Combustion Analysis Training
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Combustion Analysis Training Closing Comments
Today,
most oil fired equipment is still being serviced and adjusted with traditional
manual combustion efficiency test equipment (or wet kits) for field service and
seldom is testing is done on gas, coal, or wood burning appliances. These kits
generally consist of a stack thermometer, draft gauge, wet chemical CO2 gas tester, slide rule and smoke pump.
Although this equipment has served the industry well over the years, faster,
more accurate, real time flue gas analysis is necessary.
Many service technicians are reluctant
to used digital combustion analyzers; there is a certain comfort in using what we are
used to, and in some cases we figure if we don't know, we cannot be held
responsible. Nothing could be further from the truth. Failure to test does not
absolve you of liability. Information is power whether it is used for you or
against you.
With
digital equipment, many errors with the measurement process are reduced or
eliminated. Analog measurement errors can be the result of interpolation
errors, calibration errors, poor repeatability of the measurement, and most
importantly not having a procedure in place to consistently repeat the
measurement process.
Tuning a system should
happen in real time, not "after the fact" with a very highly
"averaged" sample. (Each squeeze of a wet kit bulb represents a
different snapshot of the flue gas. A traditional test blends all those
snapshots together into one reading.)
Only digital analyzers
allow you to take real time tests. You cannot do a real
time test with a wet kit; it is physically impossible to take the sample
fast enough and do the slide rule calculation.
Today testing is not an option, but a
necessity on every gas, oil, wood, or coal appliance that you might
service. The truth is digital combustion analyzers are faster, more accurate, more reliable, and have a higher repeatability
than most analog tools. Digital analyzers stay in calibration, allow trending, allow more complex functions
and save time. Digital analyzers allow
data to be recorded and reported without human error, and provide reliable and
accurate results for you and your customers.
Data can be recorded much faster than any technician could ever do the
calculations and data can also be recorded whether or not the technician is
there to see it (eg. using features like the online mode on certain analyzers). In most cases, the data is an un-editable
record, so what you see was what was measured at the jobsite. Permanent records
allow the user to track system changes and determine if the system is operating
within the design parameters or if changes have taken place.









