Package Steam Boilers
Category information
A boiler is a large burner or furnace used to heat water (or some other liquid) by boiling. Since water has a higher level of thermal conductivity than air, it can more readily absorb heat. As well, water has a higher specific heat capacity, allowing it to hold onto more heat energy than air can, making it ideal for transporting heat around through pipes and radiators instead of blowing around the heated air as with forced-air systems. Boilers can be of almost any size, ranging from small 20,000-BTU (British Thermal Unit) stove-type boilers for heating apartments to massive “District Heating” models which burn truckloads of coal every day for providing heat to entire city blocks. Some boilers are designed exclusively for steam production, used to provide motive power to industrial processes. These systems operate at considerably higher pressures than the boilers designed only for home or institutional heating requirements, and as such can be considerably more dangerous. Large scale boilers of this sort often have entire crews dedicated to their maintenance and repair.