Are steam boilers dangerous? They used to be. This weeks video

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RayWohlfarth
RayWohlfarth Posts: 2,088
edited October 30 in THE MAIN WALL

One of my pet peeves is when talking to techs and engineers and they believe steam boilers are dangerous. I have a saying that Steam boilers are only dangerous with human help. I do mostly commercial boilers and they have redundant pressure controls and low water cutoffs. Back in the day, it was like the Wild West.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aQvjbVONfM
Ray Wohlfarth
Boiler Lessons

Comments

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 21,268

    No more dangerous than any other boiler or furnace IF maintained properly. Steam does need more maintenance IMHO

  • Steamhead
    Steamhead Posts: 18,993

    Was that the shoe factory boiler that blew up and landed in the front yard of the operating engineer's house (as shown on the first page of chapter 13 of "The Lost Art of Steam Heating")?

    Co-Founder, All Steamed Up, Inc.

    Semi-retired

    Baltimore, MD, USA

  • EBEBRATT-Ed
    EBEBRATT-Ed Posts: 21,268

    @Steamhead could be . I think the shoe factory was in Brockton.

  • Jamie Hall
    Jamie Hall Posts: 27,936

    Your really want fun, try a steam locomotive boiler… the modern inspections are incridibly detailed and comples! But I'm slightly paranoid… Cedric has two LWCOs (one manual reset) and a vapourstat and two pressuretrols (one manual reset)…

    But as you say, @RayWohlfarth, mantenance is the key…

    Actually I think hot water heaters are amore dangerous these days…

    Br. Jamie, osb
    Building superintendent/caretaker, 7200 sq. ft. historic house museum with dependencies in New England
  • RayWohlfarth
    RayWohlfarth Posts: 2,088

    Maintenance is the first thing cut when money is tight

    Ray Wohlfarth
    Boiler Lessons

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