Searching for Steam Leaks in the Battleship's Boiler Room

[@jimbos1567]

I was the Main Propulsion Officer on a WWII Destroyer (USS Cogswell DD-651). She had an identical plant to the New Jersey. 600psi; 850 degrees superheat. We sprung a steam leak in Main control, and the Chief MM and I searched for the leak with a long piece of cardboard. When it sliced the cardboard in half, we knew we found it. Superheated steam is like compressed air; you can't see it, so it can slice you badly if you don't use something like cardboard or a broom too find it. Am enjoying your video's immensely.

[@cruser69]

We actually had two steam leaks where we used brooms to search for it onboard New Jersey in the late 80’s. One on the HP turbine in EMO1, one in EMO3, don’t remember where that one was. We regularly trained how to identify and search for steam leaks onboard.

[@studinthemaking]

What does EMO1 mean?

[@cruser69]

@@studinthemaking EMO1, engineer room #1

[@Demicron]

Gonna need you to comment more often on videos :)

[@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN]

How where the leaks fixed? Did an entire section of pipe have to be replaced or could the leaks be welded shut?

[@cruser69]

@@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN all the leaks we had were at flange gaskets, so we replaced the flex gasket and continued operations. I have never been involved with a pipe failure/hole. It happens, just not often.

[@johnmcnaught7453]

Not old wives tale. Usually a cut flange or blowen flex gasket. Used a broom on a DD I was on....it gets your attention fast.

[@donaldpiper9763]

If a main steam line ruptures you don’t have long before it’ll scold your lungs , you’ve got too get a OBA on then find the leak with a broom or mope handle ,so you can isolate it before your dead .

[@josephpadula2283]

They got rid of OBA’s now. They use fireman type SCBA like scuba tanks.

[@evensgrey]

@@donaldpiper9763 If a steam line actually ruptures then you aren't needing to search for the breach, either.

[@bobberger918]

Was on dd830

[@JohnDoe-pv2iu]

Better to shred a broom, than yourself!

[@davelewis3255]

I learned the broomstick thing from a salty old chief who probably started by shoveling coal on the Monitor. We never found any big leaks but leaky gaskets and valve packings were a very common problem.High pressure steam is corrosive and erosive and even a small leak will cut grooves and holes in steel piping. We could find very small steam leaks by moving the shiny surface of a wrench near the suspect area. You would see condensation on the wrench and know where the leak was located. I worked in a t-shirt or dungaree shirt with rolled up sleeves and always had a good collection of burns on my hands and arms. I know that some ships enforced a long sleeve shirt and gloves rule, but our captain didn't.

[@studinthemaking]

Which ship was you on?

[@davelewis3255]

Newport News CA-148

[@deeretech9155]

M.t 550 yyy.t.n..h . U. U. . N . M m. M

[@jonathanbaird8109]

These bits of information you couldn't otherwise hope to learn are my favorite part about this channel. Thanks for sharing, Dave.

[@studinthemaking]

@@davelewis3255 Where your on Newport news when it 8 inch gun blow up?

[@concordiaranger2169]

Used the same broom technique in the search for high pressure air leaks. The SSBN I was on had some air pressures as high as 4500. Don't forget all nuclear powered vessels are basically steam powered. They just use reactors instead of boilers the heat up the water.

[@Damen178]

I actually had that realization the day after my friend, who was a nuke in the navy, explained the basic operation of a nuclear reactor to me. Next time I saw him I asked "Isn't that just a more advanced steam engine?" His eyes went wide and he was impressed I picked up on it. He told me a fair number of the guys in nuke school never put that together.

[@katherineberger6329]

During the pad fire that scrubbed STS-41-D (the first flight of Space Shuttle Discovery) for several months, there was a period when they knew that there was burning hydrogen in the area but not where. The problem is, hydrogen burns at such a high temperature that the flame is virtually invisible during the day, and because hydrogen is so diffuse, there is virtually no ambient heat until you're literally being burned by the fire. So NASA engineers, for days, were walking around that pad with brooms outstretched and when they pulled back a burning broom, they knew they had a fire to fight.

[@timb83]

(1) stem would very quickly adiabatically expand to atmospheric pressure, so RIGHT AT the hole it'll be full temp and pressure but outside the leak stream it'll be 275-315F (75-100 F superheat) then that stream will rather quickly drop to saturation. Still hot enough for instant 3rd degree burns (2)We totally did this at the power plant, though in my 13 years, dealing with everything from 1005f @ 2500 psi to 1080F at 3600 psi, most leaks were pretty easily identified. But we did have a couple LARGE leaks we could hear and not see. Those were fun days.

[@pizzaivlife]

that's terrifying

[@erikaostlund5229]

I flew a Fokker F-27-500 Turboprop, That unit had Three Pneumatic Systems. Each units bottle pressure was maintained by the 4 stage compressor at 3300 PSI... In training they said if you hear it singing and 3300 pounds is going to be screaming, the best thing is to just isolate and stay clear of it as it will chop body parts off like a scalpel... Never had one develop a leak, but we did lose oil out of the drive assembly to the Compressor and Generator and alternators and had to shut that engine down to keep the gearbox from blowing itself apart... Mechanic stuff is always a good time when it EXPLODES and blows major pieces out of or off of some critical motivational equipment. Fun Video.

[@curtiscains8533]

A common problem with steam systems is you never want them to go “Cold Iron” when we get connected to external steam source for shut downs or for boiler switching. Normally You never want to drop below 190 degs temp. Also there needs to be recognition of dissimilar pipe Metals because the issue is always your pipe cooling down and mechanical joints contracting. That’s where bolts shrink or gaskets shrink…. This is very common problem. Diligence is paramount in the Steam Plant.

