Dry Back vs Wetback & Related Features

Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback

The center location of the furnace within the boiler Nearly all wetback boilers have their furnaces located
shell eliminates the build-up of sludge between the along the bottom of the shell. This low position of
bottom of the boiler shell and the furnace. the furnace allows a build-up of sludge between the
boiler shell and will ultimately cause bagging and
York-Shipley's packaged design includes an blistering of the furnace at the hottest part of the
integrally designed burner for maximum efficiency boiler.
and uniform heat release. There is no flame
impingement, no "hot spots", no build-up of heat Many wetback boiler manufacturers size their
retarding scale. Boiler and burner are designed for furnaces to receive a rotary burner manufactured by
each other, resulting in co-ordinated design, single someone other than themselves, or often this same
responsibility and improved performance. shell is sold as a scotch marine type boiler without a
burner.
York-Shipley manufactures both its boilers and
burners at one plant in York, PA and has produced Usually the furnace diameter is either too large, with
many thousands of packaged boilers. York-Shipley the resulting wasted boiler room space, or too small,
sells only packaged boiler/burner units of their on resulting in excessive heat transfer rates, greater
design and manufacture. tendency for scaling or overheating, and increased
maintenance.
Higher furnace location puts burner at eye level, and
allows easy burner adjustment and flame observation. Only two manufacturers of the wetback design boiler
fabricate a complete boiler/burner packaged unit.
 Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback
2. Number of Passes & Flue
Gas Travel

York-Shipley utilizes a three-pass, down draft design Nearly all wetback boilers use a two or three pass,
with a smaller number of tubes in succeeding passes. updraft design with most of the tubes at the side or
This promotes a high but even velocity of above the furnace.
combustion gases, helps to maintain clean tubes, and
results in maximum heat transfer in the second and An updraft does allow a boiler to operate with a
third passes. natural draft, but in this design the coolest water
comes in contact with the hottest part of the boiler
and promotes the build-up of sludge and scale due to
poor circulation.
3. Tube Sheets & Rear
Chamber Design

The York-Shipley design incorporates two tube Most three pass wetback boiler designs need three
sheets and a centrally located furnace to achieve the separate tube sheets, which results in unequal strains
most equal thermal stress that can be affected in a on the common front tube sheet. Nearly all of the
firetube boiler. wetback tube sheet failures occur at the bottom of the
front tube sheet. This area is nearly impossible to
repair.
-2-
 Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback
3. Tube Sheets & Rear The greatest contraction and expansion takes These three tube sheets require nearly twice as
Chamber Design, place in the furnace itself. However, being in the many weldments.
continued center of the boiler it exerts pressure evenly on
the tube sheets, which are flexible enough to This design also requires two different lengths of
withstand those forces. tubes which, in turn, exert unequal forces on the
front tube sheet.
All tubes are the same length, thereby exerting
an equal force on the tube sheet. The water backed rear chamber has inherent
design problems. In addition, it requires as many
This design uses the least number of welds. as six separate component parts, all of which are
Every weld is easily accessible for inspection. pressure parts, subject to code design, with
The dryback rear chamber design involves only welded joints subject to leakage from defective
three components, shell, tube sheet and baffle welding or corrosion. Even more significant,
plate, and only two of these are "pressure" parts these components must be braced and supported
against boiler pressure by short staybolt rods
which also need to be welded on both ends,
again allowing for possible leakage and potential
costly repair. The total design is such that its
inherent stiffness prevents flexibility and
movement due to expansion and contraction,
transmitting all the stresses to the front tube
sheet.

-3-
 Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback
4. Tube & Maintenance
Accessibility

York-Shipley's exclusive 3 section rear cover Wetback designs make rear tube accessibility
permits complete accessibility to the rear of all extremely difficult or impossible. One tube
tubes and the complete furnace diameter. No sheet is hidden by the wetback design, the other
tubes are hidden by smokebox or rear water by the smokebox. Access to the rear turning
wall. Tubes may be cleaned or replaced from chamber is limited to a small manhole or access
either end of the boiler, allowing maximum door. Tube cleaning and replacement must be
flexibility in boiler room design and boiler from the front only, and rear tube rolling requires
location. dismantling of smokebox and/or extremely tight
accessibility.

