1992ish Utica boiler autopsy

ethicalpaul

I pulled my working, but somewhat crusty Utica 112KBTU from service in 2017, it had been going for around 25 years.

I pulled it because it had obvious signs of corrosion in the burner area and what looked like some kind of sealant repair between the sections. I feared it had already been leaking, or was close enough to leaking that I didn't want to get caught in the cold season with a failure. Also, I really wanted to install a new one myself for fun.

Today I finally busted it open to haul out of my basement and I thought I'd share what I found.

• The sections are seemingly in great shape! They are nice and thick castings. The pins even look good. The push nipples looked great. Seeing how this looks after 25 years of use with known bad maintenance (I know there were active steam leaks throughout the system), I actually feel very good about Utica, even with its side-mounted steam supplies. I was able to get it producing dry steam with only a single side tapping and a nonsensical non-header while it was still in service.
• The sections had quite a bit of rusty scale pieces inside them. These could have been knocked loose from me hammering on them, but there was quite a bit of rust inside floating around too…I never did get the water in the boiler really clean while I was running it…it would brown up within a few days.
• The burner assembly was rotting out. I already knew this but you can see it clearly in the photos. If someone wanted to keep this boiler going longer, that assembly could have been replaced. This could have been from past flooding or maybe from condensation from above?

I don't regret replacing it one bit…now I know exactly what I have and I'm confident the Peerless 63 will last for many decades, especially after what I am learning about water treatment and makeup water which I'll share in an upcoming video.

PS: Does anyone know what "WF" is referring to in the last photo?

PPS: I wonder what the dark oxidation/coloration is on the upper corner on some of the sections

PPPS: Boiler for sale. Disassembled for your lifting convenience. May require a small patch.

ScottSecor

I thought Utica boilers came from Utica, NY. But I found this foundry in Indiana that may be where the boiler sections were cast? It appears Utica is now owned by a Canadian company. Not sure where the foundry is located.

https://waupacafoundry.com/History

PC7060

Interesting, Paul, thanks for sharing. That’s some big iron, what’s the weight for a single section?

The cast iron has held up pretty well, I assume because of O2 getting pushed out by heat?

I recently cut out a section of 1” pipe while putting in shutoffs to radiators. I was impressed with the condition of the schedule 40 iron after almost 100 years in a closed loop system.

ethicalpaul

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1809823#Comment_1809823

Thanks, @ScottSecor! They may or may not have been in Utica at one time (I honestly don't know) but I think you did find what WF stands for. I assume that different boiler manufacturers contracted with different foundries (maybe in addition to their own foundries) at different times over the years (or get purchased etc)

ethicalpaul

@PC7060 I'll weigh one of them and report back. They feel about 80 pounds to me but the scale will tell me how bad my guess is!

The cast iron has held up pretty well, I assume because of O2 getting pushed out by heat?

I've been thinking about this a lot. Even in boilers that rot out fast, the O2 gets pushed out by the heat so I don't think that's a determinate…

And people tend to say things like "heat up your boiler after adding water at the end of the season (to avoid having the same water line all year)", but that sounds a little strange to me too…I mean, regardless of when the O2 gets driven out, it's going to be in the system for awhile…

But perhaps it's much better to be driven out immediately after being added, even if it remains in the air in the system rather than dissolved in the boiler water. But if that's the case, then why does frequent water addition (due to leaks) cause boilers to rot out early (if it does—it seems like it does but I admit I have no direct evidence)? When the fresh water is added during the heating season, it's going to be driven out at the very next call for heat, which, given the way automatic feeders work, should be within a few minutes of the addition of the fresh water.

It's all quite confusing, but again, I will have something interesting to add to the conversation I think, once I start up my boiler this season. Stay tuned!

Your closed loop system pipe is pretty impressive! Those systems clearly have a corrosion advantage vs some parts of a steam system!

ChrisJ

I always let mine boil the water and heat the radiators for a while after adding water.

This is also why I started cleaning my boiler in the winter rather than the spring. It's just easier and I know it'll get plenty of cycles soon rather than a short cycle and then sit all summer.

But I honestly think Steamaster helps with that regardless.