Water tube and fire tube boilers are complete opposites in terms of the location of the water relative to the hot gases resulting in water tubes boilers being inherently more efficient in terms of the heat transfer.
Water tube boiler vs fire tube boiler pdf.
A similar sized watertube boiler.
The knowledge of the difference about these two boilers is very crucial.
With less water volume a watertube boiler can follow load swings more precisely and generally has better turndown.
The main difference between fire tube and water tube is that in fire tube boiler the flue gases flow in the tubes and water flows from the shell and in water tube boiler water flows from the tubes and the flue gases from the shell or passes over the tubes.
The heat from the hot gases is conducted through the walls of the tube to the water.
Two primary boiler types the firetube boiler and the watertube boiler are essentially opposite in design.
A high pressure watertube boiler also spelled water tube and water tube is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by the fire.
The design the more water storage the boiler typically will have and the wider it will be.
This is the key difference between these boilers.
The fire tube boiler developed as the third of the four major historical types of boilers.
Some example of fire tube boiler are.
Fuel is burned inside the furnace creating hot gas which heats water in the steam generating tubes in smaller boilers additional generating tubes are separate in the furnace while larger utility boilers rely on the water filled tubes.
From a cold start the firetube boiler due to its larger water volume takes longer to bring up to operating temperature or pressure vs.
The firetube boiler passes combustion.
The heat of the gases is transferred through the walls of the tubes by thermal conduction heating the water and ultimately creating steam.
Since fire is inside the tubes and hence it is named as fire tube boiler.
The difference between fire tube boiler and water tube boiler can be done on various points.
The water tube boiler may just result in a tube leak which can be easily contained.
Basically there are two types of boiler.
The fire tube boiler is the boiler in which fire hot flue gases is inside the tube and water is surrounded by them.
These points include types of fluid flows within the tubes steam generation rate floor area required for the steam generation transportation efficiency fluctuating loads operating cost etc.
A fire tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through one or many more tubes running through a sealed container of water.
Fire tube boiler is those boiler in which the fire or hot gas is present inside the tubes and water surrounds these fire tubes.
