Fire-tube boiler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Fire-tube boiler
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases

from the fire pass through one or more tubes within the
boiler. It developed as the second of the three major
historical types of boilers: low-pressure tank or haystack
boilers, then high-pressure water-tube boilers. As the name
suggests, its general construction is as a tank of water
perforated by tubes that carry the hot flue gases from the
fire. The tank is usually cylindrical for the most part, for
reasons of strength from simple structural geometry, and
this cylindrical tank may be either horizontal or vertical.
A fire-tube boiler is sometimes called a "smoke-tube
boiler" or "shell boiler" or sometimes just "fire pipe".
This type of boiler was used on virtually all steam
locomotives in the horizontal "locomotive" form. This has a
cylindrical barrel containing the fire tubes, but also has an
extension at one end to house the "firebox". This firebox
has an open base to provide a large grate area and often
extends beyond the cylindrical barrel to form a rectangular
or tapered enclosure.
It is also typical of early marine applications and small
vessels, such as the small riverboat used in the movie The
African Queen. Small fire-tube boilers used for various
auxiliary services were often called "donkey boilers".
Today, they find extensive use in the stationary engineering
field, typically for low pressure steam use such as heating a
building.

Contents
1 Types of fire-tube boiler
1.1 Cornish boiler
1.2 Lancashire boiler
1.3 Scotch marine boiler
1.4 Locomotive boiler
1.5 Vertical Firetube boiler
1.6 Horizontal Return Tubular
boiler
2 Variations
2.1 Water tubes
2.2 Reverse flame
2.3 Package boiler
2.4 Taper boiler
3 Operation
4 Safety considerations
5 Maintenance
5.1 Daily inspection
5.2 Washout
5.3 Periodic examination
5.4 General overhaul
6 External links
7 References

Types of fire-tube boiler

Cornish boiler
The earliest form of fire tube boiler was Richard Trevithick's "high pressure" Cornish boiler. This is a long
horizontal cylinder with a single large flue containing the fire. The fire itself was on an iron grating placed across
this flue, with a shallow ashpan beneath. Although considered as low pressure (perhaps 25 psi) today, the use of a
cylindrical boiler shell permitted a higher pressure than the haystack boilers of Newcomen's day. As the furnace
relied on natural draught, a tall chimney was required at the far end of the flue.

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For efficiency, the boiler was commonly encased beneath by a brick-built chamber. Flue gases were routed through
this, outside the iron boiler shell, after passing through the firetube and so to a chimney that was now placed at the
front face of the boiler.
Later developments of the Cornish boiler added Galloway tubes (after their inventor), crosswise water tubes across
the flue, thus increasing the heated surface area. As these are short tubes of large diameter and the boiler continues
to use a relatively low pressure, this is still not considered to be a water tube boiler. The tubes are tapered, simply to
make their installation through the flue easier.[1]

Lancashire boiler
The Lancashire boiler is similar to the Cornish, but has two large flues containing
the fires. It was the invention of William Fairbairn in 1844, from a theoretical
consideration of the thermodynamics of more efficient boilers that led him to
increase the furnace grate area relative to the volume of water.
Later Lancashire boilers often show corrugated flues, which absorb thermal
expansion without straining the riveted seams. Another development was the
"kidney flue", where the two furnaces join together into a single flue, kidneyshaped in cross-section.

Lancashire boiler in Germany

Scotch marine boiler

The Scotch marine boiler differs dramatically from its predecessors in using a large number of small diameter
tubes. This gives a far greater heating surface area for the volume and weight. The furnace remains a single large
diameter tube with the many small tubes arranged above it. They are connected together through a combustion
chamber, an enclosed volume contained entirely within the boiler shell, so that the flow through the firetubes is
from back to front. An enclosed smokebox covering the front of these tubes leads upwards to the chimney or
funnel. Typical Scotch boilers had a pair of furnaces, larger ones had three. Above this size, such as for large ships,
it was more usual to install multiple boilers.[2].

