Primer Protecting Idle Boilers

The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, December 2002. © Copyright 2002American Societyof Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc.
It is presented for educational purposes only. Thisarticle may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper form without permission of ASHRAE.

Many boiler plants have excess boiler capacity. Typical boiler plants maintainbackup capacity that must be instantly ready to provide steam should amechanical problem occur on the primary boilers.
Some boiler plants may havehad a greater steam demand at one time, and process changes have reducedpresent steam requirements.
The challenge to many managers is to protect theintegrity of this equipment while the boilers are not being used.
A significant amount of damage thatoccurs to boilers during their lifetime can be associated with idle periods and extended downtime.
Thetypical processes in place that provide protection for boilers from scale and corrosion during opera-tional times may not be available when the boiler is not running.