Steam Age Boilers

[Glenn Brooks]

Hi Tristan,

Yep, the S Stamp is key. But the original documents are only on file in the state where originally built. There is no national boiler database, that I have been able to find - at least not one accessible by the public. Sometimes the local inspector requires the new owner to produce the original out of state documents for new certification. I’ve found some states have horrible records keeping systems - requiring an original owners name and address to find old records. Nightmare. I’ve been chasing down a copy of my Ottaway S code paperwork for several years now, on and off. and finally gave up as the national code number means nothing to the state inspector office, without knowing where it was initially recorded. Case of Obtuse Bureaucracy.

The worst case is the owner had the boiler built, but never followed through with filing the paperwork. Or lost the paperwork. Or next of kin didn’t know what it was and threw the documents away. And if the boiler maker went out of business - which most have over the past 40 or 50 years- then retrospectively obtaining certification often becomes impossible.

The second nightmare, very common in the live steam world, is the boiler wasn’t built for certification to begin with, and a latter owner wishes to build documentation from old existing paperwork - which often does not exist. That may be what we are looking at here...

BTW, I think a few States still do not recognize hobby boilers, and require these to be inspected and approved by state inspectors in the same manner as commercial boilers. Very old school. But, I think, some still insist on doing it this way, unfortunately.

The real lesson here is you gotta treat the original boiler paperwork as priceless, particularly for inspected boilers. Years, or decades latter, once it gets misplaced, it’s an up hill battle to reconstruct.

Glenn

[Bill Shields]

As a general comment FWIW

Copper boilers failing can generally be attributed to bad solder joints...frequently from use of sil phos solder which was very common a few decades ago.

[Marty_Knox]

Hi Tristan,

Yep, the S Stamp is key. But the original documents are only on file in the state where originally built. There is no national boiler database, that I have been able to find - at least not one accessible by the public.
The real lesson here is you gotta treat the original boiler paperwork as priceless, particularly for inspected boilers. Years, or decades latter, once it gets misplaced, it’s an up hill battle to reconstruct.

Glenn

But there is a national boiler database if it has a stamp. Nationalboard.org is the website of the National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors. If a boiler was built to the ASME code they should have a copy of the Manufacturer's data report. You need to know the manufacturer and serial number, but if you do you can buy a copy of what they have for a nominal fee.

[Glenn Brooks]

Thanks Marty.

Very good link to have on hand! Much appreciated.

Glenn