> > Perhaps there's something about the burner in your engine?
>
> And what would there be about the burner? How does one improve a burner?
If Jim's safety valve is lifting after 5 min., then his burner is
performing the same as all the others. His problem seems to be
with excessive condensation. They all spit a lot of water at first. I
think it looks worse than other engines because of the (in my
opinion) excessively small tube used for the exhaust. Though the
volume of water is no more than other engines, it's ejected through
a much smaller orfice so it squirts a lot higher, like when you put
your thumb over the end of a garden hose.
But Jim's wouldn't stop condensing, which would indicate that the
steam line was losing too much heat. It just hangs out in the open
air under the boiler. I have squeezed mine up against the boiler
body and wrapped the boiler bands around both, to keep it snug
and transfer some boiler heat to the line. (A hypoheater, if you will.)
The superheater fixed this problem by routing the steam line
through the boiler flue, which transfers lots of heat to it. A stainless
tube would last much longer in that service; the copper is not going
to last long, but copper tubing is easy to get so it's not a huge
problem.
When I raised the cab floor on my engine, I had to cut the steam line
in order to raise the lubricator. It dawned on me later that the gap I
had created between the steam line end and the connector to the
reversing block would have been a perfect place to insert a
superheater. This would be a coiled affair which wraps around
inside the smokebox, routes the steam through the smokebox first
and then connects to the reversing block. If I had the acorns and
compression nuts, it would be dead simple to make. This will come
after I get the cosmetics done and the engine is back together and
running, though.
> Related to this, what do jet numbers on burners mean? Is there a
> translation to size of hole? Why would you want a larger or
> smaller hole? How much larger or smaller?
I'd like to know more about this, too. Perhaps we can get Bob
Paule to give us some lessons on burners? There's some
business in it for him, from what Clark told us of the improvements
he saw when he replaced his burner jet. (Hint, hint.)
-vance-
