A customer spends a good amount of money in buying an incinerator. This investment becomes fruitful when he gets his operators trained on the operation and maintenance of the system for trouble-free operation.

We find from our experience that in most cases, the task of operating the incinerator is consigned to an unskilled operator with very little training and this result in more problems than solutions.

We give below some of the common problems and how to trouble shoot them.

1)   Burner parts get damaged after running the incinerator for say 8 hours:

This is a common issue. One has to understand and appreciate that when the incinerator operation is over for the day, it must be allowed to cool slowly by keeping the burner blower `on` for at least 3 hours. When this is not done, the burner is exposed to the heat inside the chamber and the burner parts get damaged. This is also true when power failure occurs. In that case the burner must be pulled out, which is not difficult to do.

2)  Cracks in incinerator refractory lining:

Haat takes care while laying the refractory that expansion joints are created to prevent its cracking because it has a very low linear expansion rate. If there are any hairline cracks, it is natural phenomenon. If the refractory cracks are deep, the only cause for this is sudden cooling or frequent firing and cooling. Refractory cannot take this kind of thermal shock and hence must be avoided.

3)  Not able to reach correct temperature in the incinerator:

The burner nozzle size must be checked. There is a mark on the nozzle like 3.5 GPH, which means it delivers 3.5 gallons of fuel every hour into the chamber. Secondly the burner setting must be proper. For example air damper, diffuser and fuel pressure must be checked and confirmed with the manual.

4)  Burner lock-out:

This is a flame failure caused by any one of the following:

•                 photocell failure

•                 fuel tank empty

•                 nozzle choking

•                 improper air damper setting

•                 ignition system failure

•                 Filters choking.

If the photocell has failed, it has to be replaced, fuel stock in the tank verified and compensated, nozzle must be taken out and cleaned, air damper adjustment to be made as per manual. Three filters on line, fuel pump and nozzle to be cleaned. If ignition transformer is damaged due to power fluctuation, it has to be replaced.

5)  Water leakage from scrubber region:

Check saturator for over-sized nozzle and change it as per manual. Reduce water flow into the saturator. Check saturator for any refractory damage.

6)   Inlet temperature at ID fan high (in a system with wet venturi scrubber):

Check for nozzle choking, water supply pressure, mist eliminator raschig rings. Choking to be verified and cleared in all cases. Fresh water to be added to tank.

7)   Not enough suction from ID fan:

Choking at different locations such as mist eliminator and saturator. It is also possible ash gets accumulated in primary and secondary chambers without getting cleared daily. pH value of scrubber bleed to be checked and corrective action taken by bringing the value within limits. The tank water to be changed once a week.

8)  Leakage of smoke from charging door, ash door, etc.:

This is due either to excess quantity of waste (more than rated) in the incinerator’s primary chamber or due to positive pressure in the chamber. Check ID fan speed and pressure and adjust the same to create negative pressure in the chamber. Installation of a simple monometer in the chamber will help.

9)  High fuel consumption:

Choice of nozzle wrong.

10)  Waste not burning:

It may be because of high inorganic content in the waste. Segregate waste and charge only burnable waste into the chamber.