Buildings that are either commercial or industrial require heating and cooling to operate correctly. In many situations the heating of a building is accomplished by using a hot water system. Often times the heating system is a forgotten system as long as the clients are happy and the business is producing. In cases like those, the heating system is never even considered. It is only when a heating system is either broken or the cost to heat the building has increased substantially that the heating system is evaluated.

Fortunately, the onset of notable heating and cooling issues isn’t always a sign of a complete system failure.  Today, it is generally possible to fix components of the system rather than completely replacing it.  The first issue is determining where the problem lies.

There are a number of factors that can cause issues with the system. One of the easiest and most cost effective tools to diagnose and fix the hot water heating system are temperature sensing devices. These devices measure supply and discharge temperatures of the heating system, and then send these measurements to a controller that either increases or decreases the source of heat. The source of heating could be a number of different things, depending on the particular system running in the building.  It could be a steam valve, the boiler itself, the air handling system, the baseboard fin tube, or a variable air volume box with a re-heat coil.

Regardless of where the message is sent, there is a need for temperature sensors to dictate when- and where- more heat is necessary. When the heat sensors aren’t doing their job properly, it may be necessary to look into the investment in a tool like the Ultra Electronic spring loaded RTD, which can be placed in existing systems as an affordable indicator of weak points in the hot water system.