I am building an outside wood fired boiler

Have had one that actually heated hot water for use in the house in NJ. Heated 1/2 a gallon tank for constant flow(160 degree) hot water up to 6 gal a min nice. along with hot water base board. each room zoned separately. I think it was set at 30 psi for heat and 60 for hot water.

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We have a Central Boiler and the damper shuts DOWN at 180 (185? darn memory). The newer ones,iirc, are at 175 shut down.

Will be checking in from time to time as that is an intersting project. Again, if my memory serves, over at the forestry forum there is a bunch of people who have done the same type of project. On your underground pex you really want the good insulation. Otherwise the heat lose is substantial.

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tab

Thanks for the input Tab. I have went back and looked at the temps and they are all over the world.
Some companies has the shut down temp as far as 10 degrees different from one model to another one and it seems to me that the majority of what I have read has it turning off at 185*, but they all have a 15* difference between opening and closing the draft door.
I think it was one company that works with 150* on and 165* off.
I can't find it in any of the information that I have now from Central Boilers and I am sure that I still have all the pamphlets they sent me so it must have been the dealer that told me when I talked to him on the phone, but I know somewhere I either read or was told that C. Boilers opened @ 180* and closed @ 195*.
But I have caught him telling me one thing one time where I wrote it down and then changing what he said the next time, so he very well may have made a mistake and told me 180 & 195* when it isn't correct.
I know he once told me the pump only run when the blower ran and then changed that to the pump runs all the time and the fan is what keeps the temp right in the house.
But what ever they do, the thing is adjustable so I have decided to set it at the lowest temperature that will get the job done in order to take better care of the already used metal of the two oil tanks that I am using for the firebox and the water tank here.
I am not worried in the least about any of the other metal and actually I'm not worried about the 48" x 60" tank that will be my water tank, but the firebox does worry me a bit.
But I figure if this one will last through out the winter, it will more than save me enough money to buy the metal to make a stainless steel firebox next summer.
It would have saved me more than $500 just for the month of Jan. last winter.
I figure last winter cost me close to $2,000 for the heat and a mostly 3/16" stainless steel firebox, with the, well wait a minute there.
I am putting a 3/8" thick x 24" wide coal and ash pan in it for this winter, so I won't have to replace that next spring/summer.
Counting that which I can use over when I do rebuild it the stainless steel for the firebox won't cost me but about $700 at the most and I know that will last me the rest of my life.
Well I think I'll go check the forestry forum and see what they have cooking, LOL.

Godspeed

Ranger

Hah, I have spoken with dealers like that. Again iirc, 150 and 165 temps were what Taylor used to do. I believe that made a complete burn a bit less efficient. 195 is to close to boiling. In actual usage, the furnace can boil water. I have had times where the water temps got low, usually due to running out of wood, in the subsequent long burn time, the wood really gets cooking. I can hear the water churning. Usually it is close to shutting down by then. If not, I have shut things down on occaision manually due to the thought it just isn't good to have such a roaring fire. If it were to go to 195 I am pretty sure boiling would be an issue. It only seems to happen due to owner neglect.....An ash pan is a good thing! Idk if the newer Central Boilers have one, ours doesn't and it is the major complaint I have. I would also question your burn time. We have kept our boiler going in the summer in years past for the hot water. I loaded once per day lightly. It seemed to burn well doing that plus, it was easier to remember!
I would also strongly recommend testing and treating your water. Corrosion is the enemy. The test kits allow you to check ph and for the corrct amount of corrosion inhibitor. Neither item is overly expensive.

These are just thoughts gleaned from using one for over a decade.

