Boiler Blog | Nationwide Boiler Inc.

The National Board Incident Report recently indicated that 79 percent of all reported boiler accidents were attributed to two causes: low water cutoff, and operator error/poor maintenance. A low water cutoff condition occurs when the water level in the boiler steam drum drops below a pre-set safe level (as determined by the boiler manufacturer) and, in turn, shuts off the boiler. This condition, and the subsequent cause, should be investigated and corrected immediately. Failure of this safety control may result, at a minimum, in costly tube or vessel repairs, or, in the worst cases, catastrophic boiler and building damage and personnel injury or death.

Some common causes of low water conditions include:
•    Feedwater pump failure
•    Control valve failure
•    Loss of water to the deaerator or make-up water system
•    Drum level controller failure
•    Drum level controller inadvertently left in "manual" position
•    Loss of plant air pressure to the control valve actuator
•    Safety valve lifting
•    Wide variations or sudden changes in steam load

Avoiding the above conditions is critical to ensuring safe and reliable boiler operation. Maintenance, inspection, and operational logs are recommended and required by insurance companies.  These records not only help determine boiler performance trends, but also keep operators focused on the safe performance of the boiler and auxiliary plant equipment.  To this end, unnecessary boiler downtime (together with the loss of plant production) and lost time accidents are avoided.

Our main priority is to provide customers with safe and reliable rental and new boiler and steam plant equipment.  We have many operational procedures in place that help us achieve this goal.  For instance, each piece of rental equipment is thoroughly inspected before and after a rental project.  Our inspection and maintenance checklists cover all of the mechanical and electrical systems, including feedwater systems, water softeners, chemical systems, and the trailers themselves (for mobile equipment such as our mobile boiler rooms).  In addition, critical parts, including low water cut-offs, constantly undergo inspection and testing.  If found to be faulty, they are either immediately repaired or replaced.

The only way to avoid premature downtime and accidents (in the worst cases) is to make certain that operators and plant owners are committed to an on-going operational and preventative maintenance programs.  The Hartford Steam Boiler website www.hsb.com is a good resource.  Turning a blind eye to safe boiler operations puts operators, company employees, and equipment at unnecessary risk.

Nationwide Boiler has achieved yet another safety milestone – 2,500 days without a loss time accident! This marks the longest length of time Nationwide has gone without an accident in our forty-four years of operation. The company maintains a shop facility of 26,000 sq.ft., used for the maintenance, repair and assembly of boiler systems and auxiliaries. Nationwide Boiler’s Experience Modification Rate (EMR), a benchmark measure used for insurance premium discounts that compares worker compensation claims to other employers of similar size operating in the same type of business, has greatly improved over the last seven years. To date, Nationwide Boiler has realized a cumulative cost savings of over three-hundred-thousand dollars as a result of the company's commitments to safety.

In partnership with the Department of Energy Southeast Clean Energy Application Center, the International District Energy Association (IDEA), a nonprofit trade association created to facilitate the exchange of information among district energy professionals, is hosting a free webinar on November 17, 2011 (1:000-2:00 pm EST). The webinar, entitled "District Energy and CHP - Valuable Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities", will provide insight into the emergence of district energy in North America and will include two case studies that highlight its' success. Speakers will include Robert Thornton, President and CEO of the IDEA, Ray DuBose, Director, Energy Services at UNC-Chapel Hill and Harry Ragsdale, President, Thermal Engineering Group, Inc.

Nationwide Boiler has been a proud member of the IDEA and we support the organization's goals of promoting energy efficiency and environmental quality through the advancement of district heating, district cooling and cogeneration.

On April 14, 2011 Duke burned the last of its remaining stock of coal from its famous black mountain off Coal Pile Drive. As part of Duke's Climate Action Plan to become carbon neutral by 2024, the University is converting its West Campus steam plant from a coal-burning plant to a natural gas-burning plant.

To aid in the University's efforts, Nationwide Boiler supplied a temporary 82,500 lb/hr trailer-mounted boiler for the plant, proudly delivered to the University with their Blue Devil logo. The boiler will be used until next Spring while the West Campus Steam Plant acts as a "base plant", along with steam produced at the East Campus plant, to heat Duke's buildings, sterilize surgical equipment and maintain proper humidity for art work and lab research.

Duke's director of Sustainable Duke, Tavey McDaniel Capps, said Duke's steam plant renovations make it a leader for other colleges and universities who are also focused on helping the environment. "This kind of step is pivotal in our effort to move closer to carbon neutrality," she said. "Being proactive in our sustainable efforts will make a big difference in the future."