INZONEX / INDUSTRIAL STEAM BOILER HEAT-LOSS
UK · EU
ISO 12241 · EN ISO 13732-1

Inzonex — insulation for Bosch steam boilers

Boiler doors, feed pumps, manways and safety valves are the items an engineer opens, and they are the items usually left bare: traditional removable insulation is sold on that access and still needs tools and time to give it back. Inzonex covers them and still opens by hand — fuel saved, the boiler house cooler, and every one of them serviceable.

01 FLIR-MEASURED TEMPERATURES · ISO 12241 CALCULATED LOSS02 ISO 12241 HEAT LOSS03 UP TO 96% REDUCTION04 SURFACE ≤45 °C
01 / WHY IT FAILS

Three failure modes — one access problem

In a boiler house the hottest surfaces are the ones engineers open most — doors, valves, pumps, manways. Traditional insulation blocks that access, gets stripped off to service the equipment, and rarely goes back. The high heat-loss components stay permanently exposed.

01 · Sagging soft blankets

Lose contact with the surface

Wraps collapse inward and lose contact with the surface. Hot spots grow inside — unnoticed.

02 · Aluminium boxes skipped

Cut open, never reinstalled

Cut open for every inspection. Heavy, rigid, and rarely reinstalled — so the surface stays bare.

03 · Never insulated

Nothing off-the-shelf fits

Boiler doors, manways and pump bodies — nothing off-the-shelf fits.

02 / START WITH A 3D MODEL

See what Inzonex covers, and work out the saving in three clicks

Explore our CAD models, with measured surface pages for the surveyed Cochran and Bosch UL-S. The ZFR is a modelled study. Rotate it, toggle bare vs insulated, and open a measured page for every surface.

€60,985saved / yr · three boilers, 60 €/MWh, 90 % efficiency
915 MWhheat kept in the boilers · three boilers, 7,700 h/yr
205 tCO₂ avoided / yr · three boilers, 201.6 kg/MWh
93.9 %surface heat loss cut, three machines: 126.6 kW bare, 7.8 kW panelled
03 / WHAT A BARE BOILER COSTS

Bosch package boiler — three surveyed surfaces

Bare heat loss
5.7 kW
Front door, burner flange, valves
Hottest surface
190 °C
Steam valves, FLIR
After insulation
0.28 kW
≈95% cut, ≤45 °C surface
Saved per year
≈49 MWh
≈ €2,969 across the three

From a real FLIR survey of a Bosch package boiler. CAD surface areas uplifted ×1.4 for bolts and irregular geometry; ISO 12241 steady-state, 50 mm modular core. These are the three quantified surfaces — the rest of the boiler-house feed and steam set adds to this.

04 / BOSCH BOILER · SURFACE BY SURFACE

Every view is its own measured page

This is the hub. Each surveyed surface becomes a page that answers a real engineering question with FLIR temperatures and ISO 12241 heat loss — then links back here.

05 / THE ENGINEERING

How a steam boiler loses heat — and where

A package boiler running at 6–10 bar sits at a saturation temperature around 165–185 °C. Every bare surface at that temperature loses heat to the boiler-house air without stopping. Three mechanisms move that heat, and each has a standard that quantifies it.

Convection

Bare steel loses heat to the air touching it; the slightest draught in a real boiler house (≈0.5 m/s) raises the loss well above the still-air textbook value. We calculate at that velocity.

Radiation

At 120–180 °C a large share leaves as infrared, independent of air movement. We add explicit radiation (ε≈0.9 for bare steel), which a single lumped coefficient understates on hot surfaces.

Where it concentrates

Valves, flanges and the burner door — the large or awkward shapes a standard jacket skips. On the surveyed Bosch the steam valves alone hit 190 °C, the hottest surface on the boiler.

Method: ISO 12241 / ASTM C680 steady-state, convection at 0.5 m/s plus explicit radiation. “Touch-safe” means a clad surface at ≤45 °C (ISO 13732-1 contact-burn guidance for metal). These are the same equations behind every number on this site.

