As the city’s apartment complex managers know all too well, New York City’s electricity rates are some of the highest in the country. Surprisingly, one of the biggest sources of energy usage for these structures is often the building’s boiler, which runs nearly continuously through the long, cold winter. That is why it’s not a bad idea to […]
Modbus Comms: How to Set Floating Point Values
In industrial settings, Modbus is one of the oldest protocols for devices to communicate their data digitally to a central controller. It allows transmitters to send integer data to controllers, and controllers to send integer data to SCADAs used in large, fully-monitored mission critical facilities such as data centers. Here we will give a pithy explanation of successfully […]
Boiler System 101: The Advantages of Full System Integration
Danbury, CT – A boiler system functions as a critical component to the continuous operation of a facility. It is important to maintain safe, reliable, and efficient operation while minimizing any downtime of the boiler system to prevent disruption of operation and significant loss. A boiler system consists of many sub-systems working in harmony – the boiler, the burner and its controls, boiler […]
Considerations for Long Term Fuel Storage
–Joe Wallace, Danbury CT Many commercial and industrial facilities are required to have fuel oil bulk storage at their sites. Whether it is for heating applications or emergency power generation, the fuel must be available to use especially in mission critical operations, such as hospitals or data centers. If fuel oil is not your primary fuel or you […]
Automatic, Variable Ratio, Firing of a Blend of “Free” and Purchased Fuels
-Peter Lavelle, Danbury CT “Free” fuels are available from many processes: Digester Gas from wastewater treatment plants, Bio-Gas from agricultural and food processing plant waste, Hydrogen from chemical plants, Off-Gases from a Refinery, etc. The Challenge Firing these “free” fuels in a boiler, process heater, or engine-generator significantly reduces operating costs and can significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. […]
Meeting Customer needs with Complete Packages
Made in the U.S.A., This project was fast tracked so all burners got their own set of wheels! Preferred was happy to work closely with one of our discriminating, long time State Agency customers to package these excellent Preferred combustion and controls with Johnston boilers – together for an ultra high efficiency and low emissions boiler plant. The […]
Third-Party Approval for Vacuum Leak Detection System
Made in the U.S.A., Our Vacuum Leak Detection System is now listed on the National Work Group for Leak Detection Evaluations (NWGLDE) website. The NWGLDE list is “a compilation of storage tank and associated piping leak detection equipment that have undergone Third-Party Evaluations and have been found by the Work Group to meet the evaluation requirements contained in accepted […]
“I know what Modbus is, but what is BACnet?”
-Rob Frohock See also: Modbus RTU verses Modbus TCP/IP: What’s the Difference? In industrial settings, Modbus is one of the oldest protocols for devices to communicate their data digitally to a central controller. It allows transmitters to send integer data to controllers…it allows controllers to send integer data to SCADAs…and it is very easy to use. BACnet is […]
Five Considerations for Pumping and Storing Liquid Biofuels
-Dan Wallace, Danbury, CT Why do you need to know about biofuel handling? End users, governments, and private enterprises are looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions while minimizing capital equipment costs, and the equipment impacted ranges from backup diesel generators to industrial boilers. While the customer needs for this fuel are becoming more pronounced, third party testing […]
Watchdog Circuits in Burner Management
-Howard Wells, Preferred Utilities, Danbury, CT Introduction Have you ever seen a PLC-based burner management system and wondered “Why are the inputs turning on and off every few seconds?” This “flashing” of the inputs is a type of error checking for the PLC discrete input channels and is required by NFPA 85 for all non-SIL3 rated PLC-based burner […]