Boilers Basics

Fire Tube Boilers

Chapter 2

: Fire Tube Boilers

2.1 Fire Tube Boilers

Fire tube boilers consist of a series of straight tubes that are housed inside a waterfilled outer shell. The tubes are arranged so that hot combustion gases flow through
the tubes. As hot gases flow through the tubes, they heat the water that surrounds
the tubes. The water is confined by the outer shell of the boiler that is designed as a
pressure vessel. To avoid the need for excessively thick materials, fire tube boilers
are used for lower-pressure applications. Fire tube boilers are subdivided into three
groups.
Horizontal return tubular (HRT) boilers typically have horizontal, self-contained
fire tubes with a separate combustion chamber. Scotch, Scotch marine, or shell
boilers have the fire tubes and combustion chamber housed within the same shell.
Firebox boilers have a water-jacketed firebox and employ, at most, three passes of
combustion gases.
Fire tube boilers are also named Shell Boilers & Smoke Tube Boilers.

2.2 Main Types of Fire Tube Boilers

Fire Tube Boilers

Old Designs

Cornish
Lancashire
Scotch
Vertical Upright
HRT Boilers

Conventional Designs

Scotch Marine

Two Pass Dry Back

Two Pass Wet Back
Three Pass Wet Back
Four Pass Wet Back
Thimble Type

Fire Box

Vertical
Tubeless

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

2.2.1 Old & Obsoletes Designs

2.2.1.1 Cornish Boiler
Cornishman Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) was the first British engineer to use
high-pressure steam. In 1812 Trevithick implemented his ideas at Cornwall's Wheal
Prosper mine. He used a new boiler design to supply steam at 40 psi to a singleacting condensing engine.
The Cornish Boiler made several design changes. First, the furnace was placed inside
a metal tube measuring three (3) feet or more in diameter (from side to side). And
this tube was placed inside the boiler. Having all that hot metal inside the boiler
greatly increased the amount of heat transferred to the water.
The fire and hot gasses were still routed through three flues which run along both
sides and beneath the cylinder.
After leaving flue #1 (the metal tube running through the water) the hot gasses
were divided at the aft (back) end and moved forward along flue #2 which runs
along both sides of the cylinder at the same time.
At the front of the boiler the hot gasses were directed downward into flue #3 and
traveled aft beneath the boiler to the chimney. This helped reduce the amount of
mud that accumulated in the bottom of the boiler and that increased the boilers
efficiency even more.
The flat ends of the cylinder are another obvious design change made necessary by
the internal furnace.

Fig 2.1 A Typical Cornish Boiler

2.2.1.2 Lancashire Boiler

Lancashire boiler comprised a large steel shell usually between 5 - 9 m long
through which passed two large-bore furnace tubes called flues. Part of each flue
was corrugated to take up the expansion when the boiler became hot, and to prevent
collapse under pressure. A furnace was installed at the entrance to each flue, at the
front end of the boiler. Typically, the furnace would be arranged to burn coal, being
either manually or automatically stoked.
The hot gaseous products of combustion passed from the furnace through the largebore corrugated flues. Heat from the hot flue gases was transferred into the water
surrounding these flues.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

The boiler was in brickwork setting which was arranged to duct the hot gases
emerging from the flues downwards and beneath the boiler, transferring heat
through the bottom of the boiler shell, and secondly back along the sides of the
boiler before exiting through the stack.
These two side ducts met at the back of the boiler and fed into the chimney. These
passes were an attempt to extract the maximum amount of energy from the hot
product gases before they were released to atmosphere.
Later, the efficiency was improved by the addition of an economizer.

Fig 2.2 A Typical Lancashire Boiler

Capacity
Dimensions
Output
Pressure

Small
5.5 m long x 2 m diameter
1 500 kg/h
Up to 12 bar g

Large
9 m long x 3 m diameter
6 500 kg/h
up to 12 bar g

Table 2.1 Size Range of Lancashire boilers

2.2.1.3 Old Scotch Boiler

Engineers and designers of steam boilers had long understood the relationship
between the amount of heat generated in a furnace and the ability of water to
absorb that heat. Basically, the larger water surface exposed to the heat the more
heat is transferred to the water.
Like the Cornish and Lancashire boilers, the Scotch Boiler utilizes internal furnaces
with the fire box and primary flue traversing the lower portion of the water cylinder.
Yet unlike the Lancashire boiler, the Scotch boiler does not utilize Galloway tubes.
Instead, the designers choose to manufacture the water tank from corrugated plates.
The end plates are reinforced by heavy through bolts. This combination of through
bolts and corrugated plates provided an extremely strong boiler.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