Locomotive boiler
Locomotive boiler has a double-walled firebox and a large number of small flue-tubes. Larger flue-tubes carry the
superheater elements, where present. Forced draught is provided in the locomotive boiler by injecting exhausted
steam back into the exhaust via a blast pipe.

Vertical Firetube boiler

Vertical Firetube boiler (VFT) has a vertical cylindrical shell, containing several vertical flue tubes

Horizontal Return Tubular boiler

Horizontal Return Tubular boiler (HRT) has a horizontal cylindrical shell,
containing several horizontal flue tubes, with the fire located directly below the
boiler's shell, usually within a brickwork setting

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Variations
Water tubes
Fire-tube boilers sometimes have water-tubes as well, to increase the heating
surface. A Cornish boiler may have several water-tubes across the diameter of the
flue (this is common in steam launches). A locomotive boiler with a wide firebox
may have arch tubes or thermic syphons. These both increase the heating surface
and give additional support to the brick arch. Not all shell boilers raise steam;
some are designed specifically for heating pressurised water.

Reverse flame
In homage to the Lancashire design, modern shell boilers can come with a twin
furnace design. A more recent development has been the reverse flame design
where the burner fires into a blind furnace and the combustion gasses double back
on themselves. This results in a more compact design and less pipework.

Horizontal Return Tubular

boilers from the Staatsbad Bad
Steben GmbH

Package boiler
Another type is the "package" boiler. This comes from the practice which evolved in the early to mid 20th century
when the units were delivered to site with insulation, electrical panels, valves and gauges already fitted. This was in
contrast to earlier practice where little more than the pressure part was delivered and the ancillary components
were fitted on site.

Taper boiler
Locomotive boilers are often tapered from a large diameter at the firebox end to a smaller diameter at the
smokebox end. This reduces weight and improves water circulation.

Operation
In the locomotive type boiler, fuel is burnt in a
firebox to produce hot combustion gases. The
firebox is surrounded by a cooling jacket of
water connected to the long, cylindrical boiler
tube. The hot gases are directed along a series
of fire tubes, or flues, that penetrate the boiler
and heat the water thereby generating saturated
steam. The steam rises to the highest point of
the boiler, the steam dome, where it is collected.
The dome is the site of the regulator that
controls the exit of steam from the boiler.
In the locomotive boiler, the saturated steam is
very often passed into a superheater, back
through the larger flues at the top of the boiler,

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to dry the steam and heat it to superheated

Schematic diagram of a "locomotive" type fire-tube boiler
steam. The superheated steam is directed to the
steam engine's cylinders or very rarely to a
turbine to produce mechanical work. Exhaust gases are fed out through a chimney, and may be used to pre-heat the
feed water to increase the efficiency of the boiler.
Draught for firetube boilers, particularly in marine applications, is usually provided by a tall smokestack. In all
steam locomotives, since Stephenson's Rocket, additional draught was supplied by directing exhaust steam from the
cylinders into the smokestack through a blastpipe, to provide a partial vacuum. Modern industrial boilers use fans
to provide forced or induced draughting of the boiler.
Another major advance in the Rocket was large numbers of small diameter firetubes instead of a single large flue (a
multi-tubular boiler). This greatly increased the surface area for heat transfer, allowing steam to be produced at a
much higher rate. Without this, steam locomotives could never have developed effectively as powerful prime
movers.

Safety considerations
Because the fire-flume boiler itself is the pressure vessel, it requires a number of safety features to prevent
mechanical failure. Boiler explosion, which is a type of BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion), can
be devastating.
Safety valves release steam before a dangerous pressure can be built up
Fusible plugs over the firebox melt at a temperature lower than that of the firebox plates, thereby warning
the operators by the noisy escape of steam if the water level is too low to cool the firebox crown safely.
Stays, or ties, physically link the firebox and boiler casing, preventing them from warping. Since any
corrosion is hidden, the stays may have longitudinal holes, called tell-tales, drilled in them which leak before
they become unsafe.
The fire-tube type boiler that was used in the Stanley Steamer automobile had several hundred tubes which were
weaker than the outer shell of the boiler, making an explosion virtually impossible as the tubes would fail and leak
long before the boiler exploded. In nearly 100 years since the Stanleys were first produced, no Stanley boiler has
ever exploded.

