The day our boiler room went from a disaster to spotless in 4 hours

So we had this old boiler at the G.E. plant in Schenectady that was just caked in grime and rust, looked like it hadn't been cleaned since the 80s. My foreman, Rick, finally got us a steam cleaner from a rental place and we went at it with some heavy degreaser on a Thursday. After those 4 hours, the whole thing shone like new, and I swear the pressure gauge even jumped 5 PSI from just clearing out the gunk. Has anyone else seen a big cleanup change how a boiler actually runs?

2 comments

2 Comments

oliviagrant28d ago

Bet that 5 PSI was just the boiler's relief at finally being clean.

williams.kim28d ago

That 5 PSI gain surprised me too @oliviagrant but I think you're right, the boiler was probably just happy to breathe again. The old scale and rust buildup was so thick on our tubes that water couldn't even flow right. Rick had us scrub every nook and cranny, and I remember pulling out chunks of black sludge from the bottom drain. It's wild how much gunk can hide in those old systems without you even knowing.