5 Preventative Maintenance Tips For Your Boiler

Boilers are the workhorses of many industrial facilities. This equipment heats up water to create steam for the purpose of generating electricity or heating up a building. Boilers endure extreme heating and cooling periods, which subjects them to stress that can reduce their efficiency and increase your operational costs. It is crucial that you maintain your boiler or risk a breakdown that could cost your company thousands of dollars in maintenance, replacement costs, and lost productivity. To help your business avoid these risks, here are five basic tips that can keep your boiler in optimal shape.

Regular cleanings

All manner of debris can coat the inside of a boiler’s tubes including scale, soot, water buildup, and other types of residue. In fact, coating residue as little as 0.03 to 0.05 inches thick can reduce heat transfer efficiency by up to 10 percent. As more residue builds up inside of the boiler, the heat transfer efficiency reduces which increases the chance of a breakdown.

Most experts recommend that you clean your boiler tubes at least once a year. You can clean your boiler manually, with brushes, or chemically or call a maintenance company to handle this annual service.

Boiler blowdown

Total dissolved solids are inorganic salts such as calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, chlorides, sulfates, and bicarbonates that dissolve in water. These materials precipitate from the water and create scale buildup. As the amount of scale increases on the inside of your boiler, heat transfer efficiency is reduced, which increases the likelihood of a failure. It is crucial that you regularly clean your boiler to prevent total dissolved solids from creating scale.

Water quality

The quality of the water you use is critical to the continued operation of your boiler. You should regularly check and test the water in your boiler for dissolved materials, organic matter, and returned condensate. You should also ensure that you always have a de-aerator in the water to prevent aeration.

Your inspection schedule depends on the size and operating pressure of your boiler. The higher the operating pressure, the more frequently you should conduct inspections. If you need assistance determining how and when to implement an inspection schedule, a plumbing company experienced in servicing industrial and commercial boilers can help.

Insulation

Insulation is crucial to ensuring the continued safe operation of your boiler. Any surface that regularly exceeds 130 degrees Fahrenheit should have insulation to prevent damage to other equipment or harm to your personnel.

Uninsulated steam and condensate piping, fittings, or valves on boiler systems can result in heat loss, which reduces efficiency and increases costs. The less efficient your boiler runs, the harder it needs to work to maintain the same operating temperatures. You should regularly inspect insulation to identify issues quickly and keep your boiler in good running order.

Maintain accurate maintenance and inspection logs

The backbone, and often under-appreciated aspect, of any inspection and maintenance program is consistent log-keeping. You need to know which boilers were inspected and in what way. Accurate logs ensure that you are maintaining your boilers without duplicate work and that you are tracking small reductions in performance.

For instance, recording water and flue gas temperatures and pressure enables you to track performance over time. These logs can help you identify when small reductions in efficiency show that your boiler requires maintenance or a deep cleaning.

An experienced industrial plumbing company can ensure that your boilers remain at peak operational efficiency with minimal cost and effort on your part. You don’t need to waste time learning the intricacies of boiler maintenance and operations when you can rely on an experienced company to help.

If you are looking for the best local plumbing company to handle your industrial, commercial, or residential needs, contact the professionals at Allen’s Tri-State Mechanical, Inc. in Amarillo, Texas. We provide services throughout the Texas Panhandle and Tri-State area. You can call us at (806) 376-8345 or Contact Us by email to learn more. You can also visit us in person at 404 S. Hayden St. in Amarillo to see how we can help you.