Today’s industrial steam boilers are remarkably safe. Yet, experts suggest that some steam boilers are safer than others, not simply based on physics, but on physical design and how that affects a range of everyday, routine operations.

If a boiler is not serviced regularly, products of combustion may build up on the heat exchanger, which may reduce heat transfer and result in lower energy efficiency and less comfort.

I was thinking about how we’ve grown so used to central heating and, with the exception of an occasional cleaning, pretty much ignore our boilers and heating systems when the weather gets hot and sticky. I wondered if it had always been this way...