A Scrapper's Dream - Page 9

It is not the Ft. Calhoun Power Plant. It is the James St. Power Plant started in the late 1800's. The part we are salvaging was finished in 1948 and is located at 515 Marcy St. across from the casino and the property south of Conagri on the river. Stop down sometime for a tour. PM me first to get personal information, otherwise no one will know who you are looking for. You would be encouraged to bring a camera and share some of the pictures on the forum. I just do not have enough time.

The first picture if of the water tank before a previous picture showing the unstable structure.



Unpredicted overhang.



A follow up picture showing our progress.



There are four of these water tanks in the basement alone. 1/2 in. steel cut into 5'x2' slices for prepared. Most refineries accept metal of this size, but scrap yards limit us to 3'x16" to increase the density in the gondola cars.

Had to end this round with a little humor. We bought a skid steer on the condition that it had demolition tires on it. They brought it down for a test and we accepted it. They had to put the tires on it and the skid steer was stuck in the basement because the ice we drove it over had melted. So the crew showed up to exchange the tires and tried to unload the first tire at the top of the ramp. It got away from them and rolled down the ramp and landed to the right side next to four foot of water. This picture shows two of the crew trying to retrieve it. It took five crew members, two chains, and a skid steer to get it out of the water.



At the time we were upset, but now we laugh about it. The rest of the story, the same salesman brought a demolition bucket for us to try out. We did not like it so he hauled it back. His trailer, the bucket, and a concrete hammer were stolen from the yard that night. It was not his day. Karma anyone?

Please be careful at that site, Patriot. I know you are, and I know you don't need me to tell you that, but those pix have gotten my maternal instincts all riled up!!

This is the start of the story of the boilers. As said before, they are about 34 x 40 ft. rectangles stretching up for 10 stories. They contain steam pipe encased in plaster. The bottom forms a chute with foot and a half concrete walls.

This is a picture of the first cut when we found out the thickness of the concrete.



This is after we tried to jack hammer it out and found out the work we were in for.

We knew we should hammer out the concrete and create a bigger opening at the bottom of the boiler. A lesson was learned for not taking our time. We created a log jam or beaver dam in the bottom of the boiler and had to lower two workers two floors into the boiler to unjam it. It took about an hour and the workers were literally hanging like spiders as they picked there way through the mess.

Thanks for the pics, Patriot. I was wondering how that project was going. Smoke, fire and danger; definitely a young man's job. You'll deserve a medal for persistence when this is over.

CONGRATS!!! This is America, the greatest country in the world! This will inspire me, because I am thinking of getting back into the scrap business. Good Luck!

For those following some of these projects, this will not come as a surprise. I am not a professional, only an individual that loves learning and challenges. Therefore this is not a how to thread, only a story of the challenges and solutions to the problems faced. When soliciting advice, few professionals offered insight for two reasons, trade secrets and liability. The majority of information has been gained through this forum, so an obligation is felt to return the favor. Therefore if you try this you are on your own. These stories are shared to increase the learning curve for everyone because these lessons have been learned through the school of hard knocks with guidance from many individuals here. Thank you.

Wanted to share a picture of the outside of one of the boilers after the plaster has been removed. You can see the steam pipes running upward and the door we cut to experiment with what we faced the entire height of the structure. This door was where the picture of the sparks directly below the torches inside the boiler was taken. The pipes being cut from the inside of the boiler are connected to these vertical pipes and everything is supported by the roof. The plan is to cut the inside of the boiler from the bottom up, cut door in the boiler starting at the top, remove all metal from the top working down and use the exterior of the boilers as a chute to drop the metal to the basement. Then we will dismantle the exterior of the boilers starting at the bottom and working out way up.

Hi Patriot, I'm loving your posts. I like challenges too and wish I could be there. Since we all can't go, do keep us updated as often as you can.

One thought about the coal pulverizers. If they aren't already gone, check them for tungsten carbide. I'm not familiar with these, but have seen other rock crusher type things that had good sized tungsten carbide blades or hammers in them. If they have these, it could be a good payday. There is a buyer here on the forum.

This is the second floor view of the coal chutes seen in thread 173.

A little update of cutting the steam pipes inside the boiler. These have to be cut out before we can start using the boiler as a chute to drop the rest of the metal. The first picture show access to the chute and the following two show our cave burners.





Picture of one of the cave burner happy to get some fresh air and not dealing with exposure. If you look real close you can see the smile on his face.

Previously the coal pulverizers were highlighted. This is the story of getting them out of the hole. There were three that were cut down as far as could be without a thermolance to cut the cast. The excavator could not lift them. Two skid steers were needed to get them to the opening and they had to be rigged, rerigged, dragged, rigged, dragged, etc. It took about 45 min. to move the last one out. That is after we learned how to do it on the first two.