Any Asbestos Inside a 'Warden King Ltd Viking Junior Boiler?

Hello All,

I've been searching for some info on the old furnace my brother just cracked open at my mother's place... Wondering if it would have been manufactured with asbestos inside it.....

It is a Viking Junior Boiler, Manufactured by Warden King Limited. 4 Cast Iron Sections, with BTU ratings for Coal, Oil and gas(?)(Can't recall and I'm not at the house to look at it as I type this) on the plate at the front. It was converted to natural gas from oil roughly 20 years ago.

It was professionally decommissioned, and the guy who put in the new furnace on Christmas Eve(!! explained that we could simply take a sawz-all and pry bars to it ourselves if we didn't want to wait unil sometime in Januray to have it hauled away....

SHOULD HAVE CALLED A PROFESSIONAL, to break it down, I know. I'm just hoping that someone on here might be familiar enough with this particular model of furnace to be able to tell me what the fibrous insulation material is behind the lower hatch/plate/door on the front of the furnace.

I've not seen the material myself. It was described to me by my brother, who is now concerned that the material might be asbestos.

Asbestos wrap insuation was removed from several water pipes before the new furnace was put in(no clue if that is relevant at all).

I'm including a photo of the furnace from before my brother took his sawz-all to it.

PLEASE let me know if you can help me with an answer, or suggest a different place for me to post this question.

Thanks you very much for your time.

Merry Christmas & A Happy 2010!

Zach
zhenley@gmail.com

The gaskets between the plates MAY be asbestos, but I doubt if there is anything inside the boiler.

More than likely he either cut into old firebrick or the brick is just falling apart on its own.

If you think there's any asbestos in there, just keep it wet ..... & get rid of it FAST. I know in this state, they'll just about throw you in jail for handling the stuff without calling a pro.

WNY, Samhill & Smitty - THANKS VERY MUCH for your advice. We are now thinking that the gasket was installed a part of the conversion to gas(?) in the mid-to-late 80s, so I doubt they wer using asbestos at that point..... We will get someone in who knows what they are doing for the removal, and will keep it damp in the meantime. THANKS AGAIN & Happy New Year to you all!

You should be able to cut the tie bolts (Long threaded rods) and break the sections apart with a sledge/pry bar and move them individually. I would assume they are quite heavy.....
Good luck.