Boiler control:

http://www.marineinsight.com/tech/boiler/blow-down-procedure-for-marine-boilers/

Steps for blow down procedure are as follows:

Kindly refer the diagram to understand the blow down procedure properly.

1. Open the overboard or ship side valve(1) first.

2. Open the blow down valve (2), this valve is a non-return valve.

3. The blow down valve adjacent to the boiler (2) should be opened fully so as to
prevent cutting of the valve seat.

4. The rate of blow down is controlled by the valve (3).

5. After blow down close the valve in reverse order.

6. A hot drain pipe even when all valves are closed indicates a leaking blow
down valve.

http://industrialsteam.com/selection-of-blowdown-systems/

What is Boiler Blowdown?

Blowdown occurs when water is removed from a steam boiler while the boiler is operating. Boilers are
blown down to remove suspended solids and bottom sludge from steam boilers.

Removal of suspended solids helps insure the boiler generates high quality steam. It also prevents
foaming at the water surface which can lead to unstable water levels and excessive carryover of liquid
in the steam.

When blowdown water is taken from a boiler, it is at the boiler operating temperature and pressure.
For example, a boiler operating at 100 psig would discharge blowdown water at 338oF. When this
water is discharged to a drain at atmospheric pressure some
of the water will flash into steam in order to give up enough energy to drop the temperature to 212oF.
If not controlled, this flash steam could cause safety problems and housekeeping problems in the
boiler room.

Safe Blowdown Water Discharge?

In order to prevent the uncontrolled flashing of steam in the boiler room, the blowdown water should
be discharged into a vessel in which the flashing can occur in a controlled manner. The vessel should
be vented to a safe location.

Environmental regulations limit the temperature at which hot water can be discharged to a sewer
system. Hot water can lead to degradation in the sewer lines and it can promote excessive growth of
bacteria. These regulations require that additional steps be taken to reduce the temperature of the
blowdown water from the boiling point to 140oF or less.

Sources of Blowdown Water

There are two sources of blowdown from a steam boiler, bottom blowdown and surface blowdown.

Bottom blowdown is the removal of the sludge which accumulates in the bottom of a firetube boiler,
or in the mud drum of a watertube boiler. The sludge is removed regularly to prevent buildup which
could foul the heat transfer surfaces and lead to vessel or tube failure. Bottom blowdown is always
done on an intermittant basis, usually once a day or once a shift. The valve(s) is opened manually for
a brief period of time to allow the accumulated sludge to pass from the vessel.
Surface blowdown is the removal of the suspended solids from the surface of the water in a steam
boiler. The amount of suspended solids will depend on the water quality. The more impurities and the
more chemical treatment required, the greater the
amount of surface blowdown required. If the amount of make-up required increases, the need for
surface blowdown will also increase because greater amounts of impurities are introduced to the
system on a continuous basis.

http://www.controlglobal.com/articles/2006/199/

Diagramming drum level control

Harold Wade suggest a few additional points be made to the
three-element boiler level control figures in a previous article
that show how signals from the steam flow FT and the drum
LT combine in the LIC.
Oct 16, 2006
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inShar e

- A A A A +
By Harold L. Wade, Ph.D., Wade Associates

To David Spitzer: Congratulations on your excellent article on drum level control, "Boiling Water
is Easy as One, Two, Three, Four" (Control, Aug 2006).

Since I am the worlds greatest nit-picker, I would like to nit-pick a particular point in the
figuresthe way they show the signals from the steam flow FT and the drum LT as being
combined in the LIC.

My objection to this figure (See Figure below) is the manner in which signals from the Steam
Flow FT and the Drum LT are shown as both going into the LIC.

FIGURE AS IT APPEARS IN ARTICLE

My experience with many students is that, when they are interpreting a P & ID with the
configuration shown, they do not understand exactly how the two transmitter signals are
combined. Your drawing shows FF for the FT signal, but most students will miss that. They will
think that the FT signal is setting the set point of the LIC.

Another lesser problem is that there is too much installation detail shown. The article is
discussing control strategy, so the block valves and the lines to the LT are unnecessarythose
are instrument engineer details, not control strategy engineer details.

My preferred way of depicting this configuration is to show a separate summation block

combining the OUTPUT of the LIC with the (FF) signal from the FT.

If you want to incorporate the blowdown into the control strategy, then the signal from the
blowdown FT can also be incorporated into the summation block or shown as an FF signal.

FIGURE 3 IN ARTICLE: REVISED

FIGURE 4 IN ARTICLE: REVISED