What are the advantages of shell boilers?

1) The entire plant may be purchased as a complete package, only needing securing to basic foundations, and connecting to water, electricity, fuel and steam systems before commissioning. This means that installation costs are minimised.

2) This package arrangement also means that it is simple to relocate a packaged shell boiler.

3) A shell boiler contains a substantial amount of water at saturation temperature, and hence has a substantial amount of stored energy which can be called upon to cope with short term, rapidly applied loads.

*This can also be a disadvantage in that when the energy in the stored water is used, it may take some time before the reserve is built up again.

4) The construction of a shell boiler is generally straight forward, which means that maintenance is simple.

5) Shell boilers often have one furnace tube and burner. This means that control systems are fairly simple.

6) Although shell boilers may be designed and built to operate up to 27 bar, the majority operate at 17 bar or less. This relatively low pressure means that the associated ancillary equipment is easily available at competitive prices.