Question

What was the reason for the poor efficiency of boiler in earlier time?

(a) Boilers were set close to grates

(b) Poor design of exhaust system

(c) Impurities contamination the fuels

(d) Lack of proper maintenance

I have been asked this question in unit test.

My question comes from Fuel Burning topic in division Steam Power Plant of Energy Engineering

Answer 1

The correct choice is (a) Boilers were set close to grates

For explanation I would say: In earlier times boilers were set very close to the grates and combustion space was limited and hence resulted in smoke and poor efficiency. Later, furnaces were made larger and the boilers were set at higher level above the grates. The hand fired furnace with large combustion space was used to burn a wide variety of coals.