[@Jst12341]

This is the sort of first-hand expertise that we really need to write down somewhere. This is also why the Navy would have trouble reactivating battleships-only a handful of guys in the world still know stuff like this and how to deal with it.

[@fredsasse9973]

Having worked in Main Control on two different FF's for over 5 years, I can state that we went Cold Iron every time we pulled into port. Sure, things contracted while cooling off but when you brought the propulsion plant back up you followed your steam tables to bring all the steam piping and components up to temperature and pressure according to those tables which minimized or eliminated that problem

[@danap.235]

Your dungaree colored shirt added significant realism to your New Jersey engine room tour and the qualification standards to perform duty there were right on the mark. Thank you for this realistic portrayal of duty in the engine room. 👌 👌 👌

[@jaysonlima9271]

Considering the button style and number there of and pocket style i would have to call that shirt is from a set of late 90s-late 2000s Utilities. (I wore its twin for most of that me frame)

[@danap.235]

@@jaysonlima9271 Hope you and your 👪 family have a happy Thanksgiving. "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"

[@jaysonlima9271]

@@danap.235 You and yours as well! God bless.

[@johnfranklin8319]

It’s not just the high temperature and high pressure, steam in any form is invisible. When people say you can see the steam coming off boiling water what you actually see is the steam cooling into condensate not the steam itself.

[@realityhitsmehardbro]

Agree. As my chemistry teacher once said, "You've never seen steam."

[@westtex3675]

It’s kind of semantics though. Obviously, when steam is near the saturation point, there will be condensate along with it, meaning you will be able to see where the fluid mixture is.

[@Vanha21]

Saturated steam is visible because it is containing water droplets, but superheated steam is invisible.

[@felixtheswiss]

@@westtex3675 After i have seen the steam of a complete 200MW power plant going invisible in the air during steam cleaning the boiler i have a heathy respect from steam leaks.

[@timb83]

Superheated steam is technically invisible, but not practically so. Once it expands to atmospheric pressure it's still superheated and several hundred degrees hotter than it's environment. Heat flows from hot to cold, therefore it will reject heat at an incredible rate (as this rate is dependent on temperature difference) to the point the stream reaches saturation. At this point the only thing keeping the steam invisible is nucleation. Water needs a surface to condone on, it won't spontaneously form droplets. In just about any environment this nucleation cite is dust (which is everywhere). Next to consider would be the dew point. If the dew point is sufficiently hight the steam may not condense long enough before it reaches the dew point that it forms an easily identifiable vapor trail. Therefore, in most environments, any steam leak (saturated, superheated, or supercritical) will readily result in visible water vapor. Inside a cramped engine room or outside in Florida the humidity could be high enough to reduce even the largest of steam leaks to a whisp (I've seen this in MO where it looked to be blowing real bad in the morning but barely visible by lunch.... thank god for safety tape). Because science.

[@tonyciriello6872]

My dad told me about the broomstick tool for finding steam leaks. He was on the Missouri in World War two. A "Plank" owner.

[@barrykery1175]

I was a BT on a gearing class destroyer stating in 1968. You hit the nail on the head. Almost everything you said is what I was taught, including using a broom. We never had a leak. We did loose the load and we only had one boiler on line at the time and that's the boiler that went down. That totally killed the ship, we were dead in the water. It took a few hours to come back on line. Barry

[@vburke1]

Years ago, I worked industrial safety in a large garbage burning power plant. The boilers ran 800 pounds, the hydro test pressure to verify boiler tubing work was 1200 pounds. The boilers and the entire length of the airflow path had to be cleared of everyone except 2 inspectors when doing hydro because of the danger of welds failing in the boiler tubing. High pressure steam is nothing to be trifled with. Imagine the ship's steam plant with anything from minor leaks to sudden catastrophic failure from battle damage.

[@notsure1613]

Superheated steam is invisible to the human eye and most of the leaks start small. Using a broom makes sense or anything else to hand that you don’t urgently need.

[@paulmurphy773]

I am retired from a large steel mill, our companies main boiler house had a number of very large boilers producing high pressure super heated steam. I was in electrical maint. and I would maintain the instrumentation and electrical systems, we were taught that the first thing indicating a HP Superheated Steam Leak... would be the noise, maybe, depends on the level of ambient noise... we were taught if a leak was suspected to use a 2X4 in front of u. HP superheated steam is a dry steam and is invisible....and if the high pressure doesn't do serious damage to u, the 800 degree plus temp. will .... at that pressure and temperature if u ran into that leak, it would instantly burn flesh off of u to the bone...

[@donaldpiper9763]

Absolutely,and scold your lungs . In this situation vacate the space put on an OBA then trace down the leak and isolate it or your a dead man .

[@drrocketman7794]

Straw brooms are also used by truckers hauling liquid hydrogen...it's the easiest substance in the universe to ignite, and it burns almost invisible...so you walk around the truck with the broom and if it starts to smolder you de-ass the area immediately.

[@kanamisprs4330]

De-ass. I like that. lol

[@Lessinath]

It's also one of the hardest things to seal properly due to the tiny size of an H2 molecule. It's very easy to get leaks. Even some things that are considered completely impermeable to us, like mild steel, are porous to hydrogen.

[@evensgrey]

Not only does it ignite easily and burn near-invisibly (so that in full sunlight it's at the very edge of visibility), it both ignites and burns in almost total silence. Almost the definition of a spooky combustible.

[@acester86]

Not after a cigarette?

