Outdoor Wood Furnace Info
All-Purpose OWF Discussions => General Outdoor Furnace Discussion => Topic started by: shepherd boy on March 07, 2017, 10:03:59 AM
-
Elsewhere in this forum there was a discussion about pressurizing an outdoor furnace. this unit was and almost blew up. Pex water line blew in house and flooded basement. Made a round water jacket out of a square one, bulging the sides and pulling the roof down. I am told the Insurance was told it was a faulty water line and paid for damages as well as a new furnace.
-
WOW!!
Can’t recall off the top of my head, but most pex is rated at what at 180?
-
WOW!!
Can’t recall off the top of my head, but most pex is rated at what at 180?
100PSI at 180°
I would bet the temp was quite a bit higher than that when it blew and the pressure probably was much lower.
-
That's funny except it's not! :D
-
He must of got some serous pressure. I guess that is how they blow up steam engines.
Your right, bet temps were well over 200.
-
When I pressure test our used refaced stuff, I never go over about 5 pounds and at that you can hear the stress on the walls!
-
Was the pump near where the pipe blew?
-
I did not see the job but was told it was near the hot water heat exchanger where it blew. Finished basement. It had to be a mess. I heard of someone else that was convinced his stove was leaking ( just condensation ) and pressurized it to 40lbs, got part way inside to spray soapy water to find leak and about killed himself when it caved in.
-
I did not see the job but was told it was near the hot water heat exchanger where it blew. Finished basement. It had to be a mess. I heard of someone else that was convinced his stove was leaking ( just condensation ) and pressurized it to 40lbs, got part way inside to spray soapy water to find leak and about killed himself when it caved in.
Huh? Unless my reading comprehension has totally failed, I take it he was climbing into the firebox when things went south?
From personal experience I can tell you it takes less than 3lbs of pressure to make a fifty-five gallon drum go boing.
When I built my original boiler I used 5/16” steel on the firebox, pressurized just the firebox before cutting the door opening to about 15lbs while standing outside the shop, pressure tested at 10lbs and was leary of that. Might have only been 10 PSI but had a lot of square inches for that air to be pushing against.
Had someone locally die last year from over inflating a rear tractor tire and when it let loose the rim gave so he got hit by that as well as the tire.
-
Probably hooked a garden hose to it and turned it on then climbed in.
-
Was told he put a air hose to it and caped or valved off all openings and was at least partially in the firebox.
-
Yes we had a genius at work hook up some thin 4ft x 6ft stainless steel heat exchangers to 120lb plus air to see if he could find a leak one of the guys gave him a scholarly beat down on the reasons not to do that.
-
There's a lot more engineering in so many things than it looks like on the surface. We get so used to it that we don't realize how easily we could get ourselves very dead! :)
That's why building a homemade furnace is so terribly complicated sometimes. Expansion, stress, corrosion, heat exchange, condensation, .. .... It's a long list.
-
Sometimes people just don’t think….
Have a friend in high school who’d clean a ball bearing then take an air hose to it and spin it, I took several steps back and sideways, sometimes you just have to let people learn the hard away but the shop teacher came completely unglued. Some would never give it a second thought, but 120PSi coming out the end of a nozzle spinning a bearing that now has no support for the outer race and since it was used could have had micro fractures in the outer race as well, could be a recipe for disaster.
-
Was told he put a air hose to it and caped or valved off all openings and was at least partially in the firebox.
I was just guessing domestic water from the 40psi.
I don't see that it would have held 40psi long enough for him to get inside. He probably set a regulator to 40 psi and hooked up the hose then went to check for leaks as it filled.
-
I have a few old oil tanks out behind the barn that I cut up when I need some sheet steel. Until then they have plugs in the fittings to keep the wildlife out but all summer we hear the "boings" as the sun hits them in the morning and then again as they cool off.
I once bulged one by trying to blow fuel oil in an overhead line to a furnace in the next room. Forty years ago, but it probably only took 5-8 psi...
-
I would bet it was a lot less than that, when we patch 1/4 inch thick boilers and pressurize them to check for leaks they are doing the boing thing by the time they hit 4-5 pounds, I never go above about 10 pounds, I happen to enjoy life and I have been in the shop when a tractor trailer tire exploded from setting the bead with just a little to much ether, believe me when I say it's not a pleasant experience!
-
I would bet it was a lot less than that, when we patch 1/4 inch thick boilers and pressurize them to check for leaks they are doing the boing thing by the time they hit 4-5 pounds, I never go above about 10 pounds, I happen to enjoy life and I have been in the shop when a tractor trailer tire exploded from setting the bead with just a little to much ether, believe me when I say it's not a pleasant experience!
We used to have a guy around that would take his pocket knife, scrape the nitro off extremely old dynamite then flick the nitro at stuff, one thing he wouldn’t do is use ether to seat a tire. He passed away, we never did find the rest of his dynamite even though we went thru everything, he must have disposed of it himself as we helped with the auction, and like I said, never found anymore of it.
Another neighbor had some in a shed, he passed away and one of the relatives found it, fortunately they had the good sense not to touch it. Called the bomb squad in, supposedly two of them went in the shed and came out white as sheets. They stacked round bales around the shed, hosed the round bales down thoroughly then lit the shed on fire and burned it all, bomb squad guys refused to even try to move it. The round bales were to protect the house from either the fire or if it went off.
-
I would bet it was a lot less than that, when we patch 1/4 inch thick boilers and pressurize them to check for leaks they are doing the boing thing by the time they hit 4-5 pounds, I never go above about 10 pounds, I happen to enjoy life and I have been in the shop when a tractor trailer tire exploded from setting the bead with just a little to much ether, believe me when I say it's not a pleasant experience!
Just had one go off at 100psi. They are supped to hold at 120 but the sidewall gave out. The tire hit the ceiling dented the garage door and flipped the tire cage upside down. I can see why people get killed from those tires.