Breaching Insulation
Once relied upon to provide the heat for many homes and public and private buildings, including schools, hospitals, and office buildings, steam boilers constructed prior to the early 1980s took extra precautions to avoid excessive damage in the event of a pipe burst or other leak by coating areas of the boiler and ductwork with a material known as breaching insulation. By strengthening and adding an extra measure of heat resistance to areas that could potentially be exposed to steam or water during a burst or break in a duct or other boiler component, the breaching insulation added a much-needed measure of safety and efficiency, both for people living and working in the buildings heated by these boilers, as well as to the maintenance workers and repair people who kept them running smoothly.
Breaching insulation and asbestos
As with many construction applications undertaken prior to the 1980s, breaching insulation was made affordable and effective through the addition of asbestos in the manufacturing process. Highly resistant to heat, impervious to the corrosive effects of water and steam, and cheap and easy to obtain, asbestos was considered to be a sort of “dream material” to manufacturers of breaching insulation, and many other building materials used in HVAC applications, as well as general construction. Although today’s breaching materials are asbestos-free, the majority of buildings constructed prior to the early 1980s which use residential or commercial boilers contain breaching material which is embedded with asbestos fibers.
While asbestos poses no danger when left completely undisturbed and unaltered, any change to asbestos that causes it to flake or release dust particles into the air is a potentially serious, and possibly deadly health hazard. The dust and fiber particles which are released pose an immediate threat to those working on the repairs or alterations. But anyone who works, goes to school, or lives in a building where such repairs were made is also at risk, both at the time of the repair or alteration, as well as for years afterward, as loosened dust and fibers are released through the ductwork. If your home, school, hospital, or office building has had its boiler system repaired or altered in any way since its installation, there’s a good chance that the breaching insulation may have been disturbed, either directly or indirectly through repair or alteration to elements adjacent to the breaching material.
Last modified: December 28, 2010.
