Lazy injector

Hi Everyone

Question!

Does your injector work well?

Mine is a bit lazy and often will not pick up or requires a very finely tuned balancing act to get it to work. All pipework is tight and as far as I can see no debris as the filter is still intact and the water tank is clean.
I used Paul Garfields engine back in Feb 2012 and with his. You just turn the water on full and add basically any amount of steam and it worked!

How easy is it to clean these out? I do still have problems with the globe valve for the injector. It still will not seal fully and it could be the steam has heated the injector up all the time, but poring cold water over it does not appear to help much.

My injector picks up pretty quickly as long as there is more than 80 on the clock. I took mine off at Xmas and soaked it in a solution of citric acid for a few days to clean it up and it was much better after that, don't actually try and take it apart just drop it in whole. We do have particularly hard water here due to the run off coming from the chalk downs, kettles scale up in a matter of months!! You can buy citric acid in powder form from chemists or a wine makers or possibly baking suppliers.

we strip the cones out and boiler them up in normal vinegar. Typically you need to make a simple plate tool to grip the end of the cone and pull it out of the body. Take a piece of 2mm steel plate about 60mm long and drill a hole to match the diameter of the cone about 15mm from the end, then saw from the other end in to the hole to allow it flex. fit over end of cone, grip with fingers and pull out. we do this every winter to keep them clean.

Don't be tempted to use pliers!

Lynn:
I would be very careful at stripping down a model injector with the need for anything other than spanners. My injector seemed a bit hesitant but, come the steam test, Terry Baxter opened the water, opened the steam valve and away it went. It obviously knew the master's hand because he fettles the STW injectors. Kev's injector works well on his engine: I enjoyed clunking around with it at Portsmouth. If you still have problems after giving it a soak in some weak acid then I would PM Terry on TT (injectorman).

I will be at the SAC event at Old Warden in a couple of weeks time and look forward to playing with it then.

Tim

There is no problem in stripping model injectors that are properly made, there are only the steam cone and the delivery cone that can be removed from the main body, and the ball from the top chamber. It is far better to remove the cones than to try cleaning the injector complete. We even strip the cones out of the Talyllyn injectors for cleaning.

If you havent got a copy of DAG Browns book on injectors, there's a very good online article here : http://www.modeng.johnbaguley.info/injectors/injectors1.htm although unfortunaly it doesn't show a cone removal tool.