anyone familiar with ancient boilers?

[Kev442]

This beast has been in the basement in the way for 50 years. I pulled the heat exchanger off the top and got it out.
Now I was about to cut the base in half when it occurs to me that it might be lined with asbestos or something.
In the picture you can see the wall thickness and the plug that goes into the wall, but does not pass through it.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Asbestos insulation is a white fibrous cloth that was wrapped around the outside of pipes and heated tubes to hold heat in.

Not sure what you mean by "lined with". It isn't like a coating or whatever that lined the inside of a pressure vessel.

Phil

 

[rlitman]

Asbestos insulation is a white fibrous cloth that was wrapped around the outside of pipes and heated tubes to hold heat in.

Not sure what you mean by "lined with". It isn't like a coating or whatever that lined the inside of a pressure vessel.

Phil

This is dangerously bad advice. Asbestos PIPE insulation fits your description, but asbestos was also made into millboard and refractory panels, among other things, and is commonly found inside old fireboxes as insulation.

 

[LS6 Tommy]

There isn't a whole lot to go on in that photo...

Tommy

 

[HoosierBuddy]

This is dangerously bad advice. Asbestos PIPE insulation fits your description, but asbestos was also made into millboard and refractory panels, among other things, and is commonly found inside old fireboxes as insulation.

Based on the picture my take was he was talking about if the steel contained asbestos.

I agree that asbestos is used in other parts besides the insulation I described up to and including linoleum...but I don't see that in the pictures either so I didn't include it in my description. " Dangerous bad advice?" Hyperbole.

Phil

 

[Kev442]

I meant that asbestos might have been put between the steel walls as insulation via the plugs.
I always hear it described as a fiber, so am unsure if it would have been added via the plugs to the inside of the vessel.

 

[danski0224]

The only way to know for sure is to obtain a sample and get it tested. Have you tried to remove the plug?