Procedure

• Banking should start 30mins before production stops

• Shorten the fire bed by reducing the fire bed thickness to
60mm every 8 turns of the stoker movement indicator disc
• Slow down stoker speed to minimum
• Once the fire bed has been burnt short stop the ID and FD fans
and allow the ignition arch to cool down by between 5-10mns
• Stop the stoker
• Raise the guillotine door to 120mm
• Open the coal cut off door and spill plate and run in the stoker
for 5 mins
• Stop the stoker
• Using a long rake, rake the burning coals (60mm deep) onto
the unburnt coals (120mm deep)
• Run in the bank to 450mm from the guillotine door
• Close the guillotine door
• Close the ID and FD dampers
• Close the undergrate dampers
• Raise water level by 100mm above operating level
• Close the main steam stop valve
• Clear all the ashes in the flue under the stoker
• Clear the ash pot
• The boiler is now under banked condition
 Starting from banked fire
• Procedure
• Open the guillotine door fully
• Open the coal cut off door and drop some coal on it and close it
• Using a small rake push the unburnt coal to cover the exposed
part of the grate
• Lower the guillotine door on to the coal bed
• Drop some coal to seal the gap
• Revive the fire bed by starting the ID and FD fans
• When the fire is burning lively stop the FD Fan
• Open the guillotine door fully
• Using a rake, rake the burning coal back to the guillotine door
• Lower the guillotine door on to the coal bed
• Drop in some coal to seal the gap
• Restart the FD fan and start the stoker
• Check the ignition line from the front peephole and observe
that the fire does not runaway
• Do the stoker start stop process until the fire burns continuous within 25-
50mm from the guillotine door
• Open the front and rear undergrate damper to help the fire burn back
strongly
• Blowdown the mobreys and gauge glasses to test for correct function
• Raise the guillotine door by 20mm until it reaches the correct level for the
coal being used
• When the pressure is within 50kpa from the operating level
• Open the main steam stop valve slowly
• NB Always make sure it is safe to open steam to where it is needed
 Emergency procedures
• Definition
• It is an undesirable event which can result in the damage of the
boiler or ancillary equipment and at times injury to the
operating personnel
 Power failure
• Event
• The ID and FD stop the stoker stops
• The feed pump also stop
• Possible damage
• Collapsed flue and boiler tubes due to lack of water
• Damaged guillotine door due to fire burn back
• Damaged stoker due to stand still
 Procedure
• Close the main steam stop valve, to conserve water in the
boiler
• Remove the stoker movement indicator disc and cover
• Remove the shear pin
• Fit crank handle and drive stoker forward by 8 turns to move
the fire from the guillotine door
• Check with supervisor on the length of the power failure
• If power is restored within 30mins, restart boiler as normal
• If power is not restored within 30mins, place boiler under
banked position
• Record the event in the log book
 Loss of water in boiler and boiler trips out
• Event
• Boiler water level has reached lowest legal water level (LLWL)
• The ID and FD and stoker trip out/stop
• The low water siren and low water lamp on
• The feed pump running
• Possible damage
• Collapsed boiler flue due to water starvation
• Damaged guillotine door due to fire burn back
• Damage stoker due to stand still
 Procedure
• Close the main steam stop valve immediately
• Remove the stoker movement indicator disc and move forward 8
times away from the guillotine door
• Change over to the other feed pump if this fails
• Call the supervisor
• Between the two of you try to restore water level within 15mins
• If water level is not restored within 15mins remove fire from the boiler
• Record the event in a log book
 Extra low water and boiler fails to trip out
• Event
• Boiler water at LLWL
• ID and FD fans running
• Low water level siren not sounding
• Possible damage
• Damage boiler flue and tubes due to water starvation
• Damage to guillotine door due to collapsed boiler flue
 Procedure
• Stop the ID and FD fans
• Close the main steam stop valve immediately
• Close the feed check valve
• Close the coal cutoff door and spill door
• Open the guillotine door fully
• Remove the fire from the boiler
• Record the event in a log book
 Shear pin breaks
• Event
• Stoker stops
• ID and FD fans running
• Possible damage
• Damage to guillotine door due to fire burn back
• Damage to stoker due to stand still
 Procedure

