The combustion efficiency is basically a measure of how well the fuel is burned in the combustion chamber of a boiler or other burner unit. Combustion efficiency ignores loss due to radiation or other factors, which can be a large part of the losses in the system, but cannot be changed by any amount of maintenance work on the burner. Although it does not accurately show the total losses or overall efficiency, it is still a good measure of work that has been done or should be done to exploit the maximum from a fuel. In many cases, particularly with domestic burners, the radiation and convection losses from a burner are not unwelcome, since this will help to heat the area. In an industrial setting these losses are naturally just that - losses!
Again, the other losses can only really be addressed by a change of burner or increased lagging on pipe-work, but combustion efficiency lies in the field of the service technician. The combustion analyzer will give a quick and easy measure of the combustion efficiency, showing the effects of changes made in real time and allowing optimization to be carried out. The effects of these changes can be really quite great, and the constant monitoring with the combustion analyzer allows care to be taken that the carbon monoxide level does not take off and exceed the local limits, or other factors move out of the allowed area.