Boiler tip of the month – Bypassing of safety equipment

Safety equipment is prescribed for good reason. Their purpose is to prevent catastrophic failure with potential disastrous consequences for persons, machine and environment in the event of faults during routine operation. This safety equipment has, whenever possible, already been tested at the factory. The final wiring, assembly and function check is however only carried out during commissioning. Commissioning is often carried out under a great deal of time pressure. However, it is imperative this does not lead to the omission of basic safety equipment or, as shown in this example, bypassing of this equipment.

Damage:

• Irreparable damage to the boiler shell due to overheating
• Dents in flame tube and smoke tubes

Cause:

• Low water indicator bypassed

Remedy:

• Commissioning of boiler exclusively by qualified specialists
• Never disable safety equipment or render it ineffective