In 2015, Preferred installed a low NOx, high efficiency API- AF burner in the Stapleton Housing system. This burner was the first that we know of to comply with the New York City Local Law 87 which requires drastic carbon footprint reduction on buildings over 50,000 gross square feet.

LL87 aims to achieve a detailed breakdown of energy data, requiring buildings to carry out energy audits and retro-commissioning, while delivering energy efficiency reports (EER) every ten years. Under LL87, energy audits have the goal of providing detailed building performance data, which is very valuable for the NYC government to deploy targeted energy efficiency and emissions reduction measures. On the other hand, retro-commissioning validates the operating conditions of building systems, making adjustments or minor modifications to ensure the most efficient operation possible with the existing equipment.

Additionally, once compliant with Local Law 87, Preferred Utilities’ low emissions technology allows a facility to easily and inexpensively upgrade (without burner replacement) to ultra-low emissions technology in the future. High fuel efficiency translates into significantly reduced greenhouse gas emissions. The ultra-low excess air remains through the entire firing range— 50 to 100% firing range <2% O2. No fiber metal mesh heads and air filters are required to reach 15 PPM NOx. Burner enhancements include up to 75% reduction in electricity consumption over other burners purchased & installed by NYCHA.

Now—five years later and with a customer pleased with the results promised on the first burner—we are installing our second and third API-AF burners at the same site.

Our burners sustain a high 10:1 turndown with only 12” W.C. of gas pressure available at the site. With over 50% reduction in cycling of the burner, burner motor, burner and boiler servos and all burner components, the stress reduction on the boiler will increase longevity and reduce annual maintenance costs.

The burner provides dramatic reduction in boiler heat loss by eliminating more than 50% of the pre-purge and post-purge cycles required by common low turn down burners. Each one of these shutdown and start-up cycles for a boiler can wasted up to five total boiler volumes worth of BTU rich combustion air, “cooling” the boiler with each cycle. This important cycling reduction also cuts electricity consumption, wasted fuel and greenhouse gas emissions.

Preferred reduces boiler and boiler system thermal shock wear and tear that originate from low turn down, high cycling of the burner by 50%. In addition, Preferred’s new burner and burner component warranties are unmatched in the industry. Burner life will match or exceed the boiler life, eliminating the need for costly retrofits, the permit process that goes with a burner retrofit, and inconvenient boiler down time.

There are Preferred burners currently in active service for the New York City Housing Authority and the New York City Board of Education that are more than 45 years old. With the Stapleton Houses installation, Preferred has ushered in a new era of high quality, long life, low-maintenance burners and controls that will deliver unprecedented efficiency enhancements for fuel and up to 60% less electricity consumption while substantially reducing greenhouse gas emissions and cutting NOx emissions by more than 50%.

The burners and controls package are made at our Engineering and Manufacturing HQ in Danbury, CT U.S.A. by skilled American tradesmen in our UL 508/ IBEW shop and will be started up by our combustion field engineers. Our facility has and continues to implement “green initiatives” to reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint such as converting our boilers from No. 2 oil to a renewable bio fuel (Bio-ResidualTM Oil) and building solar car ports within the next year to power our facility.

[2016 Burner #1 press release here]

See also: Fix the Boiler in July to Limit Emissions in the Winter