Old Boiler in Basement!!

Hey guys, about to scrap my first boiler and this looks like it's going to be a task. Looking to hear back from any of you who have removed old boilers from basements before and hopefully are willing to give me a few tips and tricks. Anyone have any advice on this?

look at a couple the threads at the bottom of your page there in "similar threads" ; )

Not much help down there. I know basically how I'm going to take it apart but I was just looking for any helpful tips learned from experience.

Yea I know for a fact there's asbestos. But I'm not too concerned with it. I'm going to wear a good dust mask obviously but that's about as far as I'm worried about that. And please don't chime in with your stories of people past and how bad asbestos really is and all that stuff. I've heard it all and it seems to come down to a person by person basis as to how harmful it is. There's people who worked with it they're whole lives and were fine and then you hear about how someone who breathed in particles caused by people braking gets lung cancer and dies from it. One more thing the government has over hyped in my opinion. Anyway, I definitely plan on breaking the boiler into sections, would never get this beast up the stairs as is.

Whatever you do, don't torch galvanized steel in a basement. ######!!!!!!! nasty!!!!! Did it once, never again.

Just did one a while back myself. It was an originally an old Oil Burner that was converted to natural gas. First unbolt whatever you can get too easily. I used a sledge hammer and wedge to split the unit at the seams. A couple things to note. Many will have bricks or concrete inside them that you will have to break up. Wear a good mask/respirator. This particular one also had asbestos inside of it, which was really fun to find when I split it open.

Originally Posted by MacksMetalRecycling

Yea I know for a fact there's asbestos. But I'm not too concerned with it.

I've never done a boiler before myself but how much could they possibly be worth that people are willing to put in all that work removing it and we've gotten to the point that people don't care about asbestos?

I kind of figured they would be mostly iron.

Originally Posted by diesel1

Whatever you do, don't torch galvanized steel in a basement. ######!!!!!!! nasty!!!!! Did it once, never again.

Don't ever burn or cut any cladded metal. I'm willing too bet rolling in Asbestos is better for you.

Originally Posted by Sal

Don't ever burn or cut any cladded metal. I'm willing too bet rolling in Asbestos is better for you.

'Zinc fume fever' Metal fume fever - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Arrrrrrrhh. Feels like I got gravel behind my eyes, back aches & joint pains, tired & slept most of the weekend after the Friday of welding galv iron.

Originally Posted by Phantoms001

I've never done a boiler before myself but how much could they possibly be worth that people are willing to put in all that work removing it and we've gotten to the point that people don't care about asbestos?

I kind of figured they would be mostly iron.

Well to me it's worth $500. I told the guy I'd charge him $500 but I'd take off whatever I can get in scrap value for it so I figure he'll only have to pay about $200-$300 out of his own pocket. So whatever it's worth in scrap is irrelevant in this case, to me it's worth $500. Anyone think that was good number? Too low? Too high? Just curious to what you guys would charge. The way i look at it it'll take me about a day's worth of work (8 hours), so $500 for a days work pays for the asbestos hazard. I've never heard of the fume fever though, that's defiantly something to consider. Would using a sawzall instead of a grinder eliminate that risk?

My only comment about asbestos: You may not be concerned about it, but the homeowner is the one who you have to watch out for. If the shzt hits the fan in some crazy way...maybe an EPA inspector comes around at the most inopportune time...you should have some sort of signed paper from him that he accepts the risk. Otherwise he just screams he didn't know nuthin' and you end up going to jail.

As KZ put it, "be stealthy, my friend".

Jon.