• Stop the stoker motor

• Remove the stoker movement indicator disc
• Remove the broken shear pin
• Crank forward the stoker manually
• If the stoker moves fit in a new shear pin
• If the stoker is jammed and fails to move forward stop the ID and FD fans
• Close the coal cut off door
• Open the guillotine door fully
• Push the coal and fire off the dead plate to 450mm from the guillotine door
• Notify your supervisor and record the event in a log book
 Safety valves blow continuously
• Event
• Steam pressure above authorized working pressure
• ID and FD fan is running
• Stoker running
• Possible damage
• Wear and tear of the safety valve seats
 Procedure
• Lower the firing rate by reducing the ID and FD settings
• If the safety valves continue to blow stop the fans
• If the safety valves continue to blow and pressure has dropped
by 100kpa from authorized working pressure
• Check that they are seated properly
• Lift the test valve levers
• If the safety valves fails to close report to your supervisor and
record in a log book
 Gauge glass broken
• Event
• Water and steam gushing out of the broken glass tube
• Possible damage
• Injury to boiler operator
• Procedure
• Isolate the broken gauge glass as follows
• A) Close the water valve
• B) Close the steam valve
• C) Open the drain valve
• D) Report to your supervisor and record the event in a log
book.
• NB it is against the law to operate a boiler with one gauge glass
 Blowdown valve jams in the open position
• Event
• Water gushing out of the boiler
• Possible damage
• Boiler flue could collapse due to loss of water
• Procedure
• Close the main steam valve immediately
• Stop the ID and FD fans and the stoker
• Remove the fire from the boiler
• Record the event in a log book
 Damper control fails on automatic control
• Event
• Damper control motor fail
• Procedure
• Change over boiler control to manual control
 Shutting boiler on normal circumstances
• Objectives
• To avoid wasting fuel
• To avoid sudden cooling the boiler
 Procedure
• 30 minutes before steam demand stops altogether do as follows:
• Reduce stoker speed to minimum
• Close the coal cut off door
• Reduce coal bed thickness by every 8 turns of the stoker movement
indicator disc until it is down to 25mm
• When the last coal is about to pass under the guillotine door,
• Stop the ID and the FD fans
• Close the main steam stop valve
• Speed up the stoker to clear the grate
• When the grate is clear, stop the stoker
• Raise the guillotine door fully and remove any clinker build up
on the sides of the ignition arch
• Clear the ashpot
• Raise water level to 100mm above normal and close the feed
check valve
• Switch off power on the control panel
• The order of starting the stoker, FD and ID
• Start the ID fan, followed by the FD fan and the stoker last
• The ID fan is started first in order to create suction in the
furnace
• The FD fan is then started so as to supply air for combustion
and to balance the draught
• The stoker follows last to supply fuel, so that combustion
continues to take place
 Placing the boiler on standby
• Definition
• Boiler standby means putting a boiler in a position which
allows it to resume operation within 30mins
• Procedure
• Stop the ID and FD fans
• Reset the stoker speed to minimum
Diagnosing problems and following the correct remedies

• Objectives
• To prevent a problem from degenerating into an emergency
• 1) Runaway fire
• A run away fire is a fire bed igniting at a distance greater than
50mm from the guillotine door
• Causes of run away fire
• a) Stoker speed too high
• b) Suction in the furnace being too high
• c) Coal bed too low for steam demand
• d) Coal bed with low volatile content
• e) Coal size too big/small with a lot of dust
• f) using smalls coal which is too wet
• g) Undergrate damper not set according to the length of fire
• h) Coal segregation
 Remedies

