Weekly Twitter Posts

Below you will find our recent Twitter posts.  Every week, we post links to water related articles on our Twitter page which cover a wide variety of topics we think will be valuable to you. Since not everyone follows Twitter, we are posting these links to our blog on Fridays.  Check back every Friday to catch up on info from the week.  Or, if you would prefer, you can subscribe to receive our blog whenever there is a new post.  Simply click on the "Subscribe to Watertech of America, Inc. by Email" link to the right and you will receive the new post whenever one is published.

• Good article from @ProcessHeating about adding a boiler economizer to to improve energy efficiency. http://h2ote.ch/wt7YuT#boilerwater
• For all you water geeks out there, this will put a smile on your face for sure! Did for me! http://valleycresttakeson.com/watermanagement/trends/are-you-obsessed/  --(@waterguru2)
• New Rockwell Automation Power Monitors Help Companies Control and Reduce Industrial Energy Consumption http://bit.ly/xFAJ0y(@ROKAutomation)
• Today's blog post continues our series on boiler blowdown.http://h2ote.ch/zFhjPR 
• Very Interesting and eye opening article on water conservation and the water/energy nexus!  
• http://h2ote.ch/wcgF7c

Surface Blowdown

Our last series of posts have mentioned 2 kinds of boiler blowdown, "bottom blowdown" and 'surface blowdown".  We've discussed what bottom blowdown is and the correct method of bottom blowing a boiler.  Today, and our next several posts, will focus on "surface blowdown".

While bottom blowdown is used for suspended solids removal, surface blowdown or surface 'skimming' is used to remove dissolved solids from a steam boiler. The boiler feedwater contains dissolved solids consisting of minerals such as:

• sodium
• potassium
• chloride and soluble calcium
• magnesium
• phosphate
• silica

These minerals become concentrated in the boiler water as steam is generated.  High levels of these dissolved solids can result in boiler water carryover into the steam system which may cause severe damage to equipment that uses steam such as steam turbines, heat exchangers and steam traps.  Surface blowdown is the method used to remove these dissolved solids.

How are these dissolved solids measured and controlled?  Find out in our next blog!

Weekly Twitter Posts

Below you will find our recent Twitter posts.  Every week, we post links to water related articles on our Twitter page which cover a wide variety of topics we think will be valuable to you. Since not everyone follows Twitter, we are posting these links to our blog on Fridays.  Check back every Friday to catch up on info from the week.  Or, if you would prefer, you can subscribe to receive our blog whenever there is a new post.  Simply click on the "Subscribe to Watertech of America, Inc. by Email" link to the right and you will receive the new post whenever one is published.

• Spirax Sarco USA has released its steam training schedule for 2012. http://h2ote.ch/x2xoni
• Wondering if your cooling tower is using water efficiently? Use our new calculator to get a better idea. http://h2ote.ch/ypGjDV
• Congrats to current UW-Whitewater student Corey Hild for being selected as our marketing intern for this semester. Our 1st intern
• Standard free webinar by Pall Medical featuring Dr. Janet E. Stout January 26 9 a.m. Register at http://goo.gl/Bup96
• State makes $750,000 grant to water tech incubator http://bit.ly/yeGala

That's it for the week - thanks for your interest!  Have a great weekend!!

Steps to Bottom Blowing a Boiler

The main purpose of boiler bottom blowdown is to remove suspended solids from your system.  We reviewed the why's of bottom blowdown in  last week's blog .  Today we will go through the preferred method of performing the bottom blowdown.

Here are the steps:

1. Open the quick opening valve completely.
2. Open the slow opening valve slowly and hold it open for a period of approximately 5 seconds - then slowly close this valve.  Allow the water level in the boiler to come back up to the normal operating level and then repeat the blowdown procedure.  It may be necessary to perform the task a number of times if there are excessive suspended solids in the boiler water.
3. Close the quick opening valve.
4. Open the slow opening valve again to relieve the pressure between the two valves.
5. Close the slow opening valve.

Remember to never "pump" the quick acting valve as this can result in water hammer that can damage the piping or boiler.

