What is the use of a water softener in a gas-fired boiler?

Industry boiler usually adopts ion-exchange method for water softening, dealkalization and desalination. There are two kinds of water softener- automatic operation and manual operation.

Water softener specification, resin loading capacity and salt consumption are directly related to raw water hardness, so it is crucial to select correct water softener according to raw water situation.

According to its working control method, full-automatic water solener could be divided in two types: time type and flow type. Time type control is according to set period of time to regenerate ion and clean, Flow type control is according to set water volume through water softener to regenerate and clean. Commonly used automatic water softener brands are "Fleck", "Autotrol", "Neptune", etc.

Manual operation softener is divided into fixed bed and floating bed two kinds and the most commonly used softener is LEN type floating bed sodium ion exchanger.

Boiler raw water and treated sof water quality should meet the requirements of Ware Quality for Industrial Boilers G/B 1576-2008. If raw water quantity is lower than standard requirement, it shall be pretreated through mechanical filtration or other measures.

Water sooner shall meet the standards of Specification for Water Treatment Equipmem JB/T 2932-1999, Boiler Water Treatment Equipment Parameters JB/I 6692-1993, etc.

Water inlet temperature of automatic water softener shall not be higher than 45°C. Water inlet pressure is generally controlled between 0.2Mpa and 0.3Mpa. If water inlet pressure is lower than 0.2Mpa, booster pump should be installed in front of water softener.

When raw water hardness is higher than 4m/L, water treatment ability of softener shall be increased. When raw water turbidity is higher than 20°, mechanical filter should be equipped in front of softener.