FLAME IMPINGMENT

How docs the furnace provide for proper combustion? A For fuel to be burned efficiently, the furnace must have adequate combustion space to ensure a thorough mixing of air and fuel. The furnace must also maintain a high enough temperature for complete combustion. The furnace must be tight so that air cannot leak into, or out of, the casing and thus affect the air/fuel ratio. Too high a furnace temperature must also be avoided, as this can lead to rapid deterioration of linings (if installed), or possible overheating of vital pressure parts such as tubes or combustion furnaces in scotch marine boilers. Also, the reaction of combustion should be completed before the flue gases leave the combustion chamber so as to avoid flame impingement on tubes and possible overheating List the precautions needed with refractories on oil-fired boiicrs. A Refractories (brickwork) are subject to damage from many causes, such as improperly adjusted fires and vanadium-contaminated oil. Impingement and the resulting carbon buildup arc common. The flame should travel down the furnace on sm boiicrs without touching cither the furnace or the refractory. Long periods of operation on low firing often cause refractor)' damage. The very small flame reduces the combustion chamber temperature and causes poor combustion. Carbon builds up and intense heat is directed at the surface of the refractory, thus causing spalling (facing breaks off). Unless the oil has been specifically treated, there is no relief from the damages caused by vanadium in the oil. Moisture trapped in the refractory may develop steam, which ruptures the surface. Q What checks are made on the fireside of boilers? A Carefully inspect the plate and tube surfaces that are exposed to the fire. Look for places that might become deformed by bulging or blistering during operation. Solids in the waterside of lower generating tubes cause blisters when sludge settles in tubes and water cannot carry away heat. Urheberrechllich geschutzlcs Material Maintenance, Impaction, and Repair 313 Tiie boiler must be taken out of service until the defective part or parts have been properly repaired. Blistered tubes usually must be cut out and replaced with new. Lap-joint boilers are apt to crack where plates lap in a longitudinal or straight seam. If there is evidence of leakage or trouble at this point, remove the rivets and examine the plate'carefully if cracks exist in the seam. Cracks in shell plates are usually dangerous, except fire cracks that tun from the edge of the plate into the rivet holes of girth seams. Usually,

a limited number of such fire cracks are not very serious. Test stay bolts by tapping one end of each bolt with a hammer. For best results, hold a hammer or heavy tool at the opposite end while tapping. A broken bolt is indicated by a hollow sound. Tubes in hrt boilers deteriorate faster at the ends toward the fire. Tapping the outer surface with a light hammer shows if there is serious thinness. Tubes of vt boilers usually thin at the upper ends when exposed to the products of combustion. Lack of water cooling is the cause. Tubes subject to strong draft often thin from erosion caused by impingement of fuel and ash particles. Soot blowers, improperly used, will also thin the tubes. A leaky tube spraying hot water on nearby sooty tubes will corrode them seriously from an acid condition. Short tubes or nipple; joining drums or headers lodge fuel and ash, then cause corrosion if moisture is present. First clean, then thoroughly examine all such places. Baffles in wt boilers often move out of place. Then combustion gas, short -circuiting through baffles, raises the temperature on portions of the boiler, causing trouble. Heat localization from improper or detective burners, or operation causing a blowpipe effect, must be corrected to prevent overheating. What causes one or more bulges in tubes in a wt boiler? A Usually a piece of scale breaks away from inside the boiler and settles in a tube, causing localized overheating of tube metal (Fig 16-1). Flame or heat impingement and sludge deposits are also causes. If no evidence of scale is found after a tube bulges and leaks, it may have been blown free with the tube failure. Q Is flame impingement on boiler parts harmful? . local biiio- * Direct flame impingement causes local overin B (biiitar) on watoi heating of metal because water circulation may not , u b*- be fast enough to keep the metal within safe limits. On ci units, flame impingement can create uneven expansion stresses that may crack a section. On wt boilers, steam pockets can form in a tube, leading to tube bulging or rupturing