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Boiler is one of the most complicated machines that are used in many different industries. The main objective of installing a boiler in an industry is to create very high amount of heat, steam and pressure. As we are dealing with very high amount of heat and pressure, it is crucial that the boilers are kept in good condition so that they keep running at their best efficiency and with best safety level. For this, maintenance of the boiler must be done at regular intervals. Ignoring regular maintenance of the boilers can be dangerous for the boiler as well as for those working on it.

When we are talking of boiler maintenance, the first thing that is considered the most is proper cleaning of the boiler shell and tubes. The boiler tubes and shell normally get clogged due to the deposition of different particles and materials die to prolonged and continuous usage. This is called scale, and this can reduce the efficiency of the boiler to a significant level. It is essential to make sure that the scale is regularly removed from the boiler tube so that they could work fine regularly and continuously.

Here are some methods with which you can also prevent the deposition of scale on the inner surface of the boiler tubes.

• Always use water softener for the feed water of your boiler. You can use chemical softening agents or you can install a softening plant that will help in softening of the water before it is fed to the boiler.
• Test the hardness of the water daily to ensure that your softening process is working efficiently.
• Also, you need to test the water inside the boiler to make sure that you boiler is fed soft water.
• If there is periodic increase in the hardness of the boiler, get your softener replaced or repaired.

Even after implementation of a softening plant, the scale will be deposited in your boiler tubes. This scale will be comparatively lower than the hard water but still needs to be removed. For cleaning the scales, you can use some chemicals and cleaning agents that will loosen the scale from the surface and then a water jet can be used for flushing the debris out of the tube.

In addition to that, there are different types of boiler tube cleaners available in the market that can be used for easy, fast and efficient cleaning of boiler tubes. The boiler tube cleaners are available in different types such as hydraulic, pneumatic and electric boiler tube cleaners. These cleaning systems are used for bigger boilers as it is not possible to clean the boilers with capacity, manually. The tube cleaners save a lot of time, energy and money by completing the task in very less time and in more efficient way. Once you have the scale removed from the boiler tubes, you can easily obtain the best efficiency of the boiler and increase the profits by saving money on the energy costs as well.

Boilers are one of the predominant components of a power plant. The application of boilers is increasing significantly to meet the growing power demands. Functionally, they are used to convert water into steam by subjecting it to high temperatures and pressures. The materials employed in their manufacture should withstand the extreme operating conditions. In this process of evaporation carried out in the boilers, the formation of scales, sludges and soot is commonly witnessed. They act as heat insulators lowering the heat transferred through the boilers. This phenomenon decreases the performance of the power plant drastically. Its then boiler tube cleaners come to the rescue…!!!

Types of Boilers:

The boiler tube cleaners vary with the type of boilers used. Hence, it is important to make a note of the type of boilers. Based on the flow of water and hot gases, the boilers are classified into fire tube and water tube boilers.

• Fire tube boilers: As the name suggests, the hot gases flow through the tubes and the water which is to be vaporized flows through the shell. Formation of soot can be seen within the tubes. If the tubes are not cleaned of the soot, the fuel consumption increases to dangerous levels.

• Water tube boilers: In contrast to fire tube boilers, in these boilers, the water flows through the tubes and the hot gas flows through the shell. In general, the water tubes are found to be vertical. However, tubes with bends are also commonly witnessed in these types, making the cleaning process a little more difficult.

Types of Boiler Tube Cleaners:

• One of the primitive types of tube cleaners is the soot blower. Compressed air is employed to clear off the soot and slag formed. The striking advantage of this type of cleaners is that the working conditions of the boilers are not disturbed in the cleaning process.

• Automated versions of soot blowers were introduced in the succeeding years.

• Dynamites have gained popularity in the cleaning process of the boilers for a significant period of time. It is an offline process which calls to cease the working of the boiler.

• Boilers’ efficiency can be sustained significantly by employing pressure blowers. The required pressure can be adjusted with the type of application.

