Malcarne Blog

Know Your Boiler

Oct 30, 2011 | Energy-Smart

Have you hugged your boiler today? Well, that may be taking things a bit far, but are you at least familiar with your boiler? Do you know where it is located in your house? Let’s go even further than that – do you even know what a boiler is?

Don’t be ashamed if you can’t answer all, or even any of these questions. (Disregard the first one, we don’t really want you to hug your boiler.)  Rather, let’s try to see if we can get your more acquainted with this big hunk of machinery in your home.

You may have a conventional boiler lurking in your boiler room.  With these less efficient boilers, fuel (wood, oil, coil, or natural gas) is burned and the heat passes through a heat exchanger where it is transferred to water, which, in turn, raises the water temperature.  Through this, steam is produced, and the steam is the strategic element to heating your home. Voila! You have heat!

The more likely option that you have hiding in your basement is a condensing boiler. (We hope so, because these are much more energy efficient, and Malcarne Contracting likes energy efficiency!) The difference between a conventional boiler and a condensing boiler is the amount of heat that it can produce.  A condensing boiler isn’t a wasteful boiler in that it retains more of its latent heat. (Uh oh – now we have to think way back to chemistry class. Latent heat is basically the amount of energy released when a chemical substance changes from one state to another.) In other words, when steam is produced by your condensing boiler, it is a little smarter than the conventional boiler and extracts any additional heat produced from the waste gases by condensing (hence a condensing boiler) the water vapor into liquid water while the excess gases are expelled outside through a proper ventilation system. (Do you feel smarter yet?)

Typically, conventional boilers are about 70-80%  thermally efficient, compared to condensing boilers, which can be up to 90% thermally efficient. Now, to give you even more efficiency for your hard-earned money, Malcarne Contracting recommends installing a Triangle Tube Boiler.

What is a Triangle Tube Boiler, you ask?  It is one of the most energy efficient residential boilers out there today! If the condensing boiler is smarter than the conventional boiler, then consider the Triangle Tube boiler the Valedictorian. Unlike traditional boilers that only fire once to create heat, the Triangle Tube boiler will modulate its firing rate to meet the energy needs of a given living space! Wow! That’s one smart hunk of machinery! There are many more scientific processes that make this boiler for you, but let’s just keep it simple. Along with tailoring the amount of heat produced to your living space, this little powerhouse (another bonus – it takes up very little space on your wall) also has a quiet operation, which is especially nice if it is installed near a living space.  It is environmentally friendly, has an attractive stainless steel jacket and heat exhanger, and is also really REALLY energy efficient, operating at 95% efficiency!

Now you know more than you ever thought you needed (or wanted) to know about your boiler. Now, go down to the depths of your boiler room and tell your less-energy efficient boiler that it’s not quite cutting the mustard and call Malcarne Contracting for a consultation on installing a new, super-energy efficient Triangle Tube boiler today!

For more information on how the Triangle Tube boiler works, you can visit this website: Triangle Tube. And, as always, don’t hesitate to contact us at Malcarne Contracting at 1-800-798-5844 or email us here!

Archives