Hot Water Heater Efficiency

When the snow is falling the last thing you want to think about is shoveling the driveway.  But no matter how nice the falling snow looks, and how much fun it can be, eventually the driveway, sidewalk, steps, and patio need to be cleared.  Today's hydronic heating systems can solve this problem with Radiant Snow Melting. 

Radiant Snow Melt systems circulates warm water / glycol solution through flexible tubes just under the surface.  Advanced systems monitor the moisture and temperature and automatically turn on to melt the snow as it falls.  These systems have been used for many years at ski resorts, hospitals and nursing homes where it is critical to keep surfaces clear to minimize falls.

Radiant Living Magazine recently examined a unique snow-melt application in Greenwich, CT. Click here for the entire article (Spring 2012).   Triangle Tube's Prestige 399 condensing boilers were used in this featured application.  The Prestige Condensing, Modulating Boilers will operate at peak efficiency in snow melt applications.  Snow melt systems operate at low temperatures which maximize the efficiency of condensing boilers. 

Triangle Tube Condensing Boilers provide for all of your heating needs,  The most common use is for space heating with traditional radiators, baseboard, or radiant floor installations.  Pairing a boiler with a Smart Indirect Water Heater provides efficient domestic hot water.  Snow Melt and Pool Heating are perfect for the condensing boilers as they operate at maximum efficiency.

The largest Challenger Condensing Boiler, the CC150s,has an input of 145 MBH, making it the highest output model in the Challenger lineup.  The Challenger CC150s is perfect for homes looking for a little extra heating capacity than the Challenger 125 or Prestige 110 can provide. 

With a compact, lightweight design, high heating capacity doesn't require a lot of space.  With a modern design that was styled to be installed in European kitchens, the Challenger 150 is quiet and attractive.  Standard twin pipe or optional concentric venting provides venting solutions for every need, and the Challenger 150s is designed to work with the Smart Indirect Water Heater to provide space heating and domestic hot waters.  The standard outdoor reset maximizes energy efficiency to achieve an AFUE of 93%.  The Challenger can work with traditional cast iron radiators or in slab or wood floor radiant heating.  The turndown ratio of nearly 4.5 to 1 minimizes boiler cycling, especially in the warmer months.

Try Triangle Tube's Challenger 150s boiler for maximum output with minimal space, cost, and energy bills.  Click here for literature on this boiler.  For more information contact Triangle Tube or your local Triangle Tube installer.

The unusually warm winter in North America has cut everyone's heating costs this year - but the biggest winners by far are homeowners heating with high efficiency condensing hydronic heating systems.  The two features of condensing boilers that contribute to these large savings are Modulation and Outdoor Reset.

Modulation is the process that increases or decreases the heat output, or firing rate, of the boiler.  Just like your kitchen stove, a modulating boiler can adjust its heat output but it doesn't need a person there to make the adjustment.  The boiler's control monitors the heat absorbed by the house by measuring the temperature of the boiler water as it leaves and as it returns to the boiler.  The larger the temperature difference, the more heat the boiler must add to the water, and the higher the firing rate that the control will create.

Non-modulating boilers operate at full fire all of the time.  This is inefficient for two reasons.  First, the boiler is least efficient at full fire, and most efficient at low fire.  So the longer the boiler can run at low fire, the more efficient it is.  Second, each time the boiler starts and stops it loses efficiency.  Modulating boilers run longer at lower temperatures, minimizing the starts and stops.

Outdoor reset is a simple yet extremely important part of a high efficiency system.  An outdoor sensor tells the boiler's control what the temperature is outside.  The boiler uses this information to adjust the temperature of the water that the boiler supplies to the radiant emitters.  This supply water does not need to be as hot during warm weather as it does during cold weather.  By supplying lower temperature water to the system, the boiler can maximize its efficiency.  Click here for outdoor reset basics.

Triangle Tube provides three models of condensing boilers.  The Prestige models feature a stainless steel fire tube heat exchanger with a full featured TriMax control and are available from 60 to 399 MBH.  The Prestige Excellence provides heat and up to 180 gallons per hour of hot water from its indirect water heater.  The Challenger models are available for both heating only (Solo), and combination heat and hot water (Combi) applications.  Challenger boilers are sized from 85 MBH to 150 MBH.   The Keystone models feature a stainless steel water tube heat exchanger and are available in sizes from 399 to 850 MBH for larger residences and light commercial applications. 

Contact Triangle Tube today for more information.

