vvEPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Industrial Environmental Research
Laboratory
Research Triangle Park NC 27711
Research and Development
EPA-600/S7-82-022 August 1982
Project Summary
Description and Analysis of
Inspection/Maintenance
Programs for Oil-Fired Heating
Systems in Switzerland and
West Germany
Robert W. Madler and Werner Martin
The report describes and analyzes
inspection/maintenance programs
for oil-fired heating systems in Switzer-
land and West Germany. Inspection
programs for oil-fired residential and
commercial heating systems were
introduced in Switzerland and West
Germany in the late 1960s, induced
by public complaints about soot and
odors. Today, annual or biannual
inspections are required by law in both
countries. Private or government
inspectors perform the inspections,
using simple instruments and after
being trained for their duties in
vocational courses. Both countries
have stringent standards for the
emission of soot and hydocarbons as
well as for combustion efficiency.
Installations not in compliance with
the standards have to be adjusted by
service technicians within a short
time. Significant improvements in air
pollution and energy savings have
been achieved. Noncompliance with
the standards decreased from an
initial 40-60% to 5-15% today. The
improvement in combustion efficiency
(therefore, in fuel oil savings) averages
6%. The reduction of emitted hydrocar-
bons is substantial, although quantita-
tive information is not available due to
the qualitative nature of the inspection
procedure. Smoke level is reduced
from an average of 3 to 1.5. For oil-
fired installations with an average
annual oil consumption of more than
1300 gal. (4921 liters)/year, fuel
savings exceed the inspection/main-
tenance costs.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Industrial Environmental
Research Laboratory, Research Trian-
gle Park, NC, to announce key findings
of the research project that is fully
documented in a separate report of the
same title (see Project Report ordering
information at back).
Introduction
Oil is the main fuel source for space
heating in both West Germany and
Switzerland, providing two-thirds of the
total space heating energy. Natural gas,
electricity, coal, and wood share the
remaining one-third. Solar energy,
other than direct gain through windows
and indirect gain through heat pump
systems, still makes only a negligible
contribution.
Table 1 points out some of the
differences between the energy use in
West Germany, Switzerland, and the
U.S. The U.S. has a high percentage of
its space heating requirements supplied
by natural gas and therefore a relatively
-------
Table 1. Information of Energy use in the U.S., West Germany, and Switzerland
Country
Per Capita Energy
Consumption
(gal. of oil equiv.)
Per Capita Energy
Consumption
for Space Heating
fgal. of oil equiv.)
Percentage of
Space Heating
Energy Consumption
Provided by Oil
U.S.
Switzerland
West Germany
1900
552
974
380
280
258
33
70
60
low contribution is made by oil. The
differences in total energy consumption
per capita can be explained by two
factors: (1) the U.S. and West Germany
have a much higher production of
energy intensive products than does
Switzerland; and (2) the U.S. has a very
high per capita consumption of energy
for transportation, mainly due to longer
commuting distances, sprawl develop-
ment, and fewer mass transit systems.
The technology of oil heating systems
is similar to that found in the U.S.
Nozzle-type burners are used. Central
heating boilers are the main type of heat
exchangers because hydronic heating
systems are prevalent. Unlike in the
U.S., furnaces are.not common in space
heating applications.
In Switzerland the average sulfur
content in heating oil was 0.36%
(average between 1977 and 1979). In
West Germany the value was around
0.4%.
With a sharp increase in oil consump-
tion for heating purposes in the decade
from 1950-1960, the public became
aware of air pollution emitted by oil
heating. Along with the increased
population density in urban areas (more
than 200,000 inhabitants/mi2)camean
increase in public awareness of the
amount of physical air pollution by odors
and soot emitted from heating chimneys.
When problems arise, Europeans typi-
cally assign the responsibility for
solving them to their local or regional
governments. In the case of air pollution,
complaints emerged and were directed
to local Public Health Departments.
Unfortunately, nobody kept a record of
the number of complaints until 20 years
ago. Today, the treatment of public
complaints is a widely recognized
managing tool for air pollution control.
We can therefore only guess how many
complaints were necessary to trigger
action. The Public Health Department of
the City Zurich (Switzerland) decided in
1964 to introduce an inspection program
for residential oil heating installations.
Although simple in design and equip-
ment, the inspections proved to be
effective. The idea of governmental
inspections for oil heaters spread
rapidly to many other cities in Switzer-
land and Germany, and is now also well
accepted in rural areas in the two
countries. Under fire protection regula-
tions, the maintenance of heating
equipment has been regulated since the
fast century. With the new oil heating
inspection, air pollution control and
(later) energy conservation have become
the new focal points.
Design and Organization of
Inspection Programs
At the beginning, the inspectors had
only a Bacharach smoke pump for
checking the smoke level. The inspectors
were advised to watch for a yellow color
on the smoke-filter papers. This color
indicates traces of partially burned or
unburned oil. No information was
collected about the odors emitted.
Today, the equipment has become
more sophisticated. The Bacharach
pump was replaced by a powered
sampling instrument. The filter paper
has grown in exposure area, and the
volume of air pumped through has
increased proportionally. Besides reduc-
ing sampling errors with more precise
sampling, the larger filter paper also
allows for a simple chromatographic
procedure for testing oil traces. A drop
of a solvent (alcohol, xylol) placed in the
middle of the paper flushesany traces to
the outside rim, where they are concen-
trated and easily detectable by a
yellowish color.
