Re: Exhaust
Posted: Wed Sep 04, 2013 7:38 pm
Mike and John,
Yes, the exhaust pressure seems to be able to handle the 18" rise to the hot well just fine. That amounts to less than one p.s.i back pressure.
This last weekend, in burning up perhaps six apple boxes of soft wood, cedar and fir, I managed to waste about a gallon of water, mostly with either the whistle, used extravagantly, and the safety valve. The steaming was a lot of short trips hauling people and I seemed to never quite get the knack of starving the fire enough before returning to the dock.
I don't think the surface losses from the hot well are much and I find it important to be able to tell what is going on in there. It does slop over sometimes when trailering.
It's important that the pickup at the low point of the condenser be at the lowest point so as to get as much liquid as possible before passing any vapor to the hot well. My low point is a pipe elbow and I have a separate 3/8" copper pipe that dips down to to lowest point to sip up as much liquid as possible. No point in storing water down there.
Yes, the float is a self regulating bypass valve. It is an ordinary item at hardware stores. I've seen them used for stock watering tanks, fish ponds and such. It needs to be able to resist pressure at the setting of your safety valve. I had to lengthen the arm to the float a bit on mine.
Mike
Yes, the exhaust pressure seems to be able to handle the 18" rise to the hot well just fine. That amounts to less than one p.s.i back pressure.
This last weekend, in burning up perhaps six apple boxes of soft wood, cedar and fir, I managed to waste about a gallon of water, mostly with either the whistle, used extravagantly, and the safety valve. The steaming was a lot of short trips hauling people and I seemed to never quite get the knack of starving the fire enough before returning to the dock.
I don't think the surface losses from the hot well are much and I find it important to be able to tell what is going on in there. It does slop over sometimes when trailering.
It's important that the pickup at the low point of the condenser be at the lowest point so as to get as much liquid as possible before passing any vapor to the hot well. My low point is a pipe elbow and I have a separate 3/8" copper pipe that dips down to to lowest point to sip up as much liquid as possible. No point in storing water down there.
Yes, the float is a self regulating bypass valve. It is an ordinary item at hardware stores. I've seen them used for stock watering tanks, fish ponds and such. It needs to be able to resist pressure at the setting of your safety valve. I had to lengthen the arm to the float a bit on mine.
Mike