Brothers John and Andy Montz own Around The Clock Heating & Cooling, Inc., and run the operation with a number of other family members in New Haven, CT.
The area is home to many rental apartments that typically house students at Yale University. A property owner called Around The Clock about the ailing hydronic systems in five of his apartment buildings. Most of these buildings are similar: two stories, four apartments each, fin-tube baseboard, and a haphazard collection of old, incorrectly-piped boilers. Each 700-square-foot apartment was served by its own boiler.
Challenge:
The owner wanted Andy and John’s honest opinions about restoring the heating systems. He told them to do what they thought was the wisest – either fix and re-pipe, or replace.
“We ran the numbers both ways and it just didn’t make sense to Band-Aid the system, especially considering the efficiency levels of the old boilers,” said Andy. “He chose to replace everything in all five mechanical rooms, sticking with the one-boiler-per-apartment setup.”
After heat load calculations, the Montz brothers went to the drawing board. They needed 20 identical, single-zone systems. One of the ways they planned to keep costs in check was to work efficiently; more efficiently than they could have by installing one boiler at a time.
Solution:
Around The Clock ordered 20 cast-iron Series X-2 boilers by U.S. Boiler Company from Torrco Plumbing Supply.
The X-2 is available in seven sizes from 70 to 280 MBH, and offers a lot features for a budget boiler. The integrated boiler control allows for simple diagnostics, and a free additional pump relay is included. It also includes an integral low-water cutoff.
“U.S. Boiler Company offers the best warranty in the business, and we wanted that on this job,” said Andy.
All of the 70,000 BTU units were pre-piped at the Around The Clock shop before being delivered to the jobsites for installation.
“The hardest part of this project was tearing out the old equipment,” said Andy. “The piping was a huge mess and most of the boilers were way oversized. A handful were undersized. With the old equipment and pipe out of the way, it was a very simple job,”
Result:
“For a small apartment, 70,000 BTU/H sounds like a lot of heat, but the building insulation is not the best,” said Andy. “All told, they’re likely to cut gas use by upwards of 30 percent.”
“After installing 20 of the Series X-2 boilers, we really like them,” he continued. “They’re compact, easy to work on and efficient.”
Last winter, all of the new boiler system operated perfectly. The landlord mentioned that fuel savings were substantial.
Above: Outside on a beautiful day, technicians prefabricated all near-boiler piping.
Above: Technicians Tony Sena (L) and George Onerato, after a job well done.
Above: The five apartment buildings are each served by four individually-piped Series X-2 boilers.
Above: The entire Around The Clock Heating & Cooling family gathered for Tony Sena’s 80th birthday!