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Everything you Need to Know About Boiler and Boiler Repairs: Homeowners' Guide

by Anna Eliza Business Advisor

Summary: A boiler is an enclosed vessel used for heating a fluid, usually water. Boilers are used by households as well as various industries. They are of different categories mainly water tube boilers and fire tube boilers. Boilers require fuels as a source of heat to function. Coal and electricity are the most used fuel source for boilers. Boil repairs and maintenance services are essential to sure it works effectively throughout the winter, it also saves the cost of fuel, helps you detect faulty parts of the device beforehand, and so on. For some boiler issues, it is a necessity to use it call a professional boiler service. Those issues include leakages, blockage of air vents, and adjustments in water levels. Thus, if you have a boiler, you have to maintain it and call for maintenance services at least once a year.


Everything you Need to Know About Boiler and Boiler Repairs: Homeowners' Guide


A boiler can be defined as an enclosed vessel that is used to heat a fluid, usually water. Most of the residences use boilers to heat water during the winters. However, it can be used anywhere where there is a requirement for creating steam or heat. Boilers are used by industries for the production of pulp and paper, for food processing, for generating electricity, and so on. However, boilers are complex systems as they need to go through repairs and maintenance services at regular intervals. The complexity of a boiler increases with the increase in its size and when it is expected to perform better.

A boiler system consists of various parts. The boiler consists of a feedwater system, air combustion system, and vetting system for exhaust gases. There can also be other parts depending on the type of the boiler and its use.

Different Categories of Boilers

There are different categories of boilers in the market are all of them are used for different purposes. With the passage of time, some old boiler systems have also been replaced with new ones. There are two main categories: shell tubes & water tube boilers.

  • Water-tube Boilers:  In the case of water tube boilers, the heated water passes via the tubes and the exhaust vapor stays near the shell and passes over the surface of the tube. In water tube boilers, the tubes are able to hold more pressure in comparison in comparison to the bigger chamber shell present in the fire tubes. These boilers are used where there is a requirement for high stream pressures. These boilers have more efficiency and are able to generate superheated steam.

  • Firetube Boilers: The functioning of firetube boilers includes the passing of combustion gases inside the boiler tubes and the transferring of the heat to the fluid between the outer shell and the tubes. Large firetube boilers are of more than 1500 hearse power. The main feature of a firetube boiler is its passes which determine the times the combusted fluid needs to flow through the pressure vessel in other to transfer heat to the fluid or water. The turnaround sections of a firetube boiler can be either a dry back design or a water back design.

  • HRSGs or Heat Recovery System Generators: In Heat Recovery System Generators steam is produced by transferring energy via the exhaust of a vapor turbine to a supplementary steam generator of fired heat-recovery. The temperature of the gas turbine goes up to 1000 degrees and can even go higher. This represents above 75 percent of the overall input of the fuel energy.

  • Waste Heat Recovery Boiler: WHRB or Water Heat Recovery Boilers be of both fire or water tube design. These boilers make use of the heat that would have been discarded otherwise for generating steam. The sources of heat in the case of WHRB  are either products of high temperature or exhaust gases from some external source or manufacturing processes in chemical manufacturing or refineries.

  • Package Boilers: These boilers are a complete package. They only require the water that is to be heated, a water pipe system, electric connections, and fuel supply to operate. Package boilers are shell boilers that have a fire tube design to be able to archive rates of high heat transfer.

Fuels Used in a Boiler

Boilers use the process of Combustion to burn a fuel source. Thus, for boilers to function, there has to be a fuel or oxidizing agent. Boilers are designed for burning a specific fuel with the use of different technologies and the fuel is one of the major components used for producing heat. There are different fuel sources used in a boiler. They are:

  • Coal: Coal is the most used fuel source in the case of industrial boilers. The coal is powdered as it burns and has replaced the use of old bricks.

  • Electricity: Electric can also be used as a source of heat with the help of an electrode unit or resistance heating coils. Electricity is mostly used in the case of residential or boilers meant for domestic use. 

