ATT boilermakers

[Cam85]

Are there any old school boilermakers out there that actually made boilers.
Like u would c on a steam train or on a old ship weather it b turbine to gearbox or turbine to generator.
Can u use normal water or is there something in the water to help the process and can u catch the old steam condense it and use it again or do u use salt water and deal with the salt somehow.

Also depending on the weather is there a formula u can use to work out how long it will take to get moving from a cold start ( I know that's a curvy one but try )
How do u start one anyway say a diesel or oil set up.

I'm a young Aussie if possible can we try and stay metric please.

Regards cameron.

 

[RZucker]

Cam, I was never a boilermaker. But once worked for an outfit with 4 large industrial boilers for a process similar to distilling. They used very large water softeners and chemical injection to trat their water on the way into the boilers. As far as condensing exhaust steam, Most large ships do that as a matter of course. The south african railways used a locomotive with condensing gear that could go 700 miles without taking on water in the 60s and early 70s. The condensing gear added another 25 tons to the engine if I remember correctly.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Cam85. I have always found this mob to be very helpful . . . very nearly bought one of their engines and then some folks bought the blocks next door and we were able to get the juice on for fourteen instead of forty thousand bucks.

The website has a lot of info and they always got back to me (in the snail-mail days) with answers to specific questions . . . they had been so helpful I was almost embarrassed about not buying their engine and boiler.

http://www.strathsteam.com/index.html

Cheers.

 

[RZucker]

Thanks, Scrub. I was totally unaware that anybody was offering new steam engines this late in the game. That engine/generator combo could be handy at the old mountain cabin. Plenty of wood to burn there. And a source of nice soft spring water too.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . RZucker. Yes Mate. I still believe they would be very viable in certain situations, even in these days of solar panels.

There are several company's in the world still manufacture small scale steam . . . apparently an Indian outfit makes some very good engines and boilers at considerably less dollars but Strathsteam have a track record and they are Aussie. (big grin)

My idea was to have the engine driving a 12v alternator charging a smallish battery bank. Through a 240 volt inverter we would then have the ability to run normal household appliances but using the 12v DC wherever possible . . . that approach did away with any need for fancy governing on the engine and it could just run down as the steam dropped off.

The indications were that from a few hours run time per day it would provide us with modest but adequate power, plenty of hot water and home heating if needed in the winter.

Back then I was toying with the idea of a small auger feeding sawdust/woodchip to the fire box and I believe I could have made it work after the style of the "pellet pooper" barecue/smokers which are becoming popular these days.

Incidentally, I took on board you comment about reusing the bottom end bolts on the 71 series two strokes and I believe I was confusing GM recommendations and one of our client company's policy.

Cheers.

 

[RZucker]

Its all good. As far as the steam engine, its almost the same idea that I have. We have a good bank of 12V deep cycle batteries trickle charging off the grid, but in the winter that power seeems to be quite spotty. We run 12V lighting and wood heat. But the batteries need recharging. Ive built a small genny with a 5HP honda and a delco alternator, but you have to haul gas and it doesnt heat the house. That steam boiler and engine would be great.

 

[Cam85]

It's all very interesting for some reason I seem to b interested in big ships and the steam turbine set up in the Bowles of them.
I would love to find out how long it would take to get one going from cold to full ahead say a really big one say 8 boilers with the ship somewhere about 50 000 tone kinda size going about 35 knots volume of those kinda boilers what sorta heat are we talking about ,what sort of fuel would u need and how much of it verses distance covered and so on it seems a bit hard to find that sort of info.
1st hand experience seems even harder to track down where would u even start to get up close to one any ideas and don't say just go down the port I've tried a few methods of attack and am getting nowhere fast.

 

[Scrub Puller]

Yair . . . Cam85. This is a place to start . . .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_turbine

Cheers.

 

[Cam85]

Thanks scrub and wow really really wow I checked out that site now that boggles the mind looks like my math skills could use a bit of a spruce up though.
Now I wanna have a go at running one with a lot of help of course nothing compares to hands on experience

Thanks again
Cameron.