[@drrocketman7794]

@@acester86 if you want to boom... 💥

[@skipmountain9283]

My dad told of using a broomstick with his Chief to find a superheated steam leak on board a battleship, pretty wild stuff.. and dangerous!!

[@bcarbonetti]

this was so interesting! Your ability to keep finding new and interesting BB-62 content amazes me.

[@trisrush9155]

The late Cmdr Roy Francis (RN) told me once of the very same methods of finding steam leaks onboard, using a piece of wood, and looking for the charring on the wood, very interesting!

[@alwaysbearded1]

Wood starts to burn at 451 degrees Fahrenheit and that steam is at 800 plus so it could easily heat the wood to the flash point and since it is in the open air with plenty of oxygen should char nicely.

[@donaldpiper9763]

It will cut it into,it’s no joke !

[@John-ci8yk]

Referring to be able to cut someone in half, heard it from a person who worked for the Philadelphia Naval Yard that was still too young to retire when it closed. He didn't mention the broom probably because he did mention the fact that our building used low pressure steam, whatever that means, and I did not have to be worried about being cut in half. At the time I was only a cleaner who had no business being in the Boiler Room except in the summertime when all the boilers for down for a preventative maintenance, we would help the engineer carry up trash from The Boiler Room so we can get it to the dumpster. You couldn't help but have empathy for the guy , he was covered Head To Toe with soot. So the six or seven males cleaners working in the building we all carried one mildly heavy trash can upstairs, whether it was our job or not to do so. Thumbs up, thanks for the video.

[@crazyguy32100]

Never had to deal with steam but I was taught to find hydraulic leaks with a piece of cardboard. 3500psi oil will do bad things to a person.

[@Jst12341]

“Liquid chainsaw”

[@jacklong311]

Nice videos. My dad served for many years on destroyers. While New Jersey was not his class of ship, your videos have given us a view into his career and stories we would have never gotten to hear. Cheers and Thank You.

[@MrSdmckenna]

Met a guy whose father was in charge of the Exxon tanker fleet. He was in an engine room when a leak developed. He said he was told to freeze, they used 2x4s to find it.

[@Militaristics]

32 years of local 638 NYC Steamfitters and yes you use a wooden ruler in front of you when entering a room with high pressure steam for the 1st time.

[@curtiscains8533]

United Association of Plumbers & Steamfitters and HVACR. We continue the tradition and are the only remaining institution left teaching Steam since the US Navy is fast departing steam plants for Gas Turbines and Big Diesels. Thank You Brother

[@kevincrosby1760]

@@curtiscains8533 not completely correct. Nuclear-powered ships are still all steam. The difference is simply how you are heating the feed water. Everything is still pretty much the same once the Main Steam pipes enter the engine room. I believe that modern carriers are still running 1200 PSI.

[@jamespittsfordiii7632]

While I have never been in the navy I am a union steamfitter and the first job I was on as an apprentice was in 1984 on the construction of a new unit of an existing powerhouse in Indiana. The old timers that I worked under at the time told of how they used to search for steam leaks with brooms and of the story of a man who was passing his hands along a steam line looking for the location and found the leak but lost a number of fingers in the process the high pressure steam having severed them off. The steam pressure used in a coal fired powerhouse is about 2200 psi just about what is in compressed gas cylinder. They also told me horror stories about unsecured cylinders but that is for another time. Thank you for the preservation of our collective history and bless all that have sacrificed and served.

[@andrewtaft6287]

I can believe they actually did this, I did an internship at a steam plant a while back and the guys there told me they use a 2x4 to search for pinhole leaks

[@donaldpiper9763]

I served on a World War II cruiser with 600 pound steam and later a Fast Frigate with 1200 pound steam.Super heated steam ain’t nothing to play with it’s dangerous it will kill you. It’ll scold your lungs and cut you into ,you have to put on the OBA and then trace it down and isolate it . An old Machinist Mate .

[@Philistine47]

There seems to be some question about just how much damage 600 psi steam would do to a body; but it does appear to be true that the inventor of waterjet cutting (an industrial technique that uses high-pressure waterjets to cut substances including stone and steel) was inspired by witnessing high-pressure steam leaks chewing right through the handles of broomsticks used by shipboard engineers to find leaks in super-heated steam plants.

[@gretathunderer5596]

A lot, there's a ton of energy in 600 psi steam, and more when it's superheated. Even if the steam jet has lost most of its pressure when it hits you, it will boil the water in your cells on contact and will cause massive damage nearly instantly. If it breaks the skin, the high flow, boiling flesh and internal pressure could easily tear you apart. Not a fun time.

[@donaldpiper9763]

This isn’t a myth ,but a fact it’ll scold your lungs and cut your hand ,arm whatever off .

[@evensgrey]

Although in practice, waterjet cutting is a lot more like sandblasting than what super-heated steam does. Both of them work by using the fluid stream to carry and direct abrasive.

[@jeffjr84]

Learned the broomstick thing from industrial high pressure boilers. This is what i was talking about the other day about why they wil never light the boilers. idk if any of that can even stand up to x ray. it can definitely slice a broom head in half and also not make any audible noise as its above human hearing levels.

[@jerrycomo2736]

Yes to the broomstick search tool in the Navy and Merchant Marine. We've lost the boilers a number of times. English Channel was the hairiest. Very busy seaway. (SS Sealand Venture). Used our momentum to steer toward shallow water then let the anchor go. We were now anchored off Beachy Point, England just outside the traffic lanes. The old diesel ships I was on never lost the engine, but they vibrated more. The Captain complained the vibration shook the butter off his pancakes at breakfast.