The Scotch Boiler is a "Fire Tube" design. In this case a number of relatively small (3
1/2 inch diameter) metal tubes pass horizontally through the water cylinder and
act flues. A boiler 10 feet in diameter and 20 feet long would normally contain
137 individual horizontal tubes. These fire tubes were arranged above the
furnaces, but below the water surface.
As with the previous illustrations, fire and hot gasses pass from the furnace through
the main flues which are surrounded by water. At the aft end of the boiler the hot
gasses entered a chamber or Dry Back which allowed the end plate to be heated
and also directed the gasses into the fire tubes. From there the hot gasses moved
forward through the numerous tubes to the chimney.
The Scotch Boiler was quite versatile. Designs were built to deliver anywhere from 6
to 300 BHP (boiler horse power). The largest were 10 feet in diameter, 20 feet
long and contained four furnaces. The illustration below shows a Scotch type boiler
with two furnaces.

Fig 2.3 Old Scotch type Boiler with Two Furnaces

2.2.1.4 Vertical Upright

The term Fire Tube accurately describes the basis of this boiler. The water tank or
boiler is a vertical tank not a horizontal cylinder as in the other boilers already
described. Like the Cornish and Lancashire boilers the furnace is located inside the
water tank. The tank is all surrounded with water except its bottom. But take a note
there are a number of brass tubes which extend through the boiler to the chimney.
Depending on the individual manufacturer, there could be as many as 100 of these
tubes.
These tubes allow the products of combustion (flame, hot gasses and smoke) to pass
directly through the boiler allowing an extremely high rate of heat transfer to the
water. In other words, the fire passed through the tubes, hence the name, Fire Tube
Boiler.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Fig 2.4 A Vertical Upright Steam Boiler

2.2.1.5 Horizontal Return Tubular Boiler (HRT)

The hot gases generated by the burning coal traveled along the underside of the
boiler drum and returned through the fire tubes to the boiler stack. The boiler was
encased in a brickwork setting to contain the flame, so it was externally fired boiler.
The boiler was also classified as a two pass boiler.
The HRT was labor intensive to construct because of the brickwork and inefficient to
operate for the same reason. Heat loss through the brick setting was too high.
Although these boilers are no longer constructed, there are still some in operation.
The coal firing grates have largely replaced by oil or gas burners to reduce exhaust
emissions.

Fig 2.5 HRT Fire Tube boiler

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Fig 2.6 an Old HRT Boiler Showing Steps of Construction & Brickwork

In order to reduce the extensive heat losses from the furnace walls of externally fired
boilers, one designer enlarged the diameter of the return flue and put the firing
grating inside this enlarged flues. The boiler is now internally fired. The furnace was
placed inside the shell and completely surrounded by water.
However brickwork was still used to guide the hot gases, after leaving the furnace,
around the outside of the shell in order to remove as much heat as possible.
Horizontal return tubular (HRT) boilers typically have horizontal, self-contained fire
tubes with a separate combustion chamber.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

2.2.2 Conventional & Modern Designs

The modern Economic boiler has a horizontal shell and no side or sole flues. A few
earlier brick set types still exist. From one or two furnaces, hot gases pass through
the furnace tubes to the rear and enter a steel combustion chamber lined with
firebrick. If this chamber is surrounded by water, the boiler is known as a wetback; if
it is outside the boiler shell, the boiler is known as a dry back, with a two pass boiler,
gases from the combustion chamber return to the front through a bank of smoke
tubes below water level, enter a smoke box and pass on to the chimney. When the
gases pass through a second set of smoke tubes it is a three-pass boiler.

Fig 2.7 Modern Packaged Scotch Marine Boiler

2.2.2.1 Scotch Marine Boiler

- Two Pass Dry Back
The two-pass economic boiler was only about half the size of an equivalent
Lancashire boiler and it had a higher thermal efficiency. It had a cylindrical outer
shell containing two large-bore corrugated furnace flues acting as the main
combustion chambers. The hot flue gases passed out of the two furnace flues at the
back of the boiler into a brickwork setting (dry back) and were deflected through a
number of small-bore tubes arranged above the large-bore furnace flues. These
small bore tubes presented a large heating surface to the water. The flue gases
passed out of the boiler at the front and into an induced draught fan, which passed
them into the chimney.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Fig 2.8 Two-pass Dry back Boiler

Capacity
Small
Dimensions 3 m long x 1.7 m diameter
Output
1 000 kg/h
Pressure
Up to 17 barg

Large
7 m long x 4 m diameter
15 000 kg/h
up to 17 barg

Table 2.2 Size range Two-pass Dry back boilers

- Three Pass Wet Back

A further development of the economic boiler was the creation of a three-pass wet
back boiler which is a standard configuration in use today, manufacturing technology
has advanced: thinner metal tubes were introduced allowing more tubes to be
accommodated, the heat transfer rates to be improved, and the boilers themselves
to become more compact.

