breaking up???

Timco

What is the preferred method of breaking up a big-ol snowman type round boiler? It must weigh 1000#. Only two small sections on top, and all the rest one piece. Jackhammer? Sledge bounced off it...

Thanks, Tim

Mad Dog_2

FIRST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Asbestos abatement INSIDE & OUT..NEXT.... really good safety glasses, 16 lb sledge and BASH AWAY. Don't you love the CHUINKINESS? Mad Dog

To Learn More About This Professional, Click Here to Visit Their Ad in "Find A Professional"

The Boiler Dr.

I use

Zip cuts in a few stategic places then split them with an 18" cold chisel and sledge ....... usually works reasonably well

Timco

Boy, is that thing stout!! Asbestos was abated by a professional company, but there were small, fiberous chunks inside. I wet them down & gently swept. I could not believe the pile of pipe removed. Must have cost a fortune in the day. All gravity runs were removed, and all pipe moved into the bays. Zoned into 4 zones. 100+ years old and would have lasted another 100. When I pushed it off it's base, it sounded like the house fell! Thanks for the good advise,

Tim

Keith_8

My preferred method

Is to hire a demo contractor. Admittedly I am showing my age.

There is a guy in our area who does removals for most of the oil companies.

Most important but not necessarily in this order...........
1)Comes when you need him
2)Brings the new equipment down into the basement
3)Prices are great
4)Your back and the backs of your employees are intact
5)Never destroys the place
6)After the removal and the new equipment is brought in you have the energy to get started.
7)Not enough qualified people in the trade to waste their talent on this type off labor.

Keith

[Deleted User]

The Lost Art of Boiler Destruction.....

You can use a sledge, but I find a chiseled maul works better. Draw a line on the cast iron in the direction you want to split it. Cast iron is very ductile. Start hammering on that line, moving your hits along bit by bit. Keep pounding along this line (wear ear and eye protection) eventually, the cast iron will not "ring" and your hits will begin sounding hollow. You're about to break through. One good smack properly placed will separate the halves. Make sure you have room for the half to roll freely, and not take out a wall... (Don't ask me how I know this!)

THe snowmen I worked over had three sections. THe fire base, the flue exchanger and the flue collector. THe Heat exchanger had a piece of steel poured into it that made it EXTREMELY difficult to break up (Tube sheet).

Good luck. You're going to need it.

ME

Brad White_203

Absolutely.. MadDog has it dead-nuts right.

So far every "snowman" I have seen has been at least joined with asbestos-bearing cement between the sections, sometimes with fiber rope and cement.

One job was "abated" down to bare metal on the outside, among other parts of the building.

When the sledgehammer crew came in, the air testing monitors (ongoing in other parts of the building) came back "hot".

An entire re-abatement and clear-air certification was needed and slowed the already tight project by three weeks. Forget the cost of the re-abatement, but the de and re-mobilization costs and liquidated damages was three times that.

Lately, having the abatement and demolition contractors be one and the same group has eased this issue.

Unknown

I had a,,,

nice big steel oil fired boiler to take apart once...three pass with the last being tubes. Can't remember the brand. Took three each of the big oxy/acet tanks and I hacked up the black stuff for a couple days afterwards. Even with good ventilation and a mask. (Several masks) I know where there is another one just like it and ten years older now. Showing my age as well, I'm not sure I'd tackle that one. I know I'd be asking for a lot more $ if I did. Caught me off guard. Didn't know it was steel till I took the jacket off. SURPRISE!! LOL...

Plus side, I managed to do it without burning the old wood frame building down.

mtfallsmikey

Old cast iron sectionals

Are really not too bad...after driving in several cold chisels along the joint, a metal wood splitting chisel works beautifully.