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Boiler (https://www.rasmech.com/blog/category/boiler/)

15 WAYS TO INCREASE BOILER

EFFICIENCY
July 30, 2020
Tim Seberger

()
One of the easiest ways for a business to reduce operating expenses is to increase boiler
efficiency. A great place to start lowering your bills (https://www.rasmech.com/blog/boiler-
maintenance-service-saving-building-expenses/) is to look at how recently you performed
boiler maintenance (https://www.rasmech.com/everything-boiler-maintenance/) and how
efficient you boiler is.
Before we get to our efficiency tips, we need to understand boiler efficiency.  The majority of
heat lost in your boiler is in the stack or boiler water. The goal is to create conditions that
generate the smallest possible amount of flue gas at the lowest possible temperature. This
results in increased boiler efficiency.
Think about it; the boiler draws in cool air, heats it up, and sends it out the stack.  A lower
stack gas temperature is ideal because the higher the temperature, the more energy leaves
with the flue gas.  On the other hand, the boiler system takes in cold water, heats it to steam,
and uses the heat.  Anywhere we are losing heat, steam, condensate or hot water, we are
losing valuable BTU’s.
Whether you rent (https://www.rasmech.com/blog/rent-a-boiler/) or own a boiler, you need to
save money. Here are 15 easy tips to help make your boiler system more efficient and save
money on your monthly bills:

(https://www.rasmech.com/resource/boiler-maintenance-checklist-log/)

1. INCREASE BOILER EFFICIENCY:

LOWER THE STACK TEMPERATURE
Lowering stack temperatures may be as simple as a day/night set back
(https://www.rasmech.com/services/industrial-burner-services/). This lowers the operating
pressure for steam boilers and the operating temperature for hydronic boilers when idling at
night or mild days.
2. INSTALL AN ECONOMIZER
An economizer uses the wasted hot flue gas to heat feed water on its way to the boiler.  If
your steam boiler doesn’t have an economizer or your economizer isn’t working, this should
be the first priority. Economizers save fuel and prevent damaging effects of feeding the boiler
with cold water. For serious savings, see if a Heatmizer® (https://www.heatmizer.com/) is
right for your boiler or domestic hot water application.

3. TUNE THE BURNER REGULARLY

(https://ctt.ac/Y4y2C)Another common issue occurs

when it comes to boiler efficiency is not getting the right amount of air. For proper
combustion of fuel inside the boiler, a certain amount of oxygen is required. If too little air is
present, the carbon in the fuel will be oxidized, making carbon monoxide. This causes less
heat to release because the fuel isn’t completely burned, which lowers fuel use efficiency.
Low air generates soot, smoke and carbon monoxide, all of which are very dangerous. Too
much air also reduces efficiency.  The extra air comes in cold and sent out the stack hot,
wasting heat.

An optimal process provides just enough air for the fuel to burn safely. To achieve this, we
measure the amount of air needed with an O2 probe. We insert the probe into the stack while
we tune the burner for optimum boiler efficiency. However, in some facilities, the temperature
of the air drawn into the burner varies with the seasons. This requires the tuning of the
burner more frequently for maximum savings.
4. INSTALL A VARIABLE FREQUENCY
DRIVE
Not many burner fans or pumps exist out there today without VFD’s. However, if you haven’t
heard of VFD’s or have a system that doesn’t utilize them, take note. The unbelievable power
savings come from a concept known as the affinity laws for pumps and fans
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affinity_laws). If your system has a fan or circulation pump
controlled by a damper or valve, your system is wasting electricity at partial loads. A VFD lets
your system control flow with fan or pump speed instead, and that’s where the magic
happens.

5. INCREASE BOILER EFFICIENCY:

INSULATE YOUR VALVES
Many plants remove the insulation on valves in the boiler room for maintenance and never put
it back because it is a hassle. However, exposing these large valves to the air causes a lot of
heat loss (https://www.energy.gov/sites/prod/files/2014/05/f16/steam17_valves_fittings.pdf)
and can make the boiler room unbearably HOT. Insulating these valves with a Heatmizer®
(https://www.heatmizer.com/) Removable Blanket can save significantly, improve boiler room
comfort. The blankets also reduce the risk of burns while still allowing easy access for
maintenance.

