What is the "typical" arangeement for plumbing

[Aheadslow]

I was wondering . what typically is the plumbing arrangement for a marine engine application.
Im assuming (you know what that gets you),, that there will be differences in the handling of feed water and the like,as compared to stationary applications. For one thing I've seen the mention of Condensers in the steam line,, in the past with stationary engines we have mostly just vented exhaust to atmosphere as feed water supplies are a non issue.

[87gn@tahoe]

Welp, you're going to get a lot of different answers... Here's what's on both my father's boat, my own boat, and what will be on "the big boat":

Main steam line into a superheater, then into a marine compound, out of said compound into a heat-exchanger (for warming the feedwater), keel condneser, condensate (vacuum) pump, hotwell, feed pump, previously mentioned heat exchanger, an economizer, and lastly back into the boiler.

All three boats are/ will be set up for running in both fresh and salt water.

wes

[Edward]

As Wes writes you're probably going to get several opinions as "plumbing" is Such a wide subject .

You have to put water into the boiler , it's generally agreed that you must have at least two different and separate means of feeding the boiler , many people have three : so a not untypical arrangement would have an engine driven feed pump , an injector and a hand pump each with its own inlet into the boiler through a non return valve , between the boiler and the non return valve it's desirable to have a valve so that if/when the non return valve stops working it can be isolated and worked on without losing pressure.
From where do you get this feed water ?
If you're on good fresh water it can come straight from the lake/river/canal ; it's generally considered essential to have a valve at the skin fitting to allow inflow to be shut off if the boat is left unattended on the water for any length of time . Most people also have a make up tank , either to enable steaming on salt water or to make up the water lost through the whistle/glands/blower etc . Quite a few boats condense : this is done either to save water or because the engine design requires a vacuum/partial vacuum on the exhaust side of the low pressure cylinder ; if condensing you will have a hotwell to where the condensate is returned . The engine exhaust must therefore be plumbed from the engine to a condenser (inboard or keel type) and either sucked out and into the hotwell by a pump or forced through the condenser and into the hotwell by exhaust pressure.
So you get the water from either overboard, a hotwell or a make up tank or more probably a combination of all three.

If you are going to run on good fresh water you might want to puff , that is exhaust up the funnel . This is an elegant solution as it introduces a virtuous circle -- the more steam you use the more exhaust up the funnel which increases the draught through the fire which produces more burning which produces more steam . If this is what you want the exhaust plumbing is simpler than for condensing but it is usually a good idea to put a silencer between the engine exhaust and the funnel , this will also help to remove some of the oil if you're lubricating your steam.

Feedwater heaters and superheating bring further complications , but none of these features are in themselves particularly complicated . It's just that the plumbing usually looks complicated because there is quite a lot of it most of which if viewed in isolation is straightforward .

A good way of working out what you want is to draw a separate block diagram of each part of the overall system and then incorporate all of the diagrams into an integrated whole .

I hope this is of some help , it is a very wide subject indeed . It is probably best to consider each aspect separately as each engine , boat and owner will have different requirements .

Regards , Edward .

[Aheadslow]

Ok I was looking up some boiler info and stumbled across this in my Audels Engineers and Mechanics Guide. would this
be a typical configuration for a small launch with a condensing type engine?
Like I say Im more used to dealing with stationary and non condensing types of engine.

[farmerden]

Beckman's website has some good info
http://www.steamboating.net/page11.html

[Aheadslow]

great thanks,,I need to really look at the boilers that people are using,building one will be a breeze, as a good friend of mines family owns an industrial boiler plant. He was kind enough to tell me he would fix me up with rated tubing and do all the welding, we are gonna build a couple (why build one when you can make3 or 4) , mostly so we can test one to failure, might even be able to get it certified . the only boiler I've got now is for a traction engine and a bit bigger that the boat I wanna build

[artemis]

You've got Audel's so that's a good start. But if you're serious, you need to buy the "Bible" to hobby steamboating: "Steamboats and Modern Steam Launches", 3 years of magazines published in the early 1960s, but still VERY useful. If you have this collection (printed now as a book) you can built a successful steamboat (but it's lots of fun to meet and talk with all the rest of us nuts - "steamboating" is a addictive disease and needs constant contact with other afflicted persons). You can get it from Elliot Bay Steam Launch http://www.steamlaunch.com and it is worth every penny of the $ 59.95. There are used copies on the internet available for as much as double this price (that'll tell you a little more about this "steamboating disease).

[Aheadslow]

Thanks Artemis, will do. My current library covers a lot of theory and practice, but is mostly stationary and road equipment. Its nice to see a source for information on boats smaller than 100/ton

[PeteThePen1]

Hi

Another thought for the booklist is the SBA's Steam Boating Guide (2nd Edition) which is new out this year. I am still working though my copy, and it is excellent. As it is only 10GBP, at the curent exchange rate of 1.4USD to the Pound it is incredibly cheap (+ postage!). I fear that to get it you may need to be a member of our august Association (OK, so if I'm on the Committee, how can it be august?!), but that is currently good value too at 18GBP.

On the topic of boilers, perhaps some of our correspondents in the Americas will post you a copy of a design for an Odfelt boiler. Someone, possibly Artemis or Farmerden sent me a scan of it. I quite fancied using it, but the need over here to get an engineering assessment if the design has not been previously appoved is a bit of a barrier. With your contacts that would probably be quite easy to build and the spare ones might sell on to other boaters.

Regards

Pete