How to Dry out a boiler for winter storage?

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Marty_Knox
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Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2003 6:50 pm
Location: Michigan, USA

Re: How to Dry out a boiler for winter storage?

Post by Marty_Knox »

ASME recommended practice is to drain the boiler once there is no pressure but the temperature is still around 125 F. If you blow down from 40 psi there is enough residual heat to bake the scale onto the sheets.
To me the most important thing is to wash the boiler thoroughly, both fire side and water side, before storing. If you put it away with soot and scale you are very likely to get corrosion under them.
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Fred_V
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Re: How to Dry out a boiler for winter storage?

Post by Fred_V »

I will do that. Since I'm using the fan to dry it out I don't really need to blow down with pressure.
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James Powell
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Re: How to Dry out a boiler for winter storage?

Post by James Powell »

Marty_Knox wrote: To me the most important thing is to wash the boiler thoroughly, both fire side and water side, before storing. If you put it away with soot and scale you are very likely to get corrosion under them.
Whereas, the Royal Canadian Navy policy was to store with soot on for moderate (~6 months), and Empty & Open. Take your pick... I think the only really bad set of choices is leaving the boiler at normal working level, and with wet soot on the sheets. Dry soot doesn't react much, but wet soot does. (Oil fired soot, up to .5% Sulphur in the oil).

I would go with Empty & Open, and leave the soot alone if the boiler is going to be somewhere where it will stay dry. If you know that it will get wet, the best policy is probably to clean as much as possible of the soot off, then wax coat the exposed surfaces. (if you read Traction Talk from the UK, there was a thread on there about doing so recently- Morris Ankor Wax is what is used over there)
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