In addition to this equipment for air
pollution sampling, inspectors today
check combustion efficiency as well.
This is usually done by measuring CO2
and stack temperature to determine
energy loss through the stack.
In Switzerland a smoke level of 2 or
less on the Bacharach scale is mandatory.
A smoke level of 3 or less is mandatory
in West Germany. No visible traces of oil
on the filter paper are allowed. If an
installation fails to meet either standard,
the owner is legally obligated to have the
installation serviced by a licensed
service technician. If the inspection
following this service still reveals non-
compliance, the installation has to
undergo a fundamental improvement,
usually consisting of replacement of the
burner or the boiler; sometimes even a
new stack has to be built to deliver
sufficient draft for proper functioning of
the installation.
West Germany has legal efficiency
standards. In Switzerland federal effi-
ciency standards are set as guidelines.
Several state and local governments
have already declared these standards
mandatory. The standards expressed in
percentage efficiency are summarized in
Table 2.
Whereas a federal law regulates the
organization of oil heating inspection in
West Germany, in Switzerland the state
and local governments are responsible
for introducing and enforcing these
requirements. There are two funda-
mentally different ways of executing the
inspections:
A) Inspection by government employees.
B) Inspection by private enterprise.
A) The idea of government employees
having the right to inspect something in
a private home may be strange to
Americans. In European countries
many examples of government intrusion
(in spheres considered to be private in
the U.S.) can be found. The public does
not reject such intrusions in the case of
oil heating inspections. In fact, in about
half of the existing inspection programs
in Switzerland, the task is performed by
government employees.
B) Inspections are conducted by
private persons in Germany. The local
chimney sweeps are in charge of
inspecting the heaters when they do
their conventional job. In both Germany
and Switzerland, homeowners are
required to have their boilers, furnaces,
and chimneys cleaned at least once a
year by a licensed chimney sweep.
Combining the inspection with the
cleaning task has obvious economic
synergies. The legal assignment of
inspections to chimney sweeps depends,
of course, on the willingness of the
professionals, who are usually organized
in guilds or trade associations, to
perform the task.
Results of Inspection
Programs
When inspection/maintenance pro-
grams were first introduced, the rate of
rejections varied between 40 and 60
percent. These high percentage figures
were mainly due to a lack of correct
burner adjustments. Technicians install-
-------
ing the equipment were not properly
trained and homeowners were not
aware of the implications of an incorrectly
adjusted burner in terms of energy use
and air pollution.
During the first few years of the
inspection programs, a sharp decrease
of violations occurred. Figure 1 summa-
rizes the results achieved over five to
eight inspection cycles for two Swiss
cities (Zurich and Basel) and West
Germany. The violation percentage
reaches an equilibrium level after
several years. In case of annual inspec-
tions the equilibrium level is about 9
percent with biannual Inspections
(Zurich), the equilibrium level appears to
be higher. A theoretical model based on
a two-level Markov process supports
this hypothesis. The model predicts an
equilibrium level of 9 percent violations
for an annual inspection cycle, and 17
percent biannual inspection program.
Data gathered from inspection and
maintenance programs indicate that
there is an interdependence between
the violation rate and equipment size
and the violation rate and equipment
age. There was a much lower violation
rate for larger equipment. This is
attributed primarily to better mainte-
nance and operation of large equipment
and the resulting lower emissions of
particulates and unburned hydrocarbons.
As for age as an independent variable,
the results are split into age of burner
and age of boiler. Poor performance of
newer burners is explained mostly by
adjustment problems in the first months
of operation, wh i le older burners show a
steadily decreasing performance with
increasing age. Also older boilers were
designed mostly for coal as fuel and had
square flame chambers. Newer boilers
are designed for oil burners and have a
tube-shaped flame chamber, allowing
an even thermal density function around
the flame and higher efficiency.
The total benefit in air pollution
reduction for the city of Zurich is
estimated to amount Jo: 1 percent of
total SO2 emissions, 60 percent of total
soot emissions, and 25 percent of total
hydrocarbon emissions.
Table 2. Efficiency Standards in Germany and Switzerland
Capacity,
gal./hr
Country
Installation Date, Efficiency in %
1978 or Earlier 1979-1982 After 1982
0-1.7
1.7 - 8.4
>8.4
0.06
0.7 - 1.4
1.4 - 3.3
>3.3
Switzerland
Western
Germany
84
86
88
82
83
84
86
87
88
89
84
85
86
87
87
88
89
86
87
88
89
% violations
60
50
40
30
20
10
• W. Germany
* Zurich
- Basel
/ 2345678
Inspection cycles
figure 1. Results of inspection programs in Zurich, Basel, and West Germany.
> U.S.GOVERNMENTPMNTINaOfFIOS:UB-559-017/0786
-------
Robert W. Madler is at 303 Monmouth Avenue, Durham, NC 27707; Werner
Martin is with Integrated Energy Systems. Chapel Hill, NC 27514.
Robert E. Hall is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Description and Analysis of Inspection/
Maintenance Programs for Oil-Fired Heating Systems in Switzerland and
West Germany," (Order No. PB 82-224 957; Cost: $7.50, subject to change)
will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Industrial Environmental Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
Postage and
Fees Paid
Environmental
Protection
Agency
EPA 335
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
60604
------- |