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tab

Thank you so much for those "Just thoughts" LOL.
What you brought up is very important and I had thought about them all some, but I admit that I see now that I hadn't spent as much time as I should have in doing so.
After posting the PO, I have decided to keep the temperature down as low as I can and it get the job done. No use in racing to a burned out firebox, and yes, I am going to keep a good heads up on the chemical activity of the water.
I know that I need to do a lot of studying on this subject before I ever start the first fire in it.
I have never had a boiler so this will be all new to me. All I have really done was study the way the different companies build their boilers and then take what I believe to be the best of the best ideas and hopefully added a couple of important ideas to the mix to come up with an exceptional design.
I hope so anyway.
But I have heated with wood a lot, so yes, a large ash pan was a given on this project.
I built a fireplace tube grate/blower system for a fireplace I had a few years ago and it did great except that I had the bottom about an inch or so too low and it was a monster to get the ashes cleaned out from under that one and I made the best fitting shovel specially for it and that didn't make it much easier.
I couldn't raise it up because I built it as large as I could for my smallish fireplace and it was a really tight fit as it was.

If you don't mind since you have first hand knowledge here, would you answer a few questions for me?
#1: Does your pump run 24/7's of only when the fan is on?
I am thinking it needs to run 24/7's.

#2: Does it look as if your draft door does a good job of shutting the air flow off?
That is one thing that I am concerned with. I want the airflow to completely stop when it is in the doormat mode to save all the wood I can.

#3: Does the 150* to 165* temperature spread works pretty good for you?
I am thinking that it will be OK if it will let the fire have a clean burn, but I have an better idea for that also.

#4: How old is the system that you have now?
I am pretty sure that if this boiler will make it for the heating season coming that I'll start building a stainless steel firebox for it as soon as I get this one on line. Like I said, the ash pan will already be there so that takes a pretty good chunk of the stainless steel out of building the firebox over.

#5: Do you know what the thickness is of your firebox and the holding tank??

#6: And is any of it stainless steel or regular plate steel?

#7: Where do you live so I'll know your weather and how much wood do you burn in a year?

I am going to burn mine year round to heat the domestic water with also.
I'd appreciate any more help you can give me here, and thanks again for those Just Thoughts, LOL.

Godspeed

Ranger

Simplest set up i seen was on a 100+ year house.The thermostat controlled the pump.It went to one side of a 24 volt coil contactor .The other side of the 24vac transformer was straight through to the contactor coil ,that when energised would come on and send 240 higher voltage to the pump to send hot water to the radiators. The fire was controlled by a sumeriable temperature probe install in the water well in the boiler. That voltage went to the gas valve and would shut down the boiler. In your case it would go to the damper.Make sure to put a bleed or auto bleed as high on the system as you can air bound is no fun.I have also seen some that the pump stays on all the time costing more to run. Just make sure you have as many safety shut offs in place as possible .I have more experience with gas fire an not much with wood fired.

Ok, circulating pump runs 24/7. A pump for each manifold valve. House pump larger than shop. Non pressurized system b/c it runs to heat exchanger in the old furnace, works off thermostat. Have bleeders valves on inside water lines.
Pump keeps water moving for more even heating.

Draft door shuts and within a few minutes there is next to no flame and very little smoke when u open door.

Temp range, iirc, 170 to 185. You have to have enough heat to exchange without cooling the return too much. Again, insulated underground pipes.

Story time, we had used our boiler for some time and wood usage seemed to jump one year. Noticed the ground over the water lines always seemed to be melted, strange. By chance, we spoke w/ a dealer that told us the insulation had gone bad on the pex pipe. It had, wasn't cheap, but had to replace. Pex lines are in a ridgid foam insulation covered with a black plastic. Amazing stuff. Put your hand on it where it comes out in cellar and no heat is felt.

We started using this furnace in 2001. Circulating pumps last 3-5 years.

I have specs somewhere as to the thickness of the steel. Iirc, stainless was not available or else extremely expensive.

Live in NNY. We currently have 24 face cord stacked with plans for about 8 more. Most years we have leftover. Last winter I was stacking wood in Dec. Lots of wind which is worse than cold. I also use lots of hot water.

Whew! That's a lot of tapping on this phone.

