Operating & design: Beware of easy solutions - part 1

摘要

Countless interruptions in the steam service were causing production losses in a tyre plant. Shutdowns occurred because of the poor behaviour of the only boiler feed water pump. Part 1 of a two-part article gives a detailed look at the problems. In order to attain an 'easy and quick solution' the plant management decided to install a new pump which had been previously purchased to be used in another service (pump A). By doing that the functioning of the feed water system was stabilised. Later on, a second pump (pump B) was purchased from the OEM of the pumps originally supplied with the boiler but whose operating parameters were different from the original pumps. This pump was installed in place of the only one previously existing.