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  • Boiler Questions

    Hi Friends,
    I have two questions related to a boilers. We are looking at a 7BBL steam fired brewhouse. I am sourcing a 15HP boiler to supply the steam.

    1. Do you have any knowledge/experience/preference/whatever with horizontal vs. vertical tubeless boilers?

    2. I see a lot of info expressing concern about the quality of water going into the boiler. Do any of you treat the feed water going into your boilers? If so, could this be the same water we're running through a carbon filter for our brew water?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    I have used a boiler for close to 15 years and yes you will have to treat the water. A couple of things I would put a automatic blow down valve on your boiler from the start unless you can remember every other day or so to manually blow it down. I failed hopelessly on that I would remember for a few weeks then got busy and forgot and it tough to play catch up on blow down. they are not expensive and a simple solenoid valve install. Second, get a professional boiler treatment company to come in and custom blend treatment for you. Everyones water is different so you will need different treatment than say the guy 50 miles from you they can come in and test your water test your boiler and get the balance right and its a free service trust me there is much more than ph to worry about. We did the water softner thing at my old brewery and while a softner will remove minerals it can also attack the the corrosion that is stopping the water leaks its kinda of a trade off thing ya get a good thing and a bad thing and then you will start getting leaks at the threads (weakest point of a pipe). but, that occured because I did a poor job on my blow down.

    So I suggest professional water tx and testing and a automatic blow down valve
    Mike Eme
    Brewmaster

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    • #3
      We just replaced all of the sections of a sectional boiler after 15 years of use due to corrosion from untreated water. Most of those years were without water treatment. We should have been using water treatment and at least a softener.

      To prevent this from happening again we have a company that regularly tests and treats our boiler water, installed auto blowdowns, and a water softener. This should help to avoid the problems in the future.

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      • #4
        We were advised by both our boiler supplier--Columbia--and our state boiler inspector that the proper--and only--time to blow the boiler down was for our annual inspection. Our boiler is a closed-system--the condensate is returned to the boiler--so we add very little make-up water, and adding fresh water every few days just adds oxygen, even using a good chemical oxygen scrubber. It seems to be working fine for us. If you are blowing down on a regular basis, use the water from your HLT so it's somewhat de-aerated.

        We also contract with a boiler treatment company to advise us on the use of water treatments. Five years into a new boiler, and it looks new on the inside.
        Timm Turrentine

        Brewerywright,
        Terminal Gravity Brewing,
        Enterprise. Oregon.

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