Boiler Tube Reconditioning

During a maintenance shutdown at the W.H.Sammis power plant of Ohio Edison, ASB Industries was called on to recondition boiler tubes in the plant’s furnace section. The spiral-tube boilers had been in operation for one year, and had been left bare at the time of installation to identify wear and corrosion patterns. Ohio Edison asked ASB to remove deposits on the tubes and coat them with aluminum. Time was critical; repairs had to be completed on deadline to allow the power plant to go back on line. ASB used two 8-man crews, working 12-hour shifts continuously to complete repairs to a 6,700- square-foot area in the shortest time possible.

The repair process required blasting tubes and filler plates to remove slag and scale, then grit-blasting the cleaned areas to assist adhesion of the protective layers. Three protective layers were then applied: flame-sprayed nickel aluminide; flame-sprayed aluminum wire; and high-temperature silicon sealer, applied with airless paint sprayers.

ASB completed the entire project in less than 72 hours, well ahead of schedule. The aluminum metallized boiler tubes will run several years before they need touch-up cleaning and refinishing.

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