Boiler maintenance

[grs]

After just having pulled apart my condensate return to find out why I didn't have steam on the side jacket of my kettle (1/2 way through the boil!) I'm wondering what everyone does for maintenance on their boiler, steam, and condensate lines. Aside from cleaning out the Y strainers on the condensate return line what else is required? Any treatment to the boiler water? Periodic draining and flushing of the boiler? Steam trap maintenance of any kind?

I bought a used system and reused the steam traps and strainers. Judging by the crud that came out of the first one and the difficulty in opening the sucker up I don't think it had ever been done.

grs<---Shoulda spent the $100 and bought new strainers

[gitchegumee]

With all due respect, the strainers are not your problem. They did their job. Your maintenance routine is the problem. Your best bet is to consult a boiler specialist. You must treat boiler water to prevent corrosion, salt and gunk buildup, and to get the best performance from your boiler. A boiler specialist will set up a chemistry dosing tank & pump and come in once a month or two and see what shape your boiler is in. If your strainers are filled with crud, you can bet your boiler and controls are filled with it as well. How often should you flush your strainers? Often enough to keep them clean and dirt-free. How often should you blow down your boiler, sightglass, and low level cutoff? Once a week, maybe more. It will pay to have someone who knows come in and put you on a worry-free path. Boilers are not only expensive, they can be dangerous. Protect your investment and your health. Cheers & good luck!

[BrewinLou]

I am with Lake Superior on this one. Bad boiler maintenance is a recipe for disaster. That being said every "boiler expert" we have had come in has a different story about how to maintain your boiler, and or what causes problems. Regular weekly blowdowns and a daily doser chemical treatment are two ways we keep our boiler in good shape. Good call on the traps I just remembered it is time to clean them again. Once you start cleaning the traps regularly they will come off easier. There is always some crud in the traps. We do have a guy come in a test the boiler water monthly. We do this from experience, a couple years ago our boiler fell into neglect and we had a meltdown. Even a low pressure boiler is very dangerous when the low water sensor goes bad. It could have exploded if water had started coming in while the whole thing was orange hot. Luckily it just melted and cracked 10 plates. Very expensive fix though.

[tariq khan]

Man after having numerous discussions with boiler specialists over the years...the protocol that I followed was..1) blow down the boiler every night and use water softening salts to avoid corrosion.


T

[Kevin O'Connell]

If you'll give me a call, I can help with maint. issues. I've been the maint manager for various companies over the years and have done boilers in most of them.
I engineered auto blow down set ups, p.m. schedules, trap maint and repairs, auto water feed and preheating systems, chemical treatment systems and trained personnel on water analysis.
You can reach me at 816-518-5525. Thanks, Kevin.

[tariq khan]

Anybody know of any where I can learn more about basic boiler operation stuff ? My boiler has been going through some rough times and I want to understand a bit more of what's going on.....I'm planning on maybe taking a boiler operator course soon but was hoping to find a book or article in the interim......

cheers!

Tariq (Big Ridge Brewery, Surrey, B.C.)

[Alex T]

Hi,

From what I know you should

1) use a water softener to reduce TDS in your feed water (or RO water if you have it) unless your mains water is very soft
2) be dosing oxygen scavenger and pH correction chemicals to reduce corrosion
3) blow down regularly to reduce solids and TDS build-up (many boilers have auto blowdown for this).
4) have a preventative maintenance contract for your boiler (your contractor will come in and check all safety systems, etc)

I think you had better get someone in quick-smart otherwise that thing could have a melt down. I suggest a strong chemical de-scale will be required to try and get the corrosion under control. Don't delay...... A brewery needs steam to be brew! (no offence to any brewers with electric heating, of course!)

Oh, and whoever you get to do your boiler maintenance should be able to give you TDS guidelines (normally 2000-3000ppm from memory) and you should be able to check this yourself with a TDS meter and decide if blowdowns need to increase or reduce. Condensate re-use helps with both energy efficiency and TDS control - so re-use that condensate where you can.

Cheers,

Alex

[tariq khan]

I have a contract with a boiler maintenance company as well as a boiler chemical company who do all the necessary checks and adjustments. I blow down every night and know roughly how it works but I'm not an expert so what I'm looking for is something that will explain boiler functioning a bit more in depth if you know what I mean....

T