Help plumbing a vertical injector

[apm]

I recently had my first test steamup and I couldn't get my injectors to work. The sounded like they were taking, they looked as though they were taking but the water level didn't appear to move.

A while back I happened to order two british injectors which I purchased from two different suppliers figuring I would find out which worked best. A ways back I emailed Vendor A the following picture;

Injector.JPG (17.89 KiB) Viewed 6156 times

His response I quote is;

#1= Cold water in
#2= Steam in
#3= Out to boiler

Just to be sure I got it straight after checking everything else I email vendor B the list above and he shoots back the following response;

You have 2 & 3 the wrong way round. 3 is steam in. 2 is steam out.

So who is right? I am most inclined to think the delivery of steam and water need to go close together hence 3=steam in, 1=water in, and 2=to boiler which stinks as I will need to replumb after heeding the advice of vendor A. What do all of you think?

Anyone have photos of one of these successfully in use?

Thanks,

Adam

[baggo]

Vendor A is wrong. 3 is steam in and 2 is feed to boiler.

John

[ccvstmr]

Adam...would agree, #3 is "steam in" as with most injectors (vertical) steam was supplied thru the top. However in my mind, the jury is still out on the "water inlet" and the "delivery pipe". On Nathan 4000 series injectors, the water inlet was on the bottom (your #2), while the delivery pipe was off the side (your #1). Some of our model examples have those reversed.

Saw on line where your style injector is sold by several overseas suppliers. The vendor contact info you posted might have been one of those. Best to get a definitive answer. This is not the kind of device where you want to do trial 'n error live steam testing. Maybe you can hook up some tubing and use compressed air in place of steam to identify points #1 and #2. At this point, I'd say 1 out of 3 points have been identified. Carl B.

[Steve Goodbody]

Adam,

Surest way to tell would be to carefully remove the cones from ends 2 and 3. Remember which cone went in which end. Then sight down the injector to the combining cone. The hole in one end of the combining cone will be noticeably smaller than the hole in the other end. The side with the larger hole is the steam inlet side. A reasonable picture is here, ignore the fact that the picture shows a horizontal injector.
http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php?topic=5054.0

Another way to tell - the water check valve (presumably located in the portion of the injector on the left side of your picture) will be arranged so that the valve seats and seals to prevent flow from the outlet/overflow side to the steam inlet side.

Be careful with the removed cones, they are very easy to damage.
Best regards
Steve

[apm]

Well it looks like vendor A sent me an apology email confirming that my plumbing per their instructions is all wrong!

That it is;
#1 = water in
#2 = out to boiler
#3 = steam in

I will be away this weekend so I won't get to try firing her up again until next weekend. The other big question is what pressure will these work up to. Both vendor A and B said they were tested to 150psi so we shall see. I guess I am glad the mystery is solved. Fortunately it was only a test steam-up in the driveway. On the bright side I got to meet a few nice neighbors. I gather it isn't everyday someone fires up a large model steam locomotive on our street!

[Mike Walsh]

On the bright side I got to meet a few nice neighbors. I gather it isn't everyday someone fires up a large model steam locomotive on our street!

You could change that in a jiffy!

[JJG Koopmans]

Question for the injector users. If one puts the injector to one's mouth and blow through it would one feel suction
at the water inlet???
Kind regards
Jos Koopmans