There is a portion of scripture\nreferring to little foxes ruining the vineyard. Along the same vein I have\nspotted a number of little foxes ruining boiler operations as well, often to\nthe utter confusion of operating staff and the dismay of Production staff. One\nof them in particular is simple to avoid, but seemingly difficult to detect. I\nam referring to the draught sensing pipe running from the ignition arch through\nto the control panel. It is normally a \u215c inch (10mm) copper pipe which is run\nalong a cable tray, with a number of pipe joints and connections along the way.\nQuite often the copper pipe is joined to a plastic or rubber pipe on its final\nrun to the control panel, where it is connected to a furnace pressure\ncontroller, such as a photohelic or other electronic pressure differential\nsensing device. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing is for sure: if draught\n(furnace pressure) sensing is lost, boiler operations tend to end up in chaos.\nEither the boiler house rapidly fills up with smoke and flames, or the FD fan\nand stoker come to a standstill. Both are of cause equally disruptive; on the\none hand choking operators trying to engage manual operation to restore steam\nproduction, on the other hand dropping steam pressure and irritated production\nsupervisors swarming and\/or calling the boiler house to find out why there is\nno steam. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I walked into our boiler house\nthe other day after a 36 monthly statutory inspection. I noted that the draught\nsensing pipe has been replaced, but I also noted that the pipe sloped slightly\nupward where it took the first turn. Not good at all! With a freshly cast\nignition arch I knew there was a significant amount of water evaporating from\nthe wet refractory and condensing in the sensing pipe. Very soon the condensate\nwould fill the pipe at the first bend and block the furnace pressure signal to\nthe control panel. My suspicions were confirmed when I disconnected the pipe at\nthe first joint and pressed down on the loose end \u2013 some 5 ml of condensate\ndrained out on to the floor. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So here are a few practical tips\nto consider regarding draught sensing pipes and eliminating the little furnace\npressure fox:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This post\nwas compiled by Ren\u00e9 le Roux<\/strong> for Le Roux Combustion, all\nrights reserved. Do you want to know more about efficiency of combustion or\ncombustion optimization? Please contact us for your professional boiler\nautomation, steam system efficiency and coal characterization needs.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Kindly note\nthat our posts do not constitute professional advice and the comments, opinions\nand conclusions drawn from this post must be evaluated and implemented with\ndiscretion by our readers at their own risk.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is a portion of scripture referring to little foxes ruining the vineyard. Along the same vein I have spotted a number of little foxes ruining boiler operations as well, often to the utter confusion of operating staff and the dismay of Production staff. One of them in particular is simple to avoid, but seemingly … <\/p>\n