We rented a newer House in a lil CO Town, and it looked way different than older Houses on the Block. It had wide, Masonite Siding; newer Windows; you name it. An older Neighbor told me the story...
The original old House had a 1st Gen Water Heater; like a Batch Heater, apparently. Turn it on and heat up Water. Over pressure Valves were not standard back then. So, someone forgot about it. The Water Heater blew and
completely flattened the House. Thus, when rebuilt, it was rebuilt 'newer'. No one was hurt.
The lovely old Stanley Hotel in Estes Park CO has, of course, a pristine Stanley Steamer Automobile in the Lobby. When he lived the proverbial Pauper's Life in Boulder, Stephen King made this grand old Hotel the setting for his Book 'The Shining'.
As the story goes, building upon the Stanley Steamer idea, Howard Hughes commissioned a Steam Car to be built. Upon seeing it, he asked where the Engine cooling was. The Engineers proudly announced they'd 'cleverly' built Cooling Coils into the side Panels of the Car. He asked what happens were he to get broadsided. Wouldn't he get scalded to death? Project terminated. Even if this story is Urban Myth, it is insightful.
In the wild and wacky World of High Vacuum, we had a Vacuum Rupture Disc on a patented High Vacuum Valve. It was a domed piece of Metal in an 8 Bolt Vacuum Port about 1" in diameter. The material thickness was somewhere between several sheets of Aluminum Foil, and a new, thin 'Coke' Can. Sorry, but I don't know the exact Dome thickness in thousands of Inches. It was intended to rupture should something go really wrong within a High Vacuum System, and pressure were to build up. That is, all the Gas Molecules stuck to the Metal Walls of Vacuum Piping and Chambers is freed when power fails, and the System warms to ambient from those parts of the System at Cryogenic temps. The System pressure can rise to well beyond ambient, even though that might seem counter-intuitive. Further, some of those trapped Gases can be explosive, depending on the function of the Vacuum System, and the Gases being pumped [Cryogenically trapped].
I would certainly think about modifying this concept and having a high volume 'Murphy's Law' Rupture Disc somewhere on a Steam Project. Or, intentionally braze in a section of thin wall Tubing that would fail first in a 'controlled', non-fatal manner. Of course, it would be much thicker material than the concept noted above. This Rupture/Failure Disc would bypass the issue of standard Pressure Release Valves not having the capacity to rapidly depressurize, and would thus save your Bacon.
I suspect this idea is about as original as most of my ideas, and is already standard issue.
Perhaps 'Shadow Catcher' can comment further, and mention if this is standard Hardware these days...
Stanley Hotel
