Boiler Descaling

Like with most commercial machinery, boilers benefit from regular maintenance. Regular descaling treatments can improve boiler efficiency, reduce damage from thermal heat, and extend life expectancy. Our Dynamic Descaler Our Dynamic Descaler can safely and efficiently clean scale build-up and hard water deposits in commercial boilers.

What is a Boiler?

A boiler is a water containing vessel which transfers heat into steam or hot water. The steam or hot water can then be used for energy, sterilization, heat, and more. Most commercial boilers use oil or gas as fuel sources.

The Department of Energy states that a boiler must have minimum efficiency standards fall between 81% and 88% to operate at a commercial level. The majority of commercial Boilers fall into two categories:

  • Fire-Tube Boiler: Also known as shell boilers, fire-tube boilers expose the maximum heat transfer surface to the water. Heat is directed through the inside of the tubes, heating up the water immersing the tubes. These boilers generally produce 750 hp or 25,000 lbs of steam per hour. The majority, around 80%, of boilers used in a commercial setting are fire-tubes.
  • Water-Tube Boiler: These boilers are usually rectangular in shape and have two or more drums. Heat is directed around the outside of the tubes, heating the water contained within the tubes.

Commercial Boiler Descaling Solution

We carry six industrial Descalers that are ideal for use on commercial boilers:

  • Dynamic Descaler: The industry-leading descaling solution with the lowest corrosive rate on the market.
  • Platinum Descaler: Recommended for use on stainless steel based commercial boilers.
  • Aqua Safe Descaler: An industrial descaling solution that is potable water approved and is recommended for use on marine boilers.
  • Descale 518: Also recommended for use on stainless steel based commercial boilers.
  • Citric Descaler: A citric based descaler that dissolves almost twice as much calcium carbonate than any other descaler on the market. Our citric descaler is a green product.
  • Aluminum Descaler: A unique descaling solution that has no effect on 7075 and 6061 aluminum dyes and cast molding.

See our Descaler in Action

Boiler Descaling Instructions

1. Shut down boiler.

2. Blow down with pressure still in boiler.

3. Close steam valve.

4. Drain & flush boiler unit.

5. Disconnect the water in/out connections from the boiler unit.

6. Attached the necessary hoses to the water in/out connections on the boiler unit to a circulation pump and a circulating tank. (You might be able to connect the inlet hose to the valve on the bottom of the boiler. The discharge hose could be connect to the top of the boiler where a safety relieve valve is in place. Simply take the safety relieve valve off and install a schedule 80 PVC ball valve. This will be your discharge going into the circulating tank.

7. We recommend you circulate with water first to see if the system has any leaks, or if any unnecessary valves are not turned off. If you do have leaks, repair before proceeding to next step.

8. Circulate our Descaler for 20 minutes; then turn off the circulating pump and the let Descaler stand for approximately 20 minutes. Repeat this process for a total of 4 to 8 hours (time is determine by the water volume of the boiler, or the size of boiler)

9. After the first 20 minutes of circulation time, check the pH of our Descaler with a pH meter or with pH strips. Before use, Our Descaler has a pH between 0 and 1.15 pH. Depends which of our product is being used. If the pH rises to around 3 or 3.5 pH after the first 20 minutes, add more of our Descaler to lower the pH to around 1. Continue this process through the time allowed (4 to 8 hours). When the pH of our Descaler remains the same, there should be no more scale, so the boiler should be clean. ThebBoiler should be free of scale. The only way the pH of our Descaler would increase is by having scale remaining in the boiler.

10. We recommend the procedures in 8 and 9 to effectively clean Boilers. The 20 minutes circulation and the 20 minutes saturating time are actually US Navy procedures, who use our products. We have increased the circulation time to speed up the cleaning. The Navy asked for 5-minute circulating time and 20 minutes saturating time, which we achieved.

11. The reason for this procedure is to allow the Descaler to penetrate through tough scales while been saturated. This allows our Descaler to work more effectively in your boiler. After 20 minutes of saturating, proceed with circulating to wash away all scale and debris.

12. If you decide to bypass the saturation technique, you may do this. In a complete circulation with no saturation, the time for cleaning will decrease. This would allow for less down time in your plant. Please call for more information.

13. Pump or remove the remaining Descaler into another container. If the Descaler still has a pH around 1-3 pH, use the Descaler for another cleaning.

14. After removing our Descaler from the boiler, flush the boiler with water to remove all debris and remaining Descaler. If you want to completely neutralize the boiler, add sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) to the water while circulating. Add a ratio of 1/2 pound of sodium bicarbonate to 25 gallon of water.

15. Once you have flush the boiler, disconnect the hoses from the circulating pump and circulate tank. Re-connect the water inlet and outlet to the boiler. If you chose to discharge the Descaler from the safety value on top of boiler, be sure to place the safety valve for safety measures. Be sure to open steam valve.

Download boiler descaling instructions