Boiler safety systems and instruments

1 Tick safety routine activities with boiler safety. Justify and compare

1 ___Water must be treated before feeding it to the boiler

2 ___ Operate boiler above the design pressure
3 ___ Always check for the leakages of steam, water, air and flue gases from any suspicious place.
Your variants
_____________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
2 Agree or disagree with the statements
1) All boilers and domestic water heaters have a range of built-in devices to help ensure their
safe operation.
2) Properly or inadequately trained personnel might not realize the consequences of those
actions, and the results can be disastrous.
3) Operators must perform troubleshooting and emergency drills regularly to keep their skills
sharp and to ensure poor procedures and practices have not crept in to the operation.

Vocabulary
3 Study the sentences. Match the words in bold with the synonyms

1) Safety valves are designed to relieve internal pressure if a range of failures occurs within the
system.
2) Water-level control is designed to ensure the water level within a boiler never falls below a
predetermined amount.
3) Low-water fuel cutoff is designed to shut down the boiler by cutting off fuel.
4) Water-gauge glass is designed to verify the actual level of water in the system.

1 to relieve A to drop
2 to shut down B to prevent
3 to fall C to provide-
4 to verify D to confirm
5 to ensure E to fail

1 2 3 4 5

4 Complete the sentences

1) The function of the safety valve is to _________________________________________
2) Water level is ___________________________________________________________
3) Proper functioning requires operators __________________________________________

Reading
5 Answer the questions
 1) What safety devices do you know?
2) What are their functions? Are they necessary to use? Why? Why not?
6 Read the text and complete the table
Group A reads about safety valves
Group B read about water level
Group C reads about pressure gauges

Group A
Safety valves are placed on top of the boiler and fitted on
mountings or blocks directly on the boiler. It is generally seen
that in fire-tube boilers it is placed on the top of the shell above
the furnace or the fire-box. The function of the safety valve is
to blow off the steam when the pressure of the steam in the
boiler exceeds the working pressure. In case of high steam and
low water safety valve it blows off steam when the pressure of
the steam exceeds the working pressure as well as when the
water level in the boiler falls too low to an unsafe extent.

Group B
They are mostly placed in front of the boiler from where they
are easily visible to the attendant. The function of the water
level indicator is to show the level of water in the boiler. To
carry out the function its upper end opens in the steam space
while the lower end opens in the water space. This gauge
provides an arrangement for automatically closing off the
water and steam supply to the gauge glass if the latter gets
broken. It consists of a strong glass tube. The ends of the tube
pass through stuffing boxes formed in the hollow castings.
Water gauges are provided with guards made of tough glass
which covers the front and the sides of the glass tube. This
will protect the operator from the flying pieces of gauge glass
when broken. Water gauge glasses are also provided with
plugs at suitable places. They are meant for cleaning purposes.

Group C
This is used to measure pressure of steam inside the boiler. It
is fitted in front of a boiler in such a position that the operator
can conveniently read it. It is connected to steam space by a
siphon pipe. Its function is to indicate the pressure of steam in
a boiler. It consists of a curved spring tube of oval section. It is
solid drawn out tube of a special quality bronze. One end of
the tube is plugged while the other end is secured to a hollow
block threaded at the bottom where it is connected to the
siphon pipe.

5 Complete the table and interview the cadets

Safety valves Water level Pressure gauges
Location
Function

Peculiarities

7 Fill in the gaps

Boiler safety valve| safety valves | steam | pressure gauge(×2) | generator |
pressure system| the cut-out
1) _________________ are fitted to ensure the operator has an idea of the current value of
pressure inside the boiler. Usually, two ____________________ are fitted on the boiler and one
line is taken from the steam drum to the engine control room, to display the __________
pressure remotely.
2) ____________ is an extremely important safety equipment fitted on the steam drum
of the boiler. As per SOLAS chapter II-1, every steam boiler and every un-fired steam
________________shall be provided with not less than 2 ___________ of adequate capacity.
3) An audio-visual alarm is also provided for the steam ______________ to remind the operator
about the steam pressure. Once the alarm activates and the pressure continues to rise (or
decrease), the ________ will get activated and it will shut off the fuel burner.
8 Choose 7 word expressions to describe boiler safety devices

Stuffing box | increased pressure | alarm activation | steam space | alarm and trips |
engine control room | cleaning purposes | pressure drop | boiler control |
high level of water
1___________________________
2___________________________
3___________________________
4___________________________
5___________________________
6___________________________
7___________________________

9 Complete the dialogue. Role play it.

Chief: How are you doing? Well, three days ago I gave you the task to get know about boiler
safety devices. Are you ready to speak about?
Cadet: Yeah, I have got the info from the manual and I hope you will be satisfied. At the
beginning I paid my primary attention to the ___________________________________
Chief: Not bad but what can you say about ____________________________________
Cadet: _________________________________________________________________
Chief: Well Now I am satisfied. A good job.

Speaking

10 Ask and answer the questions:

1) What boiler safety devices are flitted in the boiler?
2) What are their functions?
3) What are their peculiarities?