Re: Electrically fired Boilers?
Posted: Wed Sep 02, 2020 6:32 pm
Allow me to share what come to call the “Aerospace Plumber”. The incident occurred in Longview, WA in the early 80’s. A young couple complained that they had recently started to get hot water when they first opened the cold water tap (clue #1). The apartment manager called the plumber and after a look at the situation installed a check valve on the tank inlet. No more hot water out of the cold problem solved, he thought?
Around midnight when the, couple was tucked in there bed, an eruption took place that lifted the roof off of the building, and pushed the wall against one side of the bed. Surprisingly the couple other than frightened and covered in sheetrock dust, had escaped injury. Parts of the tank were later found a couple hundred yards away on a ball park.
Clue #1: This was a recent occurrence. The plumber should have first checked for a stuck thermostat which will cause the water to over heat and expand back into the cold water line. As a public water works operator, I have seen plastic number wheels in a meter register melted as a result of hot water backing out of the house because of a stuck thermostat.
In addition to over looking the above, the plumber missed the fact that this was an old installation which did not have the relief valve on the tank. You guessed it, he installed the check valve between the tank and the relief valve. Duh, it’s not rocket science, or is it?
Dave
PS. In the Jan/Feb 2014 “Model Engineer” page 32 is a photo of the electric boiler used by the author, Bob Bramson, to test small ejectors and injectors.
Around midnight when the, couple was tucked in there bed, an eruption took place that lifted the roof off of the building, and pushed the wall against one side of the bed. Surprisingly the couple other than frightened and covered in sheetrock dust, had escaped injury. Parts of the tank were later found a couple hundred yards away on a ball park.
Clue #1: This was a recent occurrence. The plumber should have first checked for a stuck thermostat which will cause the water to over heat and expand back into the cold water line. As a public water works operator, I have seen plastic number wheels in a meter register melted as a result of hot water backing out of the house because of a stuck thermostat.
In addition to over looking the above, the plumber missed the fact that this was an old installation which did not have the relief valve on the tank. You guessed it, he installed the check valve between the tank and the relief valve. Duh, it’s not rocket science, or is it?
Dave
PS. In the Jan/Feb 2014 “Model Engineer” page 32 is a photo of the electric boiler used by the author, Bob Bramson, to test small ejectors and injectors.