A boiler is an enclosed mechanical unit that provides a way for combustion heat to be transferred into water until it becomes heated water or steam. It is then used as a source of heat for residential, commercial, and industrial hearing. When the water or other fluid is heated in a hot water tank, it is under pressure. When the tank is under pressure, measures have to be implemented to make sure too much pressure accumulates that cause an explosion. The main type of device used to prevent overpressure is the safety valve or safety relief valve.

A safety valve or safety relief valve is designed to prevent too much pressure build up in a boiler. In a boiler, when the maximum pressure is reached, the safety valve will kick in by releasing a certain amount of fluid such as steam from within the boiler unit. The release will reduce the excess pressure thereby preventing dangerous results such as an explosion. A safety valve should be in operation at all times. These valves should be installed wherever there is a risk of too much pressure building up in a hot water tank. Pressure excess can be generated in a number of different situations, including: sudden pressure surges, exposure to a fire, cooling system failure, instrumentation failure, heat exchanger tube failure, unbalanced fluid flow rate, and fluctuations in temperature.

Safety valves are used on boilers with compressible gases, particularly liquid systems such as steam. As well, they are used in pressure pumped systems such as pressurized water tanks. Boiler categorization is based on a number of factors such as how much it is used and the type of system such as a fuel firing or fuel fired system. That is, hot water tanks types such as critical boilers, oil fired boilers, gas fired boilers coal fired boilers, fluidized bed boilers etc. These types of boilers are used in industrial power generation. Therefore, boilers are categorized based on the following factors: type of fuel used, firing type, type of heating method such as steam, circulation method, and type of construction.

The two most common types of boilers that require safety valves are steam boilers and hot water boilers. Hot water boilers are often used commercial buildings, manufacturers, and businesses. Water is heated to temperatures that will permit distribution with some boilers heating the steam even hotter than the boiling point temperature. The steam from the boiler is used for such applications as generating power or heating a building. As it relates to generating steam for power, the steam is removed from the steam boiler at an extremely high temperature and pressure. Therefore, a safety relief valve is needed in case of an emergency where the pressure becomes dangerously too high.

The two main types of boilers that require a safety relief valve are Power Generation Boilers and Industrial Steam Generators. They are also categorized as Water Tube Boilers and Fire Tube Boilers. Fire tube boilers include: Domestic Use tanks, Locomotive tanks, and Industrial tanks. Other types of boilers that require a safety valve include: Natural circulation tank, Forced Circulation tanks, and Super Critical Pressure tanks. Based on the type of fuel used, boilers can be categorized as multi-fuel fired, gas fired boilers, coal fired boilers, oil fired boilers, biomass fired boilers, and industrial waste fired boilers. All of these different boilers that maintain high pressure and temperature require safety valves. It is essential that fail safe mechanisms such as safety valves and safety relief valves are installed in boilers and other devices that maintain pressure in order to prevent the pressure from accumulating to dangerous levels.

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