• Chemical cleaning is the advisable process when it comes to cleaning of calcium chlorides.

Desirable Features of Boiler Tube Cleaners:

• Light weight and compact design can ensure easy handling.

• The tube cleaner should be used over a wide range of applications with minimum modifications of components.

• The maintenance shouldn’t be complicated.

• It must aim at improving the lifetime of the boiler.

• Tube indexing can be simplified by employing camera system.

• An eco friendly kit consisting of brushes, hoses, oil, safety equipment and a few spare parts to replace the damaged ones.

Author’s Bio: The author has an expertise in the field of thermal engineering who is working for http://www.powermaster.in/. The author provides detailed thermal design and selects the required hardware. The author also carries out the thermal testing of the manufactured devices.

The extensive increase in the power demands is leading to a growth of boilers use in many spheres. Regular cleaning of the boilers can enhance the production. In case of boilers, the cleaning aspect is very crucial. The boilers are employed to convert water into steam. To facilitate this process, the material employed in their manufacture should be a good conductor of heat. High temperatures and pressures are experienced in the boiler. This results in the formation of scales or sludges in them. These impurities decrease the conducting capacity of the boiler drastically. Ultimately, this affects the production rates dangerously.

Types of Boilers:

The boiler tube cleaners vary with the types of the boilers. Hence, it is important to make a note of them. Though the concept of boilers classification is diverse, in this context, two main types have to be considered strongly. They are fire tube and water tube boilers. As the name suggests, in fire tube boilers, the hot gases flow through the tubes and the water to be vaporized flows in the shell. It is vice versa for water tube boilers.

Boiler Tube Cleaners:

There is no specific cleaner or procedure to use in boilers. Over the years many new techniques have developed. Here under we present you a few of them.

• Soot blowers are one of the oldest cleaners ever used. With the help of the soot blowers, the cleaning operation can be done without disturbing the working of the boiler. It employs the compressed air to clear the slag formed.

• The soot blowers, which were introduced long back, are automated in the recent past years.

• Variable pressure blowers are capable of cleaning the boiler tubes with the optimum amount of pressure required. Neither too high nor too low pressures are produced in them. This type of cleaning can retain the maximum efficiency of the boiler.

• Chemical cleaning is another most widely used cleaning method. This can efficiently remove the scales and the calcium chlorides.

Procedure

A few basic steps have to be followed in the process of cleaning the boilers as given below.

• In case of employing an offline cleaning method, instantly, the boiler has to be isolated from the system. The cleaning process has to be carried out only after cooling the boiler completely.

• Start disassembling the boiler. All the major components like heat exchanger must be exposed. And so, the exposed parts must be cleaned with a brush.

• Have the entire burner assembly exposed. Clean them with warm water. Now, carefully, clean all the tubes with a brush and then tap them gently on the ground.

• Once, the cleaning process is done, the whole boiler components have to be assembled.

Though varied cleaning techniques and devices are available for boilers, it is important to choose the perfect one depending upon the application.

In a boiler, the water absorbs heat and converts into steam. From this statement, it can be inferred that high temperatures and pressures are involved in the boiler. The concept of classification of the boilers is too vast. However, confining only to the tube boilers, they are classified into fire tube and water tube boilers. The marking difference between these two types is the matter present in the tubes. As the names suggests, in water tube boilers, water is sent through the tubes and heat is added through the shell. Other then this feature, all other major constructional features remain same.

Why Should The Boilers Be Cleaned…?

Cleaning is required for every accessory. But, when it comes to boilers, the cleaning system plays a dominant role. It can be visualized through the following points.

• Since fire is involved, soot is developed heavily on the boilers. The soot has high insulating properties of heat.
• The scales formed on the surface of the boilers can make things go entirely worse. The scale thickness of half an inch can increase the fuel consumption to more than 70%.
• A critical design is employed in the manufacture of boilers. Getting them repaired under damaged conditions is too expensive. The maintenance costs are much lower.

