Food Plant Boiler Failure

Expert was performing process consulting at a large food plant.  A competing food plant called for recommendations to solve a boiler failure problem that had resulted in the complete food plant shutdown and production stoppage. After listening to the plant engineers, where their large electric boiler was failing due to catastrophic high voltage boiler insulator failures, this expert was asked to help.  The plant engineers suspected boiler chemistry.  However, the boiler insulators were failing outside of the boiler wetted area, and the expert suspected a change in insulator composition by the manufacturer.  After examining several failed insulators, the expert noticed a consistent insulator grain where the insulator should have been homogeneous and without any grain.  After contacting the manufacturer regarding an insulator manufacturing process change, it was discovered that the manufacturer had indeed changed its insulator production process.  Insulators produced prior to the manufacturing process change were requested and inspected.  They appeared to have homogeneous consistency and were without an apparent grain boundary.  These were installed and the problem with boiler failures immediately stopped.  The manufacturer went back to its former production process and the food plant specifications were amended to the more homogeneous high voltage boiler insulator.

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