prevent the transfer of heat to the water or steam in the tubes.

Soot and slag accumulations that block the gas passages through the tube banks require the use of high air pressures to force the combustion gases through the boiler, thus reducing fireroom efficiency. Accumulations that block the gas passages also interfere with the designed flow of combustion gases and cause extremely hot gases to pass over protection plates, baffles, seal plates, and other parts that are not designed for such high-temperature gases; in some cases, early failure of these parts can be blamed directly on blocked gas passages and the resulting overheating of the parts.

When soot is allowed to remain on the boiler firesides for any length of time, the sulfur in the soot combines with moisture and forms sulfuric acid. This acid attacks tubes, drums, and headers. The extent of the damage caused by acid attack depends upon the length of time the soot remains on the tubes and upon the amount of moisture present during this interval. Moisture may be present as a result of high atmospheric humidity; rain or snow coming down the stack; leaky boiler tubes; and steam or water leakage through the boiler casing joints, particularly from machinery and piping installed above the boiler.

One indication of soot corrosion is the development of pinhole leaks at the point where the tubes enter the water drums and headers and at other points where it is difficult to clean the tubes properly. When soot corrosion is allowed to proceed unchecked, extensive deterioration of the boiler metals results.

You will find that keeping the firesides clean actually saves work, as well as saving the boiler. Clean tubes do not collect deposits as readily as dirty tubes do. It is a good deal easier to clean the firesides several times when they are only slightly dirty than to clean them once when they are heavily coated with soot and carbon.

Local instructions usually specify steaming intervals after which the boiler firesides must be cleaned. In addition to this upkeep, the firesides are normally cleaned just before to the annual internal inspection.

Although there are a number of cleaning methods available (such as hot-water washing, wet-steam lancing, and so forth), mechanical cleaning should be considered the basic and preferred method of cleaning firesides. The other methods are generally used only when mechanical cleaning cannot adequately remove the fireside deposit.

Mechanical cleaning is accomplished within the boiler, in the furnace, and from outside the boiler through access doors by using various types of scrapers, probes, and wire brushes to remove soot and other deposits. In most instances, these cleaning tools can be obtained from the boiler manufacturer.

In addition to scrubbing and cleaning the firesides of the generating tubes, other areas of the firesides should receive scrupulous cleaning as well. Particular care should be given to those more or less inaccessible portions of the firesides that are not cleansed by the soot blowers. Any encrusted soot should be removed from burner impeller plates, bladed cones, and drip pans. The furnace refractory must also be cleaned. This operation is perhaps best done last to remove not only original deposits from the brickwork but also soot and dust deposited after other parts of the boiler were cleaned. It is important to keep the brickwork clean for two reasons: First, soot and foreign matter lodged in expansion joints can obviously prevent proper expansion of refractories when hot, and can ultimately cause serious cracking of the brickwork; second, soot and other deposits left on the brickwork will lower the melting point of the refractories.

CARE OF BOILER WATERSIDES

Failure to keep boiler watersides clean reduces the efficiency of the boiler and contributes to overheating, thus leading to serious damage. Experience has shown that tube failures resulting from defective materials or poor fabrication are rare. The majority of all tube failures, other than those associated with water-level casualties, are caused by waterside deposits or accumulations. Some tube failures are caused by waterside deposits of hard scale. More frequently, however, tube failures occur as the result of an accumulation of relatively soft materials such as metal oxides, the residue of chemicals used for boiler water treatment, the solids formed as a result of the reactions between scale-forming salts or other impurities and the chemicals used for boiler water treatment.

As in the case of fireside cleaning, waterside cleaning is usually accomplished after specified steaming intervals and also before the annual internal inspection.

The need for cleaning watersides or firesides is often signaled by a gradual rise in the stack gas temperature. In other words, deposits on either the firesides or watersides of generating tubes