LEARN THE INDUSTRIAL BOILER WATER TREATMENT BASICS

WHY IS BOILER WATER TREATMENT REQUIRED?

Water quality is of the utmost importance in proper and safe boiler operations. An improperly treated feedwater system can result in the scaling of the boiler internals, safety equipment and auxiliary piping. Such corrosion can lead to thermal fatigue, reduced boiler efficiency and ultimately, boiler failure in severe cases. The destructive nature of the untreated feedwater disrupts your steam production process, which creates added expenses to your total cost of operation. Additionally, you are shortening the lifespan of the equipment causing you to, again, increase capital expenditures.

HOW DO YOU TREAT BOILER WATER?

Establishing a boiler water treatment plan will provide you with real-time feedback of your boiler system so you can get ahead of any issues that might occur as a result of poor water quality. We broke down the boiler water treatment process into three simple steps that you can incorporate into your preventative maintenance practices.

1. Remove Hard Water Elements

Water treatment typically begins with sediment filters to remove suspended solids and water softeners to remove calcium, magnesium and other metal cations. These chemicals cause “hard water” and contribute to scale buildup in the boiler and associated pipings and fittings.

2. Pre-Heat the Feedwater

The next step in the water treatment plan is to pre-heat the feedwater, which is one of the most basic methods of mechanical deaeration - the process of removing dissolved oxygen from water. Pre-heating the feedwater usually occurs in either the feedwater tank or deaerator using supplementary steam.

3. Treat Feedwater with Required Chemicals

Lastly, most boiler rooms will add any required chemicals to the feedwater to remove any remaining oxygen as well as condition the water properly and even condition the metal of the equipment, piping and fittings, if necessary.

Overall, we recommend taking daily water samples, so you can always be aware of any chemical impurities in real-time and act accordingly if needed. For the other services, implementing a monthly water treatment program will ensure that you are proactively taking care of your boiler system to prevent damages and potential boiler failures.

COMMON BOILER WATER TREATMENT ISSUES

There are issues that can arise when treating the boiler feed water system. If you are monitoring the feed water system, you will want to look out for the following signs to make sure that your system is running efficiently and safely.