A heating system is a steam or hot water system that serves multiple buildings, consisting of a boiler, pumps, valves, pipes, and fuel storage. It’s common in old college campuses, rural areas, and military complexes. Operating conditions, boiler type, and fuel source are key components. Water tube boilers are often used, and the energy source can be gas, coal, or renewable resources. Cogeneration of electricity is possible with high energy fuel sources and low heat loads.
A heating system refers to a steam or hot water heating system that serves a number of outlying buildings. It is specified by the type of equipment used. The equipment consists of the boiler; pumps; valves; the pipes of the water-steam system; and the fuel system storage, handling and feeding equipment. The key components of a heating system include the operating conditions, the type of boilers and the fuel source.
Heating systems are common among old college campuses, rural or off-grid industrial sites, and military complexes. Often these facilities are co-located with municipal or industrial electrical utilities. Shared usage is common among processing plants that use high pressure steam and then route the low pressure steam to a hospital or college to use the heat rather than venting it to the environment via a cooling tower or cooling ponds. The space that houses a small boiler within the basement of the single building is usually referred to as a boiler room, as opposed to a heating system.
Operating capacity, pressure and temperature are key design issues determined by the expected heat load. To avoid a complete outage, a heating system usually has two or three boilers. Steam pressures are generally limited to less than 150 psig (1035 kPa). A typical operating range is 100 to 125 psig (690 to 862 kPa), but the most economical design will take into consideration the higher cost of a higher pressure system relative to the operating load required to heat buildings.
A water tube design is often used for boilers used in heating systems. In this design, the hot gases from fuel combustion are passed over steam generator tubes where water from the feedwater drum is heated to boiling. The steam rises to a steam separation drum where the condensed water flows by gravity through large pipes called downcomers back to the feedwater drum to preheat that inlet. The additional energy is added to the steam by heating it above its boiling point by once again drawing the steam from the steam separation drum through the hot gas chamber.
The boiler can be powered by a variety of sources, including gas, coal or other fossil fuels. Many renewable resources are also used, including geothermal heat, wood, municipal waste or agricultural biomass. The energy source is selected based on availability, cost and heat load requirements. When a high energy fuel source is present and the heat load is relatively low, cogeneration of electricity from a lateral flow of steam passing through a turbine is possible. A heating system using an exhaust steam line from a high pressure steam source may use a reboiler to increase the calorific value of the incoming steam or it may consist simply of the distribution system.
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