Fig 2.9 Three-pass Wet back Boiler

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Area of tubes
11 m2
43 m2
46 m2

1st pass
2nd pass
3rd pass

Temperature
1 600C
400C
350C

Proportion of total heat

65%
25%
10%

Table 2.3 Heat transfer details of a modern three pass, wet back, boiler

Four Pass Wet Back

Four-pass units are potentially the most thermally efficient, but fuel type and
operating conditions may prevent their use. When this type of unit is fired at low
demand with heavy fuel oil or coal, the heat transfer from the combustion gases can
be very large. As a result, the exit flue gas temperature can fall below the acid dew
point, causing corrosion of the flues and chimney and possibly of the boiler itself. The
four-pass boiler unit is also subject to higher thermal stresses, especially if large load
swings suddenly occur; these can lead to stress cracks or failures within the boiler
structure. For these reasons, four-pass boilers are unusual.

Fig 2.10 a Cut-away in Four-pass Wet back Boiler

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

- Thimble / Reverse Type

This is a variation on conventional boiler design. The combustion chamber is in the
form of a thimble, and the burner fires down the centre. The flame doubles back on
itself within the combustion chamber to come to the front of the boiler. Smoke tubes
surround the thimble and pass the flue gases to the rear of the boiler and the
chimney.

Fig 2.11 Thimble flame Boiler

- Package Boiler
The packaged boiler is so called because it comes as a complete package with
burner, level controls, feed pump and all necessary boiler fittings and mountings.
Once delivered to site it requires only the steam, water, and blow down pipe work,
fuel supply and electrical connections to be made for it to become operational.
Development has also had a significant effect on the physical size of boilers for a
given output:
- Manufacturers wanted to make the boilers as small as possible to save on materials
and hence keep their product competitive.
- Efficiency is aided by making the boiler as small as it is practical; the smaller the
boiler and the less its surface area, the less heat is lost to the environment.
To some extent the universal awareness of the need for insulation, and the high
performance of modern insulating materials, reduces this issue.
- Consumers wanted the boilers to be as small as possible to minimize the amount of
floor space needed by the boiler house, and hence increase the space available for
other purposes.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Fig 2.12 Packaged Boiler

Boiler type

Fuel

Lancashire Coal
Economic Coal
Packaged Oil
Packaged Gas

Length (m)

Diameter
(m)

9.0
6.0
3.9
3.9

2.75
3.00
2.50
2.50

Efficiency Volumetric Steam release

(%)
heat release
rate from
(kW/m3) water Surface
(kg/m2 s)
74
76
82
80

340
730
2 330
2 600

Table 2.4 a Comparison for 5000 kg/hr Boilers

0.07
0.12
0.20
0.20

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

2.2.2.2 Fire Box

Another type of fire-tube boiler is the FIREBOX boiler that is usually used for
stationary purposes. Two Split sections of a small firebox boiler are shown in figure
2.10. Gases in the firebox boiler make two passes through the tubes. Firebox boilers
require no setting except possibly an ash pit for coal fuel. As a result, they can be
quickly installed and placed in service. Gases travel from the firebox through a group
of tubes to a reversing chamber. They return through a second set of tubes to the
flue connection on the front of the boiler and are then discharged up the stack.
The firebox boiler is typically manufactured for low pressure steam or hot water
applications. The firebox boiler is a compact, economical unit and serves as a good fit
for seasonal use and when efficiency is not the driving factor. Sizes range from 12 to
337 horsepower.

