Preventing Catastrophe

Almost 80 percent of all reported boiler accidents were attributed to two causes: low water cutoff, and operator error/poor maintenance. A low water cutoff condition occurs when the water level in the boiler steam drum drops below a pre-set safe level (as determined by the boiler manufacturer) and, in turn, shuts off the boiler. This condition, and the subsequent cause, should be investigated and corrected immediately. Failure of this safety control may result, at a minimum, in costly tube or vessel repairs, or, in the worst cases, catastrophic boiler and building damage and personnel injury or death.

Some common causes of low water conditions include:
•    Feedwater pump failure
•    Control valve failure
•    Loss of water to the deaerator or make-up water system
•    Drum level controller failure
•    Drum level controller inadvertently left in “manual” position
•    Loss of plant air pressure to the control valve actuator
•    Safety valve lifting
•    Wide variations or sudden changes in steam load

Avoiding the above conditions is critical to ensuring safe and reliable boiler operation. Maintenance, inspection, and operational logs are recommended and required by insurance companies.  These records not only help determine boiler performance trends, but also keep operators focused on the safe performance of the boiler and auxiliary plant equipment.  To this end, unnecessary boiler downtime (together with the loss of plant production) and lost time accidents are avoided.

The only way to avoid premature downtime and accidents (in the worst cases) is to make certain that operators and plant owners are committed to an on-going operational and preventative maintenance programs.  The Hartford Steam Boiler website www.hsb.com is a good resource.  Turning a blind eye to safe boiler operations puts operators, company employees, and equipment at unnecessary risk.

Edited from Nationwide Blog

Fault Listing for DDCC S320 for SAACKE Burner user with DDCC BMS

This fault has occurred for one of the following reasons:

F1 – Gas incorrect position
A drive positioning fault has occurred, which will cause a safety shutdown of the burner.

F2 -Oil incorrect position
During close position prove, when a drive stops at a position which is outside the close set position by more than five degrees.

F7 – Sec.air damper incorrect position
During purge position prove, when a drive stops at a position which is outside the close set position by more than five degrees

F9 – Prim.air damper incorrect position
During pre purge, ignition or post purge, when a drive moves from its set point.

F10 – Recirc.air damper incorrect position
During modulation, when a drive is not at its correct set point as defined by the commissioned fuel/air ratio for the selected profile.

F8 Variable speed incorrect position
A drive is defined as having moved from its set point if its positional error is more than 1o for 15s, or more than 5o for 1s.