1957 York Water Tower

admin

So today I was on the roof of my building changing the filters on my air conditioners (3 12.5ton Yorks) and I walked by a remnant of what is left of the original 1950's air system. When I bought the building 11 years ago I had all of the old system removed and taken to scrap metal. Now that I see junk like this through a "welder's eye" I wish I had kept some of that old metal, there was some serious steel that we just threw away.Anyways, The water tower has 3/8ths inch thick metal all around and a cental shaft that's 3" thick, sweet metal that can be used for future projects.On the side of the tower there is a tank that must have been used to maintain water pressure that I'm thinking would be a sweet little BBQ project.
Reply:I have seen that cloverleaf with the U in it before.Was it on other pressure tanks or is it a trademark? I am pretty sure it denotes something special. Any boilermakers out there?tractor,loader.dozer,backhoe,and all the tools to keep em movin
Reply:Originally Posted by 1-800minerI have seen that cloverleaf with the U in it before.Was it on other pressure tanks or is it a trademark? I am pretty sure it denotes something special. Any boilermakers out there?
Reply:I see a decent rain-tight electrical disconnect.And a soon-to-be hole in the roof. Good Luck
Reply:Denrep, there is actually A Lot of salvageable parts there, the disconnects, two motors, and a ton of pipe inside, most of which is surprisingly not in bad shape and the central shaft. The first time I powered the unit up, I didn't bother to clean it out, or even check what was inside. So I throw the switch and out comes pigeon parts, wings, heads, legs, tons of feathers... covered a good section of my roof with pigeon... that was fun to clean up I'm not sure if the tank is too small to make a BBQ out of, but I'll still give it a shot. It'll give me some good practice with my plasma cutter and getting my welding technique honed in, that thick metal should be much more forgiving than the lighter gauge stuff I've been burning through so far :-)
Reply:Is that alum. info plate WELDED to the steel tank!!??200amp Air Liquide MIG, Hypertherm Plasma, Harris torches, Optrel helmet, Makita angle grinders, Pre-China Delta chop saw and belt sander, Miller leathers, shop made jigs etc, North- welders backpack.
Reply:Originally Posted by bert the welderIs that alum. info plate WELDED to the steel tank!!??
Reply:The U stamp is the certification that the vessel was designed and built to the ASME Section VIII unfired pressure vessel code.  At the time of construction, there was only Section VIII, while currently Section VIII consists of three divisions.The tag is, as sn0border88 said, stainless steel and welded to the vessel.  The plate is required to be attached to the vessel in a permanent manner, usually by welding or riveting.  Removal of the nameplate would decommission the vessel and, in many locations, make it illegal for it to be used in service of more than 15psi.Indeed the tag is not particularly special, but I would not cut it up either.  In fact, I would sandblast it, paint it, and use it as an expansion tank for my air compressor.I suspect that it was made from 24" Standard weight pipe with pipe caps.  It is likely that a 1/16" corrosion allowance was used, so the stated thickness is 5/16" instead of 3/8".Sorry for the long winded response.Fegenbush
Reply:Any idea as to what type of metal the water tower is? Is there any special technique to determine what type of metal it is? I'm assuming it's galvanized metal.... but I don't have enough experience to say for sure.
Reply:if a magnet sticks to it its galv.  if it dont its not steel.Vantage 500's LN-25's, VI-400's, cobramatics, Miller migs, synch 350 LX, Powcon inverters, XMT's, 250 Ton Acurrpress 12' brake, 1/4" 10' Atlantic shear,Koikie plasma table W/ esab plasmas. marvel & hyd-mech saws, pirrana & metal muncher punches.
Reply:Originally Posted by sn0border88I dont know, but the stainless one is.