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 thesteam turbogenerator was developed early in the 20th century, modern wat ...more