The Prevention of Corrosion in Hot Water Supply Systems and Boiler Economizer Tubes

Abstract

extremely difficult to imagine how we could possibly do without them. Realizing, therefore, the importance of iron and steel and the vast tonnage produced annually, it seems unfortunate that they are so unstable when exposed to the ravages of nature and that so many iron and steel commodities have to be replaced every few years due to corrosion, or rusting, as it is commonly called. But that this is a fact is shown strikingly by the following estimates of two authorities on this subject. F. N. Speller3 has made some careful investigations in the United States and has found that from one to two million tons of steel are totally lost annually in this country due to corrosion, while Sir Robert Hadfield4 gives the astounding figures of twenty-nine million tons as the annual loss of steel over the entire world. Furthermore the cost of the metal actually lost, represents only about one tenth of the total expense involved, when replacements are necessary. These figures are indeed staggering and almost unbelievable, but even though such estimates can be only approximate, yet they are near enough to the truth to cause us to give the subject some serious attention. The most logical thought arising in the minds of practically all of us will be a consideration of the steps which might be taken to