This course is a comprehensive, authoritative field guide to boiler failures.

Contained is information gathered of failure analysis at various chemical companies involving many case histories.

Failures in boilers of virtually all pressures and construction are represented. Failures in nearly all boiler locations, as well as some pre-boiler and after boiler regions, are discussed. Many photographs of actual failures illustrate the training.

Critical, unprejudiced observation, bolstered by experience and common sense, are the most important factors in the correct identification of a boiler failure.

This course alone cannot substitute for the trained, experienced analyst. Failure analysis is a learned skill.

This course will help the novice and more experienced observer select the most likely failure modes quickly and simply.

By direct comparison with the many illustrations and photos of real failures, the user will learn to identify many problems and pinpoint likely failure locations.

Explanation of failures will be easier, and the interpretation and discussion of failure–analysis reports will be facilitated.

The course is not intended to be a substitute for rigorous failure analysis. Rather, the information should serve as an aid to in–plant investigation and as a readily accessible reference source in the field.

  Although the skilled observer can detect and correctly diagnose many failures based solely upon visual inspection, often there is no substitute for laboratory investigations.

Topics include overheating, chemical corrosion on both the fire side and water side, cracking, deposition, erosion, and manufacturing defects.