Engineering Bulletin No 1: Boiler and Furnace Testing

Engineering Bulletin No 1: Boiler
and
by Rufus T. Strohm

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Title: Engineering Bulletin No 1: Boiler and Furnace Testing
Author: Rufus T. Strohm
Release Date: December 20, 2006 [EBook #20146]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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ENGINEERING BULLETIN NO 1: ***

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UNITED STATES FUEL ADMINISTRATION BUREAU OF

CONSERVATION
Engineering Bulletin No. 1
BOILER AND FURNACE TESTING
Prepared by
Rufus T. Strohm Associate Editor, Power
[Illustration: Maximum Production
Minimum Waste]
WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1918
----------------------------------------------------------------------

MAXIMUM PRODUCTION.
MINIMUM WASTE.
The United States Fuel Administration is making every effort, through
the producers and transportation lines, to obtain an adequate supply of
fuel for the industries of the country.
Twenty-five to fifty million tons of coal a year can be saved by the
improved operation of steam-power plants without changing their
present equipment and without abating their production the slightest.
It is absolutely necessary that this saving be realized, if our
overburdened railroads are to be relieved and our industries kept in full
operation.
The extent to which it will be realized depends upon the cooperation of
the owners, engineers, and firemen of every power plant of the country.
YOUR FIRING LINE IS AT THE FURNACE DOOR.

DAVID MOFFAT MYERS, Advisory Engineer to United States Fuel
Administration.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

BOILER AND FURNACE TESTING.
By RUFUS T. STROHM.
NECESSITY FOR TESTING BOILERS.
A boiler test is necessary in order to determine how well the boiler is
doing the work expected of it; that is to say, we must find out whether
we are wasting coal in making steam and how much this waste may be.
Such a test may be made to discover the efficiency of the boiler, or the
quantity of water it is evaporating, or the cost of evaporating 1,000
pounds of water.
The United States Fuel Administration recommends that every boiler
plant have some means of daily checking the efficiency of the boiler
and furnace. The simplest and best way of finding out how efficiently
the boiler is working is to make an evaporation test, as described in this
bulletin. All the necessary records can be made automatically with
suitable instruments, although in many small plants the coal must be
weighed on ordinary scales. The efficiency of the furnace can be found
by making analyses of the flue gases. (See Bulletin No. 2 of the United
States Fuel Administration.)
Too many engineers and firemen have the idea that they are not fitted
to make boiler tests. This is altogether wrong. Any man who can weigh
water and coal and read steam gages and thermometers is able to do the
work required in making a boiler test for evaporation or efficiency.
Such a test requires a knowledge of the following:
1. The total weight of coal used.
2. [1]The total weight of water fed to and evaporated by the boiler.

3. The average temperature of the feed water.
4. The average steam pressure in the boiler.
If these four items are known, a series of simple calculations will show
how much water is being evaporated per pound of coal, and the
efficiency of the boiler and furnace.
To make a test, the following apparatus and instruments are necessary:
1. Scales to weigh the coal.
2. Apparatus to weigh or measure the feed water.
3. Thermometers to take feed-water temperature.
4. Gages to indicate steam pressure.
A boiler test to be of value should extend over a period of at least eight
hours. The longer the test the more accurate the results.
[Footnote 1: For the sake of simplicity, only the essential elements of
boiler and furnace testing are treated in this bulletin. For rules covering
the refinements for an exhaustive test, the reader is referred to the
boiler test code of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
Copies of this code can be obtained from the secretary, 29 West
Thirty-ninth Street, New York City.]
WEIGHING THE COAL.
The weight of coal used during a test may easily be found by using an
ordinary wheelbarrow and a platform scales, arranged as in figure 1. At
each side of the scales build an incline with its top level with the top of
the platform, but take care not to have either one touch the platform.
Set the empty wheelbarrow on the scales, run the movable weight or
poise out until it