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Posted by Gary on January 1, 2006, 8:01 pm
Hi,
For the past few days I have been trying to remove an old backboiler from my
fireplace. I have removed the fireplace, surrounds, hearth etc but I just
can't get anywhere with the backboiler !! I don't really want to knock holes
in the wall to get around the back of the boiler and would prefer just to
break it up and remove it that way. I suspect that there are at least 2
pipes going into the rear of the boiler, which are probably the main reason
why it wont move at the moment as they will be cemented in.
I don't need to keep the boiler, so I am happy to smash it up - although
this would appear easier said than done !!!! I have tried whacking it with a
sledge-hammer, pick, and cutting at it with an angle grinder. The grinder
does make some progress - although it is VERY slow, and so far I have gone
through 3 metal cutting wheels to make only 4 cuts of less than 20cms !!! I
thought this might have been enough to weaken it, so I tried whacking it
again with the hammer - but alas, it is still solid !!
I am not sure what make the boiler is - it is basically inserted inside the
fireplace, and a 'hollow' cast iron structure.
Any advice on an easy way to get this out would be much appreciated. Perhaps
I need a heavier hammer?
Thanks in advance,
Gary
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Posted by Sacramento Dave on January 1, 2006, 8:23 pm
show/hide quoted text
> Hi,
> For the past few days I have been trying to remove an old backboiler from
> my fireplace. I have removed the fireplace, surrounds, hearth etc but I
> just can't get anywhere with the backboiler !! I don't really want to
> knock holes in the wall to get around the back of the boiler and would
> prefer just to break it up and remove it that way. I suspect that there
> are at least 2 pipes going into the rear of the boiler, which are probably
> the main reason why it wont move at the moment as they will be cemented
> in.
> I don't need to keep the boiler, so I am happy to smash it up - although
> this would appear easier said than done !!!! I have tried whacking it with
> a sledge-hammer, pick, and cutting at it with an angle grinder. The
> grinder does make some progress - although it is VERY slow, and so far I
> have gone through 3 metal cutting wheels to make only 4 cuts of less than
> 20cms !!! I thought this might have been enough to weaken it, so I tried
> whacking it again with the hammer - but alas, it is still solid !!
> I am not sure what make the boiler is - it is basically inserted inside
> the fireplace, and a 'hollow' cast iron structure.
> Any advice on an easy way to get this out would be much appreciated.
> Perhaps I need a heavier hammer?
> Thanks in advance,
> Gary
Are you sure it's cast iron, Hit with the sledge were you cut it if it's
cast it should break.
show/hide quoted text
>
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Posted by Gary on January 1, 2006, 8:47 pm
Well, I'm guessing that it is cast iron - based on the fact that the areas
where I cut cannot be bent with a crowbar.
I am in the UK and I think the boiler was installed in the late 50's or
60's. From what I have read, cast iron was a popular choice for back-boilers
at these times.
I have tried hitting the places I made the cuts, but they seem to be acting
like a sort of 'spring' and the hammer bounces back. Tomorrow I will try to
get hold of a heavier hammer, and see if I can make any progress.
Thanks for your quick reply :)
show/hide quoted text
>> Hi,
>> For the past few days I have been trying to remove an old backboiler from
>> my fireplace. I have removed the fireplace, surrounds, hearth etc but I
>> just can't get anywhere with the backboiler !! I don't really want to
>> knock holes in the wall to get around the back of the boiler and would
>> prefer just to break it up and remove it that way. I suspect that there
>> are at least 2 pipes going into the rear of the boiler, which are
>> probably the main reason why it wont move at the moment as they will be
>> cemented in.
>> I don't need to keep the boiler, so I am happy to smash it up - although
>> this would appear easier said than done !!!! I have tried whacking it
>> with a sledge-hammer, pick, and cutting at it with an angle grinder. The
>> grinder does make some progress - although it is VERY slow, and so far I
>> have gone through 3 metal cutting wheels to make only 4 cuts of less than
>> 20cms !!! I thought this might have been enough to weaken it, so I tried
>> whacking it again with the hammer - but alas, it is still solid !!
>> I am not sure what make the boiler is - it is basically inserted inside
>> the fireplace, and a 'hollow' cast iron structure.
>> Any advice on an easy way to get this out would be much appreciated.
>> Perhaps I need a heavier hammer?
>> Thanks in advance,
>> Gary
> Are you sure it's cast iron, Hit with the sledge were you cut it if it's
> cast it should break.
>
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Posted by HeyBub on January 1, 2006, 9:21 pm
Gary wrote:
show/hide quoted text
> Well, I'm guessing that it is cast iron - based on the fact that the
> areas where I cut cannot be bent with a crowbar.
> I am in the UK and I think the boiler was installed in the late 50's
> or 60's. From what I have read, cast iron was a popular choice for
> back-boilers at these times.
> I have tried hitting the places I made the cuts, but they seem to be
> acting like a sort of 'spring' and the hammer bounces back. Tomorrow
> I will try to get hold of a heavier hammer, and see if I can make any
> progress.
> Thanks for your quick reply :)
If it doesn't break, it's probably not cast iron. Cast iron is extremely
brittle.
Can you just paint over it?
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Posted by Gary on January 1, 2006, 9:51 pm
Hi,
Well, the problem is that I am doing away with the 'natural fire' and using
an electric fire. It won't fit in neatly with the backboiler still in place,
hence the reason for having to remove it.
I have just recently moved into the house, so unfortunately I can't find my
camera yet to take a pic of the boiler, which might allow you to see of it
was cast iron or not. I'm not really up on what cast iron would look like.
When I cut it with the grinder it is very shiny silver inside. This made me
think at first it might have been steel, but I wasn't sure if they make
steel back-boilers, so I opted for the cast iron guess :)
show/hide quoted text
> Gary wrote:
>> Well, I'm guessing that it is cast iron - based on the fact that the
>> areas where I cut cannot be bent with a crowbar.
>> I am in the UK and I think the boiler was installed in the late 50's
>> or 60's. From what I have read, cast iron was a popular choice for
>> back-boilers at these times.
>> I have tried hitting the places I made the cuts, but they seem to be
>> acting like a sort of 'spring' and the hammer bounces back. Tomorrow
>> I will try to get hold of a heavier hammer, and see if I can make any
>> progress.
>> Thanks for your quick reply :)
> If it doesn't break, it's probably not cast iron. Cast iron is extremely
> brittle.
> Can you just paint over it?
>
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> For the past few days I have been trying to remove an old backboiler from
> my fireplace. I have removed the fireplace, surrounds, hearth etc but I
> just can't get anywhere with the backboiler !! I don't really want to
> knock holes in the wall to get around the back of the boiler and would
> prefer just to break it up and remove it that way. I suspect that there
> are at least 2 pipes going into the rear of the boiler, which are probably
> the main reason why it wont move at the moment as they will be cemented
> in.
> I don't need to keep the boiler, so I am happy to smash it up - although
> this would appear easier said than done !!!! I have tried whacking it with
> a sledge-hammer, pick, and cutting at it with an angle grinder. The
> grinder does make some progress - although it is VERY slow, and so far I
> have gone through 3 metal cutting wheels to make only 4 cuts of less than
> 20cms !!! I thought this might have been enough to weaken it, so I tried
> whacking it again with the hammer - but alas, it is still solid !!
> I am not sure what make the boiler is - it is basically inserted inside
> the fireplace, and a 'hollow' cast iron structure.
> Any advice on an easy way to get this out would be much appreciated.
> Perhaps I need a heavier hammer?
> Thanks in advance,
> Gary