Boiler Blog | Nationwide Boiler Inc.

Located in Lathrop, CA, the Discovery ChalleNGe Academy is a Community High School run by the California National Guard in partnership with the San Joaquin County Office of Education. Part of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe Program (NGYCP), the Academy was founded in 1993 to assist students in enhancing life skills, education levels, and employment potential.  This military-style program houses, feeds, and educates 16 to 18-year-old young adults that were unable to complete high school due to varying unfortunate circumstances. The program allows students to earn 65 High School credits while developing leadership, job, and academic skills, while improving self-esteem, pride, and confidence.  

With the school year coming to an end and graduation quickly approaching, The Academy set up a trip for a group of students working to complete their high school credits, and Nationwide Boiler was honored to participate. The goal of this field trip was to educate the graduating class on the many different education, trade, and career opportunities available to them once they step out into the real world.

The first stop of the day was San Jose State University, where they toured the campus and the new $130M recreation center. After experiencing lunch like a college student in the Student Union, they headed north to Nationwide’s shop in Fremont. Upon arrival, the students congregated on the patio to hear a warm welcome from President & CEO, Larry Day, and Vice President, Michele Tomas. The group was then taken on a tour of our 26,000 sq. ft. shop, where day-to-day activities include; boiler maintenance, welding, painting, electrical work, fabrication, equipment assembling, and other technical skills.

Nationwide Boiler’s Shop & Service Managers, Andrew Horne and Michael Rosmando, educated the students on the basics of a boiler system, and walked them through the different trade skills and career opportunities available not just here at Nationwide, but from other companies in similar and varying industries. Many of the students were interested in welding, electrical, and accounting careers. Who knows… we may have just met future Nationwide employees!

At Nationwide Boiler, we feel strongly about training and educating our youth so that we are able to successfully sustain our business and industry for future generations, and we are happy to have had the opportunity to be a part of this inspiring program. Thank you to Todd Robinson and the NGYCP for providing young adults with an opportunity that will help them secure their futures.

"Incredible things in the business world are never made by a single person, but by a team." This famous quote, spoken by Steve Jobs, couldn't be more accurate. The importance of building a strong, cohesive sales team that can provide real support and value to our customers is undeniable.

With this in mind, we are exicted to announce the addition of Rich Winfield to the Nationwide Boiler sales team! Rich joins Nationwide with nearly 35 years of experience in the boiler industry. He began his career in the field as a boiler combustion control technician, eventually transitioning into a sales position where he experienced continued growth and success.

Rich has been assigned to the position of Outside Sales, Southern California Region, and will focus on nurturing new leads and servicing previous clientele throughout the region. In addition, Rich will continue to educate boiler owner's in Southern California on Nationwide Boilers full product offerings, including our fleet of over 100 rental boilers, new and used boilers for sale, stock boiler program, CataStak SCR System for ultra-low NOx compliance, DataStak emissions and efficiency monitoring system, combustion control upgrades, UL certified control panels, and more.

Read our recent press release for more details, and please join us in welcoming Rich to the Nationwide Boiler team!

Boilers are designed to produce steam to accomplish a multitude of tasks; from powering a plant to sterilizing hospital equipment. In simple terms, a boiler is a closed container in which water is heated to its boiling point to produce usable steam. In order to produce steam, there are two key items that must be involved: water and heat.

A boiler is comprised of two seperate systems: the steam-water system (waterside), and the fuel-air-flue system (fireside). As you might have guessed, water is first introduced into the waterside of the boiler. Alternatively, the fireside of the boiler provides heat, produced through the combustion of fuel (commonly natural gas or fuel oil, but can be another source) and air, which is controlled by the burner.  The heat that is created within the fireside is transferred to the waterside to produce steam.

To complete a boiler system, additional elements are required. This typically includes the following major components:

•  Burner: a mechanical device that supplies the required fuel and air for proper combustion.
•  Controls: the BMS (burner management system) protects the equipment and personnel from safety issues.
      The CCS (combustion control system) controls the air and fuel for proper combustion.
•  Fan: supplies air for the combustion to take place.
•  Water Softener: pre-treats the boiler feedwater for removal of hardness, which would otherwise cause detrimental scale
   inside the boiler system.
•  Deaerator / Feedwater System: removes oxygen and gases from boiler feedwater supply (which will also damage boiler
  internals), and feeds it to the boiler system via high pressure feedwater pumps.

All of these elements come together to create a robust steam supply system that is utilized in an abundance of processes throughout many different industries. Boilers truly are a work of art, with many pieces working as one system to make something extremely powerful and impactful, which is why we at Nationwide Boiler are so passionate about what we do.

Stay tuned for the next article in ur Boiler Basics 101 series to learn more about common types of boiler systems.  

To kick-off our ‘Boiler Basics 101’ series, we are starting at the very beginning. The extremely useful resource, produced by the commercial and industrial boilers that we rent, sell, service and maintain… that resource is steam.

Our business, and the boiler industry as a whole, revolves around steam. We provide boilers and related equipment for both temporary and permanent applications; equipment that works together to produce the valuable resource of steam, utilized in an abundance of processes across many different industries. So, what exactly is steam and what is it used for?

Let’s start with the chemical composition of steam. Water can exist in three physical states; solid, liquid, and vapor. These physical states, in more common terms, are referred to as ice, water, and steam. When water is heated at atmospheric pressure, its temperature rises until it reaches the highest temperature at which water can exist at this pressure. This temperature, 212F or 100C, is the saturation temperature, or boiling point. As water boils and temperature continues to increase, water particles begin to form small bubbles that rise to the surface and vaporize. This is how steam is formed.

Traditionally, steam was associated with locomotives and the Industrial Revolution. However, now steam is an integral part of modern-day technology. Not only is it an excellent source of energy and heat, but it is also sterile, which makes it ideal for use in the food, pharmaceutical, and health industries. Many other industries also utilize steam for processing, petroleum refining, utility and power, and manufacturing.

Steam has become an invaluable part of our world.  Without it, many of the advances and technologies in today’s time would not be as effective or efficient as they are now.

Stay tuned for the next article in our Boiler Basics 101 series to learn about the basic anatomy of a boiler system.