Balancing apartment building heating with thermostatic radiator valves
- BEI Energy Corp., Brooklyn, NY (United States)
- Kemper Management Services, Hartford, CT (United States)
This article is a case study of how an apartment building`s two-pipe steam heating control retrofit was completed using thermostatic radiator valves. Experience in steam-heated apartment buildings tell us that they are often poorly balanced and, at least in part, overheated. One explanation for the overheating hypothesizes that one- and two-pipe distribution systems were inadequately designed for balanced steam distribution. Another version suggests that localized adjustments and incremental failure of components, while still allowing heat to be supplied, accumulate over time to cause system imbalance. In either case, to supply enough steam to the hardest to heat apartments, distribution systems commonly release steam in quantities that overheat other apartments. The goal of steam heating system control and retrofitting is to obtain proper, even temperatures throughout a structure. Theoretically, it is possible to accomplish this by setting flows on a predetermined basis, but the most direct way to obtain the desired end result is with valves that respond to actual space temperatures.
- OSTI ID:
- 128755
- Journal Information:
- Heating, Piping and Air Conditioning, Vol. 67, Issue 9; Other Information: PBD: Sep 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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