[@mikeanderson6531]

My father served on a repair ship (Delta) during the Korean War. He was boilerman rated and mainly was on refrigeration repair. He told me stories of using wooden sticks to search for steam leaks. He said the leaks could cut off fingers. Thanks for your videos.

[@keithalaird]

Pretty much the same thing in power plants. One of the great Philadelphia area electrical generation “war stories” is about Philadelphia Electric Eddystone #1, which was a supercritical plant (over 3208 PSI and something above 705 F). Everything was fine until they had their first steam leak. They could hear it and see the condensation on a wall about 30’ away, but they couldn’t determine the source. Their solution was to promote a case of the wooden yardsticks hardware stores used to give away for free from the local hardware store and a box of wiping rags. Same basic idea.

[@timb83]

a lot of those first Gen supercrits ran 3600 PSI @ 1005F at the throttle. Interesting note, the first supercritical boiler (B&W UP-1) was actually ultra-supercritical providing >4000 psi steam (any water over 705F is steam, the supercritical fluid area is over 3208 psi but less than 705F). Modern ultra-supercrits are just playing catch up to a late 50s B&W boiler (though they're much more efficient).

[@michaelblum4968]

My father (Ed Blum) served on American merchant vessels from 1945 to the 1980s, as a sailor and then deck officer. He mentioned the "use a broom to find the leak" thing to us kids at some point. I've also heard that the "jet" of steam isn't very visible until it slows and cools down, so you get a little cloud of steam which might be a few yards from the actual leak.

[@jayshaw63]

Made my 1st class midshipman cruise on the USS Claude V. Ricketts DDG-5. 1,275 psi boilers.

[@TEHSTONEDPUMPKIN]

Jesus Christ that a lot of pressure!

[@keithgutshall9559]

I was a boiler tech fireing oñ de 1072 , and ddg 10 and they both had 1275 boilers on them. We superheated it to 925 degrees F,hot stuff!

[@jeffwaddell66]

Was tought this in engine men school to find high pressure steam leaks. And did have to learn all piping systems in the engine room.

[@ritaloy8338]

Even though I was a Gunners Mate I was trained to search for steam leaks with a broom. I was part of the fire party on both of my ships. My first ship was USS Jason (AR-8) a repair ship and the last commissioned ship from WW II. I then went to the USS Rogers (DD-876) a Gering Class Destroyer. Both of these ships were steam powered.

[@brucetucker4847]

If you prefer 74 degrees, I suggest you stay out of the engineering spaces when the boilers are lit! 104 is more like it, at least in warm waters. And yes, I was told to look for steam leaks with a 2 x 4, and if you were lucky it wouldn't break your wrist when you found it and it cut the 2 x 4 in half.

[@fadlya.rahman4113]

In America, 104 degrees is warm. In the rest of the world, 104 degrees is boiled to death.

[@kevincrosby1760]

@@fadlya.rahman4113 right now it is 89 degrees on my front porch at 12:52 PM. Can't wait until spring is done and it starts getting warm out. in a month or so, 104 will be normal for early afternoon. (and yes, I did catch that you were making a C vs. F joke...)

[@stevedoe1630]

104°F is a little warm. Temperatures on top of the steam drum and adjacent to the DC heater can get undesirable.

[@JoshuaTootell]

I wondered what the temps were like down there. On the diesel ship I was on it would be well over 160 in the ER when we were in the South Pacific.

[@raitchison]

I remember when I went to (GSE) "A" School in Great Lakes in late 1988. At the time all the engineering disciplines had to first go through a "Propulsion Engineering Basics" course which as the name suggests taught the basics of engineering including Diesel, Gas Turbine and Steam power plants. I can attest they definitely told us to use the broom method to check for steam leaks. They even had a couple of "hot plants" which were simply shipboard steam plants enclosed in a building. One was the 600PSI plant and the other was the 1200PSI plant.

[@jeremyzimmerli4887]

Common practice in commercial steam turbine power plants too.

[@donaldparlettjr3295]

My wife's grandfather was in the Navy for 31 years and the brooms were kept readily handy. Superheated steam will easily kill you if it hits you. Lessons he passed on to me years ago when I questioned him. RIP Grandpa.

[@johnstreet819]

When it cuts your fingers off they get cauterized and don't even bleed/

[@rjeffm1]

I have heard the same story many times. I have also looked for examples of actual cutting of a broom. All I can find are examples where the steam is forced to condense before it can evaporate making the leak visible on the broom. That said there are lots of examples of fatal 3rd degree burns caused by such leaks. Cheers.

[@tsm688]

Nobody in their right mind is going to cause that dangerous a leak on purpose just so they can record it shredding a broom for you :)

[@tacticalmanatee]

from the current US navy guys I've talked to who worked on carriers (which still have tons of steam for the powerplant and the catapult systems) the broom is still the standard method for finding leaks

[@tombriggman2875]

I always hated the first day that we would light off the plant after a long cold iron period. The main space was frequently full of condensation. The MMs and BTs would be dashing about looking for potential leaks. After a day or so everything would expand and the space would be back to normal running condition.

[@uranium_beaver]

Thank you for such content. I watched bunch of your videos last week and found it unique and valuable. If I will have occasion to visit USA and have some personal time your museum is #1 prio.

[@SeanBZA]

Also applicable to high pressure hydraulics, where you find a pinhole leak that shoots a needle thin jet of oil, which penetrates clothing and skin equally well, so you get large subcutaneous oil filled blisters that need surgical lancing and draining, and often more than not skin grafts to repair the damage. The broom will there either lose bristles, or simply get wet.