Fig 2.13 Split sections in small firebox boilers

2.2.2.4 Vertical Fire Tube Boiler

In some fire-tube boilers, the tubes run vertically, as opposed to the horizontal
arrangement in the Scotch boiler. The VERTICAL-TUBE boiler sits in an upright
position, as shown in figure 2.12. Therefore, the products of combustion (gases)
make multiple passes, traveling straight up & down through the tubes and out to the
stack. The vertical fire-tube boiler is similar to the horizontal fire-tube boiler in that
it is a portable, self-contained unit requiring a minimum of floor space. Handholds
are also provided for cleaning and repairing. Though self-supporting in its setting
(no brickwork or foundation being necessary), it MUST be level. The fire-tube boiler
has the same disadvantages as that of the horizontal-tube designlimited capacity
and furnace volume. Before selecting a vertical fire-tube boiler, you must know how
much overhead space is in the building where it will be used. Since this boiler sits in
an upright position, a room with a high ceiling is necessary for its installation. The
blow down pipe of the vertical tire-tube boiler is attached to the lowest part of the
water leg, and the feed water inlet opens through the top of the shell.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Fig 2.14 Vertical tubeless boiler

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

2.3 Boiler Efficiency, Steam Release Rate & Volumetric

Heat Release
2.3.1 Boiler Thermal Efficiency
The thermal efficiency of a particular boiler depends on many factors, including the
type of boiler, the quality of combustion, the load, the pressure and the general
condition of the boiler. One of the main causes of inefficiency will have been
eliminated if combustion can be maintained with the minimum use of excess air and
without unburned gases escaping to the chimney.
Every boiler will lose heat by radiation and convection but the heat loss will be
reduced if the boiler, its shell, or the steam and water drums are effectively lagged
and the lagging is kept in good condition.
Fuel efficiency can be improved by recovering heat that would otherwise be wasted
and using it for pre-heating the boiler feed water. Feed water economizers recover
heat from the boiler waste gases before they are discharged but hot condensate or
exhaust steam can also be used to heat the feed water. Exhaust steam should only
be used for this purpose if it cannot be put to better use elsewhere and live steam
must not be used unless it is necessary to protect the economizer from corrosion. Air
heaters placed after the economizer can, in suitable cases, recover further heat from
the waste gases which can be used to pre-heat combustion air.

Overall Boiler efficiency can be calculated by two methods:

1- Direct Method:
Boiler Efficiency % =

%=
b

Useful Heat in the Steam Output

Total Energy in the Fuel

100

ms hg h
f 100 -----2.1

m C.V
f

Where:
= Boiler Efficiency (%)
b

ms = Steam Output (KG/h)

hg = Specific enthalpy of steam at operating pressure (KJ/kG)
h = Specific enthalpy of water at feed water temperature (KJ/kG)
f

m = Fuel Consumption (KG/h)

f
C.V = Fuel Calorific value (kJ/KG)

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

2- Indirect Method:

Boiler Efficiency % = 100 % - Losses % ----2.2

Where Total Losses:

- Heat carried out of the stack by hot flue gases (dry flue gases).
- Heat carried out of the stack by hot water vapor.
- Unburned fuel and products of incomplete combustion.
- Heat lost by the boiler structure through its insulation (by radiation).
- Heat carried away by the boiler blow down.

2.3.2 Steam Release Rate (kG/m2 S)

This factor is calculated by dividing the amount of steam produced per second by the
area of the water plane. The lower this number, the greater the opportunity for
water particles to separate from the steam and produce dry steam.
Note the modern boiler's figure is larger by a factor of almost three. This means that
there is less opportunity for the separation of steam and water droplets.
This is made much worse by water with a high TDS level, and accurate control is
essential for efficiency and the production of dry steam.
At times of rapidly increasing load, the boiler will experience a reduction of pressure,
which, in turn, means that the density of the steam is reduced, and even higher
steam release rates will occur, and progressively wetter steam is exported from the
boiler.

2.3.3 Volumetric Heat Release (kW/m3)

This factor is calculated by dividing the total heat input by the volume of water in the
boiler. It effectively relates the quantity of steam released under maximum load to
the amount of water in the boiler. As this number decrease, the amount of reserve
energy in the boiler increase.
Note that the figure for a modern boiler relative to a Lancashire boiler is larger by a
factor of almost eight, indicating a reduction in stored energy by a similar amount.
This means that a reduced amount of stored energy is available in a modern boiler.
This development has been made possible by control systems which respond quickly
and with appropriate actions to safeguard the boiler and to satisfy demand.

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

2.4 Boiler Ratings

Boilers ratings depend on boilers manufacturers & origins. Three types of
boiler ratings are commonly used:
- 'From and at' rating.
- KW rating.
- Boiler horsepower (BoHP).

