A small boiler

[Blogwitch]

Rich,

Congratulations, a true labour of love where your enterprise, skills and workmanship have really shown thru.

Blogs

 

[firebird]

Hi

I modified the burner today by removing the two multi jets and pre heaters. I made two new wick tubes and blanking plugs for the pre heater bushes.

The new parts

New wicks fitted.

Fitted into the burner with the original multi jets in the foreground.

And lit.

Looks good so far but the test did'nt go too well.



Try again



No good.



Still very poor. I carried out another mod. Blank off the front wick and use one multi jet in the rear position.



Thats got it. With just the one multi jet its quite controllable and steams well. I think I will make another burner with one multi jet mushroom positioned to be in the middle of the boiler.

Cheers

Rich

 

[Shopguy]

Looks like you've got it! 12 minutes to steam, without forced draft, is fairly impressive
Regards
Ernie J

 

[firebird]

Hi

Thanks Ernie. What is forced draft??????

Cheers

Rich

 

[Shopguy]

Rich
My interpretation of forced draft.
Forced draft is when there is a mechanism in that increases the air flow up the stack. Often the exhaust steam from an engine exits from a upward pointing nozzle in the stack, this expansion of steam creates more air flow allowing more fuel to be burned. On models it is common to have an auxiliary blower (electric) that will draw more air up the stack until there is steam available from the engine to accomplish this function. This blower typically sits on the stack until steam is up and is then removed.
Ernie

 

[Maryak]

Thanks Ernie. What is forced draft??????

Forced draft is where additional air is forced into the combustion space by means of a fan.

Induced draft is where additional air is induced into the combustion space by means of:

1. A fan in the funnel.
2. A Blast pipe using the exhaust steam from the engine or when the engine is stopped steam from the boiler may be supplied to the blast pipe.

With natural draft the maximum amount of air which can be induced into the combustion space is attained when the funnel gases attain a temperature of 600 F. The output of the boiler is limited by this limit on the amount of fuel which can be burned.

With forced/induced draft the air supply is independent of the above and additional power may be obtained for the same sized combustion space.

On Large installations such as Electric Power Generation both forced and induced draft fans are sometimes employed.

Hope this helps ??? ???

Best Regards
Bob

 

[stevehuckss396]

What is forced draft??????

I smell another modification!

 

[firebird]

Hi Steve,I think your right

Thats got it. With just the one multi jet its quite controllable and steams well. I think I will make another burner with one multi jet mushroom positioned to be in the middle of the boiler.


Ahhhh............. so thats what those gizmos are for. Iv'e seen them on the funnels of model traction engines at steam shows.

Cheers

Rich

[/quote]

 

[Noitoen]

I still say, you could get a nice flame if you "copied" those old kerosene stoves or blow torches that used a little hand pump to pressurise the fuel. I always see them on sale at the local flea market.

 

[firebird]

Hi Noitoen,

Thats an idea I might use on a larger boiler.

Cheers

Rich

 

[Kermit]

Boiler Turbocharged Afterburner ;D

Just tossing ideas around like a game of catch,
Kermit

 

[firebird]

Hi Kermit

How does that work then????

Cheers

Rich

 

[Kermit]

After steam is built up a line is made to feed steam out of a small opening. This is place inside a larger tube which communicates with the fuel tank. The steam causes the fuel to be pulled in with the steam. Extra air ports are added in a third still larger outside tube.

Ancient Fuel injection Tech,
Kermit

 

[steamer]

Hi Rick,

Thats a steam atomized burner. The steam turns the fuel into a fine mist. The rapid flow of steam generates a draft that draws in the air in for combustion at the right. The handwheel moves the steam/fuel nozzle to the left and right to adjust the flow at the end. If you burning barrels of oil firing a boiler, your on a good track....


Dave

 

[Noitoen]

Here is a little gas regulator if you want to use propane.

Helder

View attachment RG001_Regulateur_Gaz.pdf

 

[steamboatmodel]

If you go with a ceramic gas burner, you would probably get steam up in 5 minutes.
Regards,
Gerald

 

[firebird]

Hi

Thanks for all the info re burners, I have printed it out and stored for future use. I think I will stick with the meths burner for now as I need to get on with other projects. SWMBO has got me decorating right now so time in the shop is short.

cheers

Rich

 

[firebird]

Hi

Got the decorating done at last (well for now anyway) so I have been in the shop and made a new burner. This one has a single multi jet mushroom that will sit in the centre of the boiler. I have a length of 2 1/2 inch dia. copper pipe so decided to pinch an inch off the end to make a tank.

Drill a hole first.

Then cut off in the bandsaw.

I had a piece of round steel 3/8 thick that only needed a small amount turning off to make a former for the top and bottom plates of the tank. The size is the internal diametre of the tank less twice the thickness of the copper plate.

Cut 2 pieces of copper roughly to size then turn to size in the lathe. I have allowed enough to give a flange of 3/16 of an inch

After annealing the copper plates can be tapped over the former. I only needed to anneal the copper once.

The flanged plates were a good fit in the tank. If this were for a boiler I would have held the plates on the former in the lathe and skimmed the edges but as this is not a pressure vessel I left them as they are. the bottom plate is silver soldered in first.

Two bushes were made made and silver soldered into one end of the feed tube along with a brass end cap. One bush for the multi jet and one for the pre heater.wick tube.

The feed tube is silver soldered into the tank. The top plate has a bush silver soldered in for the filler bung.

Finally the top plate is silver soldered in. Here it is prepared with flux and pieces of silver solder around the joint.

Heres the finished burner along side the original.

In use it burns well and had the boiler up to pressure from stone cold in 15 minutes.

Heres a video.



Well its finished now so this will be the last post on this topic. Time to put it to one side until I have an engine built that will be powered by this liitle boiler. Its taken a while to build but I have had to learn a lot along the way, machining techniques, silver soldering, hydraulic testing to name but a few. I couldn't have done it without the help and encouragement of you guys here on the forum. MANY MANY THANKS to you all. :bow: :bow: :bow: :bow: There are too many to name but I must give special thanks to 2 members, Sandy C and John Bogstandard. Without their help, both on the forum and privately it would never have been completed.

Once again thanks to all those that have helped along the way to those that have watched my antics I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have building it.

Cheers

Rich

 

[kustomkb]

Thanks for all of your documentation ! You have made a great tutorial. I really enjoyed following your progress. It looks a works fantastic :bow:

Great job!

 

[chuck foster]

well done firebird Thm:
looking forward to your next build.

chuck