Steam Blowing

Cleaning by steam blowing is carried out basically for steam circuits (i.e for steam generating boilers, steam heated exchangers, steam generator upstream piping or other steam lines). Because of problems of condensation of steam or draining of condensate, this sort of cleaning needs to be utilized with the utmost service, as it can potentially develop vacuum in the equipment being cleaned.

The purpose of blowing or cleaning the steam lines before starting up a new unit is to eliminate any contaminant remaining in the equipment (i.e. superheater) and also steam piping after installment is finished.

On older devices the need for steam line blowing should be considered complying with significant pressure components repairs, where the probability of overview of foreign material into the system exists.

Since avoidance of damage to the plant steam system is the prime issues, the duty for determining the efficiency of the steam line blowing operation rests with the plant operator.

The principle behind blowing steam to clean the lines is that the thermal cycling (heating/cooling) as well as high velocity gas flowing with the line will certainly "shock" the pipe to break the factory scale and weld slag far from the pipeline wall.

Preferably, steam blowing need to be done before the system being insulated to max the thermal cycling of the equipment. If the system is insulated, a greater time in between successive steam blowing procedures might be essential to allow the system to cool down.