ABSTRACT
The American Boiler Manufacturers Association (www.abma.com) dened the commercial boilers as boilers having an input capacity between 400,000 (light) and 20,000,000 (heavy) Btu per hour with standard ef- ciency in the range of 80 to 85% and mostly burning natural gas, propane, and fuel oil. Per Consortium for Energy Efciency (www.cee1.org) almost 85% of commercial boilers are gas-red and annually use up to 602 trillion Btu of natural gas. Space heating accounts for approximately 66% of commercial boiler demand. Hot water accounts for most of the rest. More details on commercial boilers characterization can be found in a report by the Energy and Environmental Analysis, Inc [1]. Figure 19.1 illustrates a breakdown of the commercial boilers population and capacity by fuel type. It is clear that natural gas-red and dual-fuel units dominate the commercial boiler market, so their ef- cient and reliable performance along with low combustion emissions that comply with the local Air Quality Management District rules and regulations are the main targets for the boiler and burner manufacturers and end users.
