EPRI declares war on power plant boiler tube failures

Journal Article · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990 · Power Engineering; (USA)

OSTI ID:7086028

Smock, R W

This paper describes an EPRI demonstration program aimed at reducing boiler tube failures (BTF) at ten utilities. The formal BTF prevention program includes participation from operations, engineering, maintenance, and management. Among its requirements: every boiler tube failure must be reported in detail including the root cause, which is not required in current industry-wide availability data reporting systems; every failure will have a pre-repair inspection to determine the cause and extent of the problem; use of palliative repair methods should be discouraged in favor of repairs aimed at correcting the root cause; boiler operation will be controlled by established steam/metal temperature limits and water chemistry guidelines; and pad-welding or window-welding repairs should be acceptable only when replacement tubing is not available and should be replaced with new tubing as soon as possible.

• OSTI ID: 7086028
• Journal Information: Power Engineering; (USA), Journal Name: Power Engineering; (USA) Vol. 94:1; ISSN POENA; ISSN 0032-5961
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

20 FOSSIL-FUELED POWER PLANTS
200103* -- Fossil-Fueled Power Plants-- Waste-Fueled Systems
42 ENGINEERING
420205 -- Engineering-- Transport & Storage Facilities-- (1980-)
421000 -- Engineering-- Combustion Systems
BOILERS
CHEMISTRY
DEMONSTRATION PROGRAMS
ELECTRIC UTILITIES
ENGINEERING
EPRI
FABRICATION
FAILURE MODE ANALYSIS
JOINING
PUBLIC UTILITIES
RECOMMENDATIONS
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
SYSTEM FAILURE ANALYSIS
SYSTEMS ANALYSIS
TUBES
WELDING