6. CLEAN THE FIRESIDE

Over time, soot may build up on the fireside of the boiler tubes, especially with older
equipment.  This layer of soot acts as an insulator, bringing down the heat transfer rate and
increasing fuel use. Because of the lower heat transfer rate, the hot gases pass through
without transferring the heat to the water, increasing your stack temperature. Cleaning and
inspecting your boiler tubes as part of your regular boiler maintenance
(https://www.rasmech.com/blog/reasons-service-boiler-annually/) ensures that the soot
remains minimal. This does improve the overall boiler efficiency.

TWEET THIS:
 Check out the 15 ways you can increase your boiler's efficiency:
(https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?
url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2zZmpHO&text=Check%20out%20the%

15%20ways%20you%20can%20increase%20your%20boiler%27s%20efficiency%3A&v

7. PREHEAT COMBUSTION AIR

The burner has to heat incoming combustion air with the flame. If the air introduced to the
burner is warmer, it requires less fuel to make the same amount of steam in the boiler. A
modest 40 °F increase in fresh air temperature can save 1% of the fuel bill. If you run large
boilers around the clock, this can really add up even with our historically low gas prices. In
some cases, an air preheater can pay for itself in under a year.

8. CLEAN THE WATER SIDE

(HTTPS://WWW.RASMECH.COM/BLOG/BO
FEEDWATER-QUALITY-AFFECT-BOILER-
OPERATIONS/)
Keeping the waterside of your boiler clean and free of leaks requires diligent water treatment.
Inspect your boiler (https://www.rasmech.com/services/hvac-services/)‘s waterside regularly.
Clean out any mud legs or mud drums to ensure good heat transfer from the metal to the
water.  Scale will accumulate on heat transfer surfaces because of high water hardness,
improper chemicals, and not blowing down the boiler regularly. This scale will impede the
heat transfer, reducing your boiler efficiency. The scale will also keep the water from cooling
these heat transfer surfaces. If left untreated, the scale can cause the boiler to overheat,
leading to costly boiler repairs (https://www.rasmech.com/services/boiler-repair/) and leaks.
 9. RETURN CONDENSATE TO THE
BOILER
(HTTPS://WWW.ENERGY.GOV/SITES/PROD
Condensate forms as the steam transfers its heat and condenses. It is irresponsible to waste
this by product. The clean water is without dissolved solids or gasses that are ready for use
again in your boiler. The water is already hot and therefore requires significantly less fuel to
make it into steam again. Reusing the condensate also reduces how much cold makeup
water, chemicals, and treatment is required for your boiler. Lastly rerouting condensate back
into the feed water system can reduce wastewater treatment and sewer costs.
For an even larger boiler efficiency increase, consider a high-pressure condensate return
system on your largest steam users. This keeps your condensate at a higher pressure. The
condensate does not flash, so you return more water at a significantly higher temperature
directly to your boiler.  Contact Mechanical Construction Services
(https://www.rasmech.com/services/mechanical-construction/) to see if this is right for your
process.

TWEET THIS:

Looking to increase your boiler's efficiency? Check out these

tips: (https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?
url=http%3A%2F%2Fbit.ly%2F2zZmpHO&text=%20Looking%20to%20

se%20your%20boiler%27s%20efficiency%3F%20Check%20out%20these%20tips%3A
10. RECOVER HEAT FROM BOILER
BLOWDOWN
(HTTPS://WWW.RASMECH.COM/BLOG/BO
BLOWDOWN-EVERYTHING-YOU-NEED-
TO-KNOW/)
Much like the return of condensate to the boiler, recovering the heat from the boiler
blowdown (https://www.rasmech.com/blog/boiler-blowdown-everything-you-need-to-
know/) can increase boiler efficiency. The blowdown valve is used to remove boiler water
which contains soluble and insoluble solids. It helps reduce the level of dissolved solids in the
boiler water to prevent the boiler scale. Unfortunately, when it removes hot water, it also
wastes energy. Installing a blowdown heat exchanger, flash tank or combination of the two
can help recover some of this energy for your boiler system. Using heat recovery to cool down
the blowdown and heat up your make-up water will improve energy efficiency.

