Removing old back boiler

[K613]

Hi, I wonder whether anyone can help with an unexpected problem I have with an old back boiler?

We have just moved into a 1950s house and having removed an old gas fire that was on the outside of the chimney breast, we have discovered that when the heating was converted to a combi system several years ago by the previous owners, the original solid fuel back burner was left in the chimney recess. We need to remove this as we would like to install a new gas fire that uses the recess.

The problem I am having is that the old boiler seems to have had the chimney built around it! It is extremely tightly wedged into the recess and appears to have been sealed in with some kind of lime plaster.

I have scraped as much of the lime plaster out of the way as possible and attacked it with a large wrecking bar but can't even get it to move. It seems to be sitting on a kind of fire brick and there are a couple of old pipes coming out of the side (which I assume are no longer live) that are certainly not helping, but they are too buried in the wall to be able to get a spanner on them or cut them. I'm pretty sure it must also be fixed elsewhere.

As the boiler is cast, I've even tried giving it some grief with a large lump hammer, thinking I might be able to crack it - as suggested in another post on here. But I couldn't crack it and the neighbour came around (it's on the party wall) because he was "concerned" so I gave up on that route for now.

So my question really is whether anyone has any ideas? I wondered about a big disc cutter, but not sure how that will work on cast and don't have one myself. I'm aware that the chimney is structural, so don't really want to start taking bricks out to release it.

The other thing that bothers me is that I can't see any lintel... in trying to get some leverage on the boiler, some small chunks of the front wall of the chimney breast cracked off above the opening but that was a very light weight (almost porous looking) concrete, which I assume is a liner of some kind? Will the lintel be higher up?

Thank you in advance for any advice.

K.

 

[noseall]

Give it some of this.......

There won't be a lintel at this level as the masonry is usually filled solid. there may be a throated lintel or a regular lintel higher up.

 

[kirkgas]

that takes me back!! as an apprentice and young tradesman i did hundreds of these, the grate builder (or his apprentice) would cut out the old fire place and all the chair brick etc, this would take 3-4hrs so dont expect it to take you any less, using a kango hammer and hammer and chisel, we would then go in and drain and fit the new back boiler, (they are copper by the way not cast) the grate builder would then rebuild all the brick and fit the new fire place which took nearly all day. i bet there aren't any grate builders left now, what a skill that was,

 

[noseall]

i bet there aren't any grate builders left now, what a skill that was,

I will never forget the instant hit of ammonia-smelling salts when using cement mortar on sooted bricks. Wow! The combination of the two opposites was a whiff of daylight. It was a good remedy for a hangover too.

 

[K613]

Thank you both, this is really useful.

Are these Kango hammers easy to get to grips with, or would I be better off saving the rental cost towards someone who knows how to use one?

I'm generally pretty happy to have a go at things, but I'm concerned that if it gets out of hand and I cut around the boiler too severely, I could damage the structural integrity of the chimney breast - don't want to find myself looking into the neighbour's lounge!!

I guess it's a case of working around the sides and the bottom where it's been mortared in, until the boiler is free enough to be dragged out? Or do whole bricks have to be chipped out to free it? How much rebuilding was usually required after the removal of one of these Kirkgas?

Thank you again,

K.

p.s the front of the boiler that I can see is definitely cast - presumably then that is some kind of heat exchanger and the actual copper boiler tank is behind that?

 

[Nige F]

I think the Gratebuilders went the way of the Welldiggers , I`ve not come across a copper boiler here in the south- If they were copper you could get them removed for free by a certain community - " Nowt colder than a well digger`s arse"

 

[noseall]

Hey, good to see you again Nige.