The Home Machinist!

Just a thought, would you want to plumb one burner, perhaps the center one, to a separate gas supply to act as a pilot light? That way you could shut off all the others and let the boiler "simmer" on a long down grade or at the station and them easily turn up the heat as you pull away or encounter a grade.

Rick

That is intense! Very nice!

boaterri wrote:Just a thought, would you want to plumb one burner, perhaps the center one, to a separate gas supply to act as a pilot light? That way you could shut off all the others and let the boiler "simmer" on a long down grade or at the station and them easily turn up the heat as you pull away or encounter a grade.

This is a good idea. I have wanted to pull my manifold and modify it so that only two burners run on a separate idle circuit but it would be a royal PITA to modify and everything pretty much works now so I'm considering it but it's not high on the priority list Evan may be in the same boat. I'd try the current manifold as is.

FWIW I did not use a baffle. My firebox is 3.5 x 6; very small. A baffle just does not work. The manifold tubing itself becomes a baffle and sometimes it's better to use the smallest tubing you can in order to allow for more air. I'd try it without a baffle first. Or build one that you can swap out very quickly for testing.

You'll find that in order to "idle" you'll need to turn them down so they look just like yours did when you first lit them. Lots of orange flame and just a tiny touch of blower. If there is any blue you'll be popping off every minute or so. I can generally maintain about 80psi on "idle". Again, just my experience with a loco style boiler and not a vertical boiler.

$.02

Ken-

boaterri wrote:Just a thought, would you want to plumb one burner, perhaps the center one, to a separate gas supply to act as a pilot light? That way you could shut off all the others and let the boiler "simmer" on a long down grade or at the station and them easily turn up the heat as you pull away or encounter a grade.

Rick

In thinking about my someday steam engine I had thought to put two valves in parallel to each other supplying propane to the manifold. One being a 'pilot' or 'idle' valve, set it to a low flame and forget about it for the run and the second valve changing the fire size for running.

I don't know if it is necessary, needed or a bad idea.

I tested the burners out in the boiler on Sunday, and they worked quite well after some tinkering. First off, the baffle was tossed. I did this because the flame burnt completely yellow with the engine running, and with the propane pressure turned up to make more steam since the engine was in use. Second, I experimented with two different blast nozzle sizes, and the two were the 1/4" nozzle first, and then back to the 3/16" nozzle. The 1/4" nozzle didn't really provide much of a draft, and it really only felt as if I had the blower open a little bit when I placed my hand over the stack with it running. That also meant that the flame was burning a bit rich from the lackluster draft. The most annoying thing about that nozzle is when I crack the throttle open when the cylinders are cold, and it turns into a garden hose(even with the cylinder cocks open). It got water everywhere, and while it was running I kept hearing pops inside the boiler from the water dripping off of it. About halfway through I turned off the gas and swapped the new nozzle for the original 3/16" one, and it started acting the way it should have. Now the flame burns nice and blue with only a little bit of yellow, and no smell of unburnt propane. So, I think that the 3/16" nozzle with no baffle provided the best burn, and I'm going to be happy to go out and try it soon to see how it performs out on the track!

Evan,

Tell me more. You nearly always have a gurgle of water blown out the stack at the beginning of the run day. At least this is what I've seen. For me, condensate collects in the outgoing exhaust passages and the only way out is up the stack. This only happens at the beginning of the day. I've considered putting in a valve at the bottom of my exhaust tee so that I can drain all the water prior to moving.

I'm trying to equate why a smaller nozzle would affect this since your nozzle isn't being used until your actually running out on the track. Your blower is the heat maker while at the steaming bays.

Ken-

I put on the pilot beams over the weekend, and it I really like how they came out. They pretty much complete the details that I currently have planned for it, and the only other ones are the journal box lids.

This is not high on my priorities list, but has anyone here ever made a diamond stack with a cone in it like the full size ones? I had wanted to try that at some point if I ever started burning wood more often. I don't know how well it would stop the sparks, but I'd like to try it.

littleevan99 wrote:This is not high on my priorities list, but has anyone here ever made a diamond stack with a cone in it like the full size ones? I had wanted to try that at some point if I ever started burning wood more often. I don't know how well it would stop the sparks, but I'd like to try it.

When we (Mt. Rainier Scenic Railway) rebuilt the Hillcrest #10 3-truck Climax in 1982, The Boss insisted we install the original Radley-Hunter smoke stack. It has the internal cone facing downward, plus fins designed to "cyclone" the exhaust, allowing cinders to drop out and get collected in the bottom for later removal, as the smoke+steam swirled out the top. WE HATED IT!!! It totally killed the draft, and caused fuel consumption to rise noticeably. We eventually installed the other original shot-gun stack, and made #10 a good steamer again.
I cannot image that a miniature R-H type stack would work, because of the relatively tiny volume available for the cinders to drop out. Not to mention the resulting poor steaming.

If you like the looks of that type of stack, make it look like it, but allow unobstructed exhaust out the top.
My thoughts.
~RN

I really only wanted to try something like it to see if it improves the spark arresting capabilities. The current cage shaped arrestor works great with coal, but starts to look like a roman candle when it's working hard. I don't want to imagine how bad it will be with a light load if I burn wood.

Interesting thought...the sparks and cinders are probably not to scale.

Been a while since I have updated this thread, so here's what I've done to the CliShay. For starters, I went to Train Mountain last month with a group for Father's Day weekend. It ran it's little engine out, and the gear on the crankshaft decided to spin on me while I was starting to go up the Panama Canal. That was a bummer, but it got me to put a keyway in the gear, and in the crankshaft. Then, I re timed the engine so that it was running squarer than ever, and I also replaced all of the bushing on the engine. After all of that was over I got a set of castings from Cole's so that I can make a Worthington Duplex pump to mount on the right side of the engine. I replaced the bypass valve with a 3/16-40 angle valve so that I could utilize the bypass valve hole in the tank for a second balancing line so that the rear tank will no longer become over-filled while running. Finally, I have gotten Kozo's Heisler book, and I plan on building the 1.5" scale version in the future after I get the Duplex pump built, and after I paint the CliShay.