Need help on engine plant

[Felix Edwards 1Participant @felixedwards1]

[Felix Edwards 1Participant @felixedwards1]

Just picked up this steam engine and associated parts. To start with, can anyone help me to identify the make (and model if poss).

Once I have an idea what it is, perhaps I can ask how some of it works. I know what most of the pieces are, but the piping has me confused for a few pieces (p.s. 2 main valves not shown as still connected to the model)

Many thanks to anyone who can help

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Felix,
You will need to provide SOME information for anyone to be able to identify it. I suggest a few photographs from different positions would be a good start.

Les.

[Felix Edwards 1Participant @felixedwards1]

sorry Les, photos did not load to album first time for some reason. Please let me know if this is good enough to recognise engine type. By the way works on air as I just tested it

[Les Jones 1Participant @lesjones1]

Hi Felix,
I am not an expert on steam engines but now you have provided some pictures i'm sure there will be a number of members of this forum that will be able to help you.

Les.

[SteamshyParticipant @steamshy]

Hi Felix, It looks like you have some interesting plant there, Starting with the boiler, there seems to be no gas burner, Also it looks like the boiler was fitted to maybe a boat of some sort judging by the funnel configuration. You also look like you have an oiler and also a condenser or seperator, Preferably a condenser judging by the size of it. Ive never seen an engine like this one so sorry I cant help with the Identification of it. As you mention, a couple of valves seem to be missing, but as you have it in front of you and I havnt, i would follow the lines from the boiler right through to Engine and exhaust. It may help you to understand it more,

Andy

[Felix Edwards 1Participant @felixedwards1]

Thanks for the reply. I have the model boat (Sealight 1:24) but took out the engine plant to refurbish and clean the model. The burner was with the model, but is pressurized petrol so I will change to gas. The large tank is a condenser (water cooled off belted PTO pump), clean steam exiting middle of end and oil from bottom to a smaller tank (waste oil?). I do not understand how the smaller tank works. As you can see from photo, there is manual boiler feed and one driven off the gearbox. Since there is only 1 pipe to boiler, I presume the others in combination, are a system to manually fill then top-off mechanically when the engine is engine running. There is one pipe that crosses the compartment, through a globe valve, to a “T” junction; one pipe entering the top of the small oil waste tank , the other exiting the hull. I presume that this is a bypass to filling the boiler, but I do not understand why water would be pumped into the oil waste, or would the steam pressure be enough to pump the oil the other way into the exiting water stream (and onto the pond surface) ? One other question, the return steamline to the smokestack is lagged from the condenser, but the engine steam inlet pipe from the boiler is not. I would have thought that the inlet steam line would be lagged to keep steam from condensing before the engine? Any help or advice would be welcome – thanks

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

 

Edited By Ady1 on 19/11/2012 11:55:45

[SteamshyParticipant @steamshy]

Hi Felix, I think its would be wise to change your burner over to gas, Much easier to handle than petrol and probably a lot safer on the whole as well. You are right in your assumptions regarding the boiler water feed, The PTO pump runs whilst the plant is in service. The idea behind the condenser is to create a vacuum in it so helping the exhaust from the engine to be removed faster along with the waste oil from the engine. The higher the vcuum the effecient your engine is.The wate oil tank looks to be removable so that it would have to removed to manually empty the waste oil after a steaming session. The pipe to the Waste oil tank from the feed pump is possibly a bypass arrangement. This would allow the excess to be feed to be pumped overboard through to the hull. I`m just guessing here but maybe the lagging from the boiler to the engine has been removed. The lagging from the condenser to the smokestack may purely to protect some part of your model from heat. The other PTO looks like its driving a vacuum pump ? Other than that it looks like you have a nice plant.

Andy

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