Next week our blogs will deal with Surface Blowdown.

Weekly Twitter Posts

Below you will find our recent Twitter posts.  Every week, we post links to water related articles on our Twitter page which cover a wide variety of topics we think will be valuable to you.  Since not everyone follows Twitter, we are posting these links to our blog on Fridays.  Check back every Friday to catch up on info from the week.  Or, if you would prefer, you can subscribe to receive our blog whenever there is a new post.  Simply click on the "Subscribe to Watertech of America, Inc. by Email" link to the right and you will receive the new post whenever one is published.

The following are our recent tweets:  

• Is this the future of education for those that cannot afford college?  http://h2ote.ch/tKfMPP
• Our first blog series this year deals with the different types of boiler blowdown & why they are both important. http://h2ote.ch/uv0vLD
• In Texas, flushing toilets in Dallas helps prevent water shortages in Houston http://h2ote.ch/ryT3Et
• Nice write-up from onmilwaukee about what our friends over H2Oscore are doing. http://h2ote.ch/uN3FnD
• CDP Report Shows water Slowly Moving Up the Sustainability Agenda http://h2ote.ch/zdXB84 
• Ford taking the lead in reducing water footprint, targeting 30% water reduction per vehicle by 2015. http://h2ote.ch/uSO6Gu 

Boiler Blowdown - Bottom Blowdown

Bottom Blowdown is used to remove suspended solids that build up in the boiler water such as those formed by calcium and magnesium salts, iron, copper, phosphorus and silica.  Although preventing these contaminants from entering a boiler through proper makeup water and feedwater pretreatment is always preferred, it is inevitable some contaminants manage to enter the boiler.  Failure of pretreatment equipment or corrosion of condensate systems are common causes of boiler water suspended solids. High levels of these contaminants will produce sludge (suspended solids) in the boiler water and can result in energy-robbing deposits on heat transfer surfaces.  Bottom blowdown, the removal of boiler water and sludge from the lower portions of a boiler, is a common practice used to prevent deposition on heat transfer surfaces. 

The amount and frequency of bottom blowdown varies depending on the type of boiler, quality of feedwater and operating pressure.  Superior feedwater quality can reduce the frequency of bottom blowdown to as little as once per week while fair to poor feedwater quality may necessitate daily or multiple bottom blows per day.

 

Boiler bottom blowdown systems should consist of piping sized according to ASME code.  The pipe size is usually the same size as the blowdown tapping on the boiler.  This piping should be equipped with either two slow opening valves or one quick opening valve.  If it is equipped with two slow opening valves, one slow opening valve should have the quick opening valve closest to the boiler.  If there is more than one bottom blowdown port on a boiler, they can each have a quick opening or slow opening valve close to the boiler which is then piped to a common header with a common slow opening valve.  Slow opening valves typically require 5 complete 360^o turns to go from a completely closed to a completely open position.  Quick opening valves go from completely closed to completely open in one continuous motion.  It’s always a good idea to pipe the bottom blowdown system on the side of the boiler with the sight glass so the boiler water level can be monitored during the blowdown process.

Our next blog will go through the steps of bottom blowing a boiler.

Two Methods of Boiler Blowdown

In previous posts on this site we have discussed blowdown and how to properly blowdown your boiler.  Did you know that there are different kinds of boiler blowdown?  In this series of posts we will explain each and why they are both important.

During the process of generating steam, suspended solids and dissolved solids build up in the boiler water of steam boilers.  Removing these contaminants by “bottom blowing” and “surface blowing” boilers is necessary to prevent deposition of suspended solids on heat transfer surfaces and to prevent boiler water carryover issues due to high dissolved solids.

Why are two different methods of boiler blowdown necessary? Bottom blowdown is used to remove suspended solids such as those formed by calcium and magnesium salts, iron, copper, phosphorus and silica.  Surface blowdown or surface 'skimming' is used to remove dissolved solids such as sodium, potassium, chloride and soluble calcium, magnesium, phosphate and silica that concentrate up in the boiler water as steam is generated.

Stay tuned as we examine these two methods of boiler blowdown in the next several blogs.