Cleaning Kit:

The boiler tube cleaners vary for fire tube and water tube boilers. Though the construction might remain similar, yet the working conditions in these boilers differ. Hence, distinct cleaning kits are provided for each of these. However, a few basic and most common elements are presented here under:

• A metal storage case
• Brushes used for cleaning purpose. They are basically made from stainless steel.
• A maintenance unit which can separate the oil from water.
• Oil which is to be used for the high pressure compressed air.
• A few hoses (The dimensions vary with the type of application)
• A tool kit
• A few spare parts to replace the damaged ones.
• Safety equipment

Features of a Good Cleaning System:

• It is preferable if the cleaning system is automated.
• The operation has to be safe as well as easy.
• It shouldn’t call for high maintenance levels
• Reliable performance.
• The life of the tube and in turn the boiler has to increase.
• The design has to be compact.
• Eco friendly kit
• The tools have to be interchangeable

When to Clean the Boiler..?

It is very important to know when to clean your boiler. In general, the boilers have to be cleaned on a regular basis. The time period depends upon the type of environment and application. If the stack temperature increases abnormally, it indicates considerable scale formation. An electronic combustion efficiency tester can be employed in the maintenance of the boiler. Numerous models are available today in the market. They provide a detailed analysis about the working condition of the boilers. Cleaning the boiler on a regular basis can result in lower maintenance costs.

Failure of boiler tube has been considered to rank among the most leading causes for forced boiler outages especially in those fossil fired boilers. For avoiding future unpredictable operation forced downtime, it is very much necessary for determining root cause of the issue. Generally, tube failure is stated to be an indication of bigger problems being located further from tube itself. Moreover, negligence of thorough inspection would cause loss of revenue and further downtime in the future.

Using the best boiler tube cleaners

Using non destructive and NDT testing is regarded to be the best way for carrying out complete inspection of system while determining precisely as to exactly where failure has occurred. For inspecting various boiler types, NDT could be utilized and also across wide range of organizations and industries like petroleum, chemical, offshore, power and bulk storage.

Methods used

For inspecting generating banks especially in boilers of drum to drum type, methods like Remote Field Electro-magnetic Technique or RFET is employed. A probe gets placed on the boiler tube’s external or internal with remote field and run down and up for detecting flaws present in it. It can help to detect flaws present both inside and outside even though it does not have required capability to discriminate between these two. Also, inspection could be performed through steam drum or mud drum.

Bigger boiler systems having water wall tubes or furnace could be inspected for OD or IO flaws on the tube’s hot side half. For oil and gas burning units, there is no requirement for preparation, though for oil, water blast of high pressure is generally needed. Access could be gained through swing or hard scaffolding stages. There are different technologies which are employed for such tube types called Low-Frequency Electromagnetic Testing or LEFT and tend to work by making use of similar technology. However, it has been designed exclusively for flatter surfaces. Hence, any surface, which cannot be scanned because of bending or for that matter other issues, could now be tested through ultrasonic methods for delivering full analysis.

Re heaters and super heater can be scanned by using LFET, including economizers. In regards to secondary inspection or for giving a much more thorough IRIS (Internal Rotary Inspection- System) analysis can be used, which is known to make use of ultrasonic methods for scanning areas in details, thereby revealing flaws that are located in-depth within the part as well as smaller flaws.

Causes of boiler tube failure

There are many reasons for which the boiler tube could lead towards failure. Every failure type could indicate variety of causes, which NDT analysis hopefully would show up.

Few common causes may include the following:

• Oxygen pitting
• Caustic attack
• Acid attack
• Hydrogen damage
• Stress corrosion cracking
• Super-heater fireside ash corrosion
• Waterside corrosion fatigue
• Fireside corrosion fatigue
• Waterfall fireside corrosion
• High temperature oxidization

To conclude, to determine root cause is very much essential for preventing future failures and save hassle, time, lost revenue as well as reduced revenue through low operating capacity.

