APPLICATION IN HEATING PLANTS/STEAM BOILERS

The cost of a conditioning system for a heating plant to be evaluated is not so much the investment to be made but rather the management costs and the results achievable.
If the recovery of condensate is high, one must bear in mind that the capital invested in steam generators is considerable and therefore the following should be evaluated:

The manufacturer of the steam generator guarantees the unit for very long periods; for such guarantees to be valid, not only must the combustion process be controlled meticulously, but what’s more important  is the thorough purification of the water.

Since the water is the first cause for the problems that may occur even quite briefly, this subject should be examined first and foremost to prevent future inconveniences.

It is indeed in virtue of these considerations that it is absolutely advisable to review the conditioning system, the sole advantage of which is its low installation costs and nothing else.

Systems that are universally acknowledged to be the most valid are those with reverse osmosis and resin demineralisation processes.
Chemical conditioning products for heating plants are rather expensive and are therefore excluded.
They also participate in increasing the salinity of the boiler and therefore accentuate the value of the discharging cycles.

Reverse osmosis is absolutely the most reliable system.
The reason for this is purely due to the system’s structural aspect.
Because of their structure, the diaphragms do not let molecules bigger than those of pure water through and this itself is an absolute guarantee certainty.
The same guarantee certainty is impossible with resin processes, where the irregular operation of a valve during the regeneration phase is all it takes to not complete the cycle.
Consequently, it only takes the incomplete regeneration of both the softening system and the demineralising system to compromise the internal conditions of the generator.

This is extremely important considering that it is presently unthinkable to constantly supervise Heating Plants due to the high costs involved in employing personnel.

So, together with the quality of the water obtainable, the reverse osmosis system contributes in operating safety and in the reduction of certain hidden costs that are usually not evaluated more than any other system.

The Heating Plant involved must always be able to work at top performance, with minimised running costs and above all it must have a long life span.

Reverse osmosis generally involves higher costs compared to both softening and demineralising systems, but the running costs in comparison to the same are so low that they are much more advantageous on the short-medium term.

The information given herein has been written very briefly just to draw the attention of technicians towards a problem of primary importance for an industry with continuous cycle.