Journal
Boilers represent large capital expenditures. Their operational reliability and availability are often critical to facility profitability. Therefore, training and developing personnel responsible for this equipment is essential. Failure to follow a few well-established practices can result in catastrophe. The most common causes of catastrophic boiler failure include: fuel explosion, low water incident, poor water treatment, contaminated feedwater, improper blowdown techniques, improper warm-up, impact damage to tubes, severe overfiring, improper storage, and pulling a vacuum.