Boiler Inspections

Boilers and other pressure vessels (PVs) and associated appurtenances and auxiliaries are comprehensively inspected on a regular basis. Inspection usually occur annually, although for many commercial and light industrial applications, a variance may be issued to permit a temporary extension of a further 6 or 12 months. 

Heavy industrial boilers operating in continuous processes may be online for perhaps four or even five years before shutting down for maintenance and inspection. Here, correct boiler plant materials selection is critical, and the quality of the various utility support functions must be outstanding if forced outages are to be avoided. A heavy industrial or utility boiler that is unintentionally offline may cost 1 million a day in lost production or electricity generation. 

The inspection is undertaken primarily to ensure the continuous safe operation of the equipment and to direct repairs or changes in operation if questions of safety or adequacy for service arise. To be of significant value, an inspection must be carried out thoroughly and the results and conclusions compared with those of previous inspections. Local or state authorities may demand annual inspection and provide for penalties if a violation of the appropriate industrial pressure vessel or administrative code is found. 

When a boiler is shut down for inspection and maintenance, there may be three levels of inspectors present on site  

In the following sections, the informal inspection process is discussed, rather than the more exhaustive and time-consuming regulatory or plant inspection processes. 

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The Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company Center for Chemical Process Safety United States Department of Energy Arthur D. Little, Inc. 

The original steam generators were simple pressure vessels that were prone to caiasirophic failures and loss of life. Due to better boiler design, tube-fired boilers, and boiler inspections, the incidence of catastrophic failure is now to a rare event (about once every 100,000 vessel-years). In Great Britain in 1866, there were 74 steam boiler explosions causing 77 deaths. This was reduced to 17 explo.sions and 8 deaths in 1900 as a result of inspections performed by the Manchester Steam User Association. In the United States, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers established the ASME Pressure Ves.sel Codes with comparable reductions. 

Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. Hartford, CT... 

Stouppe, D. E., Planning for CFC Phaseout, The Locomotive, Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. (reference issue not available). 

Safety is the first priority of any inspection program, and appropriate precautions must be taken. Boiler inspections are vitally important and often technically rewarding, but the process usually is dirty, exhausting, hot, and sometimes wet work. 

A boiler inspection includes a thorough examination of all waterside and fireside surfaces, plus the permanent boiler log, daily log, and other water treatment and maintenance records. Any economizers, attemperators, FW heaters, and other associated equipment may also be inspected. 

J. E. Troppman, Division of Labor/State of Colorado Boiler Inspections... 

Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company (HSB) insures distribution transformers for power generation utility companies. The cost to HSB when an insured transformer fails often exceeds a million dollars. The possibility of losses of this magnitude has given HSB the incentive to develop a transformer fault early detection and diagnosis program, based on chemical analysis of the transformer insulating oil. 

The steam-hydrocarbon reforming process is highly developed and will operate for months or even years without interruption, except for normal outages scheduled for boiler inspection, routine maintenance, and other attention which is placed on a definable schedule. The heat balance and utilization are well engineered ordinarily so that there is little waste, and what heat is unused on the furnace side of the reformer is subsequently recovered for use to generate steam. 

Boiler Feed Water System—Check the demineralised water plant units, water piping, operation of water pumps, condensate recycle lines, deaerator tank, drain lines, calibration of Boiler Feed Water tank, operation of level indicator, external insulation, location of temperature indicators, etc. Get examined the hydraulic test certificates for all pressure parts and subsequentiy obtain permission from Statutory Boiler Inspection Authority to commission the boiler. Note BFW pumps shall be run one by one to feed water into the boiler. Backpressure shall be created by throttiing overflow from WHB. Water flow... 

Steam is one of the most common options for heating. However, a steam pressure of 10 kg/cm and more will be required for achieving 150 °C and higher temperatures. This needs specially designed and fabricated vessels (heating jackets and coils), steam pipelines, and valves, with the approval of Pressure Vessel and Steam Boiler Inspection Authorities in the country. This is not necessary when heat transfer oils are used for heating even up to 270 °C as the system can operate at atmospheric pressure. 

Inspection—The boilers and economisers are to be thoroughly cleaned both from tube side as well as shell sides by using suitable cleaning brashes and chemical desealants (chemical solutions with inhibitors such as 3—4 % HCl and rodine inhibitor sulphamic acid). The thermal insulation and cladding may have to be removed to expose the bare surface if the boiler inspecting authority asks for a visual inspection. 

From 1851 the famous Manchester engineer. Sir William Fairbairn, began arguing for periodic inspection of boiler plant. An advocate of high pressure, in the interests of economy, he decided that the explosions arose from avoidable mechanical causes which could be located in time by carrying out periodic inspections. So in 1854 he enlisted the help of two other eminent Manchester men — Henry Houldsworth, master cotton spinner, and the celebrated engineer. Sir Joseph Whitworth - to form an Association for boiler inspections. This became known as the Manchester Steam Users Association. 

At this stage there was still no statutory requirement to have boilers inspected, but, as the 20th century approached, the evidence of over 1000 enquiries held under the Boiler Explosions Act clearly demonstrated the value of regular thorough inspections by competent engineers. The result,... 

Quality control, although not a term that had yet been invented, was addressed indirectly via the exigencies of insurance. Soon after the Sultana disaster, in 1866, the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Company was established, in Hartford, Connecticut - the first company in America devoted to public safety. This company was the first to merge inspection and insurance, which was undoubtedly a... 

Brockton at that time was a major center for shoe manufacture, which employed some 35,000 people, and steam was used for leather processing in various local factories. A little over 18 months after the Grover shoe factory explosion and fire, another boiler exploded on December 6,1906, this time in the factory of the P.J. Hamey Shoe Company in Lynn, Massachusetts. As a result of these two major accidents in Massachusetts in quick succession, a five-man Board of Boiler Rules was convened by ASME, whose charge was to write a boiler law for the state this board published its boiler laws in 1908 and the state of Massachusetts enacted these laws, which were the most rigid boiler inspection laws in the United States to that date. 

This was the birth of the TUVs, those days known as "Boiler Inspection Associations". There arose a number of inspection organisations with regional responsibility districts. This meant that there was no central organisation so that the associations began to compete with one another as deregulation proceded. 

Contains a statement of FRA policy concerning enforcement of safety laws. The FRA can inqx)se civil penalties. The amount of the penalty is indicated in each section of the federal regulations. The Safety Appliance, Boiler Inspection, Signal Inspection, Accident Report, and Hours of Service Acts also allow for collection of civil penalties. The RSIA 1988 increased the amount of the fines. A 1983 amendment made railroads strictly liable for any penalties, irrespective of whether they were aware of the violation "It shall be unlawful... 

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