Scrapping furnaces and boilers for homeowners... Without stairs.

We probably do 4-5 boiler/furnace removal jobs each month. Definitely not my favorite project to tackle on a semi regular basis, but now is the time of the year and money is money! Anyway we've had a few jobs recently where the bulkhead stairs were either destroyed or non-existent! Thankfully this most recent furnace was one of the smaller ones (4-5 sections, maybe 3 ft tall each), and not one of the monster units that we come across here and there.

Anyone else just love dismantling and pulling boilers and furnaces out of cobwebbed basements? Well add-on the fact that the only way to avoid bringing the dirty messy sections up through the house and over carpets is to bring a step ladder to bypass the stairs and lug the pieces out that way, and you're in for some extra fun!

Couple things to take away from this... 1. Always ask before you show up if there is a bulkhead and if the bulkhead stairs are safe (or even there, lol)! 2. Make sure to charge a little extra (if you charge) for the extra hassle!

I actually like to charge a little more if there's no bulkhead too, because you have to be all that much more careful to be clean and not make a mess on your way in and out. It's more time consuming as well. Anyone who's scrapped boilers or furnaces knows this is a fact!

Showing my ignorance here....what are bulkhead stairs? Is this related to an "outside basement entrance"?

Jon.

yes
The bulkhead is the door and panel assembly that covers the basement entrance.
Generally accompanied by sketchy, broken, rotten or non existent stairs.
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/i...pyI6_29gskS68L

I built my bilco door steps out of pressure treated. The whole thing lifts right out. ( Makes loading the basement with firewood much easier.)

Back when i was doing boiler installations we sometimes used a wrecker. All we had to do was open the bulkhead door, remove the stairs, and lower the boiler into the basement. It saved a lot of grunt - n- groan. That was especially so with the steel boilers because you couldn't break them down like a cast iron jobbie.

Same thing when we were removing the old boiler. Just lifted it out ....

I'm wondering if there's a contraption that would make it easier to get those things out. Particularly in one piece.

Laborers, that's it, I need laborers.

We don't have basements in NZ... weird, I know.

But would a towtruck do the job? Just back up over the entrace and drop the tow cable directly downwards.
Attach it to the boiler, then winch it out.

As a scrapper, or a mover of heavy machinery, it'd pay to get to know a good tow truck firm and driver, get their card, keep it handy.
After years of shifting machinery, then one day getting a forklift (that I 'borrowed') bogged down in gravel while shifting a lathe into a shipping container, with a wasps nest somewhere nearby....
My mate suggests " A tow truck......?"

Absolute watershed moment....

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But would a towtruck do the job? Just back up over the entrace and drop the tow cable directly downwards.
Attach it to the boiler, then winch it out.

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Mate, that's what we call a wrecker over here. Don't know why.

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Back when i was doing boiler installations we sometimes used a wrecker. All we had to do was open the bulkhead door, remove the stairs, and lower the boiler into the basement.

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Originally Posted by ScrapStrong

I'm wondering if there's a contraption that would make it easier to get those things out. Particularly in one piece.
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Have you thought about a gantry crane ?

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...=gantry+cranes

You could probably make one out of scrap for low $$$.

The most practical all around thing for scrapping is an appliance dolly.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...ppliance+dolly

You can do a lot with some 2 x 10 planks and a good dolly if you put your mind to it. A chain hoist comes in handy too. It's good for lifting things out of the basement or pulling a heavy load up a ramp.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...-chain-hoists?

For some good cash send us the mercury flame sensor found on the gas valve!
Buying Mercury Flame Sensors, $30 each (= $150 lb!) Limited time only!
White Rodgers brand ONLY. Models 3098-134, 3098-xxx, 3049-xxx, 3094-xxx, (xxx can be any number after dash) 3046-5, 30A46-5.

Full article at Scrap Metal Forum: https://www.scrapmetalforum.com/scra...#ixzz5tKimtac3