Triangle Tube's new Keystone Condensing Boilers are now available.  With boilers sized between 399 and 850 the Keystones fill the hydronic heating needs of large residences and light commercial buildings. 

The stainless steel heat exchangers are designed for high condensing efficiency.  The thermal efficiency is rated between 95% and 97%.  Each boiler is set up for use with natural gas, but comes equipped with a propane conversion kit and can be easily converted.  The low NOx emissions are low enough to meet 2012 SCAQMD requirements.

The Keystone boilers from 500 to 850 MBH are CSD-1 compliant standard.  This simplifies specification and installation and greatly reduces installation costs.  The Keystone Condensing Boiler's control panel is easy to use and provides many user friendly features.  The control can combine up to 8 boilers for larger heating requirements.  Each boiler is equipped with an outdoor sensor for the control's outdoor reset function. 

The new Keystone Condensing Boilers provides efficient hydronic heating for larger applications now from Triangle Tube.  Contact your Triangle Tube representative today.

The unique TriMax control on Triangle Tube's Prestige Condensing Boilers reduces boiler programing time to a matter of seconds.  By simplifying the process for the most common applications, a typical setup can take less than 60 seconds.

The Prestige TriMax control is customized for the Prestige Boiler and is designed to first sense the availability of sensors such as an outdoor reset sensor.  If the outdoor reset sensor is attached, then only the control options relating to outdoor sensors will be presented.  This minimizes the amount of menu options to scroll through, and reduces opportunities for errors. 

The most common selections in each menu are presented at the top of the list, reducing scrolling.  A present menu of six outdoor reset curves handles most heating applications from residential radiant floor to fancoils.  The space heating setup can be reduced down to a few simple steps.  Domestic hot water production through indirect water heaters can also be set up in three simple steps.  Should you want to return to the factory settings, there is an icon for that as well. 

Settings can be customized in the installer menu if desired.  Even this has been simplified with easy to read and understand graphical menus.  By giving the installer the ability to modify the settings as much as needed, each setup can be completed in the minimal amount of time.  Click here to see a video showing a complete boiler setup.

The Prestige TriMax control uses advanced technology to make life simpler.  Now the leading High Efficiency Boiler also has the leading High Efficiency Setup.

The New Prestige Condensing Boiler has advanced features that further advance its position as the most reliable, user-friendly, and easy to install natural gas or propane boiler available.  The Prestige's high efficiency design provides an AFUE of 96% making it the green choice for residential and light commercial hydronic heating systems.  The Prestige Solo can be combined with a Smart Indirect Water Heater for domestic water needs while the Prestige Excellence can provide both space heating and domestic hot water from a single unit.

This video provides an overview of the advanced features of the new Prestige.  For more infomation visit Triangle Tube's website today. 

When the Anchorage Housing Authority approached Bittner Plumbing and Heating to upgrade the heat and hot water for their 44 unit apartment building, they wanted a system that would be efficient and reliable.  Paul Bittner of Bittner Plumbing and Heating worked with Mark Herrington at Heating and Ventilation sales to design in a Triangle Tube Prestige Cascade boiler system with Smart Indirect Water heaters to do the job.

The 44 units are heated with baseboard radiation and the hot water for all units is provided by the twin 120 gallon Smart tanks.  ThePrestige Cascade Condensing Boiler unit is built with three 399 MBH boilers.  This provides a highly efficient and effective boiler plant.  By combining the three boilers, a turndown of over 10 to 1 is achieved.  This helps the plant run efficiently with parallel modulation.  With three boilers, the building has the reliability of redundancy in the event of a boiler error or maintenance.  The three boilers are vented with a common vent manifold to minimize the vent piping and provide a single vent pipe.

The Smart Indirect Water Heaters are also both highly reliable and efficient.  The inner stainless steel tank is designed to expand and contract as the water temperature changes during use.  This tank expansion eliminates scale build-up which reduces efficiency and leads to tank failures.  The unique tank-in-tank design provides a large surface area for heat transfer which reduces the amount of time required to heat the water.  These two Smart units replaced conventional direct fired water heaters.  The Smart tanks have 2" of foam insulation completely surrounding the tanks, keeping heat loss down to less than 2 degrees F per hour.

The Housing Authority's decision to upgrade their cast iron boilers and conventional water heaters with Triangle Tube's efficient Prestige and Smart models is saving money every day. As the heating season progresses I will post the savings data. 

