Been doing this trade 22 years and saw something wild this morning

I was breaking out a 40 year old boiler at the old paper mill in Green Bay and the tube sheets looked hand drilled. Compared to a new unit we installed last month where everything is laser cut. The old stuff was rougher but honestly it held up better against corrosion. Has anyone seen older boilers outlast the new ones too?

2 comments

2 Comments

harris.aaron1d ago

Green Bay mill, huh? My old man worked a similar plant up in Superior back in the 80s and I remember him saying the same thing about the old boilers. The hand drilled stuff had that ugly rough look but the metal was thicker and way more forgiving than the new alloy thin wall stuff we see now. I bet those hand drilled tube sheets had a little more room for expansion too, which probably kept the stress cracks away for years. It's a bummer seeing new gear that's technically "better" on paper but just doesn't take the beating like the old iron did.

mia4421d ago

New alloys are actually better at handling heat and pressure, even if they don't look as tough. The old hand drilled tube sheets had more uneven spots that could trap debris and cause corrosion over time. Those stress cracks your dad saw were probably from poor design and materials, not from using modern engineering.