The Steamboating Forum

Hi All

Another Confused Newbie. Does anyone not have a "circuit Diagram" explaining all the valves and pipework associated with a boiler/engine setup and all the other goodies.

Some boilers that I have looked at seem to have a myriad of sockets welded into them, some of them plugged that dont seem to serve any purpose.
Another thing I cant seem to find is recommended pipe sizes for the various applications. I am assuming that there is no "Standard", but there must be a starting point.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Kind Regards
Gavin

Hi Gavin check out Beckman's site and look under steamboating 101-all the info is there-Free!
http://www.steamboating.net/page18.html

Thanks so much. A veritable goldmine of info

Keep in mind that, with the possible exception of a hot well float, you can put together a fairly basic system and build from there. Some of my friends even leave the float out. Too spartan for me.

Right now I have no exhaust feed water heater or economizer (as yet) and the boat moves right along.

By a basic system I mean having two ways to put water in the boiler and such safety related stuff.

At my size of engine (5 hp), most of my high pressure piping is 3/8" copper with flare fittings and my low pressure stuff is quality air hose. Flows more than enough. You need full sized fittings for the safety valve, of course. My steam line to the engine is 5/8" copper.

Ask more questions.

Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks for the advice. It looks like most of the builds I have looked at are a sort of evolution. With that in mind, I would assume that when planning a boiler, in particular, allowances should be made for modifications down the line. Also assuming that once the boiler is complete, to add another fitting or two could be a bit of an issue.
I have not yet seen anyone using a manifold on a boiler for extras. Is this not a option?

Kind Regards
Gavin

A manifold, also known in locomotive practice as a turret, is a very good solution to having an inadequate number of boiler penetrations. It provides a great deal of flexibility as none of us are particularly good at predicting our future needs.

It has the practical drawback that everything on the manifold is disabled at the same time when the shutoff valve is closed. In other words, it is usual to group the things that are non-critical on the a manifold.

A water column, of course, is the commonest form of manifold. For safety reasons, we usually restrict the water column to the sight gauge and try cocks.

It's not good practice to skimp on penetrations for important things. The safety valve shares a penetration with nothing! I prefer to have separate penetrations for each source of feed water. The blow down lives alone. I keep my main pressure gauge on it's own fitting.

Fred? Any thoughts?

Mike

Mike:

Not Fred, but amen.

Here is a nice image I like from Auedels Engineers and mechanics guide . pretty much covers everything, still gona need a copy of "Steamboats and Modern Steam Launches" can not say enough good things about this book. I just got mine a couple of months ago and I cant seem to put it down .

Thanks for this diagram. It it all starting to make sense. It would be great to actually see a steam boat but I only know of one in SA.

The folks I run with would shutter at anything less than hard, schedule 80 steel for steam lines. It's a pain to work with, especially when bending, but combined with good quality stainless valves ensures you'll be steaming safely a long time.

In regard to your quest for a simple drawing showing feed lines, I hope this comes along, a drawing I made when trying to get a handle on how to plumb the feedwater. Also on the drawing is a sketch of the steam manifold which is a copy of my mentor's.