Boilers: Renovate or replace

This article explores the issues associated with leveraging a necessary O&M expenditure in order to improve efficiency, sustainability, and performance.

By David Sellers, PE, Facility Dynamics, Portland, Ore. May 27, 2009

As buildings, systems, and

equipment age, facilities engineering groups frequently are faced with the need

to replace equipment that has reached the end of its useful service life. Given

tight operating budgets and constricted timelines, often driven by an imminent

failure, it’s common for the engineering group to approach a trusted contractor

to obtain a price to replace current equipment with equivalent capacity. Thus,

projects frequently are handled on a design-build basis using the installing

contractor’s engineering expertise, but only to the extent necessary for code

compliance.

While expedient, this

approach often represents a lost opportunity.

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