Running on air, needing advise.

Hi again guys.i am I believe now ready to connect up an airline to my agricultural engine but very nervous so looking to call on your experience once again for some advise.
Should I close all valves except the pressure guage.

John.

Close all valves except gauge, oil everything up ,fill lubricator with oil ,and turn on air slowly at first looking for any problems . you should be able to start engine around 40psi depending on how tight it is .don't rev it up just keep it nice steady tick over

Brilliant thankyou Mark.

Must be very exciting when you get to that stage.... I am only on kit 8 of my SCC...... maybe someone could give an explanation and some extra info about the “running on air”..... I guess you use a compressor.... I have built a kit car, rebuilt motorbikes and racing cars but I am completely out of my depth with a traction engine so I am trying to learn.... so where do you attach the compressor ?  Maybe some pictures if possible.... I am very interested to understand the process.... Best of luck to Bertieburrell with the start-up !!

I have found the best place to attach the air line is the blow down valve . Just slip the hose on with a hose clip

Thankyou guys for the advise.
I connected up the airline having removed a washout plug,lubricated every point possible and built the air pressure up slowly having set the compressor at 40 psi, I couldn't resist opening the regular slightly at 20 and away she went, she ran beautifully a couple of minor leaks were corrected but all in all superb.
What a terrific feeling and an absolute delight to see her come to life.
Next goal is to run her in steam, but I really need to get my head around it all first so I will have lots of questions I am sure.

I have photographed every step of the build and videod her running yesterday but for some reason I cannot download anything onto here having tried so many times throughout l must be doing something wrong.
I will keep you posted.
John.

Milford I know exactly where your comming from I have been into the restoration of my veteran cars for most of my adult life and am on a steep learning curve like yourself with steam, but I can honestly say that I am thoroughly enjoying myself and I think I have genuinely got the bug as they say, I would love a showmans engine so who knows.
Enjoy your build.
John.

John - congratulations on getting it running... very exciting.... a bit like firing up a car or bike engine for the first time , after a rebuild, I guess.

If you are able to post a video, I will very much enjoy watching it.

Best Regards

As I said I have photographed every stage of the build and videod her running but try as I may I just cannot download anything to here, its probably something I am doing wrong I am sure.

Bertieburrell wrote:Thankyou guys for the advise.
I connected up the airline having removed a washout plug,lubricated every point possible and built the air pressure up slowly having set the compressor at 40 psi, I couldn't resist opening the regular slightly at 20 and away she went, she ran beautifully a couple of minor leaks were corrected but all in all superb.
What a terrific feeling and an absolute delight to see her come to life.
Next goal is to run her in steam, but I really need to get my head around it all first so I will have lots of questions I am sure.

I have photographed every step of the build and videod her running yesterday but for some reason I cannot download anything onto here having tried so many times throughout l must be doing something wrong.
I will keep you posted.
John.

Hi John

If you need some tuition on the engines then as part of the cost of the engine we offer for you to come to the factory for half a day, and steam it here with me telling you what is needed, and I will also go through things such as boiler tests and so on. We currently have first steamings on hold due to the coronavirus, however I fully expect us to be reviewing this in the near future as lockdown is loosening up more and more.

Many thanks

Will

Hi Will thankyou for that I could certainly do with someone at my side who knows what they are doing if I cannot pluck up the courage to do it on my own then I will certainly take you up on that.
I am so pleased with the engine and how she has turned out, I would just like to add, she is a true testiment to the engineering skills of STW, incredible!!
John.

Bertieburrell wrote:Milford I know exactly where your comming from I have been into the restoration of my veteran cars for most of my adult life and am on a steep learning curve like yourself with steam, but I can honestly say that I am thoroughly enjoying myself and I think I have genuinely got the bug as they say, I would love a showmans engine so who knows.
Enjoy your build.
John.

Well Done Bertie Burrell, I was thinking about a showmans too but all that gold leaf and intricate painting makes me panic at the thought of it

Will@STW wrote:

Bertieburrell wrote:Thankyou guys for the advise.
I connected up the airline having removed a washout plug,lubricated every point possible and built the air pressure up slowly having set the compressor at 40 psi, I couldn't resist opening the regular slightly at 20 and away she went, she ran beautifully a couple of minor leaks were corrected but all in all superb.
What a terrific feeling and an absolute delight to see her come to life.
Next goal is to run her in steam, but I really need to get my head around it all first so I will have lots of questions I am sure.

I have photographed every step of the build and videod her running yesterday but for some reason I cannot download anything onto here having tried so many times throughout l must be doing something wrong.
I will keep you posted.
John.

Hi John

If you need some tuition on the engines then as part of the cost of the engine we offer for you to come to the factory for half a day, and steam it here with me telling you what is needed, and I will also go through things such as boiler tests and so on. We currently have first steamings on hold due to the coronavirus, however I fully expect us to be reviewing this in the near future as lockdown is loosening up more and more.

