Advice needed

Hi All
After my fourth steam up at the weekend I am still unable to get water into the boiler from the tender. I am fairly confident that the stainless balls are now seating properly in the clack valves after tapping them gently with a hammer. The pipes from the valves are no longer getting hot.
How long does it take to get some water in from the water pump? - I assumed it was fairly quick and how much pressure do I need on the gauge for the injector to work? I have sealed all the pipe joints so it shouldn't be sucking air and have been told the injector won't work if the water is hot. Any advice gratefully received as I am a complete novice. However every steam up I learn a bit more about the engine even though I seem to get a new leak in a different place each time!
Thanks,
Simon

Andy had major issues with the water pump due to a very porus casting. Once the pump is working you should be able to hear the non return balls clattering inside the pump as it works, its a difficult sound to describe but its like a rythmic rattle as the cam turns, the feed pipe and the clack will be cold but dont forget the volume it can pump is quite small ( ram diameter x throw ) which means it will take some time to get water into the engine, you will see it rise very slowly on the glass and the pressure should drop as it cools the boiler down. If you watch this video of a very early steaming at 0.42 I turn on the pump and you can clearly hear the pump noise, thats how you can tell it has picked up.



If the injectors are similar to the DCC ones then they pick up from about 60 psi up but the higher the pressure the better, again they have a certain sound when working well, like a chirping as the air is drawn in form the overflow. I always open the water tap first to cool the body down slightly then open the steam full, if it splutters and shoots steam out of the over flow shut the steam and try again. They do work much better with cold water and by the evening on a full rally day the tender water will be warm enough to wash your hands in which can affect how they pick up but I havent had any problems with mine yet and it has been quite warm at the end of days but fill it straight from the taps on the field to try and keep it as cool as poss.

It is a major learning curve from new, I havent been keeping up with dates for your build/completion have you had any events to attend yet? Try and have chat with the other minature owners and watch and learn from them, Andy was very lucky he spent the best part of 18 months coming to all my dos with me so really felt at ease with the running jobs when he steamed his, just nervous as it was his baby but he had another lone steaming last week and it went really well, really looking forward to the steam test this weekend. It all seem very complicated at first and people often look on wondering how you knwo what to do with all the various controls and things to consider but the more you use it the easier it gets.

As for the seating the balls in the clack, dont be scared of them, the harder you hit them the better they seal, I took mine off last week to reseat them and gave them a really good thump with the hammer after cleaning the edge of the seat with a countersink!!!!

Have finally got around to purchasing the water cart after realising just how much water you get through when in steam.
Opened up the boxes to find that the tyre rubber has come in a long strip - what do I use to join them and how long do I have to leave them to dry before stretching them over the rims?
Any advice gratefully received
Simon

Make sure ends are square to each other ,I found you can do this with good emery and glue with a quality branded super glue. Should be set within 24 hrs and found you can stretch them over rims quite easily on your own. Incidentally have only steamed mine twice so far when on 2nd time the water pump locked up until I loosened the 4 bolts on top,could not proceed further as whistle kept on leaking steam any ideas?