Difference between boiler and boiler.

Boiler and boiler are functionally very similar units. But the difference between them is very significant. What is it?

What is a boiler?

Boiler is a device designed to heat up to the optimum temperature of any heat carrier (for example, water or steam, which can later be used to heat a room or supply consumers with hot water)...

Basic parameters of boilers:

  1. power;
  2. efficiency;
  3. type of coolant;
  4. operating temperature, pressure;
  5. hydraulic resistance.

The main criterion for classifying boilers is the type of fuel used. The most common units of the corresponding type:

  1. solid fuel;
  2. liquid;
  3. gas;
  4. electrical.

There are also combi boilers that can operate on multiple fuels.

The main structural element of the boiler is a high-temperature chamber, which provides heating of the coolant. Subsequently, it can be transferred immediately to the consumer (if it is water, then the boiler can be classified as a flow-through one) or it can be accumulated in a special device - a boiler. We will study what it is, and also consider other features of the use of this term.

What is a boiler?

Under a boiler can be understood:

  • a functional element of the boiler, which is a container in which a coolant (most often hot water) accumulates temporarily (before being supplied to the consumer);
  • a device designed for autonomous (without using the boiler as the main unit) heating of the heat carrier (again, as a rule, hot water).

Boiler in the first interpretation has 2 key consumer characteristics:

  • capacity;
  • throughput (the rate of supply of a particular volume of coolant to the consumer).

For a boiler in the second interpretation, these characteristics can be supplemented by practically the same ones that are characteristic of a boiler, since the unit under consideration will be its analogue in terms of functionality.

Comparison

One or another difference between a boiler and a boiler should be sought first of all taking into account the terminology used. We have considered 2 interpretations of the concept of "boiler".

​​

If we adhere to the first, when this unit is, in fact, only a tank for storing the coolant (in many cases, also for maintaining its temperature), then in this case the boiler differs from the boiler in that it is only one of its structural elements.

If we adhere to the second interpretation - when the boiler is an independent device for heating water, then it should be considered as an alternative to the boiler in terms of:

  1. achieving greater integration of heating elements and capacity for placement of the coolant;
  2. the obligatory presence of a container for placing the coolant - in boilers it is always there, while boilers can be, as we noted above, flow-through.

It should be noted that in many cases, the boiler as an independent device is often referred to as a "boiler" (especially in cases where the heating elements located in it and the tank are separate from each other), as well as the boiler, which has a special tank for storing the coolant, is often called a "boiler". In this sense, the terms under consideration can be considered synonyms.

However, a flow-through boiler that does not have a large reservoir for storing the coolant is incorrectly called a boiler. In turn, if an extremely high degree of integration of the heating elements and the tank is achieved in the boiler (for example, if the water is heated through the walls of the tank), then it will not be entirely correct to call the corresponding unit a boiler.

Having determined what is the difference between a boiler and a boiler, we reflect the conclusions in a small table.

Table

Boiler Boiler
What do they have in common?
Boiler in the meaning of "tank for placing the heat carrier" can be a functional part of the boiler
heating medium, often referred to as a boiler
A boiler with separate heating elements and a reservoir may be referred to as a boiler
What is the difference between them?
Boiler is a device for heating some coolantin some cases, also to maintain its temperature)
A boiler is a device in which heating elements are located in any case separately from the tank (if any)In boilers - as independent devices for heating water - heating elements and a reservoir, as a rule, have a high degree of integration
Boilers are flow-through - without a large reservoirBoilers as independent devices almost always have reservoirs of sufficient capacity to store the coolant
.