Old oil boiler -- ceremonial disposal ideas.

Just put in a replacement oil boiler in my house. The old unit is a RSA110 -- welded steel -- which has suffered from a puffback, causing a few leaks in the sheet metal components (i.e. flue hood), and extensive destruction of the combustion chamber refractory. But it still heated the house for a few (watchful) days, till the new unit arrived.

I was thinking of a few ceremonial funerals for this before relegating the (parts) to the trashman. The idea I'm stuck on is:

- Fill boiler 3/4 or so full of water.

- Plug / cap every opening to the boiler, incl relief valve.

- Get a really long extension cord and a position > 200' away from people or structures in a large backyard.

- Feed it a 1/2 gallon or so pail of #2 FO.

- Plug it in and enjoy a few beers (behind large trees! ) while theorizing on what will happen next.

Whatd'yall think will happen? I see the boiler blowing a welded seam at an incredibly high temperature and pressure. Then the superheated water will flash into vapor. Spectacular noise, large white puffball, and airborne boiler. I suppose there are other less fun failure modes, such as orfice-like small leak that creates a 3 minute steam whistle, or the such.

Anyone know of this being done before? What results?

We've also contemplated the idea of a dry-run till it melts / ignites, but that is not sounding quite as dramatic (i.e. loud).

It's been a while since I had fun like this. I'll post the you-tube link when complete! T

Reply to
Tman
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I saw a photo of a water heater where the relief valve failed and it would not shut off. It went through the ceiling, then roof and landed maybe 100ft away.

Reply to
ransley

Results depends on how much pressure you can build. That also depends on the ratio of water to space so it can boil. I've seen the results of boilers that sent the end blasting through block walls.

It may break a seam and just whistle, but it may also be lethal. Steam expands very rapidly. Personally, I don't want to be in range when it goes.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

*Just get rid of it. What may seem like fun beforehand could turn into someone getting hurt or damage being done.
Reply to
John Grabowski

Uh, that's the POINT of the exercise... And no one will get hurt if they follow common sense safety rules. I'm thinking eye-protection and ear muffs here.

Reply to
HeyBub

"And no one will get hurt if they follow common sense safety rules." Famous last words.

So what are the common sense safety rules for blowing up a boiler? Common sense to me is to just dispose of it.

Reply to
John Grabowski

A few sandbags filled with sand and stacked up to hide behind and you should be good plus ear plugs...Can't wait to see the video...LOL...

Reply to
benick

On Tue, 24 Feb 2009 17:04:23 -0500, "benick" wrote Re Re: Old oil boiler -- ceremonial disposal ideas.:

You'll post it on YouTube right?

Reply to
Caesar Romano

More Famous Last Words:

"Hey Ya'll, watch this!"

Reply to
Joe

I gotta just make sure that there is nothing of value, save for a portable generator, within a certain radius. And overguesstimate that certain radius to an egregious degree.

I'll have all kinds of time, on the order of at least 2 minutes before the thing gets hot enough to cause any kind of trouble.

You'll read about it in the paper if any of this figuring is wrong.

T
Reply to
Tman

You left out "Hey Bubba, hold my beer for a second!"

Jerry

Reply to
Jerry

And in Texas, it's "honey, hold my beer while I do this...."

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

On 2/24/2009 1:08 PM HeyBub spake thus:

I think you would have liked my friend from when I lived in Tucson. I'll call him Vern.

"Vern" was, among other things (musician, cartoonist, all-around funny guy) an auto mechanic. Told me about the time as a teenager when he and a couple friends took an old dune buggy out into the desert. Drained the crankcase, started it up, put a big rock on the accelerator pedal, then ran like hell a safe distance away to observe the inevitable rod being thrown.

I'm pretty sure there was beer involved then, too.

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

You're thinking 200' (from your previous post) is a safe distance for an explosion of a steel tank? Tell you what, you stand at 200', I'll stand somewhere that I'll need binoculars to see you clearly.

Reply to
Joe

On 2/24/2009 4:18 PM Stormin Mormon spake thus:

My favorite Texas-ism is "This won't hurt, did it?"

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

I'm reconsidering (a little).

Reply to
Tman

i rekon you never blown up bugs, cats, dogs, and dolls with m80's either? Not to mention seeing how high you can launch a metal 5 gallon bucket. eh?

how boring

Reply to
Steve Barker

Back when air-cooled VW engines were not purpose-built collector car items, an 'engine blow' event like that was a standard feature of most VW-oriented hot-rodder events. (Customs, Bajas, Glass-body pan buggies, the then-new rail buggies, etc.) Most gearheads today can't remember when a solid VW pan and engine combination could be had for $500 or less. Ferry Porsche was 30 years ahead of his time when he designed the thing in 1938.

-- aem sends...

Reply to
aemeijers

Look on Mythbusters web site, and search on water heaters. They cooked off half a dozen or so, before they got a 'big boom' failure, IIRC.

Reply to
aemeijers

Oh, quit worrying. It's not going to explode like a grenade with bits going everywhere. Chances are it will rend at its weakest point and take off like a steam-powered rocket ship.

They had a water heater do this on Myth Busters. Sucker shot off like an Atlas. Musta gone five hundred feet straight up! Then it came down. Didn't even break the windows in the little shack enclosing it.

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You can probably direct the launch by weakening the structure on the opposite side: grind off half the thickness of the vessel or something like that.

Here's a trick: Use more than one camera, you know, just in case...

Reply to
HeyBub

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