The new Challenger Solo Condensing Boiler joins the Challenger Combi Boiler in providing high efficiency hydronic heating in a compact package.  The Challenger Combi boiler provides both heat and domestic hot water, eliminating the need for a separate water heater.  The Challenger Solo boiler provides heat and can provide domestic hot water when paired with an indirect water heater.

The Challenger Solo boiler features a copper tube heat exchanger with an aluminum combustion block.  This unique design is durable and suitable for glycol applications because the system water or glycol flows only in the copper piping.  The aluminum block efficiently transfers the heat from the combustion air and it's light weight makes installation easy.

The Challenger Solo is available in 85, 105, and 125 MBH sizes.  These models are sized to meet the needs of today's homes.  By modulating its output to match the radiant heating needs, the Challenger Solos will operate longer at lower temperatures, which improves efficiency.  These sizes of the Challenger Solo have an AFUE of 95% and operate on either natural gas or propane. 

The Challenger Solos can provide domestic hot water when paired with a Smart Indirect Water Heater.  The Smart can be sized to fit the needs of the residence, providing the instant hot water response that is expected from traditional tank water heaters, with the efficiency of an instantaneous water heater.

Click here for information about the Challenger Solo Condensing Boiler or other Triangle Tube products.

There are four keys to successfully replacing your boiler.  By following these keys, you will ensure a fast trouble-free installation and much lower utility bills.  

1)  Selecting the right product - Craftsmen will tell you that building a fine piece of furniture starts with selecting the right wood.  The same is true in boiler replacement.  By selecting a reliable, highly efficient boiler, you will ensure that the project will be a success if the three other keys are followed.  Choosing a poorly designed product will ensure long term dissatisfaction, even if the other keys are correct.  Triangle Tube's Prestige and Challenger boilers are industry leaders in reliability and efficiency.  For more information on this, see the end of this post.

2)  Select the right contractor - Once again, a good contractor will make or break the project.  There is much more involved in replacing a boiler than simply removing the old boiler and inserting a new one.  The boiler must be sized and the piping layout reviewed to ensure that the heating system works in harmony.  A good contractor will have experience and proper training to know how to join all of the parts of the heating system into an efficient, effective, heating machine.  Click here to find certified Triangle Tube contractors in your area.

3)  Size the boiler properly - A lot has changed in your home since the last boiler was installed.  Perhaps you have new windows and/or doors.  Perhaps radiant floor heating was installed.  An addition may have been added, the attic has been insulated.  A proper heat loss analysis must be performed to select the proper boiler for the house.  An boiler that is too large will cause excessive cycling and drive up energy costs.  One that is too small will not keep the house warm on the coldest days.

4)  Use outdoor reset - One of the biggest efficiency gains in new boilers is the ability to use computer technology to adjust the hydronic system to the heating load.  As the weather gets warmer, less heat is required.  By lowering the system temperature, the house is able to be heated much more efficiently.  Please make sure this important feature is being used.  For more information on outdoor reset, click here.

Triangle Tube's Prestige and Challenger boilers are modern, highly efficient, natural gas or propane boilers that have excellent track records in reliability.  With AFUEs of 95% or higher, and low NOx emissions, these are responsible, green choices for both the environment and your budget.  When paired with a Smart Indirect Fired Water Heater, they form the right solution for your residential heat and hot water needs.  

One of the positive changes in recent times has been the increased awareness of our impact on the environment.  It was not long ago that "Green" was not a part of our everyday terminology - and who ever heard of a carbon footprint.  Today a significant and ever-growing portion of society considers the environmental impact of their decisions on a regular basis.

Another recent positive change has been the increased use of natural gas.  Not only is it readily available in North America, but it is also a very clean burning fuel.  These two features make it very attractive for many consumers.  Finally, the technological advancement of hydronic (boiler) heating solutions has resulted in condensing boilers that can operate at the highest levels of efficiency.

Triangle Tube helped drive the residential condensing boiler revolution with the Prestige Condensing Boiler.  Its unique stainless steel fire tube design, high efficiency (96% AFUE), and reliability have made it a leader in its market.  When combined with a Smart Indirect Water Heater, homeowners will have an extremely efficient heating and hot water system.

Triangle Tube recently added the Challenger Combination Boiler to its lineup.  This boiler combines a high efficiency (95% AFUE) boiler with an instantaneous water heater within the same unit.  The results is an appliance that provides heat and hot water from the smallest foot print imaginable.  The Challenger is perfect for closet installations or areas where space is at a premium.  

Triangle Tube's Prestige and Challenger boilers work with both natural gas and propane.  Choose one of them for your "Green" efforts.