'From and at' rating

The 'from and at' rating is widely used as a datum by shell boiler manufacturers to
give a boiler a rating which shows the amount of steam in kg/h which the boiler can
create 'from and at 100C, at atmospheric pressure. Each kilogram of steam would
then have received 2257 kJ of heat from the boiler.
Shell boilers are often operated with feed water temperatures lower than 100C.
Consequently the boiler is required to supply enthalpy to bring the water up to
boiling point.
Most boilers operate at pressures higher than atmospheric, because steam at an
elevated pressure carries more heat energy than does steam at100C. This calls for
additional enthalpy of saturation of water. As the boiler pressure rises, the saturation
temperature is increased, needing even more enthalpy before the feed water is
brought up to boiling temperature.
Both these effects reduce the actual steam output of the boiler, for the same
consumption of fuel. The graph in Figure 2.15 shows feed water temperatures
plotted against the percentage of the 'from and at' figure for operation at pressures
of 0, 5, 10 and 15 bar g.

Fig 2.15 From and at Graph

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

Calculation of boiler output at certain pressure other than

atmospheric pressure

Boiler output (KG/h) at pressure (P) = evaporation factor

boiler output at atmospheric pressure

Where evaporation factor can be calculated from:

h (at atmospheric pressure)
fg
Evaporation factor =
------2.3
h g (at pressure P) - h (at feed water temp.)
f
Where:
hfg = Specific enthalpy of evaporation at atmospheric pressure.
hg = Specific enthalpy of steam at operating pressure.
hf = Specific enthalpy of water at feed water temperature.
The evaporation factor can also be obtained from fig 2.15 at feed water temp. and
operating pressure.

KW Rating
Some manufacturers will give a boiler rating in kW. This is not an evaporation rate,
and is subject to the same 'from and at' factor.
To establish the actual evaporation by mass, it is first necessary to know the
temperature of the feed water and the pressure of the steam produced, in order to
establish how much energy is added to each kg of water. Equation 2.3 can then be
used to calculate the steam output:
Steam Output (kG/h) = Boiler Rating (kW)

3600 s/h
Energy to be added (kJ/kG)

- Where energy to be added = hg h

f

- hg = Specific enthalpy of steam at operating pressure (kJ/kG) .

- h f = Specific enthalpy of water at feed water temperature (kJ/kG) .
Boiler horsepower (BoHP)
This unit tends to be used only in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. A boiler
horsepower is not the commonly accepted 550 ft Ibf/s and the generally accepted
conversion factor of 746 Watts = 1 horsepower does not apply.
In New Zealand, boiler horsepower is a function of the heat transfer area in the
boiler, and a boiler horsepower relates to 17 ft2 of heating surface,

---2.4

Boilers Basics
Fire Tube Boilers

17 ft2 of heating surface area will produce 1 BoHP---2.5

In the USA and Australia the readily accepted definition of a boiler horsepower is the
amount of energy required to evaporate 34.5 Ib of water at 212F atmospheric
conditions.
1 BoHP will evaporate 28 Ib/h to 35 Ib/h of water (at atmospheric pressure)2.6

2.5 Advantages & Disadvantages of Fire Tube Boilers

2.5.1Advantages of Fire Tube boilers:
- The entire plant may be purchased as a complete package, only needing securing
to basic foundations, and connecting to water, electricity, fuel and steam systems
before commissioning. This means that installation costs are minimized.
- This package arrangement also means that it is simple to relocate a packaged shell
boiler.
- A shell boiler contains a substantial amount of water at saturation temperature,
and hence has a substantial amount of stored energy which can be called upon to
cope with short term, rapidly applied loads.
This can also be a disadvantage in that when the energy in the stored water is used,
it may take some time before the reserve is built up again.
- The construction of a shell boiler is generally straight forward, which means that
maintenance is simple.
- Shell boilers often have one furnace tube and burner. This means that control
systems are fairly
simple.
- Although shell boilers may be designed and built to operate up to 27 bar. The
majority operate at 17 bar or less. This relatively low pressure means that the
associated ancillary equipment is easily available at competitive prices.

2.5.2 Disadvantages of Fire Tube boilers:

- The package principle means that approximately 27 000 kg/h is the maximum
output of a shell boiler. If more steam is required, then several boilers need to be
connected together.
- The large diameter cylinders used in the construction of shell boilers effectively
limit their operating pressure to approximately 27 bars. If higher pressures are
needed, then a water-tube boiler is required.