[Steam-engine] Boilers / Repairs

Tue Jul 13 08:14:33 PDT 2004

Thanks for the reply Jeff,

    I agree totally about having the job done properly with the proper
paperwork. I have been talking to a certified ASME boiler fabricator with an
"S" and "R" stamp. I have access to SA516 Gr 70 material with traceable mill
certs and ASME certified welders and any welds would be x-rayed.
    My plan would be to:
    purchase the material with traceable mill certs
    have it formed
    welded by a certified welder and x-rayed
    then have the ASME certified fabricator install the barrel.

    I am just wondering if there would be an advantage to eliminating the
lap seam.

    To answer your question. I do live in Florida. The engine you are
referring to. Is it owned be Jim Crevasse and do you know how much he is
asking for it. What kind of engine does he have now?

Dan Donaldson

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jeff Smith" <steamenginesmitty at yahoo.com>
To: "Steam-engine mailing list" <steam-engine at lists.stationary-engine.com>
Sent: Tuesday, July 13, 2004 10:10 AM
Subject: [Steam-engine] Boilers / Repairs

> Dan,
>
> I would suggest that any engine you get have a
> certified boiler repair shop do the work on the engine
> because the paper trail is one of the key points to
> passing inspections.  I know of many engines that it
> would have been very simple to fix but the owner chose
> to pay for the work and the paper trail so they could
> continue to operate their engine in that state.
>
> I know that I have a little different opinion than
> others on the list, but that is the great thing about
> the list and all the different view points.  I don't
> look as engines as an investment because it is a hobby
> to me, and with any hobby I am in, I look to lose
> money in it, but, to me a non-certified boiler is of
> no value to me.  Trying to get a boiler with any weld
> on it and no paper trail is tough to get inspected or
> impossible in some states.  I know of many engines in
> the area where my father lives, that the owner would
> have to take an engine and have the old welds removed
> (sometimes even sections of the boiler) and new welds
> by a certified shop with the paper trail completed
> before the inspector would even come back to look at
> the engine, and they inspected those engines for
> years.  This is not a cheap hobby, and I try to
> protect my purchase to some degree, and keep some
> value on it so if I do sell it, I can recover some of
> the original outlay of cash.
>
> Are you set on this engine?  Are you located in
> Florida?  I know of an engine in Florida coming up for
> sale soon that is by far one of the best engines I
> have ever operated.  In all my years of being around
> engines, I have only seen one or two boilers in nicer
> shape than this one.  The gearing on this engine is
> perfect, and it does not make any noise.  This engine
> must have spent its entire life belted to something
> and they must have had good water or used boiler
> treatment.  This engine is a 60 hp case without
> contractor bunkers or a canopy.  It is however, a
> great engine and I have operated it many times
> personally and it was a real pleasure to operate,
> especially since it is so quiet in the gearing.  The
> owner has purchased another engine and is debating
> letting this one go because his collection is getting
> hard to manage so he has chosen the one on one off
> system and this is the one to go.
>
> I had a price on a new barrel for an engine I had and
> it was about $12k. They were going to roll a new one
> and rivet it back on with a butt strap to replace the
> lap seam. It needed a new crown sheet, and I had a
> price on a new welded firebox for the same engine
> because if it has the barrel off might as well fix
> everything instead of just the crown, and that was
> about another 10K.  They offered to build a new welded
> boiler for $20k.  I had another quote from another
> shop out of Iowa and when he came and looked at the
> engine and how rare it was he offered to build a new
> riveted boiler from the 1970 code for $25K.  I thought
> that was a good price for all the work he had to do.
> I later sold the engine though, because I just didn't
> have time for it with everything I have going on now.
>
> I think a list member in WV had a boiler repair
> completed so he could keep the paper work trail going,
> but that is what you need to do if you want something
> of any value.  There are engines out there that people
> fix themselves and operate on their property, but they
> can't take them anywhere because they can't get an
> inspection.  I know of quite a few of them now, where
> they are trying to get letters from repair shops for
> the welds they did themselves and the boiler shop
> owner is laughing at them telling them no way, or that
> he will give them a letter telling the state to run as
> far away from these engines until they get them fixed
> properly.
>
> Anyway, my $.02 worth.  A home repair job may be the
> cheap way out, but not in the long run.  It is like
> when I go to the airport with my friend and when we
> travel to his hanger we see all those guys fixing
> their own planes in the hangers, and to me those
> planes are useless without the paper trail from day
> one.
>
> Jeff Smith
>
> --- Dan Donaldson <ddonaldson at tampatank.com> wrote:
> >     I am new to this mailing list and I am glad that
> > this topic has come up.
> > I am thinking about buying a traction engine (my
> > first) and I am trying to
> > determine what I may need to do to make it
> > acceptable to run at shows. I
> > know that I will have to replace a portion of the
> > wrapper and I would like
> > to also replace the front tube sheet. My question
> > is, if I replace the front
> > tube sheet should I go ahead and replace the lap
> > seam barrel with a full
> > penetration, butt welded 3/8" thk barrel? Would I
> > then be able to operate
> > the engine at 150 psi in states like Maryland
> > assuming the rest of the
> > boiler is in good shape? In other words does a new,
> > butt welded barrel
> > eliminate the problem of the lap seam?
> >
> > Dan Donaldson
>
>
>
>
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