Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
(OP)
We have firetube boilers here and crunching the numbers, I arrive at 10lbs steam produced per ft3 of gas. Is this number in the ballpark based on other peoples experience? I'm using this to emphisize effeciency numbers on each boiler. We are running in the low 80's.





RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
At 80 PSIG, I get 900 BTU/lb, so 9000 btu total for only one ft3 of natural gas -- which is about 1030 btu/ft3. Are you sure one of your numbers isn't off by a decimal place?
I could believe 10 lbs for 10 cubic feet (just shy of 90% overall efficiency)...
Somebody catch me if I've goofed!
Good on ya,
Goober Dave
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
How are you metering the steam? Do you have pressure compensation on the steam meter?
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
rmw
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
I agree that there's a zero problem. The 1030 BTU per cubic foot that I quoted earlier is a standard that's been around for a long time...
A quick check would be how much you pay for that gas per cubic foot -- if your rate is about $5.00 per million BTU (kinda average), that translates to $0.00515 per cubic foot. If you have access to the bill, see if it works out with the 59,000 number or the 590,000 number...
Good on ya,
Goober Dave
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
David
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
It sounds like you are reading the gas meter yourself. Make sure you know what the counter on it is actually counting. It might be tens or hundreds of cubic feet. It often is not clear from the meter.
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas
rmw
RE: Steam per cubic ft of natural gas