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Types and Uses of Steam Boilers

Boilers convert liquid water to steam through a heating process. There are two main types - fire-tube and water-tube. Fire-tube boilers have water surrounding steel tubes through which hot gases from a furnace flow. Water-tube boilers have water inside tubes and hot gases circulating outside. Watertube boilers can withstand higher pressures and temperatures than fire-tube boilers. Boilers produce either hot water or steam, which is then distributed through a piping system to heat indoor spaces of plants and commercial facilities. Natural gas is commonly used but fuel oil and electricity can also power boilers.

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22 views1 page

Types and Uses of Steam Boilers

Boilers convert liquid water to steam through a heating process. There are two main types - fire-tube and water-tube. Fire-tube boilers have water surrounding steel tubes through which hot gases from a furnace flow. Water-tube boilers have water inside tubes and hot gases circulating outside. Watertube boilers can withstand higher pressures and temperatures than fire-tube boilers. Boilers produce either hot water or steam, which is then distributed through a piping system to heat indoor spaces of plants and commercial facilities. Natural gas is commonly used but fuel oil and electricity can also power boilers.

Uploaded by

osbertanyamele25
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Boiler, apparatus designed to convert a liquid to vapour.

In a conventional steam power plant, a


boiler consists of a furnace in which fuel is burned, surfaces to transmit heat from
the combustion products to the water, and a space where steam can form and collect. A
conventional boiler has a furnace that burns a fossil fuel or, in some installations, waste fuels.
A nuclear reactor can also serve as a source of heat for generating steam under pressure. Early
boilers were made of wrought iron; as the advantages of high pressure and temperature were
realized, manufacturers turned to steel. Modern boilers are made of alloy steel to withstand high
pressures and extremely high temperatures.

Most conventional steam boilers are classed as either fire-tube or watertube types. In the fire-tube
type, the water surrounds the steel tubes through which hot gases from the furnace flow. The steam
generated collects above the water level in a cylindrically shaped drum. A safety valve is set to allow
escape of steam at pressures above normal operating pressure; this device is necessary on all
boilers, because continued addition of heat to water in a closed vessel without means of steam
escape results in a rise in pressure and, ultimately, in explosion of the boiler. Fire-tube boilers have
the advantage of being easy to install and operate. They are widely used in small installations to
heat buildings and to provide power for factory processes. Fire-tube boilers are also used in steam
locomotives.

In the watertube boiler, the water is inside tubes with the hot furnace gases circulating outside the
tubes. When the steam turbogenerator was developed early in the 20th century, modern watertube
boilers were developed in response to the demand for large quantities of steam at pressures and
temperatures far exceeding those possible with fire-tube boilers. The tubes are outside the steam
drum, which has no heating surface and is much smaller than in the fire-tube boiler. For this reason,
the drum of the watertube boiler is better able to withstand higher pressures and temperatures. A
wide variety of sizes and designs of watertube boilers are used in ships and factories. The express
boiler is designed with small water tubes for quick generation of steam. The flash boiler may not
require a steam drum, because the tubes operate at such high temperatures that the feed water
flashes into steam and superheats before leaving the tubes. The largest units are found in the
central-station power plants of public utilities. Units of substantial size are used in steel mills, paper
mills, oil refineries, chemical plants, and other large manufacturing plants.

There are two types of boilers — one that produces hot water and one that produces steam, which is
then used to carry out the heating process. The hot water or steam produced is transferred to all
areas of the plant or commercial facility through a custom designed piping system. The water or
steam enters radiators or other components that then disperse the heat needed to keep indoor
spaces comfortable. Natural gas is the most common fuel used in commercial boilers. There are
also other kinds of boilers available that burn fuel oil or use electric resistance coils to produce
heating from electricity.

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