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tab

Good Lord Tab, 24 cords of wood would heat this place for nearly a half dozen years, but then I am not in NNY either.

I expect that it's a lot more important to have extra good insulation for the pipes way up north than it is down here on the Mason Dixon line.
I'd expect that it helps to bury the pipe as deep as you can also. I'll get my cousin to dig mine with a ditch digger that will get down to about 3 feet so that should help with that right much, plus I have been trying to get a hold of someone at the company that makes the spray foam insulation to see if I can buy it in a 25 gallon tank instead of the little cans.
My rent man bought a 25 Lb. tank of contact cement like that and that tank has lasted for several years and I have put a lot of Formica up for him too. It was pretty cheap compared to buying smaller cans of it.
I can get all the plastic 5" drain pipe I need really cheap and if I can get the foam I'll do my own insulated pipes.

You have been using yours for 13 years so she has held up pretty good so far. I hope she'll last a lot longer for you.
As I said, I am going to have the stainless steel ash pan and then next spring I'll operate on her and replace the rest of the fire box with stainless steel too.
I'm not to sure if I am or not. It's one of those danged if you do and danged if you don't, for me. I'm not worried at all about the tank, but the I am concerned about the firebox b/c it is just an old fuel tank to start with and it isn't nearly as thick as I thought it was when I first started this project. I thought sure it was 1/4" at first looking at the welds on the ends but after I cut into it I found out it isn't but 3/16" but it being surrounded by water, maybe it will last one season anyway.
At least I'll have the electric to fall back on if it doesn't hold up all winter.

I figured that the pump would need to run all the time to keep the water in the lines from getting cold and it taking so long to heat them back up and get heat to the exchanger.
My system is going to be so small for the house and shop both that I am thinking that I can just use one pump and tee off to the shop and set two 1" valves there so I can regulate the flow until I get what I want and then just leave it alone. If not, I am going to have a 2 1/2" box tubing that is going to come out of the back where the pump will be mounted and I can add another pump later for the shop. Heck, I can add several pumps there if needed so if I do make a deal to supply the heat for any of the neighbors around the corner here, I will mount a separate pump for each one of them.
That brings to mind a modification that I need to make before I seal it up. Here I go again.

What kind of chemicals do you use in your boiler? If yours is still going strong after this many years it must be some good stuff.

Well, I am like you now. I have tapped on this phone enough too, LOL.

Godspeed

Ranger

I haven't posted anything about the boiler for a while but I have been working on it on and off and taking pictures as I go for all to see. That is if I can get them posted right.
I got the top half of the manifold tacked into the firebox today and this evening.
I'll tell you one thing, and that is when everyone takes off for church and you have half a manifold to install in a firebox by yourself, it seems that they gain weight. I don't know what it weighs but it is certainly more than my little light a double s does.
I am one tired puppy dog right now, but it is tacked in for me to start welding it out in the morning.
As soon as I finish that I'll be connecting the two half's together and pressure testing her, which I am 99.9% sure she'll be fine, but given my eyesight now, I wouldn't bet my life that there won't be a leak so I'll test it for safeties sake.
Anyway, I have the pictures of the work on it all the way up to now and if God be willing, I'll be posting them very shortly.
I want to make sure I can get them posted and they come out right before I seal her up and can't get any more pictures of the firebox from the outside.
Just thought I'd give anyone interested a short update for now.

