Boiler Blog Archive | Nationwide Boiler Inc.

The tragic events of the COVID-19 pandemic have affected many, placing people and businesses out of their normal operating procedures. Individuals typically have routines consisting of a normalized work schedule, personal or family responsibilities, and hobbies or other choice activities, in addition to the drudgery like laundry and cleaning the bathroom. All these activities fall into day to day life. Businesses have routines as well. Monday morning sales meetings, Thursday weekly training sessions, safety meetings, sales calls, purchase order acknowledgements, payroll and other various activities that make the work world turn.

What should be done during an “upset” condition?  Risk management in both our personal lives and work obligations needs to be a frequent topic. We must combine the worlds of our personal lives and our work lives because the reality of this “upset” condition impacts both.

As a rental boiler and related equipment supplier, in addition to a full-fledged engineering and procurement company, Nationwide is essential to keeping North America operating at survival capacity.  Our customers producing food, chemicals, pharmaceuticals and heat for hospitals and correctional facilities need us to be ready and available to continue to operate.

We also have the fiduciary responsibility to our employees to keep them healthy. In the office we are maintaining the required distance between people. We are washing down high contact areas; employees are even working from home. In the shop, where we work on the equipment that generates steam, feedwater and emissions control, the team is twice as vigilant. Management must lead the team to help them do the job while maintaining their own health and safety. Good planning of where equipment is placed for maintenance while rerouting higher foot traffic areas for items like parts, welding machines, tools, etc. are all considerations thought through to keep the machine turning and our people safe.

So, the question, “Can a boiler rental company work from home?” is not that simple.  Yes, sales, engineering, marketing, and accounting can do much of their work outside of the building. Boiler mechanics, testers, painters, QA and safety, in addition to leadership, needs to be hands on. There are gloves on those hands and masks on those smiles, but even in Silicon Valley there is no app for that.

With the COVID-19 pandemic upon us, there has been a lot of talk about essential businesses. What is it that actually deems a business essential? In short, businesses that people rely on in everyday life are essential, while nonessential businesses are generally recreational in nature.

Many consumers may not understand the necessity of steam in everyday life, however, steam plays a major role in many industries including hospitals, food processing, refineries, and pulp and paper manufacturing. Let’s dive into exactly how steam is used in some of these processes.

Hospitals
One of the most obvious groups of essential workers right now are those in a hospital, and steam is utilized extensively in all hospital settings. There are five major uses of steam in a hospital: comfort heating, humidification of air, sterilization of surgical instruments and medical waste, laundry, and food preparation.  

Food Processing
Steam used by food processors commonly falls into two distinct categories: Clean Steam or Utility Steam. Clean Steam, also known as “sanitary” or “culinary” steam, is typically used for direct injection into a product or to clean and sterilize product contact surfaces. Utility Steam, also referred to as “plant” steam, can be used in most applications that do not involve direct contact with food products or the surfaces that the food might contact. It is often utilized to supply energy for heating, cooking, or mechanical work. 

Some other examples of where steam is typically utilized in food processing is the tomato canning process, deodorizing cocoa butter, puffing up cereal, and sanitization of yogurt cups.

Rental boilers are often overlooked as a necessity for many processing industries. However, in the midst of a crisis, the need for steam becomes much more apparent to the public eye. In the latest podcast episode from Inside the Boiler Room, ABMA President Scott Lynch discusses the rental boiler industry with Larry Day, Nationwide Boiler's President & CEO. Larry shares his insights on the world of rental boilers, which has significant relevance during the COVID-19 crisis with boilers near capacity at many hospitals and food processing facilities.

Larry and Scott discuss an array of topics, including the importance of rental boilers in times of crisis. As Larry stated, "Anytime there is a natural disaster, rental boilers are looked at almost like generators or air compressors. Steam is a utility, and that's where it comes in as an emergency condition. [Many businesses] need that utility to keep running." 

A rental boiler can provide added capacity for increased production needs or it can temporarily replace an existing boiler to keep a plant running. Specific information about the process must be known for the supplier to accurately quote a rental boiler application. This includes:  

•    (1) Boiler Size / Steam Capacity Requirement (typically in HP or lb/hr)
•    (2) Operating Pressure
•    (3) Saturated or Superheated Steam Need (if superheat, what temperature)
•    (4) Fuel Requirement
•    (5) Any Auxiliary Equipment Needs
•    (6) Emissions Requirements

Listen to the podcast now to learn more about rental boiler basics, the evolution of the rental boiler industry, and potential challenges with different technology and maintenance of rental boiler systems. Also, be sure to check out the ABMA’s Guideline for Rental Boilers, developed by members of the ABMA Rental Boiler Group, including Nationwide Boiler Inc.  

Businesses across the globe are being affected by the current state of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today the National Board posted a supplement to NB-370, The National Board Synopsis of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Laws, Rules and Regulations, which contains temporary changes being made by individual National Board member jurisdictions.

The newly curated webpage provides important and up-to-date policies for installation and inservice inspections, for each jurisdiction that has implemented temporary changes. The database will be updated continually as the crisis evolves.