[Gutenberg 20146] • Engineering Bulletin No 1: Boiler and Furnace Testing

Excerpt from Boiler and Furnace Testing

The United States Fuel Administration recommends that every boiler plant have some means of daily checking the efficiency of the boiler and furnace. The simplest and best way of finding out how efficiently the boiler is working is to make an evaporation test, as described in this bulletin. All the necessary records can be made automatically with suitable instruments, although in many small plants the coal must be weighed on ordinary scales. The efficiency of the furnace can be found by making analyses of the flue gases. (see Technical Paper 219 of the Bureau of Mines.) Too many engineers and firemen have the idea that they are not fitted to make boiler tests. This is altogether wrong. Any man who can weigh water and coal and read steam gages and thermometers is able to do the work required in making a boiler test for evaporation or efficiency. Such a test requires a knowledge of the following items.