Boilers 

for generating steam or hot water have been designed in countless shapes, sizes and
configurations. An extensive terminology has evolved to describe their common features. This
glossary provides definitions for these terms.

Terms which relate solely to boilers used for space heating or generating hot water are identified by
(HVAC).

Ashpan
A container beneath the furnace, catching ash and clinker that falls through the firebars. This
may be made of brickwork for a stationary boiler, or steel sheet for a locomotive. Ashpans
are often the location of the damper. They may also be shaped into hoppers, for easy
cleaning during disposal.
Blastpipe
Blow-down
Periodic venting of water from the boiler. This water contains the most concentrated
precursors for sludge build-up, so by venting it whilst still dissolved, the build-up is reduced.
When early marine boilers were fed with salt water, they would be blown-down several times
an hour.
Blow-down cock
a valve mounted low-down on the boiler, often around the foundation ring, which is used
for blow down.
Blower
the blower provides a forced draught on the fire, encouraging combustion. It consists of a
hollow ring mounted either in the base of the chimney or on top of the blastpipe. Holes are
drilled in the top of the blower ring, and when steam is fed into the ring, the steam jets out of
the holes and up the chimney, stimulating draught,[1] much like a blastpipe.
Boiler
Boilermaker
a craftsman skilled in the techniques required for construction and repair of boilers.
Historically known as a boilersmith.
Boiler suit
heavy-duty one-piece protective clothing, worn when inspecting the inside of a firebox for
steam leaks, for which task it is necessary to crawl through the firehole door.
Boiler ticket
the safety certificate issued for a steam (locomotive) boiler on passing a formal inspection
after a major rebuild, and generally covering a period of ten years. Additional annual safety
inspections must also be undertaken, which may result in the locomotive being withdrawn
from service if the boiler requires work. When the ticket "expires" the locomotive cannot be
used until the boiler has been overhauled or replaced, and a new ticket obtained.[citation needed]
Boiler water treatment
Removal or chemical modification of boiler feedwater impurities to avoid scale, corrosion,
or foaming.[2]
Brick arch
A horizontal baffle of firebrick within the furnace, usually of a locomotive boiler. This forces
combustion gases from the front of the furnace to flow further, back over the rest of the
furnace, encouraging efficient combustion. The invention of the brick arch, along with
the blastpipe and forced draught, was a major factor in allowing early locomotives to begin to
burn coal, rather than coke.

Carryover
the damaging condition where water droplets are carried out of the boiler along with the dry
steam. These can cause scouring in turbines or hydraulic lock in cylinders. The risk is
accentuated by dirty feedwater.
See also priming.
Check valve
or clack valve, from the noise it makes. A non-return valve where the feedwater enters the
boiler drum. They are usually mounted halfway along the boiler drum, or else as atop feed,
but away from the firebox, so as to avoid stressing it with the shock of cold water.
Cladding
The layer of insulation and outer wrapping around a boiler shell, particularly that of a steam
locomotive. In early practice this was usually wooden strips held by brass bands. Later and
modern practice is to use asbestos insulation matting (or other, less hazardous, fibres)
covered with rolled steel sheets. The outer shape of the cladding is often a simplification of
the underlying boiler shell. Also termed "clothing" in LMS practice.
Crinolines
The framework of hoops used to support cladding over a boiler. Named from the similar
hoops under a crinoline skirt.
Crown sheet
 The upper sheet of the inner firebox on a locomotive boiler. It is the hottest part of the
firebox, and sometimes at risk of boiler explosion, should the water level drop and the crown
sheet be exposed and thus allowed to overheat. Supported from above by complex stays.
Damper
An adjustable flap controlling the air admitted beneath the fire-bed. Usually part of
the ashpan.
Disposal
The cleanup process at the end of the working day, usually involving dropping the
fire and blowing down the boiler.
Dome
a raised location on the top of the main boiler drum, providing a high point from which to
collect dry steam, reducing the risk of priming.
Downcomer
large external pipes in many water-tube boilers, carrying unheated cold water from the steam
drum down to the water drum as part of the circulation path.
Drowned tube
Either a fire-tube or water-tube that is entirely below the water-level of the operating boiler.
As corrosion and scaling is most active in the region of the water-level, this reduces wear
and maintenance requirements.
Exhaust injector
a feedwater injector that economizes on steam consumption by using waste steam, such as
engine exhaust.

