Tragic End to a Boiler

elfie

what do you suppose caused this boiler to fail (was only 7 yrs old).

Dave in QCA

maybe...

The problem appears to be that it started leaking.

Paul48

guess

cold-fired boiler....never cleaned

Steamhead

Was this

a steam or hot-water boiler? 

Paul48

oops

forgot I was in Strictly Steam.

Hap_Hazzard

Are you sure it's the end?

Maybe you could patch it up with some JB Weld. Do they sell that in a 55 gallon drum?



Sorry, I shouldn't joke. Mine could be next.

Paul48

next guess

It's risers pulled it apart.

elfie

tragic end to a steam boiler

it was a steam boiler



seems that it may have failed due to a leak and also because it was never cleaned



anyone know what the quartz like rocks are that are deposited in the fire chamber?

Paul48

?

Sulphur?

nicholas bonham-carter

Can we have some more information?

Was this steam, or hot water?. Was it new to you, or have you knowledge of the maintenance history?

By the amount of calcium in the corpse, I would guess that excess makeup water has been adding calcium, and oxygen ever since it was first installed (7years?).

What is the reaction of the building owner--disbelief, disappointment. --NBC

elfie

tragic end to a steam boiler

it is a steam boiler



and there was steam coming out of the chimney for awhile I guess



section is perforated near top of one section (ie. not at the water level)



it is also an oil fired boiler

JEMM55

makeup water

Looks like built up scale and oxidized iron.

Puton a guage from the waterfeeder and check for a.leaking return making the bor call for makeup water.

gerry gill

I'm thinking

to much make up water or a serious water quality issue.

Jamie Hall

Hmm...

Been looking at the pictures, and all the explanations so far sound reasonable...



So, being a natural born contrarian, I'm just sort of vaguely wondering... is there a chance that the poor thing was dry fired once, without anyone telling anybody about it?

elfie

tragic end to a steam boiler

why doe you say it might have been dry fired (interesting thought)



here's a related question  - how would you explain a newly installed meter on the makeup water line leading into a steam boiler feedwater tank that has not moved since being installed 3 months ago (ie. only reflects water reading for water put into the steam boiler after being cleaned)





could it be due to a very tight system not losing any water where no blow downs have been done?

Hap_Hazzard

Depends on the meter.

The meter on my VXT still reads 0, because it has a bypass that I use when I replace blow-down water. Is there a bypass on this one?

Telcoguru

Maybe

that house needs a water softener. Hard water build up might have caused it to die a premature death.

Hap_Hazzard

Softened water

is death to boilers. If you have a water softener, you generally take your boiler water off before the water softener.

Jamie Hall

Dunno

quite why I think it might have been dry fired.  Something about the colour of the discolouration... just speaks to me of excessive heat at some point.  Which is not to say that that would be the proximate cause -- but that a single dry firing could have caused enough distortion and damage to start a lot of leaking and the final catastrophe.



On the water feeder -- indeed, if you have a bypass on the auto feeder and you use it  when blowing down the LWCO, it is quite possible for a reasonably tight system to show essentially no water use at all.  The one here doesn't, for instance...