In this article, Fulton’s aftercare and business development manager Jeff Byrne takes a look at technical boiler house risk assessments, from their legalities to the potential savings that can be achieved.

It is strongly advised that all companies with a steam boiler have a technical risk assessment in place for its boilers and boiler house. It is required by law under the Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and is necessary to comply with the requirements of SAFed document BG01, HSE INDG 436 and HSE INDG 417 Rev1, under which steam or hot water plant should be operated.

Why do you need a Technical Boiler House Risk Assessment?

Besides the legal requirement, a faulty steam boiler brings with it the risk of a steam explosion. With significant stored energy, failure of steam (or pressurised hot water boiler plant) can produce a similar level of destruction and/or devastation as a bomb, potentially causing catastrophic damage, serious injury and possibly multiple fatalities. With around 100 pressure vessel failures and at least one fatality per annum in the UK (HSE RIDDOR 2014), the importance of a technical boiler house risk assessment (TBHRA) cannot be overstated.

So, a TBHRA is therefore essential for owners, operators and managers to ensure that staff are aware of the risks and their responsibilities for the safe operation and management of industrial steam and hot water boiler plant. It is also likely to be the first thing a HSE inspector would ask to see in the event of an inspection.

A TBHRA is also a vital link in the safety chain to identify risk and develop measures to mitigate those risks, thus ensuring the safety of all involved with the plant.

We simply cannot stress the importance of the TBHRA enough, because non-compliance with the law can result in substantial fines and the likelihood of a custodial sentence in the event of serious injury or a fatality.

The Fulton approach to TBHRAs

Fulton’s method with the TBHRA requirement is to take a very collaborative approach with its clients; and use only experienced steam boiler and steam system engineers with over 60 years’ knowledge of not just steam boilers, but steam, water and condensate systems. 

This highly-experienced team will scrutinise and photograph every area of risk and will produce a full report proposing and prioritising mitigation measures. This will give owners, operators and managers peace of mind that their plant may be operated safely and that all relevant guidance and legislation is supported once any identified hazards are rectified.

What are the typical findings of a TBHRA?

Unlike a vehicle MOT, a TBHRA does not pass or fail a steam system, but instead highlights hazards and the potential risk and then proposes measures to rectify any issues. 

According to INDG 436 “a risk assessment does not need to include excessive detail”, but issues highlighted can include boiler specification, location, operation and condition, poor record keeping, lack of suitable/relevant training or trained operator absence cover, shortage of plant drawings and manuals, control system reliability, ventilation issues, poor/no suitable operational procedures, water quality issues, etc. 

Beyond the TBHRA?

Once its assessment is completed and delivered, there is no commitment by the customer to involve Fulton in any post-assessment remedial works. But the document does highlight areas of the steam system that require attention and will prioritise the risk they pose from high priority (red) to lower priority (green). The assessment must also be made available to the boiler operator and, in the event of the sale of equipment, the new owner/operator.

However, unlike a MOT, a TBHRA is a live document that should be updated on an ongoing basis when any changes or modifications affecting the operation of a boiler occurs. This can include personnel changes, additional training, physical changes including boiler/burner upgrades, legislation amendments, etc.

Fulton can offer support to the customer once the TBHRA has been completed, or during or after the annual review. This support can be provided onsite or via telephone or video conference assistance once the review is completed.

A TBHRA also offers excellent value for money because it not only highlights areas of potential risk for owners, operators and managers, but can also identify where enhancements to the steam system could lead to improved energy efficiency. For example, the cost to replace an old, inefficient or dangerous burner could easily be offset within a few years by the fuel savings achieved through the upgrade.

For further information on Fulton’s technical boiler house risk assessment package, call the office on +44 (0)117 972 3322, email aftercare@fulton.co.uk or visit www.fulton.co.uk. 

With its management team constantly reviewing the performance of the wider market and current economic climate – which are showing signs that capital expenditure has dropped by approximately 40% [Monetary Policy Report August 2020] – heat transfer specialist Fulton has taken the unprecedented decision to introduce an initiative to cut the gross margin on its VSRT steam boiler to ensure that customers from key sectors, including the NHS and food & beverage processing, will benefit from its scheme.