Feedwater
Feedwater pump
Field-tube
A form of single-ended thimble water tube with an internal tube to encourage circulation.
Firebar
Replaceable cast-iron bars that form the base of the furnace and support the fire. These
wear out frequently, so as designed for easy replacement.. See also Rocking grate
Firebox
Firedoor
Fire dropping
 Emptying out the remains of the fire after a day's work. A time-consuming and filthy task;
labour-saving ways to improve this became important in the final days of steam locomotives.
Fire-tube
Fire-tube boiler
A boiler where the primary heating surface is tubes with hot gas flowing inside and water
outside. . See also water-tube boiler
Flash steam
Flue
A large fire tube, either used as the main heating surface in a flued boiler, or used as
enlarged firetubes in a locomotive-style boiler where these contain the superheaterelements.
Flued boiler
Foundation ring
The base of the firebox, where the inner and outer shells are joined.
Furnace
Fusible plug
A safety device that indicates if the water level becomes dangerously low. It melts when
overheated, releasing a jet of steam into the firebox and alerting the crew.
Galloway tubes
tapered thermic syphon water-tubes inserted in the furnace of a Lancashire boiler.
Gauge glass
part of the water level gauge, which normally consists of a vertical glass tube connected top
and bottom to the boiler backplate. The water level must be visible within the glass at all
times.[3]
Grooving
erosion of a boiler's plates from the internal water space, particularly where there is a step
inside the shell. This was a problem for early boilers made from lapped plates rather than
butted plates, and gave rise to many boiler explosions. In later years it was a problem for the
non-circular water drums of Yarrow boilers.
Handhole
A small manhole, too small for access but useful for inspection and washing out the boiler.
See also mudhole
Injector
a feedwater pump without moving parts that uses steam pressure and the Bernoulli effect to
force feedwater into the boiler, even against its pressure.
Klinger gauge glass
 A form of gauge glass where the water level is visible through a flat glass window in a strong
metal frame, rather than a cylindrical tube. These were popular with some operators, and
increasingly so for high pressure boilers.
Manhole
an oval access door into the boiler shell, used for maintenance and cleaning. Manholes are
sealed with a removable door from the inside. As they are oval, this door may be turned and
lifted out through the hole. Doors are clamped in place from the outside with one or
two bridge clamps spanning the hole and tightened down with a nut on a stud. As the cutting
of a manhole weakens the boiler shell, the surrounding area is strengthened with a patch.
Mud
a sludge of boiler scale particles, precipitates and general impurities that builds up in the
lower parts of a boiler. Mud reduces water circulation and so a local buildup may lead to
localized overheating and possibly explosion.
Mud drum
a water drum, particularly one mounted low on the boiler whose function is primarily to
trap mud from circulation.
Mudhole
A small manhole, too small for access but useful for washing out the boiler, either as an inlet
for a hose or as a drain for removed mud. See also washout plug
Priming
Regulator
Rocking grate
An advanced form of firebar, where sections of the grate may be rocked or tipped to either
break up clinker within the fire, or to drop the fire after a day's work.
Safety valve
an automatic valve used to release excess pressure within the boiler.
Scale
dissolved minerals from hard water that precipitate out in the steam space around the water-
level. Where this scale falls to the bottom of the boiler and mixes with other contaminants, it
is termed mud.
Scum valve
A blow-down valve mounted at the water-level of a boiler, used to blow-down lighter oily or
foamy deposits within a boiler that float on the water-level.
Sludge
another term for Mud.
 Smokebox
an enclosed space at the extremity of a fire-tube boiler, where the exhaust gases from the
tubes are combined together and pass to the flue or chimney.
Snifting valve
Steam accumulator
Steam drum
a cylindrical vessel mounted at a high point of a water-tube boiler, where dry steam may
separate above the water level, so that it may be drawn off without risk of priming. This is
similar to the function of a dome in a fire-tube boiler.
Steam & water drum
a steam drum that contains a turbulent mixture of steam and water, with a substantial part of
this being water. The terms are used somewhat interchangeably.
Steam drier
a form of mild superheater that adds additional heat to wet- or saturated steam, thus
ensuring that all water in the steam has been evaporated, thus avoiding problems with water
droplets in the cylinders or turbine. Unlike the superheater, the steam drier does not attempt
to raise the temperature of the steam significantly beyond the boiling point.
Steam generator
Steam separator
Suction valve
an automatic non-return valve, which opens when the boiler is at less than atmospheric
pressure. This avoids any risk of vacuum collapse, when a hot boiler is allowed to cool down
out of service.
Thermic siphon
Three-drum boiler
A generic term for water-tube boilers of the Yarrow pattern. In Royal Navy practice, a
reference to the specific Admiralty example of this.[4][5]
Throatplate
a plate forming the lower front of the outer firebox of a locomotive boiler, below the barrel.
Top-feed
in locomotive boilers, a feed water check valve placed on the top of the boiler drum. This
encourages rapid mixing of the cold feedwater with the hot steam, reducing the risk of
thermal shock to the heated parts of the boiler.
Tubeplate
a plate across the barrel of a fire-tube boiler, containing many small holes to receive the fire-
tubes. A locomotive boiler has two tubeplates: one at the front of the inner firebox (firebox
tubeplate) and one at the front of the boiler, adjacent to the smokebox (smokebox tubeplate).
Vacuum valve
A non-return valve allowing atmospheric air into the boiler, if a cold boiler reduces its internal
pressure on cooling down. This avoids the risk of damage to some types, if their pressure
loads are reversed. Few boilers are fitted with these, although the feedwater clack valve
usually has a similar effect.
Vertical boiler
Water-level
Water-wall
a furnace or other wall within a boiler enclosure that is composed of numerous closely set
water-tubes. These tubes may be either bare, or covered by a mineral cement.
Washout plug
A small mudhole used for washing out the boiler. Plugs, as compared to mudholes, are
usually screwed into a taper thread, rather than held by clamps.
Water drum
see mud drum
Water-tube boiler
a boiler whose primary heating surface is composed of many small tubes, filled with water.
Tubes of 3 inch diameter and above are termed "large-tube" boilers. Later water-tube
designs used smaller "small-tubes" of 2 inches or less.
Wet bottom furnace