Early Types of Furnaces

Furnaces are heating apparatuses used in households and industrial processes. This means that the heating system that you have in your house is not the only type of furnace there is. Furnaces perform other functions besides heating houses, commercial buildings, or other establishments. Based on these functions come the different other types of furnaces. But before we discuss these other furnace types, let’s discuss household furnaces first.

Household furnaces

Household furnaces are used in heating houses, especial during winter. They can be powered by different sources of fuel such as wood, coal, fuel, or oil.

Household furnaces come in different types, but the most common are combustion and condensation household furnaces. The first type makes use of an exhaust and generates heat by burning fuel. The second one extracts heat from exhaust gases and recycles it.

Industrial furnaces

Industrial furnaces are high-capacity furnaces used in industrial processes. Also called direct fired heaters, industrial furnaces are used in glass industries, oil refineries, and pottery or ceramic industries, where furnaces are needed for hardening clay to make pots. There are several other industries making use of furnaces.

Metallurgical furnaces

Metallurgical furnaces are basically used in metal industries. These furnaces are used in smelting or extracting metal from the ores, melting and remolding metal, making steel, and reducing iron ores into pig iron.

Incinerating furnaces

Incinerating furnaces are basically used for burning. They are most commonly used in burning waste, but there are also furnaces for burning corpses (crematorium). Waste incinerators are usually a subject of environmental discussions because while they get rid of solid wastes, they pollute the air in the process.