First run!

[Jack Innes]

Today was the test day for the rebuilt power plant of the steam launch Mazeppa that I bought about one year ago.

Things went amazingly well with only a defective ball valve & 2 leaking fittings on the first steaming. These were easily dealt with & no problems on the second run. (Almost - we will discuss the whistle/shower system at a later date)

The kerosene firing system that I had doubts about actually works very well. It attains full fire in 5 minutes & I had 90 psig steam in 10 minutes. The burner is an extremely simple copy of a Coleman stove setup fed by 15 psig air over the fuel - thus the garden sprayer tank.

The rest of the day was spent cleaning the bilge in readiness for the power plant installation. Hopefully the sea trial will be soon.

Getting this far has been helped in no small way by the advise of many on this site, Thank you!


[img][IMG]http://i951.photobucket.com/albums/ad35 ... 4d087a.jpg[/img][/img]

[cyberbadger]

Hope the flexible steam hose is working out.

Looks good Jack.

Whenever I look at all those pipes and tubes it makes me dizzy. It's very compact plant.

Not my personal cup of tea, but that's why it's yours and not mine - that's the beauty of steam boating... different setups for different folks.

Hope the sea trials go well!

-CB

[DetroiTug]

Jack, nice job!

Whenever I look at all those pipes and tubes it makes me dizzy

When I was planning my steamboat, the plan was to keep the plant as simple as possible i.e. Along the lines of Boiler and engine with a piece of copper in between and a feed pump. In reality, for the plant to run efficiently, safely and reliably, it needs much more.

-Ron

[cyberbadger]

Ron,

Whenever I look at all those pipes and tubes it makes me dizzy

It makes me dizzy mainly because it is so compact.

In reality, for the plant to run efficiently, safely and reliably, it needs much more.

I'll give you "efficiently".

Not sure what you are suggesting with "safely" and "reliably".

You have more smiles per mile under your belt steam boating, so could you tell me what's wrong with with "safely" and "reliably" for me, i.e. what am I missing.

Non condensing. 24-28 ft modern aluminum pontoon boat hull. Fairly big new ASME VFT. Boiler itself will have a bunch of piping on it. 2 Steam Injectors. One penberthy, one chicago. 1 Marsh simplex probably will be right next to the boiler. penberthy ejector to pull lake water up to tank on deckto check it's clean enough (maye have a rudimentary "first stage" water filter there) and the 2 injectors and marsh pump will pull from that tank. Each injector will have a inline last filter on the water intake plumbing.

No mechanical oilers for steam/cylinder oil. Hydrostatic oilers only . Main engine will have a genuine Swift Hydrostatic Lubricator.

-CB

[DetroiTug]

"Safely" refers to the omission of necessary valves and piping for safe operation, i.e. steam rated stop valve and check valve at the boiler feedwater inlet. etc. etc. Piping is one of the most difficult and expensive projects on a steamboat.

"Reliably" refers to no way of administering oil to the engine. Only one feed pump that could fail and strand someone. Most of the handpumps are really just a way to get water in the boiler at rest. As a test once I tried to keep up with my boiler underway with 1" bore X 2" stroke handpump. I gave that up pretty fast.

-Ron

[cyberbadger]

"Safely" refers to the omission of necessary valves and piping for safe operation, i.e. steam rated stop valve and check valve at the boiler feedwater inlet. etc. etc. Piping is one of the most difficult and expensive projects on a steamboat.

My boiler's MAWP will be 200PSI. Although it's heavy, almost everything will be schedule 80 iron pipe, Class 300(malleable blk iron) or Class 3000(forged steel) fittings, Class 300 brass/bronze check valves, Class 300 bronze/brass Globe and Gate valves, 250 SWP(Steam working pressure) Apollo ball valves. My primary Safety valve with be a new ASME code rated safety valve.

And Yes it is expensive. I spent well over $1000 on valves for my new boiler over the last month. To be honest I'm not keeping an active tally because I want it to be done right and I don't want to know how much I'm spending....

"Reliably" refers to no way of administering oil to the engine. Only one feed pump that could fail and strand someone. Most of the handpumps are really just a way to get water in the boiler at rest. As a test once I tried to keep up with my boiler underway with 1" bore X 2" stroke handpump. I gave that up pretty fast.

I will have the hydrostatic swift for lubrication of steam cylinder oil - I'm going to try and monitor the exhaust. Ideally it should actually be a almost a little bit milky if there is enough steam cylinder oil being dispensed. The external lubrication I will be using Green Velvet PB&J, and if I have the 1902 Toledo engine SAE 30 in the crank case.

I will have at least 3 sources for feed water injection, I don't really like hand pumps myself. All three of those will work at rest or underway as they are independant from the engine.

So I feel I'm covering "Safely" and "Reliably" fairly well. I was never wanting to play the "Efficiently" game myself.

-CB

[DetroiTug]

Efficiency is a game of sorts. A game of beat the gauge by trying to transfer and convert as much heat from the combustion in to the steam. Feeding fuel in the firebox and trying to maintain a target level of steam pressure all the while balancing the speed of the boat to the steam generation and manipulating the water level in the boiler.

A poorly insulated and complimented plant will use the fuel very inefficiently and the firemen will lose the game. I've been there and it's frustrating having to stop and build steam pressure to get back under way.

With the addition of insulation any place heat is escaping other than the stack, adding economizers and exhaust feedwater heaters to preheat feedwater, cold feedwater will kill the boiler very quickly. All of these require extra plumbing and valves.

As one old timer told me the first time I ran my boat, the steam plant will tell the fireman how it wants to run. How much pressure, how much water, when, how much fuel, how much to add, what kind of wood, where it likes the throttle, where it likes the cutoff, etc.

The fireman may not be ready for the game, but I guarantee the boat will be

-Ron