Repair, Retrofit, or Replace? Deciding the Future of Your Boiler Burner.
When boiler combustion systems start showing their age, plant managers are faced with a critical question:
- Repair the existing system, retrofit with modern components and controls?
- Or invest in a full replacement?
The right decision depends on efficiency, reliability, and long-term operating costs.
Why Efficiency Matters
Burners are the heart of boiler performance. Even a well-designed boiler won’t deliver peak performance if paired with an outdated burner. Modern energy-efficient burners are designed to deliver the correct fuel-to-air mix across a wide operating range while minimizing emissions.
Small improvements in combustion efficiency can lead to big savings. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, improving burner efficiency by just 2% on a 50,000 lb/hr boiler can save more than $50,000 per year in fuel costs.
Signs It’s Time to Re-Evaluate
A structured burner retrofit checklist highlights several key indicators that it may be time to modernize your system:
- Excess oxygen above 3% during combustion testing
- Frequent cycling or short burner run times
- Rising maintenance costs or reliability issues
- Oversized boilers operating well below load requirements
- Regulatory pressure for emissions compliance
If your equipment shows more than one of these signs, repair alone may no longer be the most economical option.
The Retrofit Advantage
Retrofitting offers a middle path between patching old systems and buying new equipment. Modern burner retrofit packages integrating state-of-the-art combustion controls deliver:
- Higher efficiency with precise electronic fuel-to-air control
- Lower emissions through optimized combustion
- Improved safety with advanced monitoring and diagnostics
- Better reliability compared to mechanical linkage systems
By moving to parallel-positioning servomotor controls, operators gain repeatable, point-to-point accuracy across the full turndown range. This reduces wasted energy, eliminates inconsistent tuning, and extends system life.
Replacement Considerations
While retrofits provide strong returns in some cases, full boiler replacement may still be the best option when:
- Major structural issues compromise boiler integrity
- Repair costs exceed the value of the retrofit
- Efficiency upgrades alone cannot meet load or emissions requirements
In these situations, replacement ensures compliance, reliability, and future scalability.
Partner with Experts for the Right Solution
The decision to repair, retrofit, or replace isn’t always straightforward. Every facility has unique load profiles, fuel costs, and compliance requirements. That’s why working with an experienced partner like Koch Applied Solutions is essential.
Our team uses structured evaluation checklists, combustion efficiency testing, and in-depth knowledge of retrofit technologies to help customers make confident, cost-effective decisions.
Ready to explore the right path for your facility? Contact Koch Applied Solutions to schedule a combustion system evaluation and discover whether repair, retrofit, or replacement is the smartest investment for your operation.