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MEMA Stops State Legislation to Tax Heating Oil
MEMA has successfully stopped a state legislative effort to place a 2.5 cent tax on residential and commercial home heating oil gallons sold in Massachusetts that would have funded an energy efficiency program that is similar to programs operated by natural gas and electric utilities. Late last night the state legislature passed final energy legislation-
House 4568-that did not include the heating oil tax and another measure that MEMA opposed that would have created an energy rating/scoring system for homes prior to resale.
MEMA President Michael Ferrante and MEMA lobbyist Robert White spent the last three weeks lobbying a legislative conference committee that was charged with reconciling House and Senate energy bills. The Senate version contained the heating oil tax provision and the energy rating language. MEMA Board Chairman Chris LeBoeuf (Falmouth Energy) also helped with face-to-face lobbying with lawmakers.
"I want to thank our Board of Directors and many of our members who helped defeat these bills by sending letters to the state legislature and calling their local lawmakers," said Ferrante. "The strength of our association's voice was very important in this process."
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NORA Technical Workshop - Preliminary Program
On Sept. 14th 2016, the
National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) will hold a Technical Workshop in Newport, Rhode Island in conjunction with the
Southern New England Energy Conference.
This is the first NORA Technical Meeting, following their reauthorization, and is a great opportunity to share detailed information on the latest results of the NORA research projects and other technical developments.
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Workshop topics include: biofuels, fuel quality,combustion/burners and efficient systems and controls.
At present, NORA is fully open to presentation proposals. For additional information contact Dr. Tom Butcher at
[email protected]
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Those interested in presenting a paper at the workshop should submit an abstract as soon as possible by email to Tom Butcher. Presentations proposals will no longer be accepted when all slots are filled.
The Conference venue is the
Hotel Viking, 1 Bellevue Ave., Newport, R.I. Rooms can be reserved at 800-556-7126 or
directly here. Reservations should be made by August 14, 2016 and reference National Oilheat Research Alliance.
To register for the conference, please
RSVP here.
View the Preliminary Program speaker and topic list
here.
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Adapting to the Changes in the Heating Industry...
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George R. Carey
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The landscape in the heating industry, with regard to residential and commercial boiler rooms, has drastically changed. Over the years, when you entered a typical boiler room in the Northeast, it was very common to find a sectional cast iron boiler or boilers and usually some type of indirect heating appliance for domestic hot water. It could be a side-arm heat exchanger with a storage tank or a storage tank with the heating coil installed directly inside. Nowadays, it has become quite common to find high efficiency modulating and condensing gas-fired boilers (either LP or natural). These boilers are not your average "run of the mill" atmospheric gas boilers either, because their efficiencies range between 90% and 96%. They use a Neg/Reg gas valve and fan assembly, which means the amount of gas that flows into the burner for combustion is regulated by the fan assembly's blower speed. The blower speed is controlled by an onboard micro-processor that is performing several internal calculations to determine the appropriate amount of British thermal units (BTUs) needed to satisfy the call. Hence the modulating part...it only uses the amount of gas necessary to satisfy whatever load it is currently "seeing".
Most of the residential models have a "turn down" ratio of 10 to one, meaning they can fire down to 10% of their total capacity and, of course, all the way up to 100% of their capacity. It has become quite common in larger residences to install two or more smaller "mod/con" boilers that, when combined, can handle the home's total load. However, more importantly during the normal course of the heating season when the home is operating at "part load," the boiler plant consumes just the amount of energy needed to satisfy the current load the house is "seeing." The same holds true for commercial applications such as apartment buildings, condominiums, churches and schools. The larger commercial "mod/con" boilers also offer turn down ratios 10 to one. That means with a couple of commercial boilers, you can fire down to five percent of the total BTU capacity of the boiler plant. With this type of turn down, building owners are experiencing fuel savings in a range of 35%-40% and higher!
Another unique feature with these boilers is the venting options. The blower motor is designed to not only bring combustion air into the burner assembly but also vent the residual products out of the building. Most of the "mod/con" boiler manufacturers have approved their boilers to use several different vent materials. They are approved to be vented with PVC, CPVC, polypropylene and stainless steel vent pipe. Each manufacturer provides very detailed instructions on the "Do's and Don't's" of how to properly vent their boilers. Following these instructions is critical to allow the boilers to operate efficiently. Of course, all of this piping needs to be sealed tight to meet the venting codes.
