If you happen to come from a different field, specifically something that is far from an engineering or science-related industry, the chances of understanding what boilers are can be quite puzzling. After all, you may have only come across this term in your science-related course back in school, or just hear it in passing conversations from time to time.
If you’re someone who falls under that category, don’t worry because you are not alone. A steam boiler is a big machinery that produces steam out of water. They are being used for so many decades now and work behind the scenes in producing the items we utilize daily.
In this post, we’ll try to look at how steam boilers are used in different industries and how we unconsciously benefit from them.
Hotel, Leisure, and Tourism Industry
One of the industries that rely on steam boilers is the Tourism Industry. When visiting a fancy hotel during winter, did you ever wonder how a big property manages to deliver a consistently warm temperature throughout the day? It’s easy to assume that they’re paying a sackful of money for their electricity bill. Well, some may prefer that but most hotels use steam boilers because they are cost-effective.
Steam boilers only require a minimal amount of electricity for their operation. Most boilers, depending on the type, don’t require an electric pump to operate. This saves big companies and other businesses an enormous amount of their expenses. Steam boilers operate in such a way that they only require water and any natural gas, or an electric element to produce steam that is being dispersed in an enclosed space when operated.
The use of boilers in this industry does not limit to temperature; it is also utilized for warm water supply for showers, swimming pools, hotel spas, cooking, and sterilization. Looking at these factors, you can see how boilers serve as a backbone on how businesses under this industry operate.
Food Processing Industry
The term “processed food” is often mentioned in discussions that concern health and diet. But fully understanding the steps on how food is being processed and what tools make them, are vague and require a thorough explanation. To make it brief, the food industry relies on steam boilers to disinfect, distillate, and dry food that requires processing. One of the most common types of boilers used in this industry is the Firetube boiler.
Firetube boilers do exactly what a steam boiler does to produce the steam needed for a certain process. The food industry makes use of it for food maturation, an important process in certain consumables, that determine the quality of the food being manufactured. Firetube boilers can manage higher pressure, which is being utilized for products such as canned goods, fruits, vegetables, and even meat. Boilers come in different sizes and you might just find your favorite local restaurant or bakery to be using one.
Hospital and Healthcare Industry
Just like how essential boilers are in the hotel, leisure, and tourism Industry, hospitals rely as much on maintaining the sanitary level and maintenance of their operation. Crucial moments take place in hospitals and thousands of bacteria and germs are being transmitted by people who come in and out of the premises. Hospitals use boilers mainly for cloth sanitation which include hospital gowns, employee uniforms, blankets, and towels used in operations.
Fabrics aren’t the only ones sanitized in the hospital; they also disinfect appliances, tools, and instruments used in day-to-day services to hundreds of patients. They also rely on boilers for hospital kitchen use. These processes are all done by boilers which are being delivered by various pipes, then transmitted to necessary hospital areas accordingly.
Breweries and Distillery Industry
As far as we can go back in history, drinking has always been a tradition of celebrations. To produce a drink that’s loved by many, wine, beers, and alcoholic beverages undergo several processes that make it a celebratory drink for any occasion.
Boilers are present in these stages, from manufacturing malt, making wort, pre-fermentation to post-fermentation, until the filtering and sterilizing process. Beers and alcohols rely on boilers to keep their solutions maintained at the right temperatures.
High temperatures are needed in alcohol production. Next to firetube boilers, breweries and distilleries also use water-tube boilers. Water-tube boilers help by converting water steam under controlled conditions and attain high pressures, compared to firetube boilers
Textile and Fashion Industry
It’s easy to think that clothes are mass-produced by machines or delicately hand-woven by people who work for the clothing industry. However, only a few are aware of how steam boilers make up the trends and are the reason behind them in the fashion industry.
Steam boilers are the reason why we have fine and striking colored clothing lines. They are used in the production of materials’ pre-treatment – the most important part of textile production. Pre-treatment includes dyeing the textiles for color production, as well as drying, heating, and printing of quality garment production of clothing.
If you come to think of it, the most common thing that we use in our daily lives that is produced with boilers is our clothing. Boilers are used in our everyday products including bedding sets, curtains, table cloths, bags, and more
And many more,
Steel, rubber, cement, pulp and paper, paint, chemical, and pharmaceutical industries all use boilers. From simple things that are used day-to-day to life-saving components, boilers are present and necessary. We can go on and on and find how crucial boilers are in this modern day and age, and continue to be surprised by how vital it is.
It’s quite tedious to try to understand how types of machinery work. But if we look at it in a way that is relative to our daily lives, it will be easier for us to understand and appreciate the importance of things that we thought are uninteresting. How about you, what interesting things do you know about boilers? If you happen to find this article helpful and informative, share your thoughts with us today in the comments down below!
About the author:
Bianca Banda is a writer for Trilogy Boilers Australia, a veteran in specialized boiler and burner installations, servicing, engineering, industrial gas plumbing, and more. She is a massive lover of Japanese cuisine and enjoys binge-watching comedies or variety shows.