[@waynekoepke8128]

yes we had two leaks in the engine room on the old tin can i was on yes we used the broom just like you said to find the leaks in the flex gasket it took a long time to fix and always at night a all engine room hands job

[@skipd9164]

I am glad you made this video. In early 80s I decided to get EMT certificate because of an incident at GE gear plant in Lynn MASS. I was always told when reduction gearing and steam turbines were tested you walked around test stands with a broom. High pressure steam cannot be seen until it turns to moisture. You can walk into an invisible leak and then it's to late. I was also told getting burned by steam feels nothing like being burned. What your talking about happened to a worker in the gear plant. The gear plant is on other side of commuter rail tracks where the most of ge jet engine manufacturing also hospital.

[@keithrosenberg5486]

Nuclear vessels are still steam powered.

[@edfrawley4356]

Yep. Just mentioned that fact to a guy who was under the impression that he didn't have to worry about steam on his nuclear powered carrier.

[@evensgrey]

@@edfrawley4356 Whereas in reality, you usually have MORE to worry about per boiler: The conventional layout is to have a closed-loop through each reactor that brings the heat out to a heat exchanger to boil a completely different supply of water to provide the steam to drive the turbines. A lot of Russian nuclear vessels don't, but that' because a lot of them (especially the subs) don't use steam on the primary coolant loops through the reactor, but MOLTEN LEAD. This has the very complicating problem that the reactor cannot be permitted to go cold until it's time to permanently shut it down for retirement. (There's supposed to be dockside support to heat it in port, but in practice this equipment was often out of service, forcing most vessels with this type of reactor to remain at active power to keep the reactor viable in port. This is just ONE of the reasons Russian and before them Soviet sailors were afraid of their reactors in a way US sailors never were.)

[@stevedoe1630]

In Western world, operator controls reactor. In mother Russia, reactor controls operator.

[@raitchison]

@@stevedoe1630 That joke was not great but not terrible

[@formula73]

@@edfrawley4356 that guy is an idiot lol

[@radhazcat]

As I recall, the 4 boilers in my ship the USS Gridley CG21, ran at 1200psi. I was in Fire Control so the steam was not my area but 1200 is what I recall being told and the broom was the way to find steam leaks.

[@donaldpiper9763]

You are correct.I was on the USS Little Rock CLG4 ,I was a Machinist Mate in the Forward engine room / Main control. Put on an OBA an a broomstick or mop handle and track it down it cuts the stick into instead of you . You wear an OBA so you don’t scold your lungs !

[@stanbrow]

We have loads of 600PSI steam lines, some from the 1930’s. Typically the leaks are at flanges, and first show up as visible since the start really small with enough DP across the leak to drop the steam to near atmospheric pressure, but if you don’t imediatly fix them, you will get the high pressure steam coming out

[@keithalaird]

One more thought. Before Flexitallic flange gaskets were invented, it wasn’t unheard of to have to run around a power plant during startup or shutdown and re torque some of the flanges so they didn’t leak.

[@timb83]

I haven't been around that long, but I have done considerable (non-academic) research on gasketing in high temp/pressure steam service and this doesn't make sense to me. The primary application difference between a spiral-wound gaskets and graphite flat gaskets is the minimum seating stress and m factor. Thus the the flat graphite gasket, appropriately torqued, should still seal regardless of thermal cycling. I could believe this would be caused by using B7 bolts in a B16 service, as possibly the B7 would grow more than the B16 at higher temperatures? Unless there also wasn't graphite flat gaskets back then either and the real issue was asbestos-fiber gaskets, which don't stand up to thermal cycling like graphite can.

[@SeanBZA]

@@timb83 Asbestos fibre most likely, as plenty of very old steam plant is still in use, and will only get repaired when stuff fails, so a gasket that was put in in 1960 would likely still be in there, along with asbestos packings in valve gland boxes.

[@timb83]

@@SeanBZA I've ran into those gaskets doing several different pipe replacements at different plants, and shockingly I've never personally encountered them in high temperature service (most of those must have been changed out before my time) so I have only have academic knowledge of how well they worked after being cycled. The only contemporary anecdotes of asbestos gaskets in high temp services I came around was in steam turbines, but not any that I worked on. Just enough that I knew to be cognizant of possible abatement needs when taking one apart.

[@SeanBZA]

@@timb83 I have seen asbestos lagged pipes still in use as building hot water, and also you still find asbestos gland packings around, even new are still in use for some applications.

[@kevincrosby1760]

@@timb83 remember also that every component in the steam system is designed to move a certain amount due to expansion and contraction. What doesn't move, breaks. Flanges WILL leak. This is why temperatures are bought up slowly, steam is introduced slowly, etc. As a general rule, leaks go away as things heat up. The problems arise when gaskets fail AFTER you are at full temp and pressure.

[@jeffreybelden2491]

I remember one h.p. steam leak. Happened when we were bottom blowing the boiler (1200psi) . When opening the valves, a sudden burst of steam started, we secured the closest valve to boiler and it slowed. It was between the first and second discharge valves, a hole about the size of a pencil. Had to wrap up that boiler an d bring on the other. We had just been through the Panama canal, and had to keep one going, underway procedure. Flew in high pressure welding team from Norfolk. Stuck In Panama city for 5-6 days, we only got a half days liberty. Can't have liberty till the job was done. The life of a boiler technition in the 70's.

[@ericrichard6406]

My brother was in the navy. He told me about the steam at such high pressure you don’t see it. He said they used paper to track down leaks. Pretty cool as long as your not hurt...

