Unusual Boilers

When any historical heating system is refurbished, the first and most likely
item of equipment to be removed, replaced and then usually destroyed
is the boiler. Therefore, it is a very rare occasion for the Heritage Group
to find or alternatively, be informed about an early example of a Victorian
tubular boiler. To date only two examples of vertical tubular boilers have
been discovered and photographed.

Three different patterns of the upright tubular boiler as displayed in catalogues.

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RIPON - YORKSHIRE

When ground works excavations were being carried out for the new foundations being constructed for a building in Ripon Yorkshire, it exposed an old firing pit, and an upright tubular boiler was unearthed and discovered. The cast/wrought iron tubular boiler sits on a foundation ring which has an open base that allows the flames from the furnace chamber underneath to heat the water in the tubes. The top of the boiler has a circular opening allowing the flue gases to exit through a suitable chimney. In picture 2 the firing door can be seen. The ash or clinker was removed through the opening which can be seen at the bottom of the pit. In picture 1 note the boses for the flow and two return pipework connections.

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2

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BATH SPA - SOMERSET

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2

3

4

When builders were carrying out renovation work to a basement room of a residential Victorian villa
in Bath Spa, they started to clear away a brickwork enclosure in one corner of the room only to find
that it housed an old cast iron upright tubular pattern pipework boiler. The Heritage Group were
contacted and asked to visit and identify this historical equipment. The firing and ash clean-out doors
can be seen in pictures 1 & 2. A section of both the flow and return pipework from the boiler has been
cut-out but their alignment with the high level pipework can be easily matched in picture 4.