If you have an industrial plant where there is an extensive use of boiler, then you must know the importance of the equipment for smooth and efficient running of the plant. The industries that use boiler are greatly dependent on them. There are various aspects and factors that you need to consider so that your boiler keeps working for your company for a long time. If you also want that your boiler keeps working continuously for you, then you must take care of your boiler. Proper care of boiler is not only necessary for efficient working and long life, but it also ensures best safety of your equipment and those working on that equipment. In order to keep your boiler in an optimum state, first of all, you need to know about the components of a boiler. Here are discussed some of the important boiler components-

Boiler tubes

The boiler tube is the most important component that is used in boiler as it conveys the heat from the furnace to other parts of the boiler. For paramount working of boiler, it is important that the tubes keep working fine. The tubes must be checked regularly for any sort of leakage, and if found any, it must be rectified immediately. Additionally, the tubes must be cleaned using boiler tube cleaners so that any scale or sludge accumulated on the surface of the tubes could be cleared off thoroughly and the best working of the tubes could be restored.

Boiler feed pump

In a boiler, water level must be maintained to a safe level or it can be dangerous for the equipment. For maintaining the optimum level of water in the boiler, feed pumps are used. It is important to keep your feed pumps working all the time. It is better to have an extra feed pump in spare for emergency situations.

Safety valve

In a boiler, there is a high amount of pressurized steam produced which can be very dangerous if proper care is not taken. For safety purposes, a safety pressure release valve is installed in a boiler so that any extra pressure that is harmful for the boiler could be released from the boiler immediately.

Gauges and meters

It is essential for a boiler to keep all the working factors in safe limit because if these factors go above or below the safe working limit, it can be hazardous for both equipment and the people. The various gauges and meter installed on a boiler help the operator in keeping all the working factors under safe limits. These gauges and meters include pressure gauge, temperature gauge, water level indicator, etc.

Along with these, there are also many other components that are installed in a boiler for the best working of the equipment. Once you know all about these components, it becomes very easy for you to take care of your boiler and these components individually.

When you are working in an industry where boilers are used, you must know that boiler is a very important type of equipment for the industry where it is being used. It produces very high amounts of heat and pressure that help in conducting many processes in industries. As we are dealing with very extreme amounts of heat and pressure, it becomes very important to take care of the boiler equipment so that it could work at its best efficiency. Additionally, proper care of boiler is also necessary for better safety level at workplace. Due to lack of proper care, boiler becomes a huge bomb waiting to explode anytime causing fatal accidents.

When it comes to boiler care, there are two main factors that really matter. One is the operation of the boiler and the other is the maintenance of the boiler. When you are hiring an operator for your boiler, you must keep in mind that you should hire only a competent, well qualified and well experienced boiler operator. Only then you can expect your boiler to run at its full capacity and efficiency without any major damage to the equipment itself. When a boiler operator is well qualified, he is able to read all the meters and gauges mounted on your boiler and keep all the working factors under safe limit. Crossing the safe limits for boilers can be very dangerous for the boiler as well as for those who are working near the boiler. When the boiler operator is well experienced, it helps him in handling various situations that may emerge during the operation of the boiler. In addition to that, you also must keep in mind that you should hire only a boiler operator having a valid license to operate a boiler. Hiring a boiler operator without a valid license is not only bad for your equipment, but it is also illegal and can put you in problem.

Once you have hired a competent operator, next thing you need to focus on, is boiler maintenance. In boiler maintenance, one of the main aspects is the boiler tube cleaning. Boiler tubes often get clogged from various factors such as dirt, sludge and scale. The clogged tube decrease the efficiency of tube, and hence boilers to a very low level, hence the tube must be cleaned regularly to maintain the best efficiency. Boiler tube cleaners are the best option for cleaning of boiler tubes. There are many types of boiler tube cleaners available in the market such as electric, pneumatic and hydraulic tube cleaners, which perform the task in an efficient manner and in very less time.

Along with the boiler tube cleaners, you also need other tools, such as tube pulling tools, tube installation tools, and joint testing kits, tube drifts, etc. for the best and efficient maintenance of your boilers.