Godspeed

Ranger

Well, I am still chunking along on the boiler and I finally got enough done to fill up one of the 27 photo throw away 35 mm camera's so maybe I can get them posted here before long.
I ordered a taco pump and the flanges for it Saturday and just checked on the order and it has finally been shipped sometime since yesterday morning so I should get it by Friday and I'll be ready to pressure test the boiler as soon as I can weld the flanges on her. I am going to go buy a 1 1/4" hole saw to cut the holes for the flanges in a few minutes.
It has been a lot of work and still right much to go, but it is coming together any how.
There isn't as much left to do by a long shot as what I have already done, but it'll still take a couple more weeks and I will certainly be happy when I do get her on line. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn't get her done before I started having to pay some high utility bills and having to spend that money again this year would have stopped the work on the boiler again, but all I need to buy now is a few bags of concrete to set the rack in and the PEX tubing and I have located that for less than $150 counting shipping.
I kept searching for my pump on line and finally bought it and the flanges plus shipping for $100.30.
That is less than half of what it looked like I was going to have to pay at first, but the more I searched the cheaper I kept finding them.
The day after I ordered the one I did I got an ad emailed to me with the same pump that I could have bought, along with the flanges and shipping for $91.65 but I was about to cancel the order then and start all over to save less than 10 bucks.
I'll do my best to try and get the pictures posted by the weekend. I feel like many of you think that I am just full of hot air but I am working on her. Just taking longer than I expected and things keep stopping me. I couldn't do much yesterday and don't know about today yet either because I burned my dang eyes welding. I'd bet that this is the first time I have done that in twenty five years. The left eye isn't bad but I got the right eye pretty good. I think I'll just fiddle around and drill the holes and maybe do a bit of fitting and not weld much today.

Godspeed

Ranger

I built one 10 years ago. I used a 500 gallon propane tank for the firebox. THe walls are 3/8" thick. I bought 1/4" plate steel to make the water jacket. Mine is an open system. No pressure. Pump runs 24/7. We use it to heat our domestic water all summer wiht a plate heat exchanger. We heat the house in the winter with a heat exchanger in the plenum of our old forced air furnace. An aquatstat in the water jacket controls the boiler blower. THe house thermostat controls the forced air furnace blower.

I didnt put any cross tubed through the firebox. THat was a mistake. It is very inefficient. If I ever built another one, I will add them.

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Thanks for the reply there Michigan Farmer. Congratulations on getting yours built. I pray it didn't take you as long to finish yours as it has me to get as far as I have finally had.
Actually I am sure it didn't because it took a good bit of time building the two halves of the manifold with the cross tubes, cutting the fire box tank and fitting that into it, etc., but even as late as I'll be getting it on-line I think it was well worth it.
It's to late in the season for you to do it now but if you have a shop to work out of the cold, it would more than likely be worth it to build you a manifold with the cross flow pipes and have it ready to install as soon as spring gets here on the rainy days that you're stuck in the house with nothing to do.
I can't say that to be a fact, but it is my belief that the tubes inside the firebox, and especially the tubes in the grate where all the coals will be surrounding and making contact with, with the water running through them 24/7's will be a heck of a help as far as efficiency goes. Plus when the draft door is open or the blower is on (I am not decided as to where I will use a draft door or forced air jets pointed directly into the base of the fire yet) the secondary chamber should add a lot of heat that would go up the chimney other wise.
But as I said, That is just my speculation for now.
This thing has kept me broke every since I started it and I still have the buy the supply and return pipes for the water, the water to air heat exchangers to heat the house and the shop, and the materials to make two water to water heat exchangers to heat our domestic hot water too.
But for all of you that has been following this project even though I haven't ever posted any pictures yet, I will shortly able to post all of them that I have taken from the start to finish.
Or I'll probably post the 27 off the first roll and then the rest of them later when I actually have her burning wood and heating the house etc.,.
Well, I have emptied and cut into the tank that will be the storage tank and only got about 45 gallons of used motor oil that would drain out of a 1/2" tube and the rest is pure sludge I have to get out but I'll burn that too.
I was right on this tank and it is 1/4" thick and I figured the amount of steel it would take to build it and the steel would have cost me $972.00 plus the tax.
I didn't give but $75 for it.

