For owners of domestic boilers
The majority of emergencies in our country related to domestic boiler explosions occur at the beginning of the heating season, which is characterized by positive air temperatures during the daytime.
At night, the thermometer drops below zero, leading to the freezing of pipelines and expansion tanks, which stops water circulation.
Before the start of the heating period, owners of domestic boilers must:
- clean the internal surfaces of the boiler and chimneys of soot. Repair them if necessary;
- inspect or replace shut-off and safety valves with functional ones;
- flush the heating system and fill it with water;
- ensure the boiler and heating system are airtight;
- since the freezing of heating system water usually occurs in attics and unheated rooms, insulate the pipelines and expansion tank located there.
If there is no water circulation in the heating system, boiling of water occurs during fuel combustion inside the pipes or cast-iron sections of the boiler, accompanied by a pressure increase. When critical pressure is reached, the pipes or boiler sections rupture. Due to the ejection of a large volume of steam and steam-water mixture from the damaged boiler, the pressure inside the room increases, consequently leading to the destruction of the building's load-bearing structures.
To prevent domestic boiler explosions, it is necessary to:
- ensure that the shut-off valves on the supply and return pipelines are open and the heating system is vented;
- remove condensate from the lower pocket of the chimney;
- inspect the chimney outlets and flue channels and ensure they are free of freezing and blockages;
- before starting the boiler ignition, open the heating system's make-up line and the expansion tank's filling control line. Water flowing from the control line indicates that the pressure on the boiler's pressure gauge is not increasing.
If water does not flow from the filling control line of the expansion tank, and the pressure in the boiler rises and reaches the pressure in the water supply network, this indicates that the heating system has frozen. In this case, it is strictly forbidden to ignite the boiler.
It is necessary to determine the location of the heating system freeze, thaw it, and only then, when water flows from the control line (with the make-up line open), can the boiler be gradually ignited, constantly monitoring the water pressure in the boiler using the pressure gauge installed on it.
If the water pressure in the boiler begins to approach the maximum permissible level, it is necessary to immediately stop supplying fuel to the boiler, remove it from the boiler to a safe place, and pour water over the remnants of burning fuel. In this case, the heating system has not been thawed.
The installation of domestic water heating boilers and heating systems is recommended to be carried out only by specialized organizations. In this case, it is necessary that the employees performing the installation and commissioning of boilers conduct user training with a note about this in the boiler passport.
IT IS FORBIDDEN:
- to use homemade boilers not equipped with safety automation and control and measuring instruments;
- to operate faulty boilers (boilers with faulty pressure gauges, safety devices) and to arbitrarily disconnect or dismantle them;
- to ignite the boiler at sub-zero outdoor temperatures in the absence of water circulation in the heating system;
- to store flammable, lubricating, and wiping materials near the boiler.
Inspector of SPIVO of Miory District Department for Emergency Situations O.M. Girzha