Removed 1930 cast iron boiler, almost 1,000 pounds

Mark Biro

Not a question -- just trying to help any other homeowner who might look here for information -- and I am trying to pay back the heaps of help I found here.

Our 1930 south Minneapolis bungalow had a cast iron boiler, originally coal-fired, and converted to natural gas about half a lifetime ago. Was still gravity circulation, until I disconnected it and shifted it a few feet a year ago, and installed a Knight Lochinvar. (Another story. So readily written, and so long to execute. Go figger.)

Yesterday I took the asbestos-covered boiler (intact -- all wrapped in plastic), and the near-boiler piping, and the boiler's base to the approved landfill. 20 pounds short of 1,000 pounds.

Holy *&^*! I THOUGHT it was heavy, but had misunderestimated. (George Bush nailed this one!)

Yes, the two-wheel hand-truck I used held up, after I added 2 large casters to its upper end, and could pull it horizontally. (I suppose this was unwisely overloaded.)
Yes, the ramps I built up the basement stairs worked.
Yes, my worm-gear winch pulled the boiler up the stairs, and through the narrow doorway -- after I set up a strong guyed mast (12' 4x4, braced on back porch), snatch block, and guy wires at the upper end... and backup safety lines down the stairs.

But -- and I bet you knew this was coming -- the deeper I got into this the more I appreciated the idea of hiring it done. $1,000 sounded more than reasonable... but I had already burned a bridge or two as I had started disconnecting near-boiler piping... all the time wetting the asbestos, spraying, wiping, repeatedly and again and more and forever von Ewigkeit zu Ewigkeit.

Good luck to you in updating your heating plant, whatever your route!

Timco

Just wondering...where did the asbestos end up? I would not recommend anyone take on asbestos as a DIY project, always call a pro. Others have posted about tiny amounts making the air 'hot' and the particulates can be around for decades. This stuff must go to an approved haz mat landfill under all circumstances, or giant fines.

Tim

Unknown

You`re lucky,

a slipped wheel could have proved devastating!
Myself, I had hernia surgery 3 times, so I avoid such procedures alone.

Dave

Ken D.

Boiler

Hustling that kind of weight is not for the faint of heart- or weak back. Superman has nothing on some of these guys.

Mark Biro

Amen. Let machines do the work.

You are quite right!

I would not have done this work unless high school physics really did the work: inclined planes, wheels, gears... the ramp, cart, dynamite winch...

And had a straight shot out the back door.

And had on hand, because of construction and boating, high-quality ropes, and an excellent Fulton winch (already mounted up), and scads of good clamps and rigging gear and, well, things that the typical homeowner does not have on hand.

And I intentionally did it alone, so that no one else would be tempted to "help." No one, for instance, ever got on the back side of the beast, where they could have come to harm.

I got my fill of idiotic beast-of-burden work 30 years ago, while carrying big pieces of elms from yards, as we removed elms during the dutch elm epidemic. Didn't know what wheels were, I guess, and wanted to prove how tough we were. Not too smart, in the long term, what with wear and tear on the body.

Timco

And the asbestos' final resting spot?

Mark Biro

Asbestos done right

Tim, you are quite right, and I had meant to at least imply that:

1. As a DIY project it was not real smart.

Possible, but lots of work if you want to do it right, or "right," or right enough to live in the house for the next 20 years.

2. I DID gently mist (water with some detergent) the bejeebers out of everything (and sogged it, when appropriate), and wrapped with plastic very well, and taped, and boxed (which was also wrapped), and bought a HEPA filter for the vac, etc.

3. All went to the approved landfill, 50-60 miles away, where I carried on the car a cool red flag declaring Hazardous Asbestos. I noted that the competent operator of the bucket-loader treated the encapsulated boiler less gently than I had, and gave myself points.

Hadn't thought of that word lately, "encapsulate." I have done SO much epoxy work on boats that I am sick of it, and realize that "encapsulate" has been a BS sales pitch in the epoxy trade: it's all relative, and coats of epoxy do not equal the sealing of, say, plate glass, or steel. Anyway, I did my best to "encapsulate" the asbestos, rather than disturb it.

I remember working with the competent pipe-coverers in the hot tunnels under the University of Minnesota. We panty-waist student workers would sometimes tie bandanas around our faces, to keep out the powdery asbestos dust. (Never heard of face masks, I guess.) The pros, on the other hand, smoked cigarettes as they worked. Been there, done that.

"Friable" is not a spelling variant of "fryable." :-)

Mark Eatherton

Gregg, are you looking for work?

Although I admire your ingenuity, I would caution homeowners who are considering this task themselves to hire out the dirty/heavy work to professionals to keep themselves AND their family members safe.

And Gregg, I hope you have the common sense to have an air test done to make certain that there are no friables in suspension.

As others have noted, contamination lasts a life time.

ME

Bob Bona_4

or

ends one

MIke_Jonas

What permit process did you have to go through and what did that cost?