This client in Chelmsford, Massachusetts had an asbestos-covered gravity hot water boiler from 1905 that was originally coal-fired, later converted to oil-fired, then even converted to natural gas. This unit had a catastrophic blowout. It lost all of its water and continued to fire even after the water was all gone. It caused the boiler to expand and blow outward and knocked the asbestos off around the outer sides of the boiler. Then as the flame continued it began shooting flame out the sides and top. You can see burn marks up the sides and along the white asbestos insulation. The wood floor joists were seared black. It’s an absolute miracle this 1905 two-family home was not a pile of ash. After the asbestos abatement company removed the asbestos around the boiler, we were able to get in and cut out and see all the damage that occurred. We removed the old boiler and brought in a new Pure-Pro Advantage cast iron 84% efficient gas-fired forced hot water boiler. Repiped the old gravity 2” dual supply and return piping. Piped in a new Taco 007 circulator with a Spiro-vent air removal unit, proper thermal expansion tank, automatic water feed and backflow valve. Replaced all the radiator air vents and wired it in with proper hard-wired smoke and carbon monoxide detector. If you’re in the Chelmsford MA greater Lowell Middlesex County area and would like to upgrade your home to a new high efficient heating, central AC, add Ductless AC, Tankless water heater or add water purification. Please visit our web site to request an in-home evaluation and quote. https://dibaccoplumbing.com/contact/
Okay, here we are in Chelmsford today. I got a call from an old friend who’s got a rental property here that has this old, we call them snowmen, 100-year-old boiler that’s covered in asbestos that had a catastrophic leak, leaked out the side, but the flame didn’t go out and the boiler continued to heat until flame was coming out of it and, you could see here, it burned away a good section of it before anybody caught on to it. So we’re going to have to find, and this is a gravity hot water system, we’re going to have to find a hot water boiler that can fit in this spot here. He’s going to have to have this asbestos taken off before we can do anything. And you can see inside of it—oh, you really can’t, because there’s another light. Let me get a flashlight. The boiler cracked and you can see in the back wall the cracks and flame was shooting out of the sides of this.
So this was almost a house fire. So Michael and I have to find some way to fit a gas hot water boiler in this place and tie it back in. All right, back here, hoping to get this boiler in here today, but we were held up because of asbestos and we still are waiting to get in. They have the whole thing tented off. Hopefully this will be done soon so we can get started on it, restoring heat to this little house. We get a good, is a good view of one of the spots that flew apart. That’s right through to the fire chamber. Big blowout in the back right here. That’s the water line, don’t bend that. Another, another big crack in the system right along here. Another blowout in the back where you can see. This house should have gone up in flames. [Music] Foreign gravity hot water. Straight street pressure in. No backflow valve. No pressure relief valve on this boiler.
And this boiler failed. Has been working since 1905 and it blew apart, cracked out the back, it knocked all the asbestos off. This was a catastrophic situation that I’m shocked that the house didn’t burn to the ground. You get around the back here, you can see, look at the two cracks like it just blew out, blew apart. All right, here’s the completed project. Got it up and running today, new Pure pro advantage three-section cast iron. There’s our gas line. Because we had all these old radius I wanted to put this Y-strainer in here to keep some of the sediment down and rust, the particles from getting in. That around here pumping away is our auto feed, backflow circulator going up here. We twin together this, the two supply lines. I added individual isolation valves so that we could individually isolate and purge. No more fire hazard. Carbon monoxide, smoke detector in place with help from our master electrician Mr. Bugnani.
There you go. Merry Christmas Eve.