joelt70•1mo agoMost Upvoted

Vent: That boiler tube rollout at the old power plant near Gary

I was up on a job at that old coal plant outside Gary last month and saw guys still using manual tube expanders on a 50 year old boiler. The rollout was 3 days behind because they kept fighting tight tubes and worn out tools. Anyone else see old plants clinging to hand tools when air expanders would save a full shift?

3 comments

3 Comments

ryan3691mo ago

Those manual expanders are brutal on old tube sheets, especially after decades of scale and heat cycling. A good air expander with a torque limiter saves your wrists and keeps rollout on schedule, but you gotta match the rolling speed to the tube metal or you'll work harden it and be in worse shape. My buddy swears by the pneumatic right-angle expanders for tight bundles, but even an air hammer with the right chuck makes a difference if it's all you got. Just watch your clearances so you aren't fighting the adjacent tubes.

richard_anderson1mo ago

Are tube sheets really that delicate that you gotta baby them this much, or is it more about the guy running the tool? Sounds like half the battle is just not being a gorilla with the throttle.

cora86327d ago

Buddy wrecked an old tube sheet learning that lesson the hard way.