-4-
 Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback
5. Rear Chamber Location & Water circulation is unrestricted over the full Water circulation is unrestricted only in the
Water Circulation length of all tubes and the furnace. Solids furnace area. The thinner water walls around the
resulting from water treatment can fall to the rear chamber are hotter and restricted by staybolt
bottom evenly. While they remain in the boiler, bracing, and the rear access door. The flat top of
they are semi-fluid and settle in the coolest part the rear chamber collects sludge which must be
of the boiler, and can be flushed easily through periodically washed off before it causes "hot
the bottom blowdown connection(s). spots" and scale on the extremely hot surface.
Sludge and solids from water treatment cannot
settle equally and can build up most in the
smallest spaces available, further restricting
water circulation at the hottest part of the boiler.
Additional flushing must be done through
manhole or additional handholes.
6. Serviceability & York-Shipley uses the highest quality refractory Although advertised as wetbacks, these boiler
Maintenance of Rear Head material in the construction of its rear head. This designs also include a "dryback" access door or
refractory will withstand temperatures up to manhole cover which is refractory lined, and
2400o, 900o above the actual temperatures subject to the same temperatures as complete
normally recorded at the rear head. This dryback boilers. The relatively small cost of
refractory will be serviceable for many years. replacing the refractory material in this small
When it is finally necessary to replace the access door, when necessary, is more than offset
refractory, it can be accomplished by a qualified by the exceptionally high cost of tube tightening
serviceman and does not require the services of a and/or replacement, repairing leaky welds;
high priced welder or boilermaker as would be increased maintenance due to sludge
the case in repairing the rear head in a wetback accumulation and scale on heating surfaces; and
boiler. replacement of blistered or "bagged" furnace
tubes, all of which must be done in the cramped
space of the rear chamber, accessible only
through a small access door.

-5-
 Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback
7. Rear Turning Space Size

It has been proven through extensive testing that Wetback boiler manufacturers make a great
a larger turning space would not improve many claims for the advantages of a large
dryback boilers. turning area at the end of the first pass. The fact
is that the large turning space is a necessity in a
A number of wetback manufacturers claim the wetback simply to have access to the rear tube
refractory in the rear head of a dryback design sheet and tubes. Good or bad, they couldn't get
boiler produces an unwanted amount of radiant along without it.
heat. Again, after extensive testing it has been
proven that the modern refractory used in the
construction of rear heads produces no adverse
temperatures on the tube sheet or tube ends.
Within a few minutes after the burner shutdown,
the temperature of the tube sheet and tube ends
drop to the same level as the boiler water. The
same results were collected even after a period of
over-firing.

-6-
 Features York-Shipley Dryback vs Competitive Wetback
8. Furnace Size & Burner York-Shipley's proven, compact, packaged boiler Many wetback boilers are designed with
Design & burner combustion design permits smaller relatively large furnace and tube diameters and
diameter furnace tubes with greater heat transfer volumes, originally intended to allow installation
rates at the point where both radiant and of all available conversion burner designs by all
convection type heat is most readily available. manufacturers. This results in lower heat transfer
With a packaged concept of boiler and burner, rates, lower flue gas velocities, and difficulty in
designed for each other, efficiency is guaranteed sealing flue gas leaks when forced draft burners
at 80% minimum and frequently is considerably are installed on what are natural draft boiler
higher. The York-Shipley "target ring" refractory designs. In some cases, turbulators or restrictors
assists in getting the efficiency desired by are added to the tubes to increase boiler output
holding the heat in the furnace longer. and efficiency. Large amounts of furnace
Turbulators are not required in the tubes, and firebrick and refractory are often necessary to
tube passages are unobstructed. maintain proper combustion in the large furnace
volume.

-7-
SUMMARY

York-Shipley Steam-Pak Scotch Type 3-pass Dryback Boilers are:

1. Reliable: Thousands are in service with satisfactory operation.

2. Accepted: Architects, engineers, boiler rental agencies, and satisfied customers all around the w
specify, recommend, and use York-Shipley boilers.

3. Serviceable: They have easy access to tubes from both front and rear, 100% access to all fireside
surfaces.

4. Efficient: York-Shipley's integral design of both boiler and burner, "made for each other", deve
80% minimum efficiency. Many sizes go far beyond that "industry standard".

5. Compact: Specially designed furnace sizes and staggered tube layouts provide maximum outpu
minimum space. 400 Series boilers allow even further space reductions with no redu
output rating. Either front or rear tube pull allows boiler room location flexibility.

6. Durable: Refractory rear heads are made with high temperature materials. Steel pressure vess
are equal to or greater than ASME Code requirements.

7. Guaranteed: All parts are covered by a one year warranty.

8. Safe: Standard units are Underwriters Laboratory labelled for both the burner and the total
package.

9. Simple: Three-pass dryback design incorporates only four major pressure vessel components

10. Versatile: Available in either 400 or 500 Series, water and high pressure or low pressure steam
gas, oil or combination type firing for all grades of oil, pressure/mechanical or air
atomization on #2 oil.