cast iron boiler removal

A. Blake Cooper

I currently have a Arco round "snowman" boiler that I need to reduce into smaller fragments and haul away. Once the asbestos has been abated, how should I attack this? First, thought is heavy blankets and sledge hammers. Another thought is oxy-acetylene torch combined with sledge hammers. Final thoughts are grinders or large saw with abrasive cutting wheel coupled with sledge hammers.

Anyone have personal experience here?

Blake

kevin coppinger_7

> I currently have a Arco round "snowman" boiler

> that I need to reduce into smaller fragments and

> haul away. Once the asbestos has been abated,

> how should I attack this? First, thought is

> heavy blankets and sledge hammers. Another

> thought is oxy-acetylene torch combined with

> sledge hammers. Final thoughts are grinders or

> large saw with abrasive cutting wheel coupled

> with sledge hammers.

>

> Anyone have personal

> experience here?

>

> Blake

kevin coppinger_7

see if you can ...

split the sections first...that should be two person size...kpc

bob young

out with the old

separate the sections and carry it out. no big deal . just heavy ,dirty chore. cut the tie rods w/ sawzall. separate sections with cold chisel. four hour job and slide new unit in and start piping your new header. enjoy. don't forget the before & after photo's

Constantin

Two silly options

Thermite... great stuff, works like a charm. However, getting access to it can be tricky. Besides, I'm not sure that a pool of slag on the floor is easier to abate than a standing boiler.

Another approach: Liquid nitrogen or CO₂. Long a staple of the bike-stealing trade, a large amount poured over the boiler might make it brittle enough to let a sledge "tap" make it crack into lots of little pieces. The only downside is getting access to cheap liquid nitrogen or CO₂ and the very real need to wear SCUBA gear as the vaporizing liquid displaces oxygen in the basement.

Well, whatever you do, wear lots of hearing protection. None of the more sensible processes mentioned are quiet (including the sledge approach) so hearing will be affected. Ditto on eye and toe protection - there is lots of stuff flying around. Good Luck!

ed wallace

boiler removal

hire a company that specializes in boiler removal let them do the dirty work

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Ken_8

\"snowman\"

type "pancake" boilers always have asbestos between the sections. You cannot do "abatement" without removing the boiler as part of that endeavor.

Oh well.

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A. Blake Cooper

removal

How will the abatement removal tactics are differ from breaking it down and removing the pieces in what way? Attempt to remove it as 1 unit?

Also, when you say "sections" are we referring to sections within the heat exchanger, or sections of the body? The body seems fairly hollow from the floor(burner section) through the bottom of the exchanger.

lchmb

just a thought

Why not just bite the bullet and pay a professional team to come in and remove it. That would resolve the issues and also cover you with insurance if anything goes bad. The cost may hurt up front but hurt your back or worse have a problem with asbestos and it will cost a ton more..(or worse)...
Just my two cent's..

A. Blake Cooper

calibers

The bullet may be tough to take if you are taking several others in the process of boiler replacement. I would like to reduce costs through handling certain basic things in-house, if at all possible. It would appear that this task may no longer qualify.

I do wonder how many people would know that the boiler itself would have asbestos insulation within sections.

Mark Eatherton1

Been there....

Done that. Once. Now hire Boiler Busters to come in and make it "disappear".

Fully permitted, fully licensed.

If however you are still hell bent on destruction of the vessel your self, here's how it goes...

Saw, saw, saw... BANG BANG BANG, saw, saw, BANG saw. Pick up pieces and haul them out...

Saw, saw, saw... BANG BANG BANG, saw, saw, BANG saw. Pick up pieces and haul them out...

This goes on for about 4 hours depending on the health of your "hauler".

In all honesty, the Arco boiler is a BOOGER to get apart. There are three parts. The fire box, the vessel and the flue gas collector. In most cases, the boiler parts were lowered down into the basemnt before the floor joist were put down. The parts dimensions are such that basic disassembly won't get the "parts" small enough to get out the door anyway.

So you learn how to make a line, and using a good (8# or better) sledge hammer or maul and start beating in this "line". Don't try going through with one fell swoop. Keep hittiing and rolling and hitting and eventually it will start to sound hollow, like a deadened blow. More of a clunk than a clank. When this happens, you're close to holing through. One good smack will give you two large parts. Be prepared to chase parts.

The top of the boiler has a steel plate as a part of the flue gas collector, and it's a BEAR to get apart. Keep beating and it will eventually fail.

Be prepared for a long, laborious dirty day.

It's amazing how well those things were built back then.

Good Luck.

ME

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John@Reliable_9

I do them all the time like this..............

I assume abatement is finished. Remove everything you can as in nipples(but leave top supply nipple about 1 foot high) burner, doors, glass gauge, etc. Now loosen/cut draw bars could be as many as 8. Next vacuum real good. Next move everything with-in 6 feet from boiler protect water meters/gas meters. Now the fun part push it over!!!! most times it will just fall apart, if not a couple of hits w/ cold chisel & hammer and small pry bar DONE in 3 sections. The top is heavy we leave the nipple long so you have something to grap onto.

Jim S

These old boilers

were usually fabricated on site using asbestos as a gasket between the sections.

The abatement co. we use takes the boiler as part of their price and that suits me just fine ,those monsters are heavy.

ernie_3

CI blr rem

Cutting torches are ok if you don't mind a blackened 'cajun'ceiling. Sledges will be tough as there is water jacketing. Super Sawsall will but will be very time consuming. It will come off it's base, an auto tire will lessen the liklihood of a cracked cement floor. The tie-rods should be cut and there will be three pieces, the dry base, and two lg sections of the snowman. if you can't fit these pieces thru the door let the cutting begin.

Mark J Strawcutter

young and foolish

Back in my younger, foolish days I agreed to remove the old coal-converted-to-gas scorched air furnace in our first house. Removing all that white insulation stuff from the heat runs was the easy part (the "A" word hadn't become a big item yet).

Took three of us to remove the flue-gas "kidney" off the back and haul it out.

Thinking the furnace was cast iron, I gave my best swing with a sledge expecting it to do some serious cracking.

However, it was made of boiler plate. Took me 20 minutes to quit vibrating (have you seen the commercial where the guy is jackhammering his driveway and comes in for a drink?)

Ended up pulling it up the basement stairs on planks using a come-along hooked to the bumper of my friend's truck. Got $1.20 for it at the scrap yard.

Ah, the good old days.

Mark