smoke bomb test for furnace casing

[Ahmedfromkuwait]

Salam alelum,

any body tell me smoke bomb testing of heater/boiler /furnace casing testing.
thaking you
ahmed

[ben]

Smoke bomb test is a quick, useful and inexpensive way for checking of leaks in furnaces, exchangers etc.

1. This test is carried out by using a smoke bomb which is readily available having different characteristics like burning time, colors etc.
2. Before performing the test, the furnace must be taken out of service / no hot works any more.
3. Close all the openings properly or provide a necessary positive pressure for sealing.
4. Some insulation material like kaowool may be used for proper sealing where required.
5. Locations of smoke bombs must be defined before starting of the test. It must be carefully decided to have even smoke inside the whole furnace casing.
6. A positive pressure source (air compressor) is to be engaged for having a positive pressure inside the furnace casing.
7. Pressure to be provided inside the casing must be recycled with the designer. Normally, a positive pressure of 40 psi is provide during smoke bomb testing.
8. Positive pressure is to be provided only after few minutes of igniting smoke bomb.
9. And here you go to find any smoke coming out of any leak from the furnace casing.

Hope this helps.

[qaisarabbas]

Thank you Ben for details.
Is it a very common & practical test also particularly for furnaces?

[mechcolor]

Yes for atmospheric furnaces, smoke testing is a practical leak test.

[ben]

Actually, smoke testing comes as a measure to detect any leakage inside the furnace after the process personnel are not satisfied with the actual parameters versus the design ones. It's an easy to do test and surely quite effective in detecting the leakage. With positive pressure applied inside, within five to ten minutes you find the smoke coming out of the leaking points.

[sakib321]

thanks for nice info will you please elaborate how we can use this for leak test of exchangers.

apart from this do any one of have info related to specification of smoke bomb and if possible then kindly recommend vendor for its procurement

[ben]

For which type of exchanger, you want to perform a smoke test?
See information on purchasing smoke bombs at www.superiorsignal.com or www.mcmaster.com
It is good to specify the vendor about your requirements like estimated time of burning, estimated space to be tested with smoke bomb etc.

[Nabeel Ahmed Qureshi]

usually reformer furnaces are filled with reforming catalysts , do this test pose any threat to damage/reduce the useful life of catalyst inside furnace tubes?

[mechcolor]

Usually for new reformer furnaces this test is done at the time of commissioning just before loading of catalyst and smoke is generated outside the whole radiant tubes. You can look for any leakage with a flash light from the bottom of radiant tube if there is any smoke indicating the leakage.
For in-service furnaces, radiant tube leakage is not found with smoke leak testing. Tubes speak themselves from where they are leaking. It is intended for assuring proper sealing of furnace casing just in case process parameters calls for that.

[sakib321]

on our plant side almost all kind of exchanger are present.
so is it possible that we will use this test to detect the leaks in heat exchanger if yes then how???