Boiler Room Dangers: That Smell Could Save Your Life or Warn you of Disaster. This weeks video

RayWohlfarth

This weeks video talks about dangerous odors in a boiler room and what happens when heated or exposed to flame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oEhVRfF4GQ

Dave Carpentier

UhOh. Softener salt making corrosive air ? I hadnt thought of that, and my softener lives in my home boiler room.

Would it be a good idea to turn off the boiler (once it's done its current cycle) before dumping salt into the bin ? Usually, there's a plume of salt-dust during that operation. Once it settles out, any potential intake into the (natural draft) boiler should be minimized.

Chlorine in pool operations can be pretty harsh on the surrounding environment, for sure. Where I work, things just slowly corrode away in the pool mechanical room. Valves etc are plastic , but pumps and boiler are subject to that corrosion.

Bob Harper

It's not common but if you have propane in a boiler room (spelled 'confined space') keep in mind it is heavier than air so you won't smell it unless you're like my beagles. Add to that anything that could cause a dust explosion. The ASME std. restricts what can be in a boiler room, how much free space, signage, lighting, alarms, fire extinguisher, etc.

Jamie Hall

A minor add about hydrogen sulphide — yes indeed it smells like rotten eggs. If you smell it at all. The ringer in that deck is that if the concentration is high enough, you won't smell it — it will knock out your sense of smell before it registers. It shouldn't be that high in a boiler room — but it is one of the real hazards in waste water work. And it is lethal…

Treat anything that might be a confined space as if it were until you can probe otherwise!

And if,, God forbid, your buddy passes out in what might be a confined space, don't go in after him or her — get the EMTs and fire rescue people, or someone else trained in confined space rescue to help.

Am I slightly paranoid? Um… yeah.

RickBlackford

Went into a church basement to change a pump coupler and noticed a snow blower and a two gallon gas can on a stool beside the boiler. Moved them out of there and told the church secretary if they don't want to meet the Lord sooner than later don't do that anymore.

RayWohlfarth

@RickBlackford Good call I can't believe how many buildings do that

johnnyb

I had a customer that was a Bed and Breakfast hotel which kept their boiler room full of junk such as paint,harddware,chemicals in cans ,tools , everything. The electrical panel cover was always off. One day it burned down.

ChrisJ

https://forum.heatinghelp.com/discussion/comment/1891557#Comment_1891557

I always hear this, but what I've been confused about is most, if not all chlorine has a high pH, so why is it corrosive to metal?

I believe sodium hypochlorite has a ph of something like 12, and cal-hypo is also very high around 12. Is chlorine not what's corrosive around pools, or is something the chlorine produces corrosive?

Bob Harper

Chlorine is very reactive with a LOT of substances. It's all chemistry, valances, electron sharing, and bonds but it isn't just a pH issue. It's WHICH metals. Corrosion is also a function of temperature. Two substances that are relatively compatible at room temp. up to, let's say 300F may suddenly become reactive at higher temps with THAT metal. To a degree, you can get too cold where you get condensation whereas it may be fine at higher temps where its above dewpoint so very little exposure. There are situations where certain aluminum alloys are more resistant that certain alloys of stainless steel, depending upon the temps.

When chlorine hits water, it can dissociate into ions then, milliseconds later into hydrochloric acid (stomach acid). HCl can dissolve most anything you eat. Pool metal fittings are typically 316L ss and not 304ss, which is very sensitive to Cl.

Jamie Hall

Good commentary, @Bob Harper — thank you. One thing to remember is that Chlorine, Chloride, Hypcochlorite — all involve chlorine, but react chemically in different ways.

Chloride ism the most benign — it really doesn't do much more than facilitate conductivity and, therefore, plain ordinary corrosion. Chlorine is a very toxic gas — but you're not likely to find it around anywhere commonly. HYpochlorite, however, is very common: pool disinfectant. It is a very powerful oxidizer (which is why it works) and happily will oxidize most metals, as well as you or any bacteria and germs it comes in contact with. Worse, at higher temperatures it accelerates combustion by releasing oxygen when heated, and can make for VERY nasty fire conditions.