All this, even to non-engineers, probably seems absurdly simple, and it is. The reason for
explaining it in this way, however, is to show, by means of the simplest kind of equipment,
how engineers go about improving the efficiency of any system. Step by step, adding
something here, saving something there, establishing closer supervision over everything
gradually improves the effectiveness and the efficiency of almost any kind of system. These
are the kind of things engineers are concerned with. Nearly all of them are more or less
complex and require a great deal of specific as well as general knowledge. In the example
just described, for example, just how much surface should the heater in the stack have to
heat the air to a certain temperature? How hot should the air be for best combustion, how
much air should be supplied, how much power will it take to run the bellows, what happens
to the flue gases if too much heat is extracted from the gases, what happens to the stack?
None of these is a foolish question.
Consider