On Feb 25, 4:56*am, "HeyBub" wrote:
Tman wrote:
Joe wrote:
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 I'm reconsidering (a little).

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.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JmJoyuUJj2Q

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...

Yes....it didnt "break" the windows but it surely disassembled the
shack.
There are way too many unknowns to this process to encourage it's
execution in any sort of a populated area.

The mythbuster work was done at Alameda Naval Air Station, 100's of
feet (not ~200') from probably empty hangers and a shipping channel.

Yes it will probably just whistle (if it is close to full of water)
but is it worth the risk (if its only 1/4 full) ?

How much different is the construction of this boiler vs a residential
water heater?

cheers
Bob