If you own an apartment complex equipped with a boiler system that provides your tenants heat in the winter and were unhappy with your heating bills last winter then then you may be thinking of investing in a new energy efficient boiler system that comes with a high price tag. However, you may not realize that there are many steps you can take to increase the energy efficiency of your current boiler system to help you avoid making a large investment that you may not yet need to make.
Read on to learn three tips for increasing the energy efficiency of your current apartment complex boiler system.
1. Have Your Boiler System Inspected Annually
HVAC professionals recommend that all apartment building owners have their boiler systems inspected and cleaned at least once a year. If your steel boiler system is nearing the end of its estimated 20-year lifespan, then it may need cleaned more frequently.
During this inspection, your HVAC professional will not only check to ensure that your boiler system is operating at peak efficiency, but also ensure that it is still in safe working order.
The HVAC professional will inspect your boiler, burners, controls, and chimney flues for problems that can greatly reduce the energy efficiency of your boiler. Common boiler problems include limescale buildup on wet components; thermostat problems that not only make your residents uncomfortably hot, but also increase your energy bills; and chimney blockages.
2. Have Soot Cleaned From Your Boiler Tubes Regularly
When you have your boiler system inspected, ask the HVAC professional to clean your boiler tubes. Soot accumulates in these tubes as boiler gasses pass through them. This buildup of soot in your boiler tubes makes your burners have to fire on more often, which can greatly increase the fuel usage of your boiler. This wasted fuel can cause your energy bills to skyrocket unnecessarily in the winter.
After this soot is cleaned out of your tubes, you may be able to look forward to your energy bills plummeting this winter.
3. Consider Investing in More Energy-Efficient Burners
You may not realize that you don't have to replace your entire boiler system to reap the energy-efficient benefits of today's boiler technology. Simply replacing your boiler's old burners with newer, more energy-efficient ones can lead to drastic energy savings.
Signs that new burners will make your boiler system more energy efficient include current burners that cycle on and off very frequently. Changes to burner size can also affect the energy-efficiency of your boiler system if the current burners are too large for your system.
If your apartment complex heating bill has been taking a toll on your budget, then follow these three tips to increase the energy efficiency of your current boiler system before you invest in a new system that you may not need yet. Contact a service, like Schweitzer Roger & Sons, for more help.
