Variations on Steam
I get asked about clean steam vs. pure steam vs. plain old steam on a regular basis, mostly for humidification or bio-tech usage. Pure steam is used by drug manufacturers, bio-tech firms, etc. and they want pure steam, no chemical treatment at all. This typically is provided through a stainless steel steam fired boiler and is fed filtered clean water to make into steam. Usually the steam is not returned as condensate to the boiler.
Clean steam however is typically what you get off a normal boiler that is using appropriate chemical treatment. When the boiler converts water to steam, the chemicals, dirt and solids are left in the boiler. That is why we need to "blow it down". Typically oxygen scavengers can be used such as sodium sulfate. This type of steam is commonly used for humidification, sterilizers and process applications.
If you want to use Amines for chemical treatment, you cannot use it for humidification. Amines do travel with the steam to treat the building system.
If you have questions on this, contact your Rounds Company boiler sales engineer.

Boiler Safety
Did you know that Rounds Company has an active safety committee that regularly meets. Safety is a big issue with us, and we provide all of our employees with safety gear. You will see our service technicians with safety glasses, hard hats, steel toe shoes, lock-out/tag-out equipment, confined space entry equipment and more. Our employee manuals have a large section on safety for our mutual protection. Training of our people focuses on safety. When dealing with combustion, elevated temperatures and pressures, you should expect careful deliberate but efficient personnel when they visit your site. If you have questions, about our safety program, contact Mark Whelan at our main number.