campfire. Yet there are many ways this can happen in your boiler configuration and the analysis as to root cause, requires deep knowledge and experience with the many variations of boiler systems out there. Here’s just a few ways that a he...