Commenting for Fulton, managing director Carl Knight says: “Given the exceptional nature of recent events and the struggle many businesses find themselves in, we have decided to launch an initiative designed to help the many key sectors that have themselves been assisting the wider population during the recent COVID-19 pandemic. 

“We know from a recent surge in demand for servicing and maintenance that many of our customers in these sectors are operating steam boilers that are ageing and, in some cases, need replacing; and others who need to expand their capabilities and facilities to meet current demand. However, we also appreciate that current trading conditions mean capital budgets have been affected, so opportunities to purchase new capital equipment is restricted.

“To assist these key sectors, Fulton has therefore taken the decision to sacrifice the gross margin on all models from its VSRT steam boiler range for the remainder of 2020.  Additionally, with many other businesses struggling as a result of other sectors being impacted or shut down since March, we are extending these discounts to all of our customers!”

Fulton’s new scheme and the discounts on offer do come with some caveats, which include:

- Discounts apply to the cost of the VSRT steam boiler and excludes ancillary equipment and/or the full project value

- The order must be placed and paid for in full before 31st December 2020 with a Vesting Certificate being provided on receipt of the Final Payment. The discounted amount will be taken from the final payment balance

- The ordered boiler must be delivered or collected before the 31st March 2020. However, we will provide warehousing free of charge until this date

With outputs from 160 to 4,000 kg/h, Fulton’s VSRT is claimed to be the most radical change to vertical steam boiler design since the company pioneered the vertical tubeless boiler in 1949! It boasts industry-leading performance with up to 86% gross efficiency from a fully-water-backed design with no refractory; its architecture makes it durable and reliable, with up to 10:1 turndown through its fully-modulating burner; and, with a mesh burner and furnace designed as a single component, achieves typical NOx emissions of  less than 20ppm.

For further information on the offer, please call the Fulton sales office on +44 (0)117 972 3322 or email sales@fulton.co.uk. 

Process steam and heat transfer specialist Fulton has launched SCOPE, an all-new, PLC-based boiler sequencing control system that can optimise installations to ensure energy efficient operation and improve boiler longevity.

With many facilities operating multiple boilers for their processes, SCOPE is a universal control system suitable for sequencing up to four steam boilers, which can be retrofitted to existing vertical and horizontal fuel-fired boiler installations, including Fulton’s own range of existing and planned products and those manufactured by other boiler OEMs.

Commenting for Fulton, managing director Carl Knight says: “Using SCOPE’s intelligent sequencing to provide redundancy and reliability, significant savings can be made by automating start-up and shut-down procedures, controlling and optimising main steam header pressure or temperature, ensuring steam supply is controlled precisely for the required process and balancing the load distribution across the boilers, thus eliminating extensive losses from repeated start/stop cycling of burners.”

At launch, SCOPE features a high-definition touch screen used for system programming and displaying boiler status, with values presented including firing rate, fault history, TDS value logging. SCOPE also allows remote access so service engineers can review boiler status and/or alarm conditions and control system functionality according to process demand.

Additional features include lead/lag control of up to four boilers; multiple setpoints for lead, assist lag and banked control; steam header pressure monitoring with low/high alarm warning facility; automatic changeover of banked/lag boiler in the event of a fault or increased steam demand; automated slow-opening steam valve control to assist safe operation of boiler priority, emergency steam valve and/or boiler shutdown; hot-well temperature control; and boiler status, steam flow and hot-well tank temperature logging.

For further information on SCOPE email sales@fulton.co.uk, call +44 (0)117 972 3322 or click www.fulton.co.uk.

As a leading heat transfer specialist, Fulton is all too aware of the effect that COVID-19 has had on its customers and the wider industry and appreciates that many steam boilers have been shut down during this period. So, when operations are ready to resume, businesses need to make sure its boilers and steam systems are ready too and meet the Health & Safety requirements and operational demands required of its processes.

Fulton’s advice prior to restarting is that an initial steam boiler and system assessment is undertaken to ensure that steam processes or manufacturing operations restart without risk to personnel or the business in general.

