New commercial 15# steam cast iron heating boilers have been in unusually short supply since the start of the pandemic. The staple of small-medium-size buildings and low-pressure steam process boilers are at a crossroads in our industry. Couple that with the new US Department of Energy (DOE) regulations and cast iron boiler manufacturers are in a state of flux.
With orders stacked up, the industry lost quite a few skilled tradesmen who worked in the foundries, and training new people has taken some time to get it up to speed. This poses a dilemma for not only us but our customers. Waiting sometimes 9-12 months or more for a cast iron steam boiler to be built and shipped is painful, especially if your boiler has failed. Cast iron boilers are the staple of many buildings in the Northeast part of the US. They’re solid, robust and reliable boilers with a 25-year life span if maintained properly.
Until this shortage eases, we’re able to provide an alternative boiler by building steam boilers that are custom-made, job-built steel boilers from our partners at Industrial Steam Boiler. The advantages of these boilers are that they’re like cast iron boilers which are made and erected in sections. Steel boilers are custom fabricated at their steel manufacturing shop, shipped in pieces and erected in a customer's boiler room.
These boilers have many advantages, and we are installing them more and more as the cast iron alternative during this crisis. Custom job-built steel steam boilers can be built in place above the maximum size of cast iron boilers of 208 HP to a level as high as 600 HP. Deliveries are running less than 10 weeks from the date of the order.
The efficiency of a steel boiler compared to a cast iron boiler is usually 3-5% higher in combustion efficiency and thermally it’s approximately 7-10% higher. Steel boilers, however, do require more maintenance and chemical treatment expenses, plus yearly internal insurance company inspections if it’s a steam boiler. Hydronic is every 3 years.
If all else fails, we have a large fleet of trailered mobile boilers (high, or low-pressure steam as well as hydronic) to meet your building’s needs. We pride ourselves on making sure we can deliver heat and hot water generation to you in many ways. We stand by to meet or exceed your expectations.
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