Posted by Tony Conner on April 19, 2000 at 05:22:00:
In Reply to: Root Cause of Tube Failure posted by Ken Nisly-Nagele on April 18, 2000 at 06:48:10:
: What are steps to determine root cause of tube failure in a once through water tube boiler? Can metallurgical analysis provide useful answers? Can swelling/blistering of tubes be caused by impact of steam from nearby leaking tube or is it from problems prior to leak event?
Check the "Handbook of Industrial Water Conditioning" by Betz. It has a section on boiler system failures, with excellent photographs of tubes that have failed for a variety of reasons. They're mostly due to loss of flow or deposits. I'm not aware that a leaking tube will result in blistering of adjacent tubes. The only thing I've seen is a tube leak cut a nearby tube. Improperly drained or positioned soot-blowers can do the same thing.