Section VII provides recommended guidelines for the care of power boilers. The purpose of these recommended guidelines is to promote safety in the use of power boilers. These guidelines are intended for use by those directly responsible for operating, maintaining, and examining power boilers.

With respect to the application of these guidelines, a power boiler is a pressure vessel constructed in compliance with Section I in which, due to the application of heat, steam is generated at a pressure exceeding 15 psig (100 kPa) for use external to the boiler. The heat may be derived from the combustion of fuel (solids, liquids, or gases), from the hot waste gases of other chemical reactions, or from the application of electrical energy. The term power boiler in this Section includes stationary, portable, and traction types, but does not include locomotive and high-temperature water boilers or miniature boilers (Section I), nuclear power plant boilers (Section III), heating boilers (Section IV), pressure vessels (Section VIII), or marine boilers.

These guidelines apply to the boiler proper, pipe connections and piping up to and including the valve or valves as required by the Code, superheaters, reheaters, economizers, and appurtenances that are directly associated with the boiler.

Guidelines are also provided for operation of auxiliary equipment that affects the safe and reliable operation of power boilers.

Careful application of this Section will help users to comply with applicable regulations within their jurisdictions, while achieving the operational, cost and safety benefits to be gained from the many industry best-practices detailed within these volumes.