Calculating BTU/HR Requirement

BTU is the abbreviation for British Thermal Unit. It is the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water, 1F. At different temperatures theoretically the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water may be slightly higher or lower, but the variation is so small that it is not taken into account. The weight of 1 U.S. gallon of water at 62F. is 8.3391 pounds. The amount of BTU/HR required can be calculated by multiplying the maximum water flow rate in pounds/hour desired times the maximum water temperature rise in degrees Fahrenheit desired. Example: The customer's peak water usage is 200 gallon per minute. The customer has worse case (lowest temperature) incoming water at 60F. and wants to heat it to 160F. First, you must convert the 200 gallons per minute to pounds per hour. Multiply the 200 GPM by the weight of one gallon of water or 8.33 LBS/GAL to get pounds per minute. Therefore, 200 GPM multiplied by 8.33 LBS/GAL equals 1,666 LBS/MIN. There are 60 minutes in an hour, so multiply the 1,666 LBS/MIN by 60 minutes to get pounds per hour. Therefore, 1,666 x 60 = 99,960 LBSIHR of water being heated. Secondly, you must determine the temperature rise by subtracting the incoming water temperature from the desired final temperature. Therefore, 160-60 equals a 100F. temperature rise. Finally, you multiply the pounds per hour of water being heated times the temperature rise time's IBTU/LB - F to get the required BTU/HR. Therefore, 99,960 x 100 x 1 = 9,996,000 BTU/HR requirement. A shortened method for calculating BTU/HR required, is multiplying GPM by 500 by the temperature rise desired.

Calculating Fuel Savings

Given the customer's BTU/HR output requirement, it is a matter oflooking at the differences in efficiency between the direct contact water heater and the boiler. Example, a 99% efficient direct contact hot water heater requires a fuel input of 10,096,969 BTU/HR to produce a 9,996,000 BTU/HR output. Where as a 70% efficient boiler requires a fuel input of 14,280,000 BTU/HR. The boiler requires an additional 4,183,031 BTU/HR. In other words, you will save this amount of energy per hour by using a direct contact hot water heater instead of a boiler. Knowing the BTU/HR saved and the hours per year operated, a fuel savings can be determined. Gas is sold either by the therm, which is 100,000 BTU's or by the cubic foot. If sold by the cubic foot, you must determine how many BTU's are in each cubic foot of gas. This BTU value per cubic foot varies depending on the gas type and gas supplier. Roughly, natural gas has a valve of 1,000 BTU/CU FT and cost $10.00 per 1,000 cubic foot. 4,183,031 BTU/HR of energy saved divided by 1,000 BTU/CU FT equals 4,183 CU FT/HR of gas saved. If a customer ran 8 hours per day, 5 days a week, 52 weeks a year, his annual gas savings would be (4,183 CD FT/HR x 8 HRS/DA Y x 5 DAYS/WEEK x 52 WEEKSIYEAR) 8,700,640 CU FT/YR of gas at $10.00 per 1,000 CD FT equals an annual dollar savings of $87,006.40.