Well my computer locked up on me last night and done it's own thing and posted the above post before I was even ready to do so, but I finally got it working again this morning. So I'll pick up where I was last night.
As I said, just the metal to build the tank for her would have been $972 plus $43.74 for tax would ave been a total of $1,015.74 and that doesn't count rolling the the sides and dishing the end caps for the tank or welding it all together either.
If I'd had Jarrett Welding made that tank for me they would have probably charged over 2 grand for it si I really lucked up when I found that one for $75 bucks and it is still like brand new and I couldn't have ordered it to been any more perfect for the tank than it is. I was so happy when I opened her up and found out that it was a quarter inch thick too.
Well, the cold wet weather is here so I went out and dug the footings for the stand yesterday so I can pour them today and start digging the ditch for the supply and return pipes.
I wanted to get that out the way before the cold wet crap sets in for a couple of months here like it likes to do this time of year.
I'm not sure if I'll get the tank insulated this year or not and then again, maybe I will. I just happened to think that it will be nice and warm around that thing until I do get it insulated and I also thought about the U.S. Army tents I have. I hadn't thought about them until just now. Yea, I can pretty much enclose the boiler, hook up some lights and and then insulate the tank and enclose it no matter how bad the weather gets.
Well, if I ever get to a drugs store to have this film developed I'll try my best to get the pictures that I have posted. At least I am pretty much taking the pictures from one phase to another so I do have right many of them. I have just been working on the boiler so much everything else has pretty much been sidelined.

Godspeed

Ranger

Got a question for you here.
When I first started working on my boiler which has been a slow go for waiting for the cash to buy materials with mainly, but I started off simply studying the way boilers in the industry were all built and designing mine using there best ideas along with what I thought were good additions to what was on the market from the furnace/boiler industry.
I didn't get into studying about the oxygen rusting the insides of the boilers and now I am too far along with my boiler to attempt to build a pressurized system and don't want it pressurized anyway so my boiler will also be an open type system.
Well, I have had several people telling me that I needed to use the oxygen barrier tubing which I was until stopping to think about it.
If I have an open system, what good would the oxygen barrier do me?
I don't see that it would make a hill of beans with an open system.
What type of supply and return pipe did you use?
All I need to buy now to put her on-line is the pipe and the water to air heat exchangers to heat the house and shop, other than the materials to build the water to water heat exchangers for the hot water heat but that will come later now.
Thanks for the input.

Godspeed

Ranger

My dads door opening rotted out from creosote so we had to cut the front of his furnace off to build a new door openening. His is an open system also. He has been using his about 6 years, never added and treament to his water, and all the steel looked good. It had some rust scale, but very minor. We are confident the furnace will last him another 15 years.

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Professional Tool. 1220 Woodmere Ave,Traverse City, MI. 49686. 231-941-8003. http://professionaltool.com/

I think that I'll go ahead and use some of the treatment and keep it in there but that is mainly because the firebox isn't nearly as thick a gauge metal as I wish it were, plus the fact that some of it already has some small pits rusted into it, but what you said makes me feel a lot better about the situation I find myself in.
I have spent a lot of time, hard work, and money getting her to where she's at for her to fall apart before I even get the first year in.
I am going to buy 1/4" stainless steal from the savings on the heat bill I'll have this winter and rebuild her this coming spring, but now you make me wonder about needing to do that with stainless steal now. I know that 1/4" cold roll plate will be a heck of a lot cheaper than the stainless plate will be.
Anyway, thanks again for the heads up.

Godspeed

Ranger

that the most of you think that I am as full of hot air as a hot air balloon is when it lifts four people off the ground and I don't blame any one of you that does, but hang on just a bit longer and you will finally see some of the pictures I have been promising you for a year ( + / - ) now!
My daughter has finally took the first camera with 27 pictures on it in the drug store to get the pictures made but they told her that no one does the one-hour development any longer.
I haven't checked to see if that is true or not but they said it would be 10 days to two weeks before they come back so there isn't anything that I can change about that now anyway but I am still chucking along on the boiler.
I expect that most of you are in a little better shape physically than I am, but even so, I never thought that it would take me this long to finish this project.
I will say however, that a lot of the time it has taken has been because of the waiting periods when I didn't have the money to buy what ever materials I needed to continue working and some times, that was as little a $12 and change for welding rods that kept me setting tight for a few days at a time.

Anyway, if all the pictures that I have taken on that camera develops good, I should have 27 of them to post in a week and a few days now, give or take a bit and by then I'll have the second camera finished and I will do a bit more searching to have them developed to put on here too. I pray that will work out anyhow.

Well, right now I am setting pretty good with the boiler. Getting a lot closer to completion, "Thank the Good Lord!"
The firebox is complete, with the manifolds welded but I didn't pressure test it. I feel sure that it is good to go and testing it will set me back too much time so I went ahead and fit the firebox to the front of the holding tank and am welding it now.
I am not even going to say that it should be welded by tonight because it seems as if I do, I will be jinxed and it will take a few days to finished it for one reason or the other.
My wife talked to Sheryl, who is my cousin Marks wife yesterday and Sheryl told her that Mark was working on the plumbing at a double wide that he rents out so I am just setting in my corner quite as a mouse hoping he will get that fixed and I can continue to work on my project, PLEASE!
Anyway, if nothing gets in the way, the firebox will be welded to the face of the tank in just a few hours. Shouldn't even take two hours but that hasn't been the way things have so far.
Mark wants me to build him one when I finish this one if all works out well, but Thank God, that will all be from brand new materials, from the very beginning slap to the opposite end.
These old materials and especially the thinner ones were certainly a blessing because without them I'd never have been able to get this fat along, " BUT " they have been a royal pain in the BUNNS to use,
More Later on but for now, I have to get back at it.

Godspeed

Ranger

I didn't mean to but I did. I said the firebox was complete and what I should have said was it is complete to the point that I can weld it on to the tank, which was going to be my very next move until the thermometer said it was 16 degrees this morning. That plus Mark had a tooth which required surgery to get out of his head and he isn't in any move to be riding a tractor today by a long shot.
Anyway, I hadn't thought much about the door until now, thinking that was the least of my problems, but now as it stands, the door just became my main problem.
The only designing of the door that I had done before this morning was that the size was going to be 24" tall 24" wide and would use some size angle iron for the door edge and frame and be air tight.
Well I have spent much of the morning so far searching the possible ways to build it and which would suit me best and I am not going to rush into starting it before I am happy with the design and right now I am getting my own self confused.
I sure wish I had a plasma cutter. I am glad that I came to ya'll to talk this out, because I just heard one of you say, well what would they charge you at the welding shop to cut out the parts for you, ready to go. At least that's what I just came up with.
I'll just draw them out and take the sheet over today and they have them for me by lunch tomorrow.

Well as soon as I thought about that I set the keyboard out of the way and drew the parts I needed and carried them on over to the shop, so now I am back fro an update.
He wanted way too much for me to let them do it at the shop but he said I could use one of the machines to do all the cutting I need to do for a Jackson. I have two other small jobs that I can fit in there and get all the metal cut to finish them both tomorrow too, so I guess the rest of my night will be designing and drawing.
You know, I can't believe the way hunting has changed since I was a teenager hunting deer.
An old dog house tossed up in the back of a truck with 3 or 4 dogs was all it use to take to hunt deer, and that was if you even used a dog to start with.
I don't like deer meat that was hunted with dogs. Most people say that I am full of it but I can taste the difference in a dog that was chased by dogs before it was killed, and I can only think that it is from the adrenalin that gets into the meat while the deer is running for it's life.
Anyway, both the jobs are fixing dog cages in the back of two trucks because in their brilliant episode of craftsmanship they both screwed up somewhere along the line. I need to get me a small MIG Welder also. I have a thousand small screws I need to tack in place that are falling out of the thin wall tubing they both used,
Hey, hey, hey, LOL.

