Daniel Rocha <danieldi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> And, please, provide the arguments that these HVAC people you talked to. > Otherwise, it's only more hearsay! > As I recall -- A square shape has more surface area than a cylinder. The ideal boiler is a large cylinder. These were small square boxes. Because the boxes are small, there is little water between the heater and the outside wall. The nickel powder and electric heater are in contact with the bottom wall, so heat will be conducted to the wall, whereas in the electric heater they are usually thermally isolated some distance from the wall. The path from the fluid inlet to the outlet should be as long as possible, andconvoluted. With each box in this heater, the water goes in and comes right out, in a short path. In a boiler the "fluid" is either the water you want to heat, or in a fire tube boiler, it is the hot combustion product gas. See: http://www.spiraxsarco.com/Resources/Pages/Steam-Engineering-Tutorials/the-boiler-house/shell-boilers.aspx - Jed