Many thanks

Will

Hi Will,

I didn't know you did that, I've a way to go yet but count me in when I get that far

Mike

Bertieburrell wrote: I couldn't resist opening the regular slightly at 20 and away she went.........

You've gone and done it now havent you

Good to hear it ran up without any issues

Bertieburrell wrote:
Next goal is to run her in steam, but I really need to get my head around it all first ..............

It not too bad the basics are................

Fill with water
Make fire
Make steam
Use Steam
Then repeat the right bit at the right time

The fun bit is getting them in the right order and at the right time after getting to the "use steam" bit for the first time after you've lit the fire.
Dont expect to get it right all of the time and you will always be learning from the first day to your last day, the same engine can react completely differently from one day to the next, sometimes just because of the weather, slightly different coal, or even the wood you use to start up on. Reminds me of day I spent best part of 5hrs trying to fire mine with very little success, I think rebuilt the fire about 4 times yet each time while it seemed to light up I just couldn't keep it going and after about 45mins the fire would be dark and cold glow and I'd have to start all over again
The end game was it turned out the wood I had been using to try and start it on was treated with a fire suppressant DOH !!!!!

I've been running mine for neigh on 6yrs and while I'd say I'm very confident now, she still throws a curved ball at me from time to time.
As long as there is water in the glass then you cant go far wrong, and it will bring you a huge grin

Thanks for the advise there I have been reading the notes that came with the paperwork from STW and my main worry is maintaining the water level.!
So guys any advise on all aspects of steaming my engine would be very very welcome.

When ever I am steaming my engines I always have a rag in my pocket because many years ago I was told how to shut the engine down in a emergency and all you do is stuff the rag in the chimney and turn the blower on full .
The blower steam cant get out the chimney so it goes back down the tubes and through the fire and out the ash pan and puts the fire out very quickly

Hi

Have a look at my Basics videos. I have done all the start up a few times. Everything from adding water to raising and maintaining steam.

This is the more focused raising steam videos












This play list will take you to all my STW steam related videos. The bottom of the list is the oldest.

 

Also remember. No need to panic. If the water is getting low. Either drop the fire or just let it go out. If water level gets "critical" raise the front wheels on blocks or "ramps" a couple inches, this will push the water in the barrel to the crown and keep it covered. During my learning days. I had the water level above 3/4 glass. Be aware, when the water is starting to boil but there is no pressure the water will expand some. The water level will appear to be high in the glass. Once pressure starts building it will reduce in the glass again. Giving the appearance of a fast dropping water level.

When steaming Crystal I use a 5ft length of gas flue pipe in the chimney top. No mechanical blower. I aim for working pressure in 90 minutes. I pre-heat the smoke box with a bit of fire lighter while getting the fire end ready. I fire on dry kindling up to 30psi before adding any coal. Starting with a few sticks on the grate, paraffin soaked rag (usually the previous days oily rag). Light the rag and place on the grate and sticks. Add a couple hand full of kindling on top and close the door. Leave for a while to get going. Add more sticks in a random pattern on top of the fire. Take it easy with firing, there is plenty time to act and react. Keep an eye on the smoke as this will teach you how the fire is performing. Add more kindling when the fire is getting a bit low. Once about 30psi reached add a touch blower. Bank the fire up with kindling and add 6 or so small lumps of house coal. Wait 5 minutes for that to cook then add more small coal, couple of steam shovels full spread out will do nicely. Add bit more wood if the fire is getting low. then continue to add more coal. Watch the blower as it becomes more effective as pressure rises. I back the blower off to the point of just hearing it through the chimney.

Get to around 75 to 90psi. stop adding coal. Check everything out. Make sure your happy. Then continue. Do the same as you approach 30 or so PSI below you working pressure. This gives things time to settle before the safety valves think about blowing off.

At this point you will have used a couple pints of water out of the boiler, taking no major leaks anywhere else, for the blower. So everything will be calm.

Once you get the "static" steam raising behaviour for your engine learnt. Then you can start adding the crank running above 50psi if you want to warm the cylinder etc and pump water in on the mechanical pump. Personally I normally static steam to 150 with just a quick test run of the crank.

Lynne a massive thankyou, brilliant and so informative.

Can't thank you enough.
I will keep you updated.
John.

It's great when you're first able to get your new prize creation turning over on air. But just a small word of caution.....
Running on air does not correctly pick up the oil that the pump is injecting and carry it into the cyclinder, because air does not have the same properties as boiling hot steam.

So enjoy the sight of smooth running, but DO NOT run for a long period because the piston ring in the cylinder is receiving little, if any, lubrication.
Chris

Thanks for that valuable information hydro, I did think of those possibilities and have held back on the temptation of over use on air.
John.

Still trying to get some photographs up on here for anyone that's interested, but slowly giving up having tried throughout the build.

Just as a side note. When I was building Crystal she would not run on air at all. But runs sweet on steam.

Still trying to post some photos of" Endeavour, "

Finally!!