Godspeed

Ranger

I wonder if I'll get the boiler finished before I turn 61? LOL.
Nah, I am almost there but waiting of friends to do as they say they will.
I did just get a Ford Tractor brought over this evening so I can move this monster around and put her together.
I have the firebox completely finished and ready to stick in the tank and weld her shut and then it's pretty much no brains work from there, except getting the thermometer and all set up with the draft closer. That is one section I am going to have to do one step at a time because I haven't a clue as to what I am doing there.
I have already gotten the pump, the pipe, and the water to air heat exchanger for the heat and I have poured the concrete pads for the frame to set on that will hold it all off the ground. I did that a few days ago.
I have one roll of pictures developed but I lost one camera unless it pops up, but put the disc from the first one in the computer so I can show you all what I have so far but I am lost at posting them for now. I am going to take the disc to my sisters house and get her to post them for me.
As I said, I am good with my hands, but dumb as dirt when it comes to this computer.
Maybe I can get the pictures I have posted and tell you what they are in the next few days.
Every one have a Very Merry Christmas.

Godspeed

Ranger

This boiler has been a monster since I started it but I didn't know what the problem was until a couple days ago.
All of you know how I was so happy because I was saving so much money on materials by using the two tanks for the firebox and storage tank?
Biggest mistake I ever made. I have had trouble making every weld that I have made on this thing and I swear I thought it was because my eyes. They have been going away on me slowly and I thought they had just hit a bad spot and getting worse faster.
I have ground down the metal at every weld I have made to where it looked like chrome an inch away from the edge to be welded but it didn't help a bit.
That was on the firebox, but when I got that inside the tank and brought it all in the shop and started welding on it, all heck broke loose.
I finally broke down and ask one of my good friends that is in between shut downs, who welds as good as I ever did to finish the welding out for me because I just couldn't see it any longer.
Well, Tracy came over last Saturday and got started and he went off right from the beginning saying that it was the metal.
Tracy is funny sometimes and at first I thought he was full of it and then he went out and grabbed a couple of pieces of 1/4" x 2" flat bar and ground them down and made a coupon as if we were taking a welding test and welded about half of it up hill and it looked great.
And I then welded the rest of it just as pretty as his was.
Well what the heck gives here. I finished welding school about 43 years ago and I'd never heard this one.
Sometimes when plate metal is rolled or whatever, it is done at a temperature just a hair too cool and you get microscopic pinheads in it. After years of setting with whatever type of oil it had in it over the years, it actually get oil logged, as in water logged wood.
Plus, even when the metal was new, when the tank was made it got porosity in the welds and that extra porosity got even more oil logged and yes, just about everywhere I cut this tank, happened to be in the middle of a weld. And me and my dumb self did that on purpose to make it look better in the end.
There are several places that I made welds on the tank that weren't where a weld was and for the most part, they welded up pretty good, but where the welds were, I have some places where I have ran 5 or 6 passes, grinding out the porosity in between each pass before getting the metal cleaned out enough to cap, and they should have been a single pass weld to start with. I could make the first pass and take a cut off disc and slice the top off and the center would look like a pin cushion.
So there you all have it. That is what has taken me so long to get this dang boiler built.

Please, don't anyone do as I did, thinking there will be any savings in materials. When you run up to 6 times as many passes as it should take, you are burning that many more rods, which aren't cheap by any means, and then you grind out 3/4 of the weld that you are putting on it trying to get rid of the porosity which also eats up $2 +/- worth of cutting and/or grinding disc. Then you are burning the electricity not only to weld it, but for the grinding also.
Plus if I had spent the $1,100 or whatever it was to bought new plate metal and had it rolled, I would have finished this thing 3 months ago and that would have saved me, give or take a few bucks, about $1,100 on the electric bills I have paid.

So in the end, what I thought was a great idea, has turned out to be a major screw up, for me anyway.

Godspeed

Ranger