Features such as the raised mud drums and the shape of the tubes were an influence.

The newspaper speculated that faulty metal in the No. 1 boiler's mud drum was the cause of the explosion.

The mud drums were raised above the floor of the furnace on steel girder stools, increasing the furnace volume available for combustion.

Bottom blowdown involves periodically opening valves in the mud drum to allow boiler pressure to force accumulated sludge out of the boiler.

Since the final water drum may also be used to catch the "mud" (i.e. a "mud collector"), it is sometimes known as a "mud drum".

It consists of a large steam drum vertically connected to a smaller water drum (a.k.a. "mud drum") via multiple steam-generating tubes.

These water treatments often include compounds forming a sludge to entrap such particles; and boilers intended for such water treatment include a structure called a mud drum at the lowest part of the boiler.