To assist its customers, Fulton is therefore offering a Restarting Workplace Pressure Systems Safely package consisting of:

• Pre-start assessment (potential issues are identified and rectification planned in with re-commissioning – where possible)
• Re-commissioning of the steam boiler and water treatment
• Follow up verification visit to fine tune and confirm boiler run condition (if requested)

This service is available for all fuel-fired and electric steam boilers, including those from and installed by other manufacturers, but Fulton needs to consider boiler and system size before quoting. A discount is available for new and existing service contract holders. 

For further information, please email service@fulton.co.uk or call the office on +44 (0)117 972 3322. 

Having moved from a facility that was too small and would have been uneconomical to upgrade, the overriding requirements for Elis’ new, state-of-the-art Southampton-based facility were to increase and future-proof throughput by increasing capacity as and when required. Protecting their investment was also paramount, so manufacturer-backed aftercare solutions were also key to the long-term plan.

The existing facility used a combination of indirect steam from a horizontal steam boiler and steam-heated ironers and dryers during the laundry process. But with the new multi-service flat linen plant – which services the Southern region hospitality and healthcare industry – came a new approach for Elis and, because the company processes laundry for the healthcare sector amongst others, they instead opted for a heat transfer system that would pre-heat water for the washing machines to a minimum of 72 degrees centigrade by directly injecting steam into the water supply.

A number of steam raising methods and manufacturers were considered in the original tender, but, with a requirement for an energy-efficient boiler with a small footprint, Elis subsequently placed an order for a skid-mounted, 2 x VSRT-60 gas-fired steam boiler solution from heat transfer specialist Fulton, which was packaged with ancillary items including automatic blowdown, water treatment and a TDS energy recovery system.

Commenting for Elis, senior engineer Slawomir Barczewski says: “The old facility was capable of processing 60,000 to 70,000 items a day but, with Fulton’s skid-mounted VSRT vertical steam boiler solution and the new line in place, we are currently processing approximately 90,000 items with the ability to double throughput as required.”

The skid-mounted solution features two 600kW (960kg/h) VSRT-60 steam boilers, which boast ultra-low NOx emissions of less than 20ppm, achieve up to 10:1 turndown capabilities and industry-leading performance of 86% gross thermal efficiency and 99.75% steam quality at 8 bar. It features a multi-award-design design that is durable, long-lasting, enhances heat transfer rates and improves steam quality. Additionally, for applications where contaminated air can reduce boiler uptime – such as laundry and dry cleaning facilities – the VSRT’s cyclonic air filter effectively separates debris and damaging particles from the combustion air and, because it won’t clog over time, eliminates the need for replacement filters.

To protect its investment and ensure the steam boiler installation continues to operate efficiently, Elis also opted for a number of solutions from Fulton’s aftercare portfolio, including a service contract, water treatment package and boiler operator training, a requirement of Elis’ insurance provider.

Commenting for Fulton, aftercare and business development manager Jeff Byrne says: “Considerable investment has gone into this new super-laundry and Elis is keen to ensure that their return-on-investment is improved as much as possible, hence supporting the installation with manufacturer-backed service contracts and training.”

The service contract for Elis consists of two service visits per boiler per year, with one visit coinciding with the annual insurance inspection. As well as providing discounts on any spares and the regular chemicals orders, the contract also ensures 24h phone-based technical assistance from a dedicated boiler/service engineer and a 48h call-out response where required. The water treatment package consists of monthly feedwater quality inspections and an annual system inspection and report.

Fulton’s one-day boiler operator training courses – accredited by the globally-recognised City & Guilds of London – has satisfied the boiler operational training requirements of hundreds of clients and bridges the gap between straightforward ‘toolbox’ training and the more expensive courses that can cost thousands per employee. Carried out on-site and supporting both BG01 (SAFed) and INDG-436 (HSE) guidelines, the course looks at the practical operation of controls and test equipment using a customer's own boiler, introduces the principles of steam and boiler operation in the form of a presentation and includes both theory and practical assessments.

For further information on Fulton’s skid-mounted solutions, the multi-award-winning VSRT or its aftercare portfolio, call +44 (0)117 972 3322 or visit www.fulton.co.uk.