Service bolt in the cylinder cover

[Kelly Anderson]

I discovered this "fogging oil" which works very well. However, it has a downside for me in that on the first steamup, it tends to clog up the paper towel filters in my hot well.

LPS 2 penetrating oil is my go-to for lubricating my engine cylinders. I have noticed no down side in either the hot well or the boiler.

[fredrosse]

I also oil my engine internals quite liberally when finished with a steaming run, as the engine valve gear will often get seized up without liberal oil after shutdown. The Margaret S steam plant is non-condensing, so I just use compounded steam cylinder oil for this duty.

In condensing steam plants Detergent oils and Compounded Steam Cylinder Oils are to be avoided, as they form an almost unbreakable emulsion with water, so what goes into the cylinder will generally end up in the boiler to some extent. On layup One solution is to pipe up the engine exhaust to allow blowing all the bad oil out of the system before it gets into the condenser. The other solution is to use an oil for layup that is OK for thorough separation from feedwater, and this needs to be actual "Non-Detergent" as well as "Non-Compounded" oil.

I had a lengthy conversation with Gulf Oil refinery engineers, and to my surprise they told me that the "Non-Detergent" oils you can buy are actually normal detergent oils that missed some part of their specification, so they are just labeled "Non-Detergent" and sold cheaply. Real Non-Detergent oil will reliably separate from water, and can be captured in a proper hotwell filtration system. One can test an oil to see if it is really able to be separated from water, by vigorously mixing some oil with boiling water, then letting it stand, the oil should float on the water, and show a clear demarcation between oil and water. Pure mineral oil separates from water, and it is the only stuff that is proper for condensing service that I have found. Veterinary Mineral oil is the right stuff, and that is where I find it for my condensing steamer.

[fredrosse]

Compounded Steam Cylinder Oil, great stuff for the machinery, but should never enter the boiler.