Saturday, 18 October 2014 - Project Update

Well again its been some time since the last report so as the saying goes "Better late than never"

Whilst some of the team have been taking time off the project for a break, Greg, Josh and Jayden have been concentrating on removing the scale from the bottom of the boiler barrel and have done a fantastic job doing so. It has taken longer than expected due to the restrictions in the throat plate cavity previously explained but as you can see by the before and after photo's below there was a lot of debris to move. There is small amounts of scale remaining but this will be removed over the next couple of weeks.

Great job guys.!!


Before

After

We only have a couple of jobs remaining, remove the remaining scale in the boiler, remove the arch tube plugs and remove the centre supporting beam for the grate so the remainder of the foundation ring could be cleaned. However Saturday the 18th looked like it was going to be a day where all things would go wrong, a hire compressor that was needed to remove the arch tube plugs was not available, we hadn't organised a needle gun to continue with the cleaning of the boiler so it looked like a wasted day was ahead of us.

With only the removal of the supporting beam for the grate on the list of tasks that looked like it could be completed, Alec gathered up jacks, sleepers and blocks required to lift it out of its supporting brackets so it could be moved to one side. It was thought that to lift this beam which would weigh approximately 250kg was going to be a huge task in itself as there is not a lot of room at the bottom of the ash pan to place equipment to lift it.

Sleepers were placed through the ash pan doors to give the jacks an area to distribute the load and to minimise the risk of damaging the ash pan floor. A track lifting jack was then placed on top of these and fitted as close to centre of the beam possible and slowly raised until it came in contact with the beam. To our surprise it lifted easily out of the brackets of which it was then blocked up clear of these. The beam was then moved clear of the brackets and lowered so it rested on the ash pan skirt. The brackets were later removed so cleaning could continue.

The centre supporting beam for the grate

With that out of the way, what next..? We found an old needle gun which didn't work so why not try and fix it, we had nothing to loose..? Again as if it was our lucky day, with a couple of taps and words of encouragement from Greg, the tool fired up. Cleaning could recommence.

The last of the hurdles was the removal of the arch tube plugs, what have we got to loose..? Lets keep persisting in their removal. These plugs are about 80-90mm in diameter and have about 50mm of thread in contact. The previous attempt in their removal was only successful in one of the four being completed with the other three refusing to even think about moving and without a bigger compressor forget about it..!!!

Well as said before, it was our lucky day, with our small compressor working flat out all three were removed, the work area was full of smiling faces. Well done Greg and Kirk.

Arrow points to the Arch Tube Plug

Arch Tube Plugs Removed

With the plug removed, the arch tube is revealed,
to give some sort of scale of the plugs, the arch tube is approx. 60mm inside diameter.



Greg holding the last of the stubborn plugs, look at that smile..!!

After all the doom and gloom to start with, we had a very productive day. So what's next.? Mainly just cleaning prior to calling the boiler inspector to give it the once over.

Well done team, your efforts are appreciated.