Maintenance of Boiler I

Function of maintenance.

1. Operability.
2. Reliability of equipment & system by limiting or preventing wear, vibration, eriosion, corrosion, oxidation & breakdown. Prevent significant repair cost.
3. Cost control.

3 Category :-

1. Breakdown maintenance. Low cost because basically do nothing to prevent a failure.
2. Preventive maintenance. Regular scgedule. Prevent damage to equipment or systems. Water treatment & lubrication are 2 principle preventive maintenance activities in a boiler plant. Prevent corrosion, scale, friction. Prevent erosion by ensuring velocities do not get too high.
3. Predictive maintenance. Monitoring, examinations and test to reveal problems. Annual inspections of steam boilers to detecy formation of scale, corrosion, vibration, wear, cracks, overheating & other problems to prevent eventual failure. The best investment in predictive maintenance is the operator's ear. An operator can detect many problems such as change in sound, vibration, temperature (by simply resting a hand on the equipment) that consider investment in test and monitoring equipment. Constant attendance by a boiler plant operator is one investment in predictive maintenance that ensure no suprises major equipments or system failures.

Preventive & predictive maintenance require an expenditure of effort and materials which represent an investment in reliability.

Don't simply won't pay any attention to until they fail, then you'll replace them.

Should represent a cost relative to the potential loss.

Example

1. 1/2 HP feed pump.

2. 2000 HP feep pump.

Between those 2 extreme are all sorts of variations on monitoring and maintenance but most of them rely on the skill and dedication of boilerman, fireman. Each round of the boiler plant you will look and listen to the feed pump, noting its condition, look for signs of vibration or shaft leakage, possibly feel the motor and pump bearing housings to get a sense of their temperature.

All boilerman & fireman must have a sound of maintenance program and proof - documented it in log book for treaceability. A schedule and a record of the work being done is the best evidence that you are doing your job and a failure will not reflect on your performance. If you've done a good job planning and executing the maintenance plan you should't have any failures.

The best place to start the schedule is the manufacturer recommends, operating & maintenance manuals, until you get some track record to find any additional or improvements.