Old Gas Boilers Containing Friable Asbestos

HUMBUG

Hi All
There has been quite a few discussions/threads about retaining old boilers which don't break as often as the newer ones. I've been doing some research to determine whether my old boiler (Glow Worm Spacesaver 38 B.F.) can be repaired . It was deemed unsafe and I thought maybe paying for it to be fixed would be better than shelling out £4.3k to fit a new boiler with all the extra (sometimes unnecessary) building regulation compliance work (which can add a few thousand - thanks Mr Building Regulations persons for fleecing the public:mad:).
The shocking news is that my old boiler and many others contain friable asbestos and if these become old and crumbly can cause air fibres which are an obvious health hazard. I am expecting that very soon , no gas engineer would be willing to service these boilers so I think many of us have no option now but to get new boilers installed. Comments welcomed.

footyguy

HUMBUG wrote: »

Hi All
There has been quite a few discussions/threads about retaining old boilers which don't break as often as the newer ones. I've been doing some research to determine whether my old boiler (Glow Worm Spacesaver 38 B.F.) can be repaired . It was deemed unsafe and I thought maybe paying for it to be fixed would be better than shelling out £4.3k to fit a new boiler with all the extra (sometimes unnecessary) building regulation compliance work (which can add a few thousand - thanks Mr Building Regulations persons for fleecing the public:mad:).
The shocking news is that my old boiler and many others contain friable asbestos and if these become old and crumbly can cause air fibres which are an obvious health hazard. I am expecting that very soon , no gas engineer would be willing to service these boilers so I think many of us have no option now but to get new boilers installed. Comments welcomed.

I love a good conspiracy theory

But solid asbestos doesn't usually crumble unless it is physically attacked in some way.

There's an asbestos garage down our road, been there a good 60 years by all accounts, and that hasn't crumbled away yet, and it's obviously been exposed to all the elements in that time.

The use of asbestos (in boilers) was banned in 1984, so no boiler under 30 years old will contain it anyway.

HUMBUG

I think you are probably correct but isn't the stuff in boilers some mish-mash of other materials with asbestos added ? This other stuff sometimes crumbles with age/heat , not the actual asbestos. Once it starts crumbling I've heard that asbestos fibres can float around in the air for hours or even days. There is a guy called Mike who specialises in fixing old 80's and 90's boilers but he won't touch a list of models (see the edited link below as I can't post urls on this forum)
miketheboilerman.com/asbestosrisk.htm

Fruit_and_Nut_Case

HUMBUG wrote: »

I think you are probably correct but isn't the stuff in boilers some mish-mash of other materials with asbestos added ? This other stuff sometimes crumbles with age/heat , not the actual asbestos. Once it starts crumbling I've heard that asbestos fibres can float around in the air for hours or even days. There is a guy called Mike who specialises in fixing old 80's and 90's boilers but he won't touch a list of models (see the edited link below as I can't post urls on this forum)
miketheboilerman.com/asbestosrisk.htm

http://www.miketheboilerman.com/asbestosrisk.htm

HUMBUG

many thanks 'Fruit and Nut Case' . For some reason a message popped up saying as a new user I wasn't allowed hyperlinks (because of spamming).