Engineering Bulletin No 1: Boiler and Furnace Testing

The United States Fuel Administration is making every effort, through the producers and transportation lines, to obtain an adequate supply of fuel for the industries of the country.
Twenty-five to fifty million tons of coal a year can be saved by the improved operation of steam-power plants without changing their present equipment and without abating their production the slightest.
It is absolutely necessary that this saving be realized, if our overburdened railroads are to be relieved and our industries kept in full operation.
The extent to which it will be realized depends upon the cooperation of the owners, engineers, and firemen of every power plant of the country.
David Moffat Myers, Advisory Engineer to United States Fuel Administration .

By Rufus T. Strohm.
A boiler test is necessary in order to determine how well the boiler is doing the work expected of it; that is to say, we must find out whether we are wasting coal in making steam and how much this waste may be. Such a test may be made to discover the efficiency of the boiler, or the quantity of water it is evaporating, or the cost of evaporating 1,000 pounds of water.
The United States Fuel Administration recommends that every boiler plant have some means of daily checking the efficiency of the boiler and furnace. The simplest and best way of finding out how efficiently the boiler is working is to make an evaporation test, as described in this bulletin. All the necessary records can be made automatically with suitable instruments, although in many small plants the coal must be weighed on ordinary scales. The efficiency of the furnace can be found by making analyses of the flue gases. (See Bulletin No. 2 of the United States Fuel Administration.)
Too many engineers and firemen have the idea that they are not fitted to make boiler tests. This is altogether wrong. Any man who can weigh water and coal and read steam gages and thermometers is able to do the work required in making a boiler test for evaporation or efficiency. Such a test requires a knowledge of the following: