Raising steam ( or not!!)
Posted: Fri May 23, 2014 11:59 am
A while ago ( well a couple or years!) I bought an SLk1 on the usual site. When it arrived I tried to steam it using the solid fuel burner and got about enough steam for a couple of sluggish wheel turns.
Enthused by the literature on the forum and elsewhere I stripped it down, cleaned all sorts of gunk out of steam passages etc, lapped everything lappable and ordered some extra bits from dream steam
Then it all got put in a box for too long. Now that it is May and the Fire season here in Aus is over, I thought it a good time to get the thing out and put it together. One of the upgrade bits was a meths burner and I have heard they are a fire hazard!!
So I reassembled everything and deciding on a step by step approach tested just the meth burner, so standard safety valve etc.
With the loco on blocks I filled the tank with meths to overflowing then drew back a fraction into the syringe, Water in the boiler, Steam oil to cylinders, fire to burner. All good , a bit of weeping steam coming from bottom centre of boiler but not much, Due almost certainty to leakage round the steam pipe down from the dome. I thought I would wait until the safety blew before touching the regulator. It never showed signs of blowing so thinking it could be stuck, I opened the regulator after about 10 mins and tried spinning the wheels. I was rewarded with a pathetic gush of oily water. Then the burner went out after 12 mins. Sticking the syringe in the bung hole indicated that it was out of meths.
Curios to compared with something else, I got out may old SE2 which has not been steamed for 45 years!! It has the old vapouriser burner which I filled with meths, filled tank , oiled up and fired up. After 7 mins the piston surged into life and ran for further 22 mins before faltering due to lack of steam/water. I blew that burner out at that stage.
OK To cut a long story short. How long should a dream steam burner last fro and how long does it normally take to raise steam!!
Regards
Rob
Enthused by the literature on the forum and elsewhere I stripped it down, cleaned all sorts of gunk out of steam passages etc, lapped everything lappable and ordered some extra bits from dream steam
Then it all got put in a box for too long. Now that it is May and the Fire season here in Aus is over, I thought it a good time to get the thing out and put it together. One of the upgrade bits was a meths burner and I have heard they are a fire hazard!!
So I reassembled everything and deciding on a step by step approach tested just the meth burner, so standard safety valve etc.
With the loco on blocks I filled the tank with meths to overflowing then drew back a fraction into the syringe, Water in the boiler, Steam oil to cylinders, fire to burner. All good , a bit of weeping steam coming from bottom centre of boiler but not much, Due almost certainty to leakage round the steam pipe down from the dome. I thought I would wait until the safety blew before touching the regulator. It never showed signs of blowing so thinking it could be stuck, I opened the regulator after about 10 mins and tried spinning the wheels. I was rewarded with a pathetic gush of oily water. Then the burner went out after 12 mins. Sticking the syringe in the bung hole indicated that it was out of meths.
Curios to compared with something else, I got out may old SE2 which has not been steamed for 45 years!! It has the old vapouriser burner which I filled with meths, filled tank , oiled up and fired up. After 7 mins the piston surged into life and ran for further 22 mins before faltering due to lack of steam/water. I blew that burner out at that stage.
OK To cut a long story short. How long should a dream steam burner last fro and how long does it normally take to raise steam!!
Regards
Rob