In 1979 the American Society of Mechanical Engineers first published Consensus on Operating Practices for the Control of Feedwater and Boiler Water Quality in Modern Industrial Boilers. This document quickly became accepted throughout the world. However, as time went on it became apparent that the document needed to be revised and expanded. For example, the use of equipment not addressed in the original document (such as waste heat recovery boilers and electrode boilers) became much more common. Furthermore, the original document never addressed issues such as steam purity. In 1994 the ASME Committee on Water and Steam in Thermal Power Systems reissued the “Consensus” document which included guidance on these and many other important feedwater and boiler water parameters. This paper will briefly contrasts the new document with the original one, then discuss the content of the present document. Numerous examples will be used to illustrate the practices recommended by the ASME committee.
Keywords: boiler water, feedwater, water quality, guidelines, steam purity, boiler operations, boiler reliability