Incase of electrodes, it requires high conductivity and water quality to work properly. These type of systems requires frequent Maintainance services as the insulators need to be cleaned to reduce the possibility of arching in between the electrodes.

Why does Boiler Need Maintenance or Repairs Services?

Boilers are an important device used in every household in the winter. Ensuring that your home boiler is working well is the first thing that one should consider when preparing for winter. Thus mentioned below are the various reasons which make boiler maintenance important.

  • Maintaining your boiler is essential to make sure that it works effectively and serves you at its best though out the winter. Some regions of the world face harsh winters where the boiler has to work extra hard to provide you with warm water or steam. Thus, each of the moving parts of the boilers had to function at its best and this is not possible if the boiler is well-maintained.

  • If a boiler is well-maintained, it will be working effectively and won't require much fuel. Thus, it saves you the fuel cost if the boiler runs at optimum levels. Moreover, hiring maintenance services at regular intervals will also save your boilers from expensive replacement and costs or repairing in case of severe damage.

  • Getting your boilers checked by professionals at least once a year can be of great benefit. The boiler engineers who inspect your boilers will let be able to detect the parts that have started to wear out and even replace the damaged parts that would have been ignored otherwise. A boiler engineer will also get the heat exchanger and the oil burner cleaned. They will also let you know which parts of your boiler need a quick replacement and which can work well for another year. Thus, getting your boilers inspected at regular intervals will keep you stress-free and you will be able to enjoy the winters without worrying about sudden boiler breakdowns.

  • Burning a boiler is an expensive purchase. Thus, you will want to use it for the longest time possible. Getting your boilers inspected at least once every year will give the heating device a long life and thus, you will be able to use its maximum utility levels.

  • A regular boiler maintenance service will keep your home safe. A boiler is supposed to exhaust the carbon monoxide youtube of your house via exhaust pipes. A boiler engineer will inspect your boilers for leakages and repair them for you. Carbon monoxide accumulation can be dangerous and thus, it is important to get your boilers serviced at regular intervals to replace or repair leaking pipes in time.

  • A professional boiler repairs or boiler maintenance service will also provide you with land lord’s gas safety check certificates which ensures that your boiler system is working fine and it is safe to use.

Boiler maintenance can vary as per the type of boiler you use at your residence. Hot water boilers make use of pressured hot water and are extremely durable if maintained well. In chase of steam boiler, the hot water is converted into steam and then transferred to the radiators or coils in the house. This type of boiler is being used for a long time can a proper maintenance service at regular intervals will keep the boiler in a working condition.

What are The Boiler Issues that Need to be Fixed by Professionals?


The maximum life span of a boiler is of 20 years. However, most boilers do not make it up to 20 because of irregular maintenance. There are some boiler issues that cannot be fixed without the help of professionals. The boiler issues that require professional help are as follows:

  • Boilers can suffer leakages like gas leakages or water leakages. To repair these leakages you will require professional boiler engineers. Especially, gas leaks are dangerous and should be addressed and repaired immediately with the help of professionals.

  • Blockages in the air vents need can be the reason behind your boiler breakdown. This kind of issue has to be treated with the help of professionals. Accumulation of debris or dirt can block the air vents of the boiler and need to be cleaned up by professionals.

  • Every boiler requires some amount of water to function. At times that level of water in the boiler system falls below the unusual level and can result in a major safety issue. To get this kind of issue solved, you have to hire a boiler engineer who can make adjustments to the water level to help your boiler work effectively.

Thus, if you have a boiler at your residence, it is essential to get it serviced at least once a year to make sure that it works effectively. If you are in search of a maintenance or boiler repair service in Telford, ensure that you choose a company that is well-experienced in providing boiler services to make sure that is safe and convenient.


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About Anna Eliza Advanced   Business Advisor

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Joined APSense since, November 1st, 2021, From London, United Kingdom.

Created on Apr 13th 2022 03:42. Viewed 255 times.

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