[@spankyharland9845]

my understanding of high pressure steam- is as lethal as high powered laser beams and can cause some serious injuries. When the Chief tells you to get a bucket of steam.....just go below and fill the bucket with water and come back to him and tell the Chief the steam cooled down....you'll get a good laugh...and you might end up painting the anchor chain locker.

[@vicarious1717]

I just can't help to think that we will need her and others in the future. Like a classic vehicle, it needs to run a few times a year. Imagine taking a cruise around on a BATTELSHIP, fo the weekend!!!! Many would pay to take a 3 day cruise on her. Two birds with one stone. She stays ready and we get the experience. Really great videos Ryan. Fire it up

[@davidncw4613]

Ryan, great stuff as usual, TY! btw, I spent my civilian career as a pulp and paper Pipefitter. We used a lot of high psi steam as well. There is nothing of a wives' tale about searching for a shrieking hp steam leak with a broom. Less than 200 psi of compressed air can penetrate the skin. I believe a bad hit from 600 psi steam could cut a man in half. AIso, I think Nuclear powered ships are indeed steam powered. Instead of using oil to heat the boilers they use radiation. Keep up the good work young man.

[@TheShawna1]

Yep super heated steam has no water vapor. It is invisible.... that's what super heating does it removes water there by "Dry steam" which has less resistance and is more efficient.. The steam whistle on a tea pot uses water vapor to make the noise. we regularly walked around with broom sticks it was easier to keep the Non bristle end in the air for long periods. if the the end of the broom handle hit the deck all stopped until leak was found 1200 PSI is nothing to fool with it will cut steel.jim 2nd ENG.

[@CarhartKid]

"Enginemen" worked with diesel engines. I would imagine on the New Jersey Enginemen were in A-Gang, taking care of the small boats and the emergency generators. In the Cold War Navy, Boiler Technicians and Machinist's Mates primarily work in the Firerooms, Enginerooms, and Main & Auxiliary Machinery Spaces. I worked in the After Engineroom (EM02) of the USS Dale (CG-19) for several years in the late '80's. We had a 1200 pound plant. We never had any Main Steam leaks. So, we never needed a broom. But, there was always one or two close at hand.

[@snipe1066]

I was on 2 ships with 1200 psi plants, USS Marvin Shields DE/FF1066 and USS Turner Joy DD951 - 1973-1978 as an MM3. We had steam leaks and I had a broomstick to wave in front of me to search for leaks in the engine room and generator room( Knox class ships had separate engineering space for the turbogenerators)

[@boballmendinger3799]

My late friend, Les Wimer, served on the Turner Joy, in the 60's as an electrician.

[@invader440]

I was also on the Marvy Do also and ended up decommissioning her in 92.

[@paulheitkemper1559]

When I was a boy, one of scout leaders was talking about serving on an aircraft carrier back in the 60's (70's?). He said he once cut a broom handle off searching for a steam leak. I want to say he specifically said to the catapult steam lines, but that was a long time ago.

[@gregj5030]

I was a BT3 on the USS Waddell DDG 24 between 83-86. We had a total of 4 Foster Wheeler D type 1200 PSI boilers in two fire rooms supplying two engine rooms with Westinghouse main turbines. Yes even small steam leaks especially on the main super heated lines are nothing to play with. I remember using the old broom method to locate leaks on several occasions during my tour.

[@johnslaughter5475]

USS Ranger (CVA/CV-61) had 1200psi boilers. Fortunately, I didn't work down there. I visited a friend one time and found it way too hot for my comfort. However, as the #1 nozzleman on a DC party, I did have to know what kinds of piping ran through all of the compartments in which I might have to fight fire or search for damage. We had a 6' 2x4 that we would wave around to find high pressure steam leaks. Even if it didn't cut the 2x4, the lead would knock it aside. I do remember that JP-5 piping was painted a lilac color. You have some of that on New Jersey. I saw it in one of your videos.

[@adamlewellen5081]

I knew a power plant Chief.. a broom or your body is how you find them.

[@Zeppflyer]

I used to work for a company that builds steam turbines. They have a central boiler that provides heat, DC power, and supply steam for several test facilities around the 20ish acre campus. One day in... 2010?... a high pressure pipe running over the top of our building ruptured. The howling was incredible. Deafening inside and from most of the plant. It sounded like an air raid siren. I know that I heard about the broom technique when I worked there, along with stories of guys losing fingers to steam leaks.

[@skipmountain9283]

Thanks for another great video!.Keep up the fine work Libby, carry on! FIREPOWER FOR FREEDOM

[@MoparNewport]

I'm an automotive tech, originally, and when dealing with fuel injection systems (especially diesel as it can be 10,000psi or more) they teach us the same thing - go in holding something like cardboard to locate the leak. They also showed pics of tech who did not do this, and either died outright or lost limbs, as the pressure is more than enough to inject the fluid into flesh. The damage actually looks somewhat similar to vicious electrical burns. These days, I'm a power engineer working with a number of low pressure low temperature water boilers. I still treat them with extreme respect and caution. Even on them, having a boiler casualty is bloody terrifying, albeit the fear comes just as much after the fact.

[@kevincrosby1760]

Remember all of the warnings about boiling water in a closed container? A boiler is exactly that...a closed container that you are boiling water in. Your caution and respect are warranted. The difference between a low pressure boiler and a bomb can come down to whether the safeties blow off at the proper set point. I've seen the aftermath of a 5 PSI boiler for steam heat where a steam stop and a safety failed to open and the emergency gas valve on the burner failed to close...they were using a front end loader to remove the remnants of the boiler house from the parking lot where everything above the level of the firebox ended up.

