Metal fires within boilers can be extremely dangerous and may cause extensive  catastrophic  damage to the boiler and its auxiliary equipment. This is because the fire which often develops at the cooler, back end of the boiler can reach an intensity that causes the plain boiler tubes or tube fins to combust and burn. Once almost exclusively associated with oil fired boilers, the increased combustion of biomass fuel streams has seen an increasing number of metal fires beginning to occur in solid fuel boiler applications.

The mechanisms driving a metal fire can be technically complex and under certain conditions may transition into a highly destructive and intense hydrogen fire. Water from steam or firefighting hoses may under some circumstances intensify the fire as hydrogen atoms disassociate from the water molecule and fuel the fire. For this reason it is very important that operating personnel have  appropriate strategies in place to extinguish a metal fire as quickly as possible.

Design Boiler has investigated metal fires in both marine and land based boiler plant. We have formulated strategies to extinguish boiler fires, and have reviewed the design of equipment exposed to the risk of metal fires in both oil and biomass fired boilers.  

An example of our boiler fire investigation capabilities may be found here.