Plugs For a Leaking fire Tube

Leonard Weiss

I am looking for any literature or code that describes the method for inserting plugs in a leaking fire tube in a low pressure boiler.

Thank you.

kevin coppinger_15

not sure about...

plugs.I was told to use threaded rod steel plates and rainbow packing....kpc

powerhead

Wrap the plug with a rag one layer thick.

Coat the rag with rectorseal.

Pound it into the leaky tube (both ends, of course) with a 3lb sledge.

Close up boiler, fire to pressure and temperature and monitor for a good seal.

Leonard Weiss

Thank you for your answers.

What shutdown procedures do you follow to prevent hot water from flashing into steam such as: shut off burner, close steam valve, shut off boiler feed pump, drain boiler, wait for boiler to cool?

Thank you.

Barbarossa

Tube leaks

Here is a Stone Age solution from when I was a young Boiler Monster that worked well and balanced the pressure on the plug. These were higher-pressure units and were the preferred emergency repair. Make a wood plug that fits the ID of the tube long enough to extend beyond both sides of the leak in the tube in the center of the plug reduce the diameter a bit and then drive it in so the narrowed part is by the leak. The wood will swell from the steam and water and the pressure will be balanced on both sides of the plug and there will be no tendency to push out from and diffrential pressure. This is good for tube leaks not tube to shell. They worked for quite a long time and kept the units in service perhaps longer then they should have but I was a kid and did not know much, but those long dead guys that got me started in Engineering sure knew the business and to them I owe much. I hope this can be of some help.