TIPS TO AVOID PREMATURE FAILURE OF BOILER TUBES

A) TIPS FOR PROCUREMENT OF TUBES Indented tubes should be made out of fully killed steel. Ensure that after forming & seam welding, tubes are Normalised/Annealed as per the specification. All tubes should be hydraulically tested after heat treatment. To ensure the soundness of seam welding all the tubes should be, Eddy Current tested as per E 309- 83(1989) A.S.T.M. STD practice, after hydraulic test. Tubes should be free from any mechanical damage. Procure tubes directly from the manufactures or through authorised dealers to ensure the right quality of material. All the tubes should bear markings as per "Manufacturer Test Certificate" and the certificate should be endorsed by the Chief Inspector of Boilers / well-known tube Manufacturers certificate in original. B) TIPS FOR FABRICATION Profile of the tubes should be as close as possible to the TRUE PROFILE as per drawing so that tube ends are not forced into tube holes during erection of these tubes. Still further, the tube end centreline should perfectly be aligned with centreline of hole. Heating of tubes by flame for bending / straightening (carbon steel only) should be avoided, if unavoidable the heating should be uniform & the required working should be done with in the normalising temperature range. Deep under cuts at toe of butt as well as fillet welding of lugs & supports must be avoided, which otherwise lead to cracking in service. All tubes must be Hydro tested after forming & lug welding (if any) to ensure that no damage has occurred during fabrication. Ovality at bends should be as per I.B.R. clause 334 (c) tolerances. This ensures reduced stresses at tube joints when tubes are under pressure. Bends should be free from irregularities, but for slight deviation at starting & finishing ends, which can be acceptable, however ovality at these points should be as per Indian Boiler Regulation clause 338(C) which says The deviation from circularity in percentage at any crosssection of a bend shall be calculated by the following formula:C = D Max. D Min. X 100 D Shall not be exceed 20D D Where: C = % Deviation of circularity. D Max. = Maximum external Diameter at tube bend. D Min. = Minimum external Diameter at tube bend. D = Nominal external Diameter tube R = Radius of the Bend on Centre Line of the Bend.
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This ensures proper circulation of the Boiler Water inside tubes, for better Heat-Transfer in Natural Circulation Boilers. Bends having less than two times the outer Dia, Radius of tubes should preferably be normalised / stress relieved to avoid/contain stress corrosion in service. All elements having more than two return bends, should be checked with steel ball to ensure free passage, thus over heating of tubes may be avoided during operation on account of sluggish flow in side the tubes. All butt joints should be of full penetration type. To check the soundness of weld & performance of welder, few joints should be subjected to Gamma ray testing as per relevant clauses of manufacturing code; its acceptance should again be as per relevant code. For transportation from shop to site, tubes should be packed in wood batons to avoid damage. Tube- ends should be covered with rubber caps to avoid any foreign material going in to it. C) TIPS FOR ERECTION Check the alignment of drums & headers to ensure proper assembly of tubes. Check all tube holes in drums & header for their size. It should be within the tolerance given on drawing. Otherwise holes can lead to over expansion of tubes resulting in premature failures. There should not be any longitudinal scratch in tubes-hole. This leads to sweating/ leaking during Hydro test or operation. Tube holes should not be ground or filed, which may result in deshaping (oval) of tube holes. It is difficult to stop leakage from such holes. Tube expansion should preferably be done by a "torque controlled" tube-expander to ensure uniform expansion of all tubes. Over expansion of tubes may be avoided by this method. Length of expansion should not be less than the drum thickness & not more than 6 to 8 mm than drum thickness. Before expansion of tube, & tube hole mating surface should be cleaned with emery cloth to ensure removal of scale & loose steam. Tubes should be free to expand during operation to avoid any buckling. Soot blower nozzles should be clear from the nearest row of tubes to avoid damage while soot blowing with high velocity steam. Refractory/ baffles should be laid as given in drawing to avoid leakage / by pass of flue gases which will lower the thermal efficiency of boiler, necessitating forced firing and thus leading to hot spots formation near to the furnace exit.

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D) TIPS FOR OPERATION Quality of boiler water should be as per the parameters given below: -(For Boiler Operating at 30 to 45 BAR) 0 pH at 25 C : 10.500 to 11.500 T.A.C. in ( French : 10.000 to 45.000 Degrees) Total Salinity g/litre NaOH mg/litre SiO2 mg/litre Na3PO4 mg/litre SiO2 / T.A.C Na3PO4 / NaOH Iron mg/litre Copper mg/litre Oxygen mg/litre : : : : : : : : : 1.500 120.000 25.000 120.000 1.000 1.000 0.100 0.050 0.007 to to to to to 2.000 250.00 0 60.000 250.00 0 1.500

Flue gas temperature leaving the boiler should be monitored. A rise of 380C in flue gas temperature above the base temperature (keeping other factors same) calls for cleaning of heating surfaces (external/ internal). Boilers should not be forced beyond its M.C.R. by 10%. If unavoidable, it should not be for more than two hours (maximum) at a stretch. Localised fire in furnace should be avoided, in other words furnace firing as far as possible should be uniform. Water level in boiler should be maintained as prescribed in its manual, low level leads to overheating of boiler tubes, where as high water level may lead to flooding of super heaters, resulting in scale formation & thus over heating of Super Heaters.

Courtesy:

ALLIED ALLOY PRODUCTS

E- 5 1 I n d us tr i a l Are a, Y a m u n a n a g a r 1 3 5 0 0 1 , Ha ry a n a
Ph. 250670, 251370 Fax 01732 250990 E-mail aapynr@satyam.net.in

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