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Post by albertsell on Jun 20, 2006 17:32:42 GMT
I have two steel boilers with copper tubes, I have recently seen a copper tubed boiler which failed due to the tube plates being eaten away next to the copper tubes. How do I try to avoid this trouble? Do I add a sacrificial metal to the boiler, if so what material? Or is there another solution to this problem? I use a well known boiler treatment.
Any ideas much appreciated.
Thank you.
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Post by GWRdriver on Jun 20, 2006 18:31:57 GMT
Copper flues in steel is probably the most common combination of boiler materials over here and in many years I've never heard reports of a such extreme effects, or anything close for that matter. Obviously the boiler you saw was the victim of an unusually strong galvanic action, and it's dificult to imagine how reasonably mineral or salts-free water could have set this up, but the water chemical content is the culprit. A plug containing a sacrifical bar of zinc might provide a good level of corrosion protection but I've known many boilers run regularly on untreated water with no sacrificial plug which have served happily for many years.
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Post by albertsell on Jun 21, 2006 18:10:29 GMT
Thank you GWRdriver, your thoughts are more or less the same as my own.I will await funther comments before I take any action.
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ewal
Part of the e-furniture
Happiness is a good wife & a steam engine.
Posts: 293
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Post by ewal on Jul 8, 2006 20:52:50 GMT
I to have never heared of any trouble with steel & copper boilers, mine have been trouble free. The late Bill Kirkland of Ollerton sawed the boiler of his 10 1/4 inch Sir Nigel Gresley in half after 30 years continuous weekend running, he found a slight thinning of the steel but nothing else & he reckoned it would have done another 20 years, incidentally the boiler was riveted & built by him & his wife.
ewal.
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waggy
Statesman
Posts: 747
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Post by waggy on Jul 9, 2006 11:19:00 GMT
Just as a matter of interest, "PENDER", the Isle of Man loco sectioned and on display in the Manchester Science and Technology museum had brass tubes!
The man put in charge of sectioning the loco was a member of our club, he gave a very interesting talk on the subject and handed round a piece of tube which showed a good degree of corrosion. Indeed, some of the tubes had all but disappeared whilst the loco was stored unused. If you see the loco it has all the tube ends in place, what's there are the remains of the original tubes, cut and placed to very good effect.
Waggy.
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