🔍 Key Concepts
• Desuperheater function in a boiler system (what flows through it and what it does to steam temperature)
• How a leak path between steam and feedwater/boiler water changes water chemistry
• Which water tests (oxygen, pH, phosphate, suspended solids, treatment compound) point to contamination from another part of the system
💭 Think About
• Think about where the desuperheater is located and whether a leak would allow boiler water to get into desuperheater water, or desuperheater water to get into boiler water.
• Which of the listed indicators would most directly reflect mixing between high‑temperature steam circuits and treated boiler water?
• Ask yourself: if clean spray water or condensate were leaking into the boiler water side, which test result would you expect to drift and become hard to control?
✅ Before You Answer
• Identify whether the desuperheater spray water is usually treated boiler water, condensate, or feedwater, and which side is at the higher pressure.
• For each option, decide if the symptom reflects dilution of treatment chemicals vs. introduction of gases (like oxygen) vs. change in solids content.
• Verify which parameter (pH/phosphate, oxygen, suspended solids, compound level) would be most sensitive to added relatively pure water leaking in.