Maintenance
An intensive schedule of maintenance is needed to keep a boiler in safe condition. A typical regime will involve
regular external inspections (including the inside of the firebox), washouts (with an internal inspection), periodic
detailed examination and a general overhaul.

Daily inspection

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The tube plates, the fusible plug and the heads of the firebox stays should be checked for leaks. The correct
operation of the boiler fittings, especially the water gauges and water feed mechanisms, should be confirmed.
Steam pressure should be raised to the level at which the safety valves lift and compared with the indication of the
pressure gauge.

Washout
The working life of a locomotive boiler is considerably extended if it is spared
from a constant cycle of cooling and heating. Historically, a locomotive would be
kept in steam continuously for a period of about eight to ten days, and then
allowed to cool sufficiently for a hot-water boiler washout. The schedule for
express engines was based on mileage.[3] Today's preserved locomotives are not
usually kept continuously in steam and the recommended washout interval is now
fifteen to thirty days, but anything up to 180 days is possible. [4]
The process starts with a blowdown while some pressure remains in the boiler,
Cutaway of locomotive boiler.
then the draining away of all the boiler water through the mudholes at the base
Note the narrow water spaces
around the firebox and the
of the firebox and the removal of all the washout plugs. Scale is then jetted or
"mudhole" for access to the
scraped from the interior surfaces using a high pressure water jet and rods of soft
crown sheet: these areas
metal, such as copper. Areas particularly susceptible to scale buildup, such as the
require special attention
firebox crown and narrow water spaces around the firebox, are given special
during washout
attention. The inside of the boiler is inspected by sighting through the plug holes,
with a particular check paid to the integrity of the firetubes, firebox crown and
stays and absence of pitting or cracking of the boiler plates. The gauge glass cocks and tubes and fusible plug
should be cleared of scale; if the core of the fusible plug shows signs of calcination the item should be replaced.
On reassembly care should be taken that the threaded plugs are replaced in their original holes: the tapers can vary
as a result of rethreading. The mudhole door gaskets, if of asbestos, should be renewed but those made of lead may
be reused; special instructions are in force for the disposal of these harmful materials.[4] At large maintenance
facilities the boiler would have been both washed and refilled with very hot water from an external supply to bring
the locomotive back to service more quickly.

Periodic examination
Typically an annual inspection, this would require the removal and check of external fittings, such as the injectors,
safety valves and pressure gauge. High-pressure copper pipework can suffer from work hardening in use and
become dangerously brittle: it may be necessary to treat these by annealing before refitting. A hydraulic pressure
test on the boiler and pipework may also be called for.

General overhaul
In the UK the specified maximum interval between full overhauls is ten years. To enable a full inspection the boiler
is lifted from the locomotive frame and the lagging removed. All firetubes are removed for checking or
replacement. All fittings are removed for overhaul. Before returning to use a qualified examiner will check the
boilers fitness for service and issue a safety certificate valid for ten years.[4]

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External links
A locomotive boiler (http://www.btinternet.com/~ian.rivett/imic/boiler.htm)
A "hot" boiler washout in pictures (http://www.portatreatment.com/hotw.htm)
Picture gallery showing boiler internal features and defects. (http://www.portatreatment.com/pdf/yours.pdf)
BS EN 12953 is the relevant contemporary standard, which supersedes BS2790. (http://www.bsi-global.com/
en/Standards-and-Publications/Industry-Sectors/Manufacturing/Pressure-equipment/Shell-boilers/)

References
1.
2.
3.
4.

^ K.N. Harris (1974). Model Boilers and Boilermaking. MAP. ISBN 0852423772.
^ General Ship Layout (http://www.bevs.org/diving/wkgenera.htm)
^ Bell, A M (1957): Locomotives, seventh edition, Virtue and Company, London.
^ a b c Unknown authors (2005):The management of steam locomotive boilers. Health and Safety Executive,
Sudbury, Suffolk, England.

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Categories: Boilers | Locomotive parts
This page was last modified on 13 November 2008, at 16:07.
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