HOLZ helps plant avoid heater failure with replacement composite joint

A HOLZ composite joint with a Teflon barrier saved serious downtime for a plant.

As a major Canadian source of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning products, Northern Industrial Supply Company (NISCO) is also a proud supplier of expansion and composite joints from HOLZ Rubber Company. HOLZ’ impressive inventory includes piping, flue-duct, high-temperature, and metallic joints.

But HOLZ Rubber Company is not merely a manufacturer of quality products. It is also a team of technical experts with a history of assisting clients directly with issues. One example occurred more than a year ago, when a manufacturing plant was having trouble with a lignite fired 600MW CFB boiler.

Reason for forced outages

The issue was that the boiler was experiencing frequent forced outages. The plant’s staff had no idea what was causing them, so they called the HOLZ team. Fortunately, HOLZ recognized the source of the outages immediately.

A common problem with this type of boiler occurs in the air heater air outlet. What happens is that fine particulate clings to the baskets and pushes dust into downstream ducts when the primary air passes through. As this dust collects behind the flow liner, it soon packs in tightly enough to rupture the expansion joints. Users often are unaware of this issue, believing that the primary air pushing through the outlet’s heater baskets is clean of dust. Even the manufacturer of the boiler had not recognized this potential hazard.

HOLZ knew right away that the expansion joint being used had been causing the forced outages. The team replaced the expansion joint with one of its composite joints – designed with a full cavity pillow to eliminate dust collection in the cavity. By applying composite joints with Teflon gas barriers, users can eliminate premature failure in CFB boilers.

As a result of HOLZ’ expertise, the plant has experienced no further problems with the boiler to this day.

About the companies

Based in Lodi, CA, HOLZ Rubber Company is a leader in rubber manufacturing, specializing in several types of expansion joints.

Based in Pickering, Ont., Northern Industrial Supply Company (NISCO) is a high-end supplier of products for such sectors as agriculture, mining, power generation, and transportation.

For more information, contact NISCO.

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