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VA Design Manuals (PG-18-10) - Steam Heating, Hot Water, and Outside Distribution Systems - Volume 1 - Steam Boilers, 0
- 1.0 DESIGN PARAMETERS/REQUIREMENTS [Go to Page]
- 1.1 Requirements:
- 1.2 Load Determination Capacity Calculations:
- 1.3 Boiler System Capacity:
- 1.4 Boiler header pressure:
- 1.5 Boiler Plant Heat Recovery
- 2.0 GENERAL CRITERIA [Go to Page]
- 2.1 Graphic Standards:
- 2.2 Guidelines:
- 2.3 Equipment selection
- 2.4 Life Cycle cost analysis
- 3.0 HEATING PLANT [Go to Page]
- 3.1 General:
- 3.2 Building Requirements
- 3.3 Water Treatment Area (central or hub locations):
- 3.4 Water Test Area (central or hub locations):
- 3.5 Personnel Facilities
- 3.6 Access Platforms
- 3.7 Permanent ladders and stairs
- 3.8 Acoustical Considerations
- 3.9 Boiler Plant Building Hazardous Gas Detection System:
- 4.0 EQUIPMENT LAYOUT [Go to Page]
- 4.1 In a central plant arrange boilers; co-generation equipment, emergency generator room, control panels, instrumentation panel, motor control center, and control room/Engineering Control Center shall be located along an aisle on the main floor. Boil...
- 4.2 Control and instrument panels shall be visible from aisle, and to the maximum extent possible, visible from the control room/Engineering Control Center. Instrument panels may be located in the control room/Engineering Control Center.
- 4.3 The electrical switchgear and engine-generator(s) shall be located within the plant in a separate room adjacent to an outside wall. The engine-generator(s) shall be visible via view windows from the room that contains their paralleling and distrib...
- 4.4 Heat Recovery Boilers: Heat recovery boilers generating high pressure steam shall be located in the boiler plant where they can be monitored by boiler plant operating personnel.
- 4.5 Housekeeping Pads - All floor mounted equipment shall be placed on and anchored to housekeeping pads
- 4.6 Tube replacement for firetube boilers generally requires a space in front of the boilers which is equal to its longest length. (See manufacturer’s installation manuals for exact area required for boiler tube pulls.)
- 4.7 The width of the clear space between the side of a boiler and a wall shall be not less than 3 feet 6 inches.
- 4.8 Passage clearance between boilers >=36 inches wide and >=80inches high.
- 4.9 The clearance for the opening of boiler doors shall be not less than 12 inches from the edges of the doors in any position.
- 4.10 The clearance between floor mounted pumps shall not be less than three feet. The clearance between floor mounted pumps and walls shall not be less than two feet, preferably three feet, except where a greater clearance is required to maintain ...
- 4.11 Where possible allow enough space between boilers to maneuver a fork lift truck. Mandatory for new construction.
- 4.12 All equipment and piping devices must be accessible from the floor or from permanent platforms for operation, repair, maintenance and replacement.
- 4.13 Repair, maintenance and replacement must be possible without requiring the removal of other major items of equipment, the removal of major portions of piping, or the removal of portions of the building.
- 4.14 Generally, there should be at least three feet of clear floor space around all items of equipment. Boilers require a greater amount of clearance.
- 4.15 Control and instrument panels shall be visible from aisle, and to the maximum extent possible, visible from the control room/Engineering Control Center. Instrument panels may be located in the control room/Engineering Control Center.
- 4.16 Where possible, valves shall be located not more than seven feet above a floor, mezzanine, or platform. Limited exceptions are permitted for valves that are rarely used, would not need to be operated in an emergency situation, and can be reached ...
- 4.17 Natural Gas compressors and piping for natural gas turbine cogeneration equipment shall be located outside of the boiler plant in a separate enclosure and comply with the requirements of Factory Mutual, NFPA, and industry standards where there is...
- 4.18 Access to boiler blow down valves is critical since steam boilers are to be blown down at least once every eight hours.
- 5.0 BOILER ROOM ENVIRONMENT [Go to Page]
- 5.1 Heating Plant HVAC Requirements
- 6.0 SYSTEMS AND EQUIPMENT [Go to Page]
- 6.1 Definition of steam distribution pressure classes: Low pressure steam (LPS)………….….0 thru 15 psig Medium pressure steam (MPS)…….Above 15 thru 60 psig High pressure steam (HPS)……….….Above 60 psig
- 6.2 Boilers :
- 6.3 Pressure control and Relief
- 6.4 Condensate
- 6.5 Water Treatment Equipment
- 6.6 Steam Traps:
- 6.7 Pumps
- 6.8 Feedwater deaerators
- 6.9 Blowdown:
- 6.10 Emergency Power
- 7.0 FUEL [Go to Page]
- 7.1 General
- 7.2 Natural Gas
- 7.3 Fuel Tanks
- 7.4 Fuel pumps
- 7.5 Fuel Oil piping
- 8.0 BURNERS [Go to Page]
- 8.1 Automated shutdown- When steam pressure is in excess of demand sensed, the following will occur:
- 9.0 COMBUSTION AIR [Go to Page]
- 9.1 An adequate air supply provides for clean, safe combustion and minimizes the formation of soot.
- 9.2 The boiler room shall have two combustion air openings to ensure adequate combustion air and proper ventilation; one within 12 inches of the ceiling and the other within 12 inches of the floor. Each opening shall have a minimum free area of 1 in...
- 9.3 Combustion air fans shall be equipped with variable frequency drives.
- 9.4 Combustion dampers shall be interlocked with the boiler firing cycle. Manually operated dampers prohibited.
- 9.5 Burners: Provide low excess air design, with oxygen trim, on larger water tube boilers when justified by life cycle cost analysis. Provide low NOx burners (not to exceed 30 ppm) unless lower emission concentration is required by emissions authori...
- 10.0 BOILER STACK AND EMISSIONS [Go to Page]
- 10.1 Boiler stack location, height, and diameter shall be determined by an engineering study conducted by a licensed professional engineer, which considers boiler/burner operational requirements, air flow around the stacks and the boiler plant and adj...
- 10.2 Generally, individual stacks on each boiler are required. A common breeching and single stack system for all boilers may be approved if documentation is provided to support the need of the request due to specific project conditions. A request for...
- 10.3 Locate diesel engine exhaust outlets so that they do not mix with building intake air.
- 10.4 Stacks shall be designed to provide adequate natural draft. A stack generally shall extend at least 10 feet above the highest point on the roof.
- 10.5 The size of the stack shall not be smaller than that recommended by the boiler manufacturer. Wherever possible, the outlet area should be sized to provide a discharge velocity at a maximum gas flow of 2000 to 3000 feet per minute.
- 10.6 Vents, stacks, and chimneys shall comply with NFPA 54 and NFPA 210.
- 10.7 Gas mains, burner headers, gas piping, etc., shall be vented according to the criteria in NFPA 85A, Prevention of Furnace Explosions in single Burner, Boiler-Furnaces and NFPA 85B, Prevention of Furnace Explosions in a Gas Multi-Burner Boiler.
- 10.8 Boilers shall be equipped with outlet air dampeners regardless of whether the boiler has a dedicated stack.
- 11.0 CONTROLS AND INSTRUMENTATION [Go to Page]
- 11.1 Controls
- 11.2 Safety devices
- 11.3 Automatic/Remote Starting(light off)
- 11.4 Monitoring and data management:
- 11.5 Low-Water Cutoffs: Low water cutoffs, recycle and non-recycle, shall be provided to shut off the boiler in case of low water level in a boiler. The switches shall alarm locally and at the operator station with an audio/visual indication. The res...
- 12.0 OPERATION OF BOILERS [Go to Page]
- 12.1 Operational Requirements
- 12.2 Inspections
- 12.3 Cleaning
- 13.0 FREEZE PROTECTION [Go to Page]
- 13.1 Heat Tracing systems are not recommended for systems inside the building. It is not visually apparent that a heat cable has failed.
- 13.2 When terminal devices are in contact with freezing ambient air, steam is the preferred choice for the heat source.
- 13.3 The condensate created when steam is used for freeze protection may be returned to the boiler.
- 14.0 WARRANTY [Go to Page]
- 14.1 Boilers shall be selected for the maximum warranty period offered.
- 15.0 MODIFICATIONS TO EXISTING PLAN [Go to Page]
- 15.1 In addition to the equipment required for operation, the design shall provide a standby boiler and standby pumps during all phases of construction.
- 15.2 Temporary boilers and other equipment may be employed if cost effective.
- 16.0 CODES & STANDARDS
- 17.0 REFERENCES [Go to Page]
- 17.1 Design Manuals (PG-18-10); HVAC Design Manual for New, Replacement, Addition and Renovation of Existing VA Facilities: Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Construction and Facilities Management.
- 17.2 Unified Facilities Criteria (UFC) Central Heating Plants UFC 3-430-08N
- 17.3 GSA P100 Facility Standards for Public Buildings Service
- 17.4 EPA/625/5-86/020, Nitrogen Oxide Control for Stationary Combustion Sources.
- 17.5 Heating Boiler Operators Manual, Mohammad A. Malek, 2007 McGraw-Hill
- 17.6 Cleaver Brooks – Boiler Room Guide
- 17.7 Code Requirements – International Mechanical Code latest edition
- 17.8 The VA Safety Device Testing Manual
- 17.9 VA Directive - Boiler and Boiler Plant Operations
- 17.10 VHA Directive 1028, Electrical Power Distribution System
- 17.11 VHA standard details on the TIL.
- 17.12 VA CFM Physical Security Design Manual (PSDM), latest edition
- 17.13 29 CFR 1910 [Go to Page]
