The case of the leaking 7 year old steam boiler this Fridays case

The best outcome for the boiler would have been to drain the boiler and store it totally dry or the second best case would be to fill the boiler to the nozzle, add the proper amount of treatment to store the boiler, and heat the water until it steamed and then close all valves for total isolation. My guess would be that they did neither of these and instead just shut off the electricity and left the boiler filled to the normal water line. During the shutdown oxygen ladened water entered the boiler through a leaking feed valve or bypass valve and ruined the tubes. You did not say if the tubes went bad internally or externally but if they went bad from the outside then the tubes could have been excessively sooted and the humidity in the building was high and could have produced an acid that ruined the tubes.

It was a Burnham?

If the boiler was off for 9 months there was plenty of opportunity for air to circulate through the system and add oxygen to the water to rust the boiler, especially at the surface of the water.

The various venting in the system. If there is no steam then the steam traps will be open. whatever path that the air uses to get out will be open to the atmosphere.

If that was a concern, wouldn't all boilers rot out every summer?

And/Or however it was operated during the rest of its lifetime—there is no data as to the condition of the tubes when they shut it down.

I ask again out of my own ignorance, and for my education, if 9 months of sitting rots out a boiler how do boilers survive the summer? Are the steel boilers a lot more prone to rotting out with water sitting in them vs cast iron? Do all steel boilers have treated water?

PS: you kind of tricked us with this question Ray 😀

You said

> Prior to shutdown, the old brewmaster had a water treatment program and was diligent about it.

So some gremlin drained the water treatment that must have been in there from when the brewmaster shut it down on his last day and replaced it with extremely caustic water instead?