Show 0 0 nager 13 ramn iq CLEANING A BOILER L LAST AST winter a neighbor of mine began to complain about his coal consumption he said that he was burning more coal than he had the previous winter As the months went on he growled more and more about the quantity of coal that he was shoveling I 1 finally went to his house for a look at his steam boiler my first move was to open one of the clean out doors above the firing door As I 1 suspected I 1 found the interior so clogged with dust that I 1 wondered that the fire was able even to smolder I 1 asked him why he had not kept the interior of his boiler cleaned out and he said he had no idea it was necessary that no one had ever told him anything about it I 1 found a flue cleaning brush in a corner of the cellar and poked it in to show him that what seemed to be a solid wall of dust was actually a passage with a few explanations of what to do I 1 left him to give the boiler a thorough cleaning he called me up the next morning to say that his fire was burning more briskly than it had been all winter and that steam had come up in what was an incredibly short time his was an extreme case for to all appearances the boiler had been running for years with no cleaning out of the dust that had collected within it the cleaning of the inside of a boiler is of much more importance than home owners in general believe it to be in burning coal develops a fine dust that settles in the upper part of the boiler when the inside surfaces of a boiler are clean the metal absorbs a maximum amount of heat from the gases and flames that pass over them there is little waste of heat up the chimney when dust is allowed to collect on the inside passages it has the effect of insulation less of the available heat is absorbed by the metal and the waste of heat up the chimney becomes greater consumption of fuel naturally goes up F for or economy of fuel and for quick response to the opening of the draft dampers a boiler should be frequently cleaned during the heating season the common practice of a cleaning only at the beginning of a heating season is not enough for efficiency the inside passages should be cleaned at least once a month 0 by awu roeer er B whitman W service |