These boilers encourage the condensing of their flue products, which is the exact opposite of traditional boilers. Their heat exchangers are designed to withstand the corrosive nature of the condensate that forms when the combustion products are condensed. This condensing action is where the additional efficiency points are obtained. Some of the by-products include condensation gathered in the boiler's heat exchanger. If allowed to accumulate, it will negatively impact the boiler's efficiency performance, which is why the manufacturers all suggest an annual inspection and cleaning of the heat exchanger, if necessary. Also, the venting should be inspected to make sure nothing has changed that could negatively impact the operation of the boiler. This means every "mod/con" boiler needs to be inspected every year. One of the oil industry's shining stars has been their reputation for service and maintenance. The need for these high efficiency boilers to be maintained is a perfect opportunity for a company that has a service department to offer service contracts to home owners, commercial property owners and management companies. Most of the boiler manufacturers or their local representatives offer classes on servicing these new "mod/con" boilers.
What else?
A new style of "smart" pump has been making its way into the North American hydronics mechanical rooms. These new circulators are called ECM pumps. ECM stands for electronically commutated motor and they are very different from the PSC (permanent split capacitor) motors we are used to with our wet rotor pumps. This new style motor is sometimes called a "brushless DC" motor. The rotor in this ECM motor has permanent magnets instead of wire windings that are separated from the system fluid. The magnets are located inside a stainless steel rotor can and react to the magnetic forces created by electromagnetic poles in the stator.
A microprocessor, which "sits on board" the pump, reverses the polarity of the stator poles rapidly (within milliseconds) forcing the rotor to be rotated in the proper direction. The faster these poles reverse their polarity, the faster the rotor spins, meaning the faster the impeller spins.
ECM circulators can provide four times more starting torque compared to a permanent split capacitor (PSC) wet rotor pump. This additional starting torque pretty much eliminates the concern of a pump experiencing a stuck rotor after a summer shutdown. These ECM pumps incorporate a microprocessor that has software on board allowing the pump to perform many functions. For example, one application may call for a constant pressure differential where the building is zoned with zone valves. Normally as valves close, the pump would develop additional head pressure across the remaining open zones, causing an increase in flow rate through these zones. This wastes energy as well as potential noise problems due to increased velocity. With this constant differential in pressure capability, as valves close, the pump momentary senses an increase in differential pressure and quickly slows down the pump's speed to eliminate the change in pressure. The result is no change in flow rate through the remaining open zones, no wasted energy and no velocity noise problems. Another application that the microprocessor can control is called proportional differential pressure. The circulator control is set for a specific design head loss for a system. Now when the zone valve (or valves) closes, once the pressure differential starts to climb, the circulator reduces its motor speed. The difference here is with proportional control, instead of maintaining a set differential. It will lower the speed and thus pressure differential proportionally to the reduction in flow rate. The result is an increased reduction in energy consumption.
The efficiency of these "greener" circulators is designed to meet the ever increasing efficiency standards that are slowly making their way over to North America. Their "wire to water" efficiency is higher than the current PSC wet rotor circulators, their multiple application capabilities with the on board microprocessors and their reduction in wattage use make them a very compelling alternative to the industry's current offerings. You should become aware and comfortable with this newer technology.
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FMANJ sponsored training for Oilheat Technicians
In response to FMA's survey of the industry, FMA will be offering a series of training seminars designed to enhance the skills of Oilheat technicians. The first training seminar will be the NORA Gold Certification tank seminar and offered in both a North Jersey and South Jersey location. Additional topics will be announced in the coming weeks.
- NORA Tank Certification: August 16, 9am-3pm. Weil-McLain, 17000 Commerce Parkway, Suite B, Mt. Laurel, NJ 08054
- NORA Tank Certification: August 17, 2016, 9am-3pm. Sid Harveys, 96 Entin Rd., Clifton, NJ 07014
This program is designed for managers, installers, service technicians, oil drivers, sales reps and anyone else in the industry who is interested in tank maintenance and installation.
Topics covered include:
- Why tanks fail
- External and internal corrosion
- The role of water in tank failure
- Eliminating water from tanks
- Tank selection, sizing, placement and installation procedures
- Tank abandonment
- Tank inspection and assessment
Register your employees today! Print the form found here, fill it out and email or fax in.
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Slant/Fin Hydronic Explorer App available on your computer!
When faced with installing a new heating system, the first thing you need to know
before you choose the right boiler or
baseboard solution, is how to accurately determine your home's total heat-loss. That's why Slant/Fin created the Hydronic Explorer App..an easy-to-use tool that lets you quickly calculate a project's heating load requirements.
