To facilitate example calculations below, the following values may be used as a reference for

the convective heat transfer coefficients:

Fluid Convective heat transfer coefficient (h)

Water about 1000 W/(m2 °C) [176 Btu/(hr-ft2 °F)]

Hot Water 1000 – 6000 W/(m2 °C) [176 - 1057 Btu/(hr-ft2 °F)]

Steam 6000 – 15000 W/(m2 °C) [1057 - 2641 Btu/(hr-ft2 °F)]

Example comparing effect on U of different heat sources, steam or hot water
Two carbon steel (λ = 50 W/(m °C) [28.9 Btu/(hr-ft °F)]) jacketed kettles with an inner wall
thickness of 15mm [0.049 ft] are used to heat water. One uses hot water as the heat
source, while the other uses steam. Assuming heat transfer coefficients of 1000 W/m 2 °C
[176 Btu/(hr-ft2 °F)] for the water being heated, 3000 W/m2 °C [528 Btu/(hr-ft2 °F)] for hot
water, and 10000 W/m2° C [1761 Btu/(hr-ft2 °F)] for steam, let's calculate the U values for
both heating processes.
Carbon Steel Jacketed Kettle – Comparing Hot Water vs. Steam Heat Source
Hot water:

Steam:

In this case, steam provides a calculated U-value improvement of 17%.

Now imagine that the same kettle transfer wall is also lined with glass 1mm [0.0033 ft] thick
(λ = 0.9 W/(m °C) [0.52 Btu/(hr-ft °F)]). Including these values into the above U-value
equation provides the following results:
Glass-Lined Jacketed Kettle – Comparing Hot Water vs. Steam Heat Source
Hot Water:

Steam:

In this case of additional resistance to conductivity, the U-value is still improved, but only by
9%; and this demonstrates how a poor thermal conductor such as glass can greatly
interfere with heat transfer.
So for certain heat exchange equipment such as a carbon steel kettle, changing the heat
source from hot water to steam can potentially improve the U-value and heat transfer
significantly if the wall material is highly conductive. However, the same dramatic effect is
not expected in instances where a heat exchanger with several wall layers including layers
of material that are not highly conductive (such as a glass-lined kettle) is used.