first steam test video!!!!

here is a short video to show all my progress... lots of practice still required. i could not get the pressure above 20psi, think its due to the rubbish old coal i have.
what should i be using?
enjoy the video, Jon....

try soaking the coal over night in diesel or parrafin

should i have the blower valve open when i light the fire? or when do i need to open and shut if off?
has anyone had problems with a leaking oneway valve in the lubricator to steam chest pipe? mine is letting steam back into the lubricator. I think i may need a stronger spring in this and the whistle valve. any suggestions would be most useful.
My water valve feeding the injector does not fully seal, a slow drip of water continuously drops from the injector drain. do i need a replacement or can it be fixed? :

Very pleased with my progress...
Jon

Hi Jon

I would guess closed to start with as you will not have any pressure as the blower is steam "powered".

Keep the blower shut until there is about 10psi on the clock then open it to help draw the fire. As the pressure increases you may need to turn it back a bit. To get it hotter try using anthracite as the btu rating is much higher than bog standard house coal.

The lubricator & whistle seems to be suffering from seating problems, check the ptfe ring is not damaged and that everything is nice & free, it should be ok then.

The water valve on the tender probably needs lapping in a bit more, I used 'T' cut as a final lapping agent and one can get a really smooth finish with that.

Steve Traill wrote:Keep the blower shut until there is about 10psi on the clock then open it to help draw the fire. As the pressure increases you may need to turn it back a bit. To get it hotter try using anthracite as the btu rating is much higher than bog standard house coal.

The lubricator & whistle seems to be suffering from seating problems, check the ptfe ring is not damaged and that everything is nice & free, it should be ok then.

The water valve on the tender probably needs lapping in a bit more, I used 'T' cut as a final lapping agent and one can get a really smooth finish with that.

thanks steve,
ptfe ring? noit sure if i have one fitted, is that in the one way valve or the whistle?
would you advise me to use a fan or chimney extension or both to get the fire going?

Hi,

In 2" i would always use an external blower ( fan ) until i had a bout 30 psi on the clock and then i would use the steam blower from there.

As for fuel, would always use anthracite on a 2" engine.

If the water leak is only very minor from the injector i wouldn't worry about it too much, infact it will help to keep the injector cool as small injectors can be prone to overheating and then they won't pick up.

regards

Andy

With the 4" the chimney extension is all that's needed to get things going but with the 2" a little fan assistance might be preferable. Don't be in too much of a hurry though as you want the whole engine to heat up not just one end. Forcing the fire too much creates the risk of doing this which is not being kind to your engine!

I have succeeded in lighting a fire and raising steam pressure upto the point where the safety valves lift.

But once i get some pressure on the gauge the water level drops in the glass. I run the engine to pump water in, the tender water level drops but water does not rise in the glass.
How do i know how much water i need to pump in? the water is being pumped somewhere, but how long do i need to run the water pump for to raise the water in the boiler back up the glass?
also how much water will a 2" use when the pressure is about 70psi and she is running fast pumping in water?
should i pump slowly or fast? or do i need to change the pump clack valve lift so more water passes though?

Very happy i can now light and keep a fire lit but now concerned about water level in the boiler. all advice most welcome.

Welcome to the 2" world !
If you are pumpimg water in then you will need to open the small stop cock below the water gauge assembly to let the water in the gauge re adjust to get to the right level. If you are running at 70psi and you put the water in too fast it will cause your pressure to drop very quickly and your fire will struggle to heat the now cool water up to get it turning to steam. It's a real fiddle and everyone I speak to says it's very difficult to keep the balance right. Don't put too much coal in too quick either or you will smother the fire. the worst scenario is low water and low pressure because the engine wont turn over to pump the water and the injector wont work with low pressure so you stop, and if the water is dangerously low you will blow the plug! this can happen very quickly if you aren't watching.

I use an electric blower, as recommended by STW, and keep it running until I have a good head of steam and full water then open the blower. Why waste steam when you have an electronic blower to use?

On the full size engines we put about 2 shovel fulls of coal in every 10 to 15 mins if just ticking over and fill evenly around the firebox. 2 shovel fulls doesn't seem much in a full size engine but it works. what you want is a flat fire with no holes in it. and if you poke it around too much it all falls through the grate and sits in the bottom of the pan blocking the air flow. STW don't provide an ash pan scraper so I made one up and it has proved its worth.
I don't use anthracite, there are pros and cons either way, I use a mixture of steam coal and charcoal boken down to marble size or less chunks, works fine.

On one occasion I misread the water in the glass thinking it was showing full when it was empty, ran out of pressure despite a raging fire only to dsicover the boiler was almost dry! panicked and dropped the firebox , luckily it didn't blow the plug but shows how resilient they are! That's when I invested in a better water guage assembly and red lined water gauge glass

Al

Thanks al,
now i have got the pressure up to 70psi i have discovered a few leaks which need sorting, one of which was at the bottom rear of the water gauge, and anther on the output of the water pump and its piston (stuffing box was loose! ). its surprising how things become loose when they heat up! will sort these over the weekend so i can try again. having lots of fun and thinking of which engine to build next, but it will have to be at least 4" scale and preferably 6", I wonder if Dean would build me a 6" engine.