• a) Stoker speed too fast

• Stop the stoker
• Reduce stoker speed
• Adjust the coal bed to suit the demand
• b) Suction in the furnace being too high
• Stop the stoker
• Adjust the ID and FD fans to achieve a balanced draught
• And to achieve a flame angle of 45⁰
• C) coal bed too low for steam demand
• Stop the stoker
• Adjust the coal bed to suit steam demand
• D) bad coal with low volatile content
• Stop the stoker
• Adjust the ID and FD fans to achieve a flame angle slightly
greater than 45⁰
• E) Coal size too big/ small with a lot of dust
• Stop the stoker
• Dampen the coal so that dust particles stick to bigger particles
• f)using smalls coal which is too wet
• Increase the coal bed thickness
• G)undergrate damper not set according to the length of the fire
• Stop the stoker
• Adjust the undergrate damper to suit the length of the firebed
• H)coal segregation
• Stop the stoker
• Dampen the coal so that bigger particles and dust stick together
• Fire burns back into the coal hoper
• Definition: a fire is said to be burning back when it is igniting at
a distance of less than 25mm from the guillotine door
• Causes
• A) incorrect setting of speed of stoker
• B) a broken shear pin
• C) Furnace pressure being too high
• D) coal with very high volatile content
• Remedies
• A)Incorrect setting of stoker speed
• Set the stoker speed to suit the steam demand
• B)Broken shear pin
• Replace the broken shear pin immediately
• If the stoker is jammed push the fires to 450mm from the guillotine
door
• C) Furnace pressure being too high
• Adjust the ID and FD damper to achieve a flame angle of 45⁰
• D) Coal with too high volatile content
• Adjust the furnace suction to achieve a flame angle slightly
less than 45⁰
• Chain grate running hot
• Causes
• A)Longfire/red coal falling at the end of the stoker
• B)accumulation of ash under the stoker
• C)neglecting to remove ash in the ashpot
• D)blocked boiler tubes
• Remedies
• A) longfire
• Maintain a firebed of between 300 to 400mm from the end of the stoker
• B) Accumulation of ash in the flue under the stoker
• Remove the ash that accumulates under the stoker regularly
• C) Neglecting to remove ash in the ash pot
• Remove or empty ashpot at 15 minutes interval
• D) Blocked boiler tubes
• Sootblowing
• Stop the boiler and clean boiler tubes
• Low steam pressure due to a short fire
• Definition: A short fire is a bed which burns off at a distance
above 400mm from the end of the stoker
• Causes
• A)Low stoker speed
• B)Low coal bed thickness
• C)A sudden high demand for steam
• Remedies
• A) low stoker speed
• Increase stoker speed to suit steam demand
• B) low coal bed thickness
• Raise coalbed thickness to suit steam demand
• C) a sudden high steam demand for steam
• Adjust stoker speed to match demand
• Humping chain grate
• Causes
• A) a hot chain grate
• B) incorrect chain grate tension
• Remedies
• A) a hot chain grate
• Shorten the firebed
• Soot blow boiler tubes
• Check that there is no ash in the flue under the stoker
• Incorrect chaingrate tension
• A loose chaingrate will hump as it passes the front drive
sprockets, wearing out the hopper side support
• A tight chain will cause drive links to break
• Remedy
• Notify the supervisor or mantainance department
• NB; Retension stoker only when cold
• Black smoke issuing from the chimney
• Causes
• A) Grit trough not sealed properly
• B) dirty boiler tubes
• C)coal with very high volatile content
• D) too much coal and too little air
• E)sudden reduction in steam demand
• F) Uneven steam demand with sharp rises and sharp drops
• Remedies
• A) make sure the grit trough is sealed properly
• B) soot blow boiler tubes once per shift
• C) increase the photohelic set points to minus 30-40kpa
• Increase furnace pressure to achieve a flame angle less than 45degrees
• D)adjust the ID and FD dampers to suit coal bed thickness
• E) try to communicate with production department effectively
• F) change over boiler controls from panel to manual control
• Clinker formation
• Clinker is a formation of incomplete combustion of coal which
sticks on the ignition arch or side of the stoker
• Remedy
• Clinker is removed by using a slice bar. Normally applying a
gentle sawing action to avoid damaging the refractory on
which the clinker sticks
• Longfire
• is a firebed which burns off less than 300mm from the end of the stoker.
Longfire is recognized by red coals or burning fuel falling at the end of the
stoker
• Causes
• Stoker speed too fast
• Too thick a coal bed
• Remedies
• slow down the stoker speed
• Reduce the coal bed thickness
• Short fire
• A short fire is a fire bed which burns off by more than 400mm from the end of
the stoker
• It is recognised by fresh coals falling at the end of the stoker
• A short fire will normally cause steam pressure to drop
• It may also cause the chimney to smoke.
• Causes
• Too slow stoker speed
• A sudden high demand for steam
• Low coal bed thickness
• Remedies
• Raise the coal bed thickness to suit the steam demand
• Adjust the stoker speed to match the demand
 Handing over and taking over shift
• Go through the boiler plant with the oncoming operator as follows:
• Check boiler water level
• Check ash accumulation in the flue under the stoker
• Check that the ashpot is empty
• Check the temperature of the grate
• Check water levels in the hotwell tank or dearator
• Check chemicals dosing tanks
• Read through the log sheet or log book together
To prolong life of the stoker,
guillotine door, ignition arch,
undergrate dampers
• Stoker
• Do not allow the stoker to run hot when in operation
• Remove and replace broken links
• Do not allow the stoker to run with a hump
• Avoid long fires on the stoker
guillotine door
• Prevent fire to burn back under it or behind it
• Make sure it moves freely up or down
• When in operation maintain an ignition line between 25-50mm from it
 ignition arch
• Do not knock off or chip off clinker formation on it
• Allow it to cool down gradually on shutdown
• Allow it to gain heat gradually on start up
• undergrate dampers
• Always adjust them to suit the length of the fire bed on the stoker
• Leave them in the open position when there is a banked fire on the
stoker
• Report to your supervisor if they get sluggish or difficult to move
 Thank you
and best wishes