About boilers
The pressure vessel of a boiler is usually made of steel (or alloy steel), or historically of wrought iron. Stainless steel, especially of the austenitic types, is not used in wetted parts of boilers due to corrosion and stress corrosion cracking.3 However, ferritic stainless steel is often used in superheater sections that will not be exposed to boiling water, and electrically-heated stainless steel shell boilers are allowed under the European "Pressure Equipment Directive" for production of steam for sterilizers and disinfectors.
In live steam models, copper or brass is often used because it is more easily fabricated in smaller size boilers. Historically, copper was often used for fireboxes (particularly for steam locomotives), because of its better formability and higher thermal conductivity; however, in more recent times, the high price of copper often makes this an uneconomic choice and cheaper substitutes (such as steel) are used instead.
For much of the Victorian "age of steam", the only material used for boilermaking was the highest grade of wrought iron, with assembly by rivetting. This iron was often obtained from specialist ironworks, such as at Cleator Moor (UK), noted for the high quality of their rolled plate and its suitability for high-reliability use in critical applications, such as high-pressure boilers. In the 20th century, design practice instead moved towards the use of steel, which is stronger and cheaper, with welded construction, which is quicker and requires less labour. It should be noted, however, that wrought iron boilers corrode far slower than their modern-day steel counterparts, and are less susceptible to localized pitting and stress-corrosion. This makes the longevity of older wrought-iron boilers far superior to those of welded steel boilers.
Cast iron may be used for the heating vessel of domestic water heaters. Although such heaters are usually termed "boilers" in some countries, their purpose is usually to produce hot water, not steam, and so they run at low pressure and try to avoid actual boiling. The brittleness of cast iron makes it impractical for high-pressure steam boilers.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler
Tips for repairs hydraulic
Multiple vulnerabilities hydraulic installations can fix it yourself. Often broken pipes or faulty gasket only on the surface it looks awful and in practice can be very easily replaced. To do this, however, you know how to go about it, and this will be useful specific information. Where to find them? The possibilities are many, and one of them is the use of specialized books that we find in almost every bookstore technical support. It is worth to buy one of them, and will certainly be useful to us, it is not time. Another possibility, much simpler and more convenient, is now using the Internet, and there on special pages or forums, you will find plenty of tips and tricks that will allow us to easily be repaired.
Boiler - accessories
Pressuretrols to control the steam pressure in the boiler. Boilers generally have 2 or 3 pressuretrols: a manual-reset pressuretrol, which functions as a safety by setting the upper limit of steam pressure, the operating pressuretrol, which controls when the boiler fires to maintain pressure, and for boilers equipped with a modulating burner, a modulating pressuretrol which controls the amount of fire.
Safety valve: It is used to relieve pressure and prevent possible explosion of a boiler.
Water level indicators: They show the operator the level of fluid in the boiler, also known as a sight glass, water gauge or water column.
Bottom blowdown valves: They provide a means for removing solid particulates that condense and lie on the bottom of a boiler. As the name implies, this valve is usually located directly on the bottom of the boiler, and is occasionally opened to use the pressure in the boiler to push these particulates out.
Continuous blowdown valve: This allows a small quantity of water to escape continuously. Its purpose is to prevent the water in the boiler becoming saturated with dissolved salts. Saturation would lead to foaming and cause water droplets to be carried over with the steam ? a condition known as priming. Blowdown is also often used to monitor the chemistry of the boiler water.
Flash tank: High-pressure blowdown enters this vessel where the steam can 'flash' safely and be used in a low-pressure system or be vented to atmosphere while the ambient pressure blowdown flows to drain.
Automatic blowdown/continuous heat recovery system: This system allows the boiler to blowdown only when makeup water is flowing to the boiler, thereby transferring the maximum amount of heat possible from the blowdown to the makeup water. No flash tank is generally needed as the blowdown discharged is close to the temperature of the makeup water.
Źródło: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiler