• Boilers that produce condenstation corrode quickly and should be regularly checked by professionals for damage.manfredxy/iStockphoto/Getty Images
  
  Boilers are commonly connected to waterlines to provide homes with hot water and can be used in place of electrically generated heat to warm homes via radiators.Through various technologies, boilers generate either standard steam or superheat. A boiler should be proportionate to the size of a building. Too large a boiler will result in inflated bills; too small a boiler will provide insufficient heat. Boiler basics include terminology, heating methods and home heating systems.
  
  

Boiler Terminology

• Boiler basics begin with terminology. The power of a boiler is measured in British Thermal Units (BTUs). One BTU is the heat required to raise the temperature of 1 lb. of water one degree Fahrenheit at an atmospheric pressure of one. Creating 1 lb. of steam requires 1200 BTUs from a boiler. Steam pressure in a boiler is measured in pounds per square inch (psi). Low-pressure boilers have a psi of 15 and below. High-pressure boilers have a psi of 100 or more. Boilers produce more heat when steam pressure is high. Horsepower is used to measure the power of small boilers. One boiler horsepower is equivalent to 42,000 BTUs.
  
  

Tube Boilers

• Boiler types are defined by the manner in which steam is produced. Market development organization Energy Solutions Center describes four basic types of boilers, two of which are tube boilers. Fire tube boilers are built from tubes within tubes. The boiler itself is a tube filled with water. Inside the boiler is a smaller tube in which combustion gasses create fire. The heat from this tube boils the water around it to create steam. In water tube boilers, water passes through tubes while heat is generated in the boiler to turn the water to steam. These boilers can withstand high-pressure steam and are used to create superheat.
  
  

Non-tube Boilers

• Non-tube boilers employ more modern technologies to create steam for heat. Compact and modular boilers are small units that create fire. The fire in turn boils water passing through a series of interconnected pipes. Compact and modular boilers have high-energy efficiency and are often used in high volume for large industrial operations. Tubeless and condensing boilers deviate from traditional models in that they are designed to create condensation. Old boilers were designed to prevent condensation because it corroded metals and decreased boiler life. However, a lack of condensation decreases boiler efficiency. Modern tubeless and condensing boilers create condensation for higher energy efficiency.
  
  

Home Boiler Systems

• Home heating systems use boilers in different ways to distribute heat. Energy Management Training of India lists a number of these systems. A back boiler is a gas fireplace connected to a boiler that is used to heat individual rooms of a house. Cast iron boilers are large units with a long life span that heat both water and space by attaching to a building's core piping system. Combination systems heat space and water and are designed to save energy by not heating both at full capacity. Thus, if large amounts of steam must be diverted to create hot water, space heating capacity will lower dramatically.
  
  

Heat

• Boilers create two types of heat. Standard boiler heat is created by boiling hot water and capturing the steam in a compressed environment. Condensed steam posses large quantities of energy but is trapped in a small space. The compressed movements of the molecules create high heat. Some boilers create a special type of heat known as superheat. Superheat is created by raising the temperature of steam above 400 degrees Fahrenheit and increasing the pressure to over 100 psi. This method of heating produces very little condensation, thereby protecting the boiler from corrosion.