The quality of boiler water is normally analyzed using a cooled water sample that will have a
different composition to that it will have at its actual operating condition at high pressure and temperature.
Water quality is an indicator of boiler condition and monitoring the equipment itself is preferable prior to
the development of more serious damages. The electrochemical noise method (ENM) can be used for
real time measurement of operating equipment. However, ENM could not be implemented without
addressing the high resistivity of boiler water. The authors devised a method to compensate for the
water resistance by using electrodes placed at varying distances and measuring the noise resistance.
The improved ENM gave a lower resistance value for the boiler water than had been anticipated and this
indicated the possibility of severe corrosion in the boiler equipment. This showed the inadequacy of the
prevailing corrosion control program and a new chemical corrosion inhibitor was implemented. The
reduction in the corrosion rate was so significant that it enabled a scheduled replacement of the boiler to
be suspended, saving approximately ten million dollars. The effectiveness of the corrosion monitoring
technique and the switch to the new chemical corrosion inhibitor were verified on the actual operating
boiler.
Keywords: boiler equipment, corrosion damage, boiler water, inhibitor, electrochemical noise method,
solution resistance, solution resistance compensation