September 1, 2016
When Powerhouse first pioneered the RH-800, it was the largest capacity boiler ever outfitted into a complete portable boiler room. It took more than a year of R&D and lots and lots of trial and error.
We thought that was hard.
The RH-1000 is the most challenging rental boiler ever designed and constructed. It required more than 2 years to complete. When completed, it turned out to be the Most Advanced Rental Boiler ever constructed.
Powerhouse has made its living putting larger and larger capacity boilers into smaller and smaller packages (See the RH-800), but this seemed somewhat impossible. The biggest concern at the size is having no steam carryover and maintaining 99.5% steam quality at full capacity. With Cleaver Brooks, we theorized the design and thought it was definitely possible and worth doing.
Virtually every boiler that Cleaver Brooks designs is a custom boiler, so they are no stranger to developing new products. The 1,000HP required the use of advanced 3D modeling software and detailed performance analysis.
Cleaver Brooks had to guarantee the boiler would be able to run at full capacity and meet strict steam quality standards. Besides the performance of the boiler, workability had to be accounted for. How will the boiler be inspected? What if it needs repairs inside the container? How easy will it be to operate? Set after set of drawings passed between Powerhouse and Cleaver Brooks until every detail was figure out.
Cleaver Brooks knocked the boiler out and even tested it at the factory to guarantee its performance. But that was only the boiler. The portable boiler room contains over 350 major components and has over 500 feet of interconnected piping. Powerhouse has built hundreds of custom portable boiler rooms and it took every minute of experience we gained for the 1,000 HP. I mean, this boiler is massive – there is not more than an inch on either side of it inside the container. How were we even going to get it there? So much engineering had been done on the system, but when you build these things, you always have to improvise. Sacrificing the performance, workability or safety of this system was never an option. We just had to figure it out.
Rental Boilers are generally put into the harshest operating conditions. Started fast, short-cycled, and generally abused. No problem, we know how to build robust systems. To prove this, Powerhouse test fires every system we build. Not just an electrical test, but the unit is fed water, the softeners are charged and steam is exported. A certified and calibrator combustion analyzer was used to prove the performance of the system on oil and on gas. Test-firing for the RH-1000 took 10 days because we wanted to make sure it would meet our standards. It did.
It contains all components installed, pre-piped and made to operate as a singular steam generation system within a weather proof enclosure that is easily transportable and has 100% external connections.
10 April, 2019
We're adding the first electric boiler to our rental fleet, a 50HP skid-mounted Cleaver Brooks. These are a great solution for smaller, space constrained situations. Let us know if you need one!
5 February, 2019
For the first time in its history, the Empire State Building needed a rental boiler. A big one. Powerhouse was there to help.
