When choosing a steam boiler for your facility, you can usually choose between a water tube or a fire tube design. Although both have their advantages in some cases, from the point of view of efficiency, the Zozen water tube boilers are much more efficient than the fire tube boilers. Let’s take a closer look at why this is so.
Differences in steam boiler design
When in contact with enough heat, water will change into steam. From a design point of view, water-tube boilers and fire-tube boilers have completely opposite approaches to how this contact occurs. In a fire tube design, hot flue gas passes through a tube surrounded by water. In water pipe design, the opposite is true – water is heated through pipes surrounded by smoke. Most conventional boiler systems are designed with fire tubes, which has been the standard method for many years. However, water-tube boilers are popular because they are more compact and generate steam faster to heat, which is the best boiler system for on-demand steam.
What makes a Zozen water tube boiler more efficient?
Between the two types of boiler designs, water-tube boilers are more efficient than fire-tube boilers. This is due to a number of factors:
Water changes into steam more quickly. When water flows through the tube, it is surrounded by a heat source, not the other way around. In addition, because the tube holds less water than the water tank designed for the fire tube, it takes less time to convert the water to steam and, therefore, less fuel. A water-tube boiler can produce steam in five minutes, compared with a fire-tube boiler that takes an hour or more. As a result, over time, the cost of fuel savings can be significant.
Water tube boiler requires less water. By designing the water in the tubes at once, water-tube boilers do not need to store much water to generate steam, making them more environmentally friendly in design.
Water tube boiler can be more easily adapted to transfer loads. By heating less water at a time, a water-tube boiler can respond more quickly to changes in steam demand. Each unit in the modular configuration can be powered on or off as needed. This means that you only use fuel and water when you need it, which greatly reduces energy waste in the process.
Water tube boilers tend to have a longer service life. The ability to operate more efficiently also means that water-tube boilers have a longer life than fire-tube boilers.
With its increased efficiency, the Zozen water tube boiler is ideal for companies with fluctuating steam demand and those looking to save energy costs and reduce their carbon footprint. The Zozen boiler is known for its innovative water pipe design and efficiency standards.
For more information about water tube boilers, please contact us.
