Documentary about building a steam boiler

Patrick Johnson made a great documentary about David Dowling, Dennis Svoronos, and Brady Scott's process of building a steam boiler, which the call Ignatius.

[Anonymous June 24, 2009 11:13 AM]

Cool video, but as a power engineer I wouldn't stand within 100 feet of that thing.

[JPW June 24, 2009 11:15 AM]

It sure is Foley enriched. . . .

[Anonymous June 24, 2009 11:25 AM]

Boilers are regulated by law, and need to be inspected, depending on what your jurisdiction requires.

[ill lich June 24, 2009 11:36 AM]

Wait. . . how the hell do you boil steam?

[Guysmiley June 24, 2009 12:13 PM]

ill lich:

Easy: Superheater tubes! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superheater :)

[Guysmiley June 24, 2009 12:39 PM]

#1 Anon: No kidding. If it really is a "high pressure" boiler I couldn't make out any pressure gauge, sight glass or pop off valve. Maybe they were there and I just didn't see it in the grainy B&W images? But if not, that thing is a ticking time bomb. HP steam is no joke.

[Anonymous June 24, 2009 12:53 PM]

It sure is a bit heavy on the Foley. It's like steampunk pornography.

[Anonymous June 24, 2009 1:00 PM]

guysmiley: I think they had a gauge sticking off that pipe on the top, and probably a PSV. Their attitude sort of bugs me, like its unreasonable to regulate HP boilers.

[Jake von Slatt June 24, 2009 1:07 PM]

I really like Patrick's filmaking. It's calm and exactly the opposite of the frenetic, fake drama that we see on TV. Imagine if he produced a season of American Chopper in this style? I'd totally watch that!

As for the boiler, I know these folks and they are in no danger of blowing themselves up. Ignatius is a stout pig.

[Takuan June 24, 2009 1:23 PM]

nice project. I think the soundtrack/narration wasn't on intended message, but that's just me.
These guys are working in a fully equipped shop yet the voice-over is talking about "gold from lead" and "something from nothing". It detracts from the good work shown, for it to ring true they would have to be in a blacksmith's smithy and using very rude stock iron to boot.

[vonskippy June 24, 2009 1:40 PM]

Listen...you can almost hear the golf clap from the 1700's.

[CANTFIGHTTHEDITE June 24, 2009 2:57 PM]

I hoped they followed ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel codes on this one, and had an engineer stamp the design... nifty, but steam (compared to condensate) is NOT something the unqualified should be playing around with.

[Anonymous June 24, 2009 4:51 PM]

Yes, let the scalding hot genies out of the bottle in a unpredictable and dangerous way. You don't NEED two eyes to be a scientist...

[Takuan June 24, 2009 5:10 PM]

jeez whutta bunch of haters. They built it, it works, no one is dead, sheesh.

[mdh June 24, 2009 5:26 PM]

You said it tak. Armchair expertise abounds.

I think it's hot.

[CANTFIGHTTHEDITE June 24, 2009 6:10 PM]

No hate, just a concern for safety. Sons of Martha, and all that.

Boiler Explosion

[Takuan June 24, 2009 6:37 PM]

aye

The Sons of Martha
The Sons of Mary seldom bother, for they have inherited that good part;
But the Sons of Martha favour their Mother of the careful soul and troubled heart.
And because she lost her temper once, and because she was rude to the Lord her Guest,
Her Sons must wait upon Mary's Sons, world without end, reprieve, or rest.

It is their care in all the ages to take the buffet and cushion the shock.
It is their care that the gear engages; it is their care that the switches lock.
It is their care that the wheels run truly; it is their care to embark and entrain,
Tally, transport, and deliver duly the Sons of Mary by land and main.

They say to mountains, 'Be ye removed'. They say to the lesser floods, 'Be dry'.
Under their rods are the rocks reproved - they are not afraid of that which is high.
Then do the hill-tops shake to the summit - then is the bed of the deep laid bare,
That the Sons of Mary may overcome it, pleasantly sleeping and unaware.

They finger death at their gloves' end where they piece and repiece the living wires.
He rears against the gates they tend: they feed him hungry behind their fires.
Early at dawn, ere men see clear, they stumble into his terrible stall,
And hale him forth like a haltered steer, and goad and turn him till evenfall.