06 / BEST PRACTICE

How to insulate a boiler house — in order

Panel the bare surfaces first, starting with the ones that carry the most area at the highest temperature. A standard jacket leaves these open, and they pay back first.

  1. Start with a thermal survey. A FLIR pass gives the surface temperatures every later figure is calculated from.
  2. Start with the economiser and end plate. These carry the largest area at the highest temperature, and on the machines we surveyed they were bare.
  3. Then the steam fittings. Valves and flanges run hottest (~180 °C) and lose the most per m²; removable covers insulate them yet still open for inspection.
  4. Insulate access points removably. Manholes, burner doors, strainers and blowdown must stay serviceable — fixed lagging gets cut off and never returns, so use buttoned panels.
  5. Leave safety-critical parts clear. Safety-valve lift, drain and discharge stay uncovered; only the body and standing pipe are insulated.
  6. Verify touch-safe. Target ≤45 °C clad surface — confirms both the energy saving and the removed burn hazard.

Up to 96% heat-loss reduction on a fully clad surface; surface temperature ≤45 °C; payback typically under two years. UK patent application GB2508992.1.

07 / THE INZONEX ANSWER

Engineered to fit, fasten and serve

Doors, valves, pumps and manways, all opened on a cycle. Three details that keep a removable module working on doors, valves, pumps and manways.

Easy installation · Snap-button fastening

Opens by hand in seconds

Stainless snap buttons fasten and release each cover by hand — no tools, no fixings drilled into the equipment. Covers go on fast at install and unclip in seconds for valve operation, manway access or inspection, then snap back exactly.

Serviceable · reliable · Zip-out core

Renew the core, keep the cover

The cover unzips so the mineral-wool core lifts out — to clean the outer fabric or renew the insulation without scrapping the whole cover. The shell stays in service; only the core is replaced, so the cover lasts for years.

Modular · form-fitting

Follows the equipment's shape

Modular sections connect to one another and wrap the exact geometry — boiler doors, valves, flanges and pump bodies — minimising creases and gaps that leave hot bridges or let moisture sit. The tailored fit holds the surface ≤45 °C and survives repeated access.

08 / FROM SURFACE TO SAVING

Take any number further

09 / MEASURED

What each machine loses

MachineSurveyed itemsBarePanelledCut
Bosch UL-S, 6-ton package28 pieces23.4 kW1.2 kW94.9 %
Bosch ZFR, double flame tube9 items53.4 kW4.0 kW92.5 %

Bosch ZFR, element by element

ElementQtyBareShare
Front door132.9 kW62 %
Burner flange111.0 kW21 %
Metal frame44.9 kW9 %
Safety valves23.0 kW6 %
Inspection hatch11.5 kW3 %
Bare, per boiler953.4 kW100 %

Bosch UL-S, surface by surface

SurfaceBarePanelledCut
Steam valves190 °C36 °C93 %
Burner flange146 °C30 °C96 %
Boiler door96 °C30 °C93 %

FLIR S62 Pro, full radiometric correction; areas from CAD with 12 % added for bolts and irregularity; ISO 12241 steady state. The same figures stand on the two model pages.

10 / THE MACHINES

Every Bosch page in the section

11 / QUESTIONS

Asked about these machines

How much heat does a Bosch UL-S lose when it is bare?

23.4 kW from 28 pieces across 12 element types. Panelled with removable modules the same surfaces shed 1.2 kW.

What is the hottest surface on the Bosch boilers surveyed?

The steam valves, at 190 °C. Panelled, the outside of the module is held under the 45 °C design target, contact-burn risk assessed to EN ISO 13732-1.

How does the ZFR compare with the UL-S?

The ZFR is a double-flame machine and loses 53.4 kW bare against 23.4 kW for the UL-S. Panelled they shed 4.0 kW and 1.2 kW.

Can the burner door be insulated if it opens for service?

Yes. The module is made to the door and comes off by hand before the door swings, so its weight never hangs on the hinge.

12 / TAKE IT FURTHER

Calculation, inspection, comparison

Three pages that answer the questions asked around the machines rather than about one surface.