Identify this device on a steam boiler

[Neal Lewis]

Brand new steam boiler has a welded steel bulb installed directly in the riser off the top of the boiler. What is the purpose of this thing??

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[chicago]

It looks to me as if it is older than the boiler and was jury rigged from something else to serve as a cast iron reducer.most likely serves no other purpose.

[Rob Amaral]

No idea. Holahan-it and let us know. Seems to me that it would cause some steam to prematurely condense due to the surface area being uninsulated. But why..?

[hausdok]

From the obvious hammer marks on it, I have to conclude that it's an anvil used for shaping the pigskin segments for footballs. []

[Neal Lewis]

I would agree, leather is easier to work with when it's warm.

[Bill Kibbel]

Replacement boilers usually contain a much smaller volume of water then the monsters they're replacing. The large internal volume of old boilers helped slow down the steam, allowing water droplets (like a mist) to drop out. Many installers of replacement systems will oversize the near-boiler piping to act like an external steam separator.

I'm guessing that is the intention of this device, after they used it for bowling down the driveway.

[Jim Morrison]

Sorry to be late jumping in here, but you get the idea. It's meant to remove condensate from wet steam.

Jim Morrison

[chrisprickett]

What's a boiler?

[Brian G]

That's a big pot Granny cooks chicken in. [:-chef]

Brian G.

I Seen It Lotsa Times [^]

[Jim Morrison]

Chris,

A boiler is a means of providing warmth to a house from within. You will recall that in those parts of our country where the real football and ice hockey teams can be found, temperatures can become uncomfortably cool, and central heat is a neccessity.

Tomorrow's vocabulary lesson: snowblowers

[chrisprickett]

Thanks Jim! I wonder if I could use one of those boiler thingys to heat my swimming pool. There's about four-five days a year when it's just too cold to swim.

[hausdok]

Ouch!

That's cold! [:-shake] (pun intended)

[Chad Fabry]

Snowblowers can be a touchy subject on a family forum.