Smitty Two wrote:
In article ,
Tman wrote:

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

Sounds like a blast. Google "Crush train crash" for the true story of
a guy who decided to get rid of two obsolete steam engines by crashing
them into one another.

Forty thousand people showed up for the party, and boy were they
surprised when the boilers exploded. The "safe spectator distance" was
sadly miscalculated.

The history channel documentary on the event was pretty good. (You may
also remember the Sultana, Civil War steamship with a death toll of
1700 from a boiler explosion.)

But sometimes you rely on the built in safety factor.

The captain of the Carpathia turned out the second shift of the black-gang
boiler stokers when responding to the Titanic's distress call. The pressure
gauges in the engine room went from "Max" way past "Danger" off into the
"Supreme Unction" range. The captain also directed all other steam
utilization diverted to the engines. Most believe and calculate the
Carpathia's speed increased from 14 to 17-1/2 knots over it's 50+ mile run.

And...

(From a Clive Cussler story - paraphrased)
"Sam the engineer put his hat over the boiler gauge as it crept into the red
and encouraged his gang to shovel faster. Five minutes later, the
paddle-wheeler "Pride of Dixie" burst into the open Gulf of Mexico, pushing
a five-foot bow wave in front, for the first time in her 108-year life. Not
only that, she was making 14 knots, more than twice her heretofore top speed
of 7 miles per hour..."