September 29) 1881 . ] JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 231 
29th 
TH 
Sale of Stove and Greenhouse Plants at Mr Parker’s Nursery, 
30th 
P 
Sale of Orchids at the Mart, Tokenhouse Yard. [Tooting. 
1st 
S 
2nd 
Sun 
IGth Sunday after Trinity. 
3rd 
M 
4th 
TO 
Sth 
W 
Sale of Bulbs at Mr. Stevens’ Rooms. 
BOILERS versus WATER. 
f^OW frequently we are asked, “What sort of 
a -^ryA boiler do you use ?” but who ever heard the 
question asked, “ What sort of water do you 
use * n b°^ er ?” Yet the latter is in my 
estimation the more important of the two 
j (SyJTb questions, sediment being deposited and corro- 
sion formed in proportion to the amount of chalk 
and iron in the water. This sediment, or furring, ulti- 
Ai mately chokes up the boiler, which is followed by 
’ bursting, repair, and too frequently removal before 
the apparatus is half worn out, the latter involving a serious 
expenditure. 
During the severe weather we experienced last winter one 
of our 8-feet Trentham boilers showed signs of giving way, 
which gradually increased until April, when the water issued 
from the cracks to such an extent that the fire was completely 
useless, and had we experienced rough weather something must 
have been done, but the sun coming to our aid rendered the 
question of repair or removal quite optional for a time. 
I consulted one of the principal hot-water engineers in 
London as to what we could do. The reply was, “ You will 
never do any good with the boiler, you will have to put in a 
new one. How long has this one been in ?" “ Nine years, two 
of them heating over two miles of piping when required." 
“ Ah ! it is full of sediment from end to end. I know you will 
never get it out to do any good. We have tried to clean out 
boilers, but it was no use," &c. With this I resolved to see 
what could be done, and took the earliest opportunity of 
taking the matter in hand. I commenced by taking out 
the furnace doors, bars, and bridge of boiler ; then drilled 
holes and punched old rivets in the middle of the boiler along 
the side of the crack 18 inches long. I then set back 7 inches 
to clear the bulge caused by the deposit, and removed the 
whole piece 18 inches by 7, behind which I found the deposit 
concreted as hard as an iron wall, which I had to remove 
with hammer and chisel. The next question was how to re¬ 
move the sediment from the bottom of the boiler, as the plug 
hole was too small ; consequently I cut a hand-hole inches 
by 4g. I then succeeded in removing the deposit off the bolt- 
heads, and with chisels and bent irons worked it down the 
sides of the boiler and so cleared the whole of one side. I 
then turned my attention to the other side, and in the same 
way cut out the piece 8 inches by 5 inches wide, where there 
was a split 8 inches long. I found this side of boiler exactly 
in the same state as the other. I chiselled out the deposit, and 
then by means of bent rods dislodged the lumps on the top of 
the boiler immediately over the fire, and gradually cleaned and 
washed the whole boiler from end to end. 
The next thing was how to put on the plates. We first 
drilled the bolt holes, then with a piece of perforated zinc cut 
to the shape of the boiler and size of the necessary patch, and 
punched holes along sides to correspond with the bolt holes. We 
had thus a proper index to work from. We then cut plates of 
the proper sizes, the largest being 25 inches long by 12 inches 
wide, drilled holes in them for the bolts, and proceeded to fix 
the plates on the boiler with three-quarter-inch bolts, and set 
screws alternately, the bolt-heads being placed inside the 
boiler and the nuts in the fire-way. These were screwed up as 
tightly as possible, and then the holes for the set screws were 
tapped through both plates, and the screws tightly fixed in, so 
that when finished both plates were as close together as if 
forced by hydraulic pressure, the small portion of red lead used 
being forced out all round, there being little or nothing re¬ 
quired between the plates. In this way the whole was fitted 
together, the bridge, bars, and face of boiler put in, the water 
turned on, and the fire started on August the 13th. As a test we 
turned out the other fire, and the patched boiler has since been 
doing the necessary work without the slightest signs of leakage 
or fracture of the joints from fire or pressure, and I feel quite 
convinced the patches will stand as long as any other portion 
of the boiler. The great point in patching boilers is to cut 
the injured piece clean out, so that the water comes in direct 
contact with the new patch, and not on the injured edges of 
the fracture. 
It might naturally be supposed by some that the boiler had 
been neglected and never cleaned out ; but this was not so It 
has been the practice to run the water out of the boilers four 
or five times a year. The sediment was deposited on the bolts 
along the sides of the fire, and gradually extended across the 
boiler, forming a shelf or receiver for falling sediment from 
the top of the boiler. This was the chief seat of the evil. 
The sides were so thoroughly choked up that no water could 
pass through, while the passage from the return pipes along 
the bottom of the boiler and up the end to the flow pipe was 
perfectly clear— i.e., where the least amount of heat acted on 
the water. 
The state of this boiler led to a thorough investigation of 
all the others, and we found more or less corrosion in all of 
them. One of Gray's tubular boilers was nearly choked in 
the same way. This was taken to pieces, and the bottom bars 
and ring were nearly full of sediment, which was at once 
cleaned out, the parts put together again, and the boiler 
refixed. 
The question arises, How are we to prevent the furring of 
boilers r My employer (Sir Henry Peek, Bt.) suggested putting 
in Potatoes. This may answer in a small way, but I am of 
opinion that something different from Potatoes is required for 
an apparatus with two miles of piping. If the Trentham boilers 
were provided with four plug holes at intervals around the 
end, and a hand hole in the bottom, they might be easily raked 
out, the deposit dislodged and cleared away at any time. I 
should be glad to have the experience of others on the im¬ 
portant question of the furring of boilers and means of 
preventing it. 
The lumps of deposit removed with my own hands from the 
boiler in question wure submitted to the Fruit Committee of 
NO. 1722.- 
No. 06.—You in., third Series. 
Yol. lxyt, Old Series. 
