If you have an industrial facility that needs to reduce its operating expenses, improving the efficiency of your burner system should be one of your top priorities. Though you may not realize it, with any boiler the higher the temperature, the more energy that escapes with flue gas. Thus, when heat, condensate, and steam are lost, so too are BTUs. To make your burner system extremely efficient, put these tips into practice.
For steam and hydronic boilers, lowering the stack temperature is actually quite easy and pays big dividends in both operating and cost-efficiency. When the burner system is idling at night or on milder days, using a day/night set back will result in far less energy being used when it is not needed.
When you insulate the valves on your burner system, you accomplish several things. To begin with, you prevent heat loss while also keeping the boiler room at a comfortable temperature. But along with this, you also make it easier for the fuel train system to safely deliver fuel to the burners. This is critical, since the fuel train regulates the flow and pressure of fuel. By making sure valve safety-train systems are properly insulated, gas can be kept out of the combustion chamber when equipment is idled.
An aspect of burner system maintenance that often gets overlooked, keeping the water side clean and leak-free will help to ensure strong heat transfer from metal to water. When cleaning the water side of the burner system, clean mud legs and mud drums, since scale accumulates on heat transfer surfaces. When this occurs, heat transfer is impeded and can greatly reduce burner efficiency.
While blowdown is important because it removes water hardness and helps to keep the boiler surface clean, it also removes heat from the burner system. To get maximum savings and operating efficiency, you may want to consider installing an automatic blowdown valve. By doing so, you can limit the blowdown rate to only what is needed to dissolve various impurities within the system.
Since today’s business world is more competitive and financially tougher than ever, finding the smallest of advantages can make a big difference. By making these steps part of your regular maintenance program, you can keep your burner system operating very efficiently, resulting in increased production and decreased energy bills.
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