District Steam Life Cycle Cost Factors

[lowedogg]

I am performing a life cycle cost comparison for various heating mediums for a building and have hit a small snag. The facility has an existing district steam system, but I am having trouble getting the information I need to calculate the real cost of steam.

Does anyone have a reasonable way of estimating the cost of district steam on a military base on a $/lb basis?

I know that the cost is a function of the thermal efficiency of the plant/distribution piping and the cost of fuel, but I am unable to get all of these numbers. I was wondering if there are any generally accepted factors that are based on size, age, and type of steam plant and length of distribution piping. Any references you could provide would be much appreciated.

 

[ChrisConley]

Can you ask the operator what his bills are? The actual cost to operate a steam plant includes all that you've mentioned as well as operator costs, make-up water costs, water treatment, maintenance, etc.

If you're just going to guess, I've seen costs to generate steam around $14/lb to $18/lb on district systems. That's an 'all-in' number that includes operator costs as mentioned above.

Another method to guess would be to assume a 70% efficient system, which would give you a start if you knew the fuel being burned and the probable cost of that fuel.

 

[cjw81]

The easiest way in that situation is to put hour meters on the condensate pumps and compute the pounds per hour of steam that the aggregate total is for your consumption. If you are interested in this solution, I will post the formulas.