When it comes generating power, hot water, and steam, there are a lot of ways that all those things can be generated. One way to do that is with a fire tube boiler. But, what, precisely is a fire tube boiler?

Fire Tube Boilers

Boilers are pretty simple machines, overall. You have a tank that is full of water. You have a burner box where heat is generated. In some way, the heat from the burner box is applied to the water, and the water is heated up to boiling point. The generated steam then goes on to where it's supposed to go, whether it's turbines that can generate power or pipes that can provide heat for your facility. The way that a fire tube boiler works is that instead of having a tank that sits over the heat, the tank has several tubes that run through it. The heat at runs through the tubes and heats the water that way. The water absorbs the heat that the tubes are shedding. There are a lot of benefits to using fire tube boilers instead of other styles of boilers. 

Size

Because the main heating element of the boiler is actually inside the tank of water to be heated, it saves on space. That can mean that a facility can have a larger boiler than it might otherwise have if they had to make space for a boiler that had separate heating elements. 

Efficiency

Another reason to use one of these boilers is that they tend to be more efficient than other boilers may be. Because the tubes are running through the water, they heat up the water faster. Because there are multiple tubes running through the tanks, there is a lot more surface area available to heat up the water, which heats it up faster and keeps it up to temperature easier and more smoothly than other options. That efficiency also means that it doesn't use the same amount of fuel as the other boiler styles may use. That can save a lot of money, depending on how big the boiler is and how much it gets used. 

Boilers have been used for centuries for various things. You use a boiler every time you use a tea kettle on the stove. Steam locomotives use boilers, to be precise, they use fire tube boilers. They can generate the power, the heat, or whatever else is necessary. For more information on finding a fire tube steam boiler, contact your local equipment supplier.