Fire-tube boiler facts for kids
A fire-tube boiler is a type of boiler in which hot gases pass from a fire through many tubes. These run through a sealed container of water. The heat of the gases passes through the walls of the tubes, and this heats the water and creates steam.
Most steam locomotives have fire-tube boilers.
Images for kids
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Sectioned fire-tube boiler from a DRB Class 50 locomotive. Hot flue gases created in the firebox (on the left) pass through the tubes in the centre cylindrical section, which is filled with water, to the smokebox and out of the chimney (stack) at far right. The steam collects along the top of the boiler and in the steam dome roughly halfway along the top, where it then flows into the large pipe seen running forward. It is then divided into each side and runs downward in the steam chest (at the rear of the smoke box), where it is then admitted into the cylinders by means of valves.
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Kewanee Gas-Fired Packaged Fire-Tube Boiler from 1974 rated at 25 horsepower
See also
In Spanish: Caldera de tubos de fuego para niños