11. CONTROL BLOWDOWN RATE

Blowdown removes impurities, like water hardness, from the boiler and is required to keep
the boiler surfaces clean. However, blowdown also removes heat from the system.  Water
enters the system cold, is heated up to the boiler temperature, and leaves through the
blowdown. Some boiler systems have continuous blowdown that does not change with boiler
load. To control the heat sent down the drain, blowdown should be limited only to the amount
necessary to control the dissolved solids. For serious savings, control dissolved solids with an
automatic blowdown valve (https://www.rasmech.com/blog/boiler-blowdown-everything-
you-need-to-know/). If you blow down the boiler when it regularly, you can save a lot of
energy. This also reduces risking damage to your boiler from the scale.

12. REDUCE EXCESS AIR

Boilers require excess air in order to complete combustion. Although necessary, the amount
of excess air can result in totally different efficiencies for your boiler. Too little excess air and
the boiler will build up soot and dangerous carbon monoxide, while too much excess air
reduces efficiency. Fortunately, there are automatic combustion control systems that can
intelligently monitor required air quantities for your combustion systems. As discussed above,
tuning can keep your burner running at its best, but it is limited to the best your old burner
can offer.

(https://ctt.ac/VSrdv)
Upgrading to a high-efficiency burner will save a significant amount of fuel and pay for itself
many times over.  If your burner is more than 15 years old, uses linkages, or runs above 3%
O2, ask us about a burner retrofit (https://www.rasmech.com/projects/wireco/). In most cases,
a burner upgrade can save over 20% on your gas bill!

13. REDUCE CARRY-OVER

Carry-over is boiler water that leaves the boiler in the steam but is still water.  It carries
impurities such as dissolved solids with it. These impurities leave deposits around the steam
system. They get caught inside intricate devices like control valves and pressure regulators.
This causes a lot of damage and increased maintenance.
As for efficiency, this moisture reduces the BTU content of the steam at the end-use.
Essentially, this is more water that was heated in the boiler but did not give off useful heat
before going to the condensate system. Carry-over happens because of a number of things.
The solution depends on the cause. Suspect operating practices such as bringing loads on
fast, high TDS, or poor separation equipment as a culprit.

LEARN MORE ABOUT CARRYING OVER IN OUR BLOG,

HOW BOILER FEEDWATER QUALITY CAN AFFECT
BOILER OPERATIONS
(HTTPS://WWW.RASMECH.COM/BLOG/BOILER-
FEEDWATER-QUALITY-AFFECT-BOILER-OPERATIONS/).

14. SURVEY STEAM TRAPS

Stuck, worn out, or just broken steam traps can stick open, allowing valuable steam to blow
right through into the condensate system. If you want to ensure you are running at peak
efficiency, survey your steam traps regularly (https://www.rasmech.com/resource/boiler-
maintenance-checklist-log/) and replace broken or sticking traps. Don’t know how or don’t
have time? We can find any malfunctioning traps and replace them, saving you time, and
saving your company money. Contact us (https://www.rasmech.com/contact-us/) to get
started.

15. REDUCE STEAM USAGE

The best way to save on fuel and electricity to your boiler is to reduce steam usage in your
processes. Insulating piping and tanks heated by steam, for example, can significantly reduce
steam usage, and therefore, fuel usage. High-pressure condensate systems can reduce steam
usage at your deaerator (https://www.rasmech.com/blog/how-to-properly-maintain-your-
deaerator/) AND fuel usage in the boiler.
Ensuring your boiler efficiency (https://www.rasmech.com/services/mechanical-
construction/) is key to controlling your monthly bills. Having a knowledgeable company
service your burner, boiler, and steam system regularly will help you ensure that your boiler is
as efficient as possible. Let Rasmussen Mechanical Services help you prolong the life of your
equipment and work toward preventing repair costs
(https://www.rasmech.com/services/boiler-repair/) down the road. If you need help, check out
the contact us page (https://www.rasmech.com/contact-us/) and send us a message!

(https://www.rasmech.com/preventative-maintenance-plan/)
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