A boiler is an enclosed mechanical unit that provides a way for
combustion heat to be transferred into water until it becomes heated
water or steam. It is then used as a source of heat for residential,
commercial, and industrial hearing. When the water or other fluid is
heated in a hot water tank, it is under pressure. When the tank is under
pressure, measures have to be implemented to make sure too much
pressure accumulates that cause an explosion. The main type of device
used to prevent overpressure is the safety valve or safety relief valve.
A safety valve or safety relief valve is designed to prevent too much
pressure build up in a boiler. In a boiler, when the maximum pressure
is reached, the safety valve will kick in by releasing a certain amount
of fluid such as steam from within the boiler unit. The release will
reduce the excess pressure thereby preventing dangerous results such as
an explosion. A safety valve should be in operation at all times. These
valves should be installed wherever there is a risk of too much pressure
building up in a hot water tank. Pressure excess can be generated in a
number of different situations, including: sudden pressure surges,
exposure to a fire, cooling system failure, instrumentation failure,
heat exchanger tube failure, unbalanced fluid flow rate, and
fluctuations in temperature.
Safety valves are used on boilers with compressible gases,
particularly liquid systems such as steam. As well, they are used in
pressure pumped systems such as pressurized water tanks. Boiler
categorization is based on a number of factors such as how much it is
used and the type of system such as a fuel firing or fuel fired system.
That is, hot water tanks types such as critical boilers, oil fired
boilers, gas fired boilers coal fired boilers, fluidized bed boilers
etc. These types of boilers are used in industrial power generation.
Therefore, boilers are categorized based on the following factors: type
of fuel used, firing type, type of heating method such as steam,
circulation method, and type of construction.
The two most common types of boilers that require safety valves are
steam boilers and hot water boilers. Hot water boilers are often used
commercial buildings, manufacturers, and businesses. Water is heated to
temperatures that will permit distribution with some boilers heating the
steam even hotter than the boiling point temperature. The steam from
the boiler is used for such applications as generating power or heating a
building. As it relates to generating steam for power, the steam is
removed from the steam boiler at an extremely high temperature and
pressure. Therefore, a safety relief valve is needed in case of an
emergency where the pressure becomes dangerously too high.
The two main types of boilers that require a safety relief valve are
Power Generation Boilers and Industrial Steam Generators. They are also
categorized as Water Tube Boilers and Fire Tube Boilers. Fire tube
boilers include: Domestic Use tanks, Locomotive tanks, and Industrial
tanks. Other types of boilers that require a safety valve include:
Natural circulation tank, Forced Circulation tanks, and Super Critical
Pressure tanks. Based on the type of fuel used, boilers can be
categorized as multi-fuel fired, gas fired boilers, coal fired boilers,
oil fired boilers, biomass fired boilers, and industrial waste fired
boilers. All of these different boilers that maintain high pressure and
temperature require safety valves. It is essential that fail safe
mechanisms such as safety valves and safety relief valves are installed
in boilers and other devices that maintain pressure in order to prevent
the pressure from accumulating to dangerous levels.

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