Guidance for the Safe Operation of Boilers (Ref: BG01) is a guidance document intended to assist the managers, designers, operators, maintenance personnel and Competent Persons (CP) of new and existing steam boiler systems.
Developed and written by the Combustion Engineering Association (CEA) and the Safety Assessment Federation (SAFed) in consultation with other stakeholders within the boiler industry.
The revision (Edition 2) incorporates up-to-date information and best practices relating to the operation of steam boiler plant; hot water boilers will now be covered in a separate document (BG02).
INTRODUCTION
Guidance on the Safe Operation of Steam Boilers (Ref: BG01) is a guidance document intended to assist the designers, managers, operators, maintenance personnel and Competent Persons (CP) of new and existing steam boiler systems in addressing the following issues:
The safe and efficient use and operation of the boiler installation;
Determining adequate supervision and maintenance requirements (levels and competence) that are consistent with the installed plant and its location;
Reducing the likelihood of explosion or other dangers from events such as:
Loss of feed water or low water level;
Over-pressure;
Overheating e.g. due to excessive scale;
Using efficient boiler operation to avoid excessive pressure or thermal cycles and load swings which can accelerate boiler fatigue or failure;
Having the proper treatment and monitoring of the feed water and condensate to:
minimise corrosion and scale; and
avoid carry-over of water with the steam which in turn can cause water-hammer and other issues;
Compliance with the various legal requirements, in particular that for periodic examination by a CP in accordance with a Written Scheme of Examination (WSE).
SCOPE
This document applies to all industrial & commercial steam boiler plant (normally shell boilers) operating at a working pressure up to 32 bar gauge, including vertical boilers, mobile steam boilers and waste heat boilers.
The following boilers are specifically excluded from the scope of this Guidance Document:
Hot water boilers;
Water tube boilers;
Steam boilers with a capacity exceeding either:
37 MW nett rated thermal input, or
32 bar gauge working pressure;
Domestic and commercial boilers with a capacity less than 70 kW;
Electric immersion boilers, electrode boilers and steam coil heated boilers;
Steam coil boilers (steam generators);
Boilers used for transport.
However, just because these boilers are outside the scope of BG01, this does not mean that the regulations and general principles in this document should not be applied where suitable and applicable.
Note that this edition of BG01 excludes hot water boilers which is the subject of new guidance document BG02 – Guidance on the Safe Operation of Hot Water Boilers.