-Howard Wells, Preferred Utilities, Danbury, CT Introduction Have you ever seen a PLC-based burner management system and wondered “Why are the inputs turning on and off every few seconds?” This “flashing” of the inputs is a type of error checking for the PLC discrete input channels and is required by NFPA 85 for all non-SIL3 rated PLC-based burner […]
The Importance of Sensing Lines to Performance of Boiler Room Instrumentation
-By David Eoff Sensing lines are everywhere in the modern plant, whether it be a boiler plant, refinery, chemical plant, or water treatment plant. Often the instrumentation problems that stump operators, contractors, and sometimes full-time service technicians are related to how sensing lines are installed and maintained. We’re going to examine some of the most common instruments that […]
Why Oxygen Trim Should Be Part of Your Boiler Room
by Joe Wallace Oxygen trim (O2 Trim) is a system that constantly monitors your boiler’s combustion. Unlike your car, your boiler has the ability to run properly without it, so what are the upsides to it? This system can adjust your air fuel ratio based on what it’s supposed to be and triggers alarms or lockouts should the […]
Letter to the Editor: Today’s Boiler May 2018: Warning–A Boiler Breakdown may be in your Future story
-Today’s Boilers This is a Letter to the Editor written by David Eoff of Preferred Utilities to Today’s Boiler regarding an article in the Spring 2018 edition called: Warning–A Boiler Breakdown may be in your Future story. “As Geoff Halley, the author of this article stated, the low water cutout switches that prevent a boiler from dry firing […]
Pressure Atomization vs. Air Atomization
While many boiler rooms and power plants have been swapping out old coal and oil-fired burners/boilers for natural gas and bio-fuels, there still will always be the need for oil burners/boilers in the world. With this need, come the multiple options of how to burn the oil. While there are many different variations, the two main methods of […]
Return pumps: Not just for returning fuel
Are there any fuel oil handling systems that don’t need return pumps? Are there any advantages to not having return pumps? While it is true that I have worked on system designs and executions that have not included return pumps, my general answer is “no,” there are not any advantages. And there are many different functional reasons why, […]
Lessons from an Oil Spill
Last summer a facility in Texas spilled 3,500 gallons of diesel fuel intended for one of their emergency generators. The fuel was pushed up through a day tank vent, ran across their parking lot, and into a pond adjacent to their property. The clean-up team recovered about 2,100 gallons of fuel out of the pond, but at a […]
Keeping the Data Flowing
What happened the last time your house lost power? That email you were writing might have had to wait an extra half an hour, and your refrigerator might have warmed a few degrees. At most, ordinary power outages represent a minor annoyance to the home or office. The situation is different at the massive data centers of the […]
Liquid Wood: The Renewable, Carbon-Neutral Fuel Alternative That Is Finally Ready to Burn
Discussions of sustainable energy don’t often include food flavorings. However, the same process that creates liquid smoke—the stuff you can buy at the grocery store to add a smoky flavor to just about anything—can produce liquid wood, a very environmentally friendly fuel. You may not have heard of liquid wood because, until very recently, it was quite difficult […]
NOx Emissions: Reduction Strategies
The Spring 2015 edition of Today’s Boiler magazine published Dr. Jianhui Hong’s article “NOx Emissions Reduction Strategies.” In the article Dr. Hong explains the importance of low NOx and provides solutions for complying with low NOx emissions regulations. He explains that “NOx is a term used to include two important air pollutants: NO (nitric oxide) and NO₂ […]