With the rising popularity of the phone app, and thousands of downloads, Slant/Fin has decided to expand it to a web application so you can access it from your desktop computer. Even if you don't have a smartphone, you can still create and manage multiple jobs and keep track of requirements for each one. This allows you to deliver more value and make educated decisions on the right products for the right situation, at the right time!
Check out the new web app at www.hydronicexplorer.com You must create an account to get into the Heat Calculator page. This is so it remembers you and your jobs created.
Watch the Video tours of the functionality linked on the
Home Page.
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AMERIgreen Spring Essay Contest Showcases Creative Thinking
AMERIgreen Energy and their 100% American Fuel dealers hosted a Video Essay Challenge as a way for students to express their thoughts on energy solutions for the future. Students created 30 second videos focused on one of the question prompts related to what is the best energy source for the future.
The contest was open to students in grades 1st-12th, as well as undergraduate college students. High school and undergraduate college students entrants vied to win college scholarships and elementary and middle schoolers were eligible for special location ticket packs.
From all the submissions, AMERIgreen selected the Top 5 videos for both age groups. The videos were posted on AMERIgreen's social media pages and the winners were chosen by the most online votes by audience likes.
"We were so impressed with the video submissions from students - they were extremely passionate, creative and you could tell they had done a lot of research to get the facts right! They made us really encouraged and hopeful, " said Steve McCracken, AMERIgreen CEO of Energy Services. "We also want to thank our 100% American fuel dealers that garnered community support from area schools, teachers and customers to encourage students to enter the contest."
See all the winning videos here.
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Little Giant Condensate Pump
Franklin Electric Co., Inc. offers the new Little Giant VCC-20-P Series designed for automatic collection and removal of condensate from air conditioning, refrigeration and dehumidification equipment installed in air handling and plenum applications. Common applications include office buildings, manufacturing facilities, schools, hospitals and more. Little Giant's VCC-20-P Series delivers pumping performance of 80 GPH at 1 foot and 20 feet shut off (on 115 V). With a low profile height of 1 ¾ inches, the pump is designed for ceiling installations, use with equipment featuring a low outlet drain position or any installation where space is limited. The pump features a 1/30 hp motor, vertical centrifugal
pump design, automatic start and stop switch and a thermally
protected fan-cooled motor.
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Vacuum Micron Gauge with Bluetooth
The Smart World of Testo has launch
ed the new
testo 55
2 Digital Vacuum Micron Gauge with
Bluetooth.
The testo 552 has precise and reliable vacuum measurements with a res
olution of one
micron.
It displays the saturation temperature of H
2
O to ensu
re full and proper evacuation.
The illuminated, back display also has a visual
alarm for evacuation pressure.
The
gauge
with Bluetooth links to a smart phone or device to provide analysis and reporting. The testo 552 uses the free testo SMART Probes App, which is an easy-to-use tool. It allows users to remotely read measurements of one to six Smart Probes including the Testo 552. Users can easily document / report the results.
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Southern New England Energy Conference
Southern New England Energy Conference will be held on Monday, September 12 - Tuesday, September 13 at the Newport Hyatt in Newport, RI.
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Biofuels, Biodiesel and Bioheat®
These three terms are being heard from every quarter of the oilheating industry. Often they are used interchangeably---this is not correct. Each one has a specific meaning and knowing the difference matters. Here are very short definitions to help keep them straight. These are not meant to be technical definitions, but a usage guide.
Biofuel: a fuel derived directly from living matter. Often used as a generic term that may include various fuels such as biodiesel or ethanol. Usually considered renewable.
Biodiesel: a very specific product produced in a very specific way to meet very specific specifications. The feedstock to create biodiesel can vary and may include soy oil or tallow. Here is what the National Biodiesel Board has to say about it: "a fuel comprised of mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, designated B100,
and meeting the requirements of ASTM D6751." If not... it's not biodiesel.
Bioheat®: A registered trademarked name whose definition is a liquid fuel that is comprised of a blend of petroleum #2 distillate fuel (heating oil/diesel) and Biodiesel (see above). To meet the definition, the petroleum component must meet the ASTM D396 standard and the biodiesel component must meet the ASTM D6751 standard. If those two criteria are not met, it can not be called Bioheat®.
Remember, biodiesel is a biofuel but not all biofuels are biodiesel. Also, biodiesel is the only acceptable biofuel component in Bioheat®
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Gas Appliance Service/Timmie McElwain
Upcoming Training Sessions
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