Heating and Ventilating Systems 35

system remains in the lines at all times. The water in the heating
unit lines heats and cools slowly, resulting in an even rate of heat
production. When pressure is lost in the steam heating system,
steam leaves the heating units resulting in a more rapid loss of
heat than in a hot water heating system. In addition, the steam
heating system has a longer recovery time in producing heat after
the boiler is shut down.

BOILERS

Boilers are used in both hot water heating systems and steam
heating systems. The hot water heating systems most often en-
countered in HVAC work will be low temperature systems with
boiler water temperatures generally in the range of 170 to 200
degrees Fahrenheit. Most of the steam heating systems will use
low pressure steam, operating at 15 psig (30 psia, and 250°F).
There are a great many types and classifications of boilers. Boilers
can be classified by size, construction, appearance, original usage,
and fuel used. Fossil-fuel boilers will be either natural gas-fired,
liquid petroleum (LP) gas-fired, or oil-fired (Figure 3-5). Some
boilers are set up so that the operating fuel can be switched to
natural gas, LP gas or oil, depending on the fuel price and avail-
ability. The construction of boilers remains basically the same
whether they’re water boilers or steam boilers. However, water or
steam boilers are divided by their internal construction into fire
tube or water tube boilers.

FIRE TUBE BOILERS

A fire tube boiler, as the name suggests, has the hot flue
gases from the combustion chamber (Figure 3-6), the chamber in
which combustion takes place, passing through tubes and out the
boiler stack. These tubes are surrounded by water. The heat from
the hot gases transfers through the walls of the tubes and heats
36 HVAC Fundamentals

Figure 3-5. Oil-fired Boiler

the water. Fire tube boilers may be further classified as externally

fired, meaning that the fire is entirely external to the boiler or they
may be classified as internally fired, in which case, the fire is
enclosed entirely within the steel shell of the boiler. Two other
classifications of fire tube boilers are wet-back or dry-back. This
refers to the compartment at the end of the combustion chamber.
This compartment is used as an insulating plenum so that the
heat from the combustion chamber, which can be several thou-
sand degrees, does not reach the boiler’s steel jacket. If the com-
partment is filled with water it is known as a wet-back boiler and
conversely, if the compartment contains only air is called a dry-
back boiler.
Still another grouping of fire tube boilers is by appearance or
usage. The two common types used today in HVAC heating sys-
tems are the marine or Scotch marine boiler and the firebox boiler.
The marine boiler was originally used on steam ships and is long
and cylindrical is shape. The firebox boiler has a rectangular
shape, almost to the point of being square. A Scotch marine fire