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1 Injured After Boiler Explodes Inside Phila. Elementary School

ChrisJ
ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,373
in THE MAIN WALL
http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/13/1-injured-phila-elementary-school-evacuated-after-boiler-explodes/

Glad it wasn't a whole lot worse. :(

Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

Comments

  • Abracadabra
    Abracadabra Member Posts: 1,948
    ChrisJ said:

    http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/13/1-injured-phila-elementary-school-evacuated-after-boiler-explodes/

    Glad it wasn't a whole lot worse. :(

    Maybe now they'll switch to GFA heat! :D

    /me hides...
    Hilly
  • KC_Jones
    KC_Jones Member Posts: 5,870
    Did that rock I threw at you hit the target?
    2014 Weil Mclain EG-40
    EcoSteam ES-20 Advanced Boiler Control
    Boiler pictures updated 2/21/15
  • Fred
    Fred Member Posts: 8,542
    Wow
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,373
    Abracadabra said:

    ChrisJ said:

    http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/13/1-injured-phila-elementary-school-evacuated-after-boiler-explodes/

    Glad it wasn't a whole lot worse. :(

    Maybe now they'll switch to GFA heat! :D

    /me hides...
    I didn't know you were a fellow IRC user?

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

    Hilly
  • Abracadabra
    Abracadabra Member Posts: 1,948
    ChrisJ said:

    Abracadabra said:

    ChrisJ said:

    http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/13/1-injured-phila-elementary-school-evacuated-after-boiler-explodes/

    Glad it wasn't a whole lot worse. :(

    Maybe now they'll switch to GFA heat! :D

    /me hides...
    I didn't know you were a fellow IRC user?
    oh indeed... been using IRC for 15-16 years at least
    ChrisJHilly
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,373
    Abracadabra said:

    ChrisJ said:

    Abracadabra said:

    ChrisJ said:

    http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2016/01/13/1-injured-phila-elementary-school-evacuated-after-boiler-explodes/

    Glad it wasn't a whole lot worse. :(

    Maybe now they'll switch to GFA heat! :D

    /me hides...
    I didn't know you were a fellow IRC user?
    oh indeed... been using IRC for 15-16 years at least
    I met my wife on IRC back in 1998. :)
    Started using IRC back in 1994 or so.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

    Hilly
  • njtommy
    njtommy Member Posts: 1,105
    Thats scary stuff man. I was in a building a while back installing new equipment for the freezer when the boiler back fired. We didn't hear it or feel it, but it scared the **** out of the office people above the boiler room.
  • vaporvac
    vaporvac Member Posts: 1,520
    How does something like this happen?
    Two-pipe Trane vaporvacuum system; 1466 edr
    Twinned, staged Slantfin TR50s piped into 4" header with Riello G400 burners; 240K lead, 200K lag Btus. Controlled by Taco Relay and Honeywell RTH6580WF
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,373
    edited January 2016
    vaporvac said:

    How does something like this happen?

    While I understand mistakes happen, I'm going to bet rules weren't being followed and someone was knowingly doing something they knew they were not supposed to do. Like operating a boiler with the LWCO or hi limit bypassed.

    It doesn't say what kind of boiler it was.


    I'm glad no one was killed and hope the burned individual makes a full recovery.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • unclejohn
    unclejohn Member Posts: 1,833
    Probably trying to lit it by hand. Said someone was working on it when it blew. Sounds like gas explosion and not the boiler it's self.
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,373
    unclejohn said:

    Probably trying to lit it by hand. Said someone was working on it when it blew. Sounds like gas explosion and not the boiler it's self.

    That would explain why he was burned.
    Is anyone ever supposed to try to light one by hand? I'd assume no, but not being a professional I have no idea what goes on while troubleshooting commercial boilers.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • tim smith
    tim smith Member Posts: 2,813
    edited January 2016
    A friend of mine was killed while working on a high pressure rental boiler they had on a site while doing main steam plant repairs, very skilled and one of the best in the business. The boiler had been certified for use after internals but the old rental 100hp or so boiler internally collapsed on steam chest from a weakened drum I think, parts of boiler found 1/4 mile away. Not always a case of not following rules. This was a sad day in our boiler community. If I remember right it was 1990.

    Man Dies In Mobile-Boiler Explosion -- Cars Damaged In Blast At Pier 91
    One man was killed yesterday when a mobile boiler exploded at an oil storage and shipping terminal at Pier 91.

    The force of the blast hurled the pickup-sized boiler hundreds of yards, according to a Seattle Fire Department estimate.

    The boiler struck and destroyed several new cars parked in a Port of Seattle storage area and punched through a chain-link fence before it rolled to a stop alongside Burlington Northern railroad tracks.

    The concussion damaged several other cars and some equipment in an adjoining waste-oil reprocessing plant.

    Normally about five or six employees would have been working near the boiler, but most were off on a long Thanksgiving holiday.

    The victim was working on a mobile boiler installed for temporary use by Pacific Northern Oil Co., a firm that supplies freighters with bunker fuel.

    The medical examiner's office said it would need to examine dental records and probably wouldn't identify the victim before Monday.

    Steve Politeo, operations manager for Pacific Northern Oil Co., said the boiler had been installed by Bosler Energy Systems Inc., so the plant's regular boiler could be shut down for maintenance.

    The mobile boiler, which was outdoors, was to have begun operation yesterday, he said.

    Normally bunker fuel is heavy and thick. Steam is used to heat the oil in storage tanks so it can be pumped aboard ships.

    There were no eyewitnesses, but the blast shook the Pier 91 area north of the Magnolia Bridge.

    ``My knees were buckling. It sounded like a jet flying over at Mach 1,'' said Harlan Odegard, an employee of City Ice, a cold-storage plant across a driveway from Pacific Northern Oil.

    The explosion, at about 2:30 p.m., rattled the warehouse where he was working and knocked fluorescent tubes from the overhead lights, Odegard said.
    ChrisJRich_49
  • Bob Harper
    Bob Harper Member Posts: 1,097
    The report was that is was a school employee. Now, I don't know any details in this case but from similar situations around Philly, I've found there to be an unqualified person typically operating the boiler in schools and condos. I wish people would refrain from making statements such as "the boiler exploded" or similar. You don't know that until the investigation is complete. It was a boom or explosion in the vicinity of the boiler or in the boiler room. I'll try to follow this but information is usually guarded in litigation until the case is settled. There are a LOT of people who will need to be called into this case and that can take awhile.
    ChrisJSWEI
  • ChrisJ
    ChrisJ Member Posts: 16,373
    Bob Harper said:

    The report was that is was a school employee. Now, I don't know any details in this case but from similar situations around Philly, I've found there to be an unqualified person typically operating the boiler in schools and condos. I wish people would refrain from making statements such as "the boiler exploded" or similar. You don't know that until the investigation is complete. It was a boom or explosion in the vicinity of the boiler or in the boiler room. I'll try to follow this but information is usually guarded in litigation until the case is settled. There are a LOT of people who will need to be called into this case and that can take awhile.

    Please keep in mind, I only quoted what the news article said.

    Single pipe 392sqft system with an EG-40 rated for 325sqft and it's silent and balanced at all times.

  • njtommy
    njtommy Member Posts: 1,105
    The bigger problem here is they consider someone with a Black seal or boiler license a boiler mechanic. That is the farthest thing from the truth.

    To obtain you black seal in NJ you must have so many hours on the boiler room log books and also take a class of some many hours. They teach you a broad and general class about boilers and how they operate.
    They give you just enough information to be dangerous.

    They do not teach you how to properly work on a boiler and how to tune a boiler.
    SWEI

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