[@MoparNewport]

@@kevincrosby1760 the real fun starts when the safeties are what fail. ;)

[@orionseal117]

USS Constellation CV-64, I believe it was 1992 or 1993 after Her refit/S.L.E.P. During Sea Trials we found a steam leak when it cut off a broom handle, but with a 1200 psi "DRY STEAM" system it was a bit more hair raising than it would have been with the 600 psi "WET STEAM" system in use on the Battleships.

[@rinzler9171]

The older ships that use boilers are pretty much all gone now I think. The two I was on, LHA-2 SAIPAN and LPD-8 DUBUQUE were fairly old ships with boiler plants. It was interesting watching the BT'S light em up. Almost like an operating room.

[@lonnywilcox445]

The steam won't necessarily cut you but it will burn the heck out of you in short order. High pressure water and hydraulic lines will cut you to pieces in a heartbeat. Hydraulic also has the added problem that it will inject hydraulic fluid into you and that isn't healthy. Either will drive air into your body as well and if the bubble of air or hydraulic fluid finds a way to your heart, lungs or brain you are likely finished. Boiler feed water has to be pressurized to a higher pressure than the steam in order to be pushed into the boiler so it is often found too. Hydraulic fluid can be driven up to 5,000psi to run equipment and if it develops a pinhole can cut through most anything it contacts including armor. Submariners also use brooms a lot for the same reasons.

[@ghost307]

Burns are the worst. They actually hurt MORE while healing than they do when you get them.

[@rbmk__1000]

@@ghost307 tell that to someone who dies from infection caused by tissue necrosis from hydraulic injection. The initial injury may not be all that bad but the antiwear addative package kills tissue, the insuing process is not pleasant and can take weeks to kill a man in total agony.

[@rbmk__1000]

@@ghost307 I just fully comprehended your comment, I misread it.

[@stephenalexander6721]

I read "The United States Navy in WW2". The descriptions of what steam released from battle damaged pipes was gruesome.

[@JamesF0790]

I absolutely love the present tense. "New Jersey operates at 600 PSI" as if she might bring up steam tomorrow. I know you can't light the boilers for many reasons but it always is a nice little thing about these videos.

[@tedfuchs9132]

I'm not Navy but my Maintenance Supervisor had been in the Navy in the early 60's. When I first hired in he told me how they found steam leaks on his ship. He used a 2"×4" and ran the steam lines with that. Claiming that when you found it the board would be cut in two. Being nineteen at the time I though that was to dangerous for me. I'll stick with molten Aluminum casting.

[@MartinCHorowitz]

I wouldn't be surprised of an update using IR cameras to help find leaks, at much higher expense than the broom...

[@cruser69]

Problem with IR cams is temperature. We used to use NFFTI, Naval Fire Fire Thermal Imagers, during fire fitting. The whole room is so hot, you can see fires, however the pipes are all showing white, 950 degrees.

[@kevincrosby1760]

@@cruser69 the NFFTI is TOO sensitive to find steam leaks. The ambient temp and the temp of the piping all combine to wash out the image to the point of being useless for about anything but finding an actual fire. For those who have never played with the device, a sailor on a smoke break appears as a light man-shaped ghostly blob with a very bright flashlight in its mouth. It's purpose is to evaluate an area for hot spots and fire where normal vision is obscured. Inventive people have also used the device to find bad gaskets in reefer doors...the cold spot will be darker than the surrounding area.

[@grimlock1471]

@@kevincrosby1760 can you manually set temp ranges to display? I was playing with an IR camera one time and if I disabled auto ranging and set the display to show only what was 80 and 100 degrees F, I could see the heat my bare feet left on the carpet. Everything else was filtered out.

[@agenericaccount3935]

I read that as Seam Leaks. I am glad we are just hunting steam leaks.

[@wonniewarrior]

I was taught while training on forklifts that a hydraulic leak on the fork mast while it was up or carrying a load was dangerous. It could in theory cut a man hard as the hydraulic fluid operated under great pressure when compressed and the valve was not releasing the load. We were taught to find the leak first by observation to find general area, of course stay away from the jet direction of the leak, and use a piece of paper as you used the broom to use as a 'search device' as a sacrificial lamb.

[@axelrajr]

i wasn't in engineering, but the broomstick was taught as a good way to find leaks in any high pressure system. it was considered far better to wreck a broom than a person. only thing i was regularly around was the high pressure air system on truman was at 3000psi. mainly i new it was used to run the pumps that refilled SCBAs, don't know what else it was used for, perhaps the cal lab and the oxygen plants (referred to them as the oxygen bars which were a bit of a thing back then). and any leak was considered quite dangerous. unlike constellation though, truman had very few steam accessories left. constellation had steam capstans and anchor windlass along with other things. on truman, only engineering, the hot water heaters and the catapults used steam. everything else was either electric or electro-hydraulic with local pumps so even there, there were no high pressure hydraulic lines over any sort of distance.

[@kanamisprs4330]

I love the comments on this channel. So much life experiance, history and almost forgotten lore. A library's worth of books could be written about it all.

[@erikkaingebretsen5096]

True. Many of the destroyers post war were at 1200 psi. The danger is not just the steam leak, to fix the leak you have to peel off the pipe’s insulation which is diatomaceous earth wrapped in asbestos cloth. Dust from the asbestos cloth exposes the repairer to fine asbestos particles which can lodge in the lungs and cause asbestosis and Mesothelioma. I have a small spot in my lung that VA is keeping their eye on. I was a Machinist Mate and did repair work on steam leaks.