To these from birth is Belief forbidden; from these till death is Relief afar.
They are concerned with matter hidden - under the earthline their altars are;
The secret fountains to follow up, waters withdrawn to restore to the mouth,
And gather the floods as in a cup, and pour them again at a city drouth.

They do not preach that their God will rouse them a little before the nuts work loose.
They do not teach that His Pity allows them to leave their work when they damn-well choose.
As in the thronged and the lighted ways, so in the dark and the desert they stand.
Wary and watchful all their days that their brethren's days may be long in the land.

Raise ye the stone or cleave the wood to make a path more fair or flat:
Lo, it is black already with blood some Son of Martha spilled for that:
Not as a ladder from earth to Heaven, not as a witness to any creed,
But simple service simply given to his own kind in their common need.

And the Sons of Mary smile and are blessed - they know the angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet - they hear the Word - they see how truly the Promise Runs:
They have cast their burden upon the Lord, and - the Lord He lays it on Martha's Sons.

Rudyard Kipling

[CANTFIGHTTHEDITE June 25, 2009 11:22 AM]

Unfortunately, readings of that fine poem are no longer the custom at The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer due to the religious context. At least they didn't at mine.

[Anonymous June 25, 2009 3:03 PM]

I looked carefully, and I didn't see anything that looked like a pressure gage- not even a Stephensonian mercury column.
It should also have either a gauge glass, or at a minimum "try cocks" to judge the water level.
A lot of "amateur" scientists don't realise that regs like the ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel codes were written in blood. A burned crown sheet can ruin your whole day.
Granddad used to tell me, a fool learns from his mistakes; a wise man learns from other people's mistakes.

[CANTFIGHTTHEDITE June 25, 2009 7:27 PM]

#19 Very true about the BPVC.
If I had access to a copy I'd scan in the graph, if it's still in there, that shows the annual number of reported boiler failures over the last 150 years. In 1910, when the code was first implemented, the graph takes a sharp downturn and stays down.

A Long, Arduous March Toward Standardization

[Anonymous June 30, 2009 4:27 AM]

These guys built it for their own purposes. They weren't going to market the thing, so they didn't feel the need to meet ASME Boiler & Pressure Vessel codes.
But chances are they know enough about he codes and regs that they took it into consideration when they built it. To me it looks like they really OVER built boiler, considering the final result of the steam they released.

[Anonymous July 12, 2009 5:02 PM]

There are entire legislative systems in place to keep people who are not scientists from doing science because science is what scientists do, there are systems to control this kind of behavior because it's dangerous. But that's kind of the point, it is dangerous, it's always been dangerous. Science shouldn't be that controlled and organized and locked down. It's a genie, let it out of the bottle.

Interesting comment.

It looked to me like what they were doing there was more like an industrial art project than science. If they were doing science they'd have had some kind of hypothesis that they were testing (something beyond 'can we build a small boiler using the stuff in this toolbox').

For example, they might have measured various operational parameters of the completed boiler to verify various published theoretical engineering calculations about how boilers work.

I can't agree that those legislative systems are in place to prevent non-scientists from doing science. Anyone who chooses to try to discover things using principles of scientific investigation (aka best practices to avoid fooling oneself) is a scientist, and there are no laws restricting this behavior.

There are laws restricting access to certain materials that are particularly hazardous when handled by people who lack training. And laws about how certain kinds of things should be built (usually because they have a history of being dangerous, as noted above).

These hardly constitutes a situation where science is 'controlled and organized and locked down".

Not that there is anything wrong with an industrial art project. It's a pretty cool statement about mixing materials, ideas, dedication and talent to create things. Not as cool as the guy who made a functional scale model of a Ferrari 312 PB ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeUMDY01uUA ) but less an investment of time. In the case of the car, the 15 or so years to build it is itself an artistic statement.

[Anonymous September 11, 2009 7:51 AM]

Science or industrial art... Do the research and know the dangers. It sounds like these guys did some of the research and either deleted the safeties for art's sake (stupid) or didn't dig deep enough in the resarch (lazy). Both failings can get you killed. Water can be the most distructive force known to man. In this instance the relevent fact is that when water becomes steam, it expands 1600 times, instantly, and with the same explosive force as dynamite. So if you have one gallon of water in that pressure vessle and it fails, you have just set off 8.3 pounds of dynamite... A Safety device seems only prudent.

[Anonymous October 24, 2009 12:59 PM]

countdown to death!