Old engine, asbestos boiler lagging

[bsdmike]

Hey
I just took a boiler of an old engine and noticed asbestos poking out
the bottom. The boiler jacket needs work.

I was wonder what other people do in this situation?

Who do you call? Do you call one of the boiler guys in the yellow
pages?

I know according to our state law mere mortals can't dispose of
it....boiler is only 3.5" in diameter and 10 inches long...if
that.

Thoughts?

-Mike

[gwrdriver]

Mike,
It may or may not be asbestos. From professional dealings with ACBM abatement I learned that one cannot know with certainty by simply looking at it or feeling of it whether it is asbestos or not. I don't care what anyone says, you cannot be certain just by looking. The most dangerous looking situation I ever encountered was the deteriorated basement boiler room of a 1930's era post office which upon testing turned out not to have a single molecule of asbestos anywhere in it. Lab testing is required to make absolute determination. Even then it may not be a friable form which is where the potential danger lies.

The key word is containment. What you want to minimize is the release of friable asbestos fibers, if present, into the air and what I would do in your situation, considering the amount involved (tiny) and the uncertainty of the material, is to soak the material thorougly with water and keep it and the scrapings wetted down during the removal process. Collect the shavings in a zip-loc bag and call your nearest environmental abatement service and ask them what to do with it. If they don't tell you that the amount falls under the radar for disposal acountability and drop it in the nearest public trash can, then maybe they'll let you drop it by their place for disposal.

[bsdmike]

Thanks for the advice. One question as the boiler jacket has not
been opened yet. Did people generally attach it to the boiler
with an adhesive or was it just 'wrapped' about the boiler??

If it was glued on...how much chipping will be required do you think?

I already have my wife saying...just go buy new boiler!

[gwrdriver]

Mike,
Generally speaking insulation was simply wrapped around the boiler although on the few boilers I have stripped age, condensate, and heat, etc, have caused the insulation to stick to the barrel. Sometimes it looks like an adhesive has been used when it hasn't.

If it was glued on and age and heat have hardened the glue then I would just scrape it down to a relatively even glue surface and be done with it. I would remove any larger globs that might be present but otherwise I wouldn't take to it with a disk sander or anything agressive like that. The replacement insulation should cover and smooth over whatever is left of the glue.

BTW, what locomotive is it?

[andy]

Save the asbestos (if woven sheet) to re-apply to the boiler under the new sheeting.
If it is non-woven, save it to stuff in boiler tubes when silver soldering to keep from burning the ends.

[bsdmike]

Thanks very much for your advice.

It is woven sheet...it is starting to shred a tiny bit where it
is coming out the bottom.

GW..this is an old, 1"scale engine I bought years ago.

Just wondering, even if this was for sure asbestos, when does
one have to be super concerned? I know as a kid I was exposed
to more of this than I see coming out the boiler now.


-Mike

[gwrdriver]

Mike,
Sorry, I don't know. Initially there was near-hysteria about asbestos, egged on by our friends at the EPA, but as with so many things once the problem and material was studied more closely with a less reactionary approach and the genuine hazards identified the rules relaxed a bit. This is to say that the regulations and prescribed treatment and handling of ACM is/was constantly changing and I don't know what the present attitude is. It is not completely relaxed that is for sure, but neither is it like it was in the 70's and 80's either.

I'll bet you could find out a lot by simply Googling asbestos abatement or asbestos handling.
Cheers,
Harry