[@SlipFitGarage]

What are those springs for near the ceiling above the 600 Aux steam pipes?? They can be seen when you first started sweeping the broom around looking for the steam leak. Two different sets of springs can be seen above the pipes at the 4:28 mark.

[@cruser69]

Pipe hangers. The piping is not hard bolted, it needs to be able to move from shock and expansion/contraction due to the temperature.

[@SlipFitGarage]

@@cruser69 I suspected something along those lines. Thanks for the reply. 🙂

[@south9490]

I was a MM3 onboard the USS ANCHORAGE LSD- 36. She 2 600 lb main steam boilers on her. Well to make a long story short I went to lagging school to help with lagging the pipes well I found a small steam leak by using a long mirror it was at a flange we had it fixed when we got back into port.

[@jamielacourse7578]

Great narrator. I keep coming back here.....

[@Andersson203]

I worked at a powerplant a while back and at that powerplant when they had a steam leak they had broom handles with rags on the end of them to search for leaks. So I can totally believe this method was used onboard. I did experience one significant steam leak that went out into the boiler house. We could hear it on the other side of the boiler (which is large and the house is very noisy so that's an indication that it is a bad one) we searched for it using a wooden folding ruler because that is what we had on hand when we were out in the boiler house. It's flexible enough that we got an instant indication when we sweept it past the leak. When we examined the part of the ruler that had passed through the invisible steam we noticed it had almost instantly charred the wood so superheated steam is something you want to take seriously. And that was just one of the 725 psi auxiliary systems that was leaking the steam main at that plant was over 1300 psi so I'm glad that thing didn't break while I was there.

[@deadendfriends1975]

The first video that got me addicted to the channel.

[@ericcommarato7727]

I had a college professor that was a navy man. I heard the broom story from him.

[@donaldpiper9763]

It’s true MM3 U.S Navy 71-75 .

[@Angrymuscles]

Of course you can sweep up grease. Because that's what the CPO tells you to do.

[@Jst12341]

This gave me a chuckle XD

[@iaincaveney7162]

In the Australian Navy in the 1980s we used to use a thermometer pocket which was about 12 inches long with a strip of Chux rag tied on the end

[@powellmountainmike8853]

I know they still used brooms for that purpose back when I was in the Navy during the Vietnam War.

[@Recovering_Californian]

Briefly worked at a SoCal company that used steam boilers for their machines. It was a little intimidating being around them.

[@traviscox6022]

Not just ships. I work on a 800 psi co generation plant. We use brooms to check for leaks.

[@larrysmith3374]

Yup, not a wives tale. Steamed many a mile and searched for my share of leaks. I steamed a 600psi first then moved to a 1,200psi plant. With superheat temperature of 950 degF. That’ll get your attention. Steam leaks sound like they’re coming from everywhere and are extremely disorienting. It always amazed me that you could light a cigarette off of the steam lines.

[@WildBillCox13]

The 692 class Steam plant I trained on was a miniature version of the NJ's. 600lb steam was the standard. We had 1200lb steam at 975F superheat on the Knox class frigates. You could tell there was a leak if you saw a pair of jean clad legs walking around, trying to find the rest of the Snipe they came from. Broom handles optional.

[@WildBillCox13]

Allen M Sumner class DD was the "692" class. They stretched it a bit to create the Gearing class, giving the class more bunkerage for increased range. Both classes had the same powerplant, whose 60,00SHP conferred upon them a turn of speed allowing either type to keep up with the Iowas or Essex/Midways . . . on a glass calm sea. Lovely little ships.

[@stormybrain239]

When I saw the broom in the preview I knew this was going to be great

[@CaptainMustanG4089]

Love this channel and Ryan! Thanks for the entertaining and informative content! 10/10

[@billhunsinger862]

I was on the USS Glover at 1150 psi and the J.P. Kennedy at 650 psi then at electric sen stations at 650 and nuclear at 1150 psi. I was on strike duty on the 650 psi gen stone as burner operator. at the generation had pipe leaking and had to knock the slag off the walls before repairing.

[@knusern666]

Brooms are also used for finding leaks in water-cutter lines, I was at a site where the guys cutting concrete from a bridge started each morning by swiping brooms over all hose connections. Their foreman bore scars on pinky and ring finger from where they had been cut (from his hand by a leak and later reattached.

[@danschneider9921]

Yep. Worked with a couple old swabs who told me this exact thing...one with a missing pinky finger from NOT using a broom once

[@josh8344]

I was just about to post to drachifal about this! Also after watching your intro you forgot the covered in asbestos part 😅

[@BattleshipNewJersey]

They removed the asbestos in the 80s

[@Kevin-go2dw]

I have never worked on a ship or power plant, but I was taught to use a broom to find a leak on superheated steam. What you have been told, is the same as what I have been told down here in "lock down" Melbourne, Australia. Superheated steam is invisible, where as you are more likely to see saturated steam.

[@thatguynameddan2136]

i know this trick from guys that used to work in powerplants. A couple of them saw guys lose fingers cause they didnt use the broom amd were basically touching the flange that was leaking. Steam, it's dangerous stuff.

[@DougStamper-rd3fn]

While studying steam engineering by and old turbine engineer who love to stories about his experiences which includes this one. " On an inter islander ferry they would get steam leaks that when they blow out often could take out the lights with the shock so the tied a rag yo a broom stick and could safety walk foward watching for the rag for movement showing the invisible line of steam in there path."

[@judpowell1756]

the super heated steam got hot enough the EM's could light their smokes on the uninsulated pipe joints