spark arrestor

Hi,

as it seems like we are facing more and dryer summers, has any of you given a thought to installing a spark arrestor on the engine? if so, which one did you use?


I am aware a spark arrestor will not catch 100% of any possible particles but still would be better than nothing.

Comments?

Cheers

Elwood

Hi Elwood

I had a ball for use on Crystal. I got it from Heritage Steam. Some events would not allow you to run without a spark arrester. Its purpose is to catch the larger fragments of burning material that have the ability to still be burning or hot when landing outside the engine.

I've got one like this https://www.legacyvehicles.co.uk/spark-arresters but not impressed with how it doesnt stay in the chimney, its OK but spends a lot of the time just in the van.
If you keep the chimney nice and clean on the inside and avoid large amounts of regulator you shouldnt get to much ejection of material.

Something to think about more on a grassy rally field is setting fire to the grass under the ash pan if you are parked up for a while. A couple of years ago one of the engines had a small bonfire occur while supping beer outside a beer tent. Luckily we were all aware of the issue and it was soon put out with spare water we were all carrying.

Hi,

thanks for your input.

So far I have not been asked to use a spark arrester, it‘s more a precaution I am thinking about. Usually I drive on paved roads and less on grassy fields, as we do not have those many rallies around here.

Cheers

Elwood

Hi livesteam,

still thinking about your reply. Can you elaborate a bit more why you had so bad experience with the arrestor? I understood it has three „legs“ that go into the chimney and thus keep it attached. Or did I get it all wrong? I only have the (small) picture found on the web page, which does not really show the whole setup. Maybe you can add a picture or two?

Thanks

Cheers

Elwood

With the blast from the chimney on a model, and low weight of the spark arrestor they are easily blown out the top.

Something that you could think about is installing one inside the smokebox. A simple mesh that slides in and out on rails above the top tubes should work. It was a common design on full size engines in the past.

elwood-59 wrote:Hi livesteam,

still thinking about your reply. Can you elaborate a bit more why you had so bad experience with the arrestor? I understood it has three „legs“ that go into the chimney and thus keep it attached. Or did I get it all wrong? I only have the (small) picture found on the web page, which does not really show the whole setup. Maybe you can add a picture or two?

Thanks

Cheers

Elwood

Like Ian said they tend to get blown out of the chimney with heavy chuffing, the legs are OK but they are only wired on so end up twiddlng around and the arrestor gets all lose. I'm surprised I've not run mine over
I should really silver solder the legs on to the ball as that would solve the issue but thats another "round tuit" job