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From the manual John - Shell Tellus 27, MFDS attached

**LINK**

I seem to recall someone telling me it wasn't available (May have been something else) as I see 27 isn't listed and that Mobil DTE24 was used instead.

(Edited to add the link properly )

Edited By Lofty76 on 13/04/2014 08:25:52

There I was, happily milling on a piece of the old R & B when the smoke alarm decided to test itself on a pungent and rapidly spreading plume of smoke emitting from the motor capacitor box.

I think, judging by the deformation of the plastic case and the heat damage to the motor box it was very close to catching fire.

The thing is, I was so engrossed with what was going on at cutter level I don't think I would have noticed until a fire was actually established.

Fortunately the emergency stop did its job and major crisis averted, but it goes to prove the efficacy of having a smoke alarm fitted

I think its broken

John,

If the belt is too tight it will make a devil of a noise, (re cam belts on cars) it should be tightened so that if the belt is held on its edge in the middle of a longest run, you should be able to twist it 90 degrees easily i.e. the tip of finger and thumb should just start to go white.

Hope this helps

As I pointed out before Ady, the reduction gearboxes on some of the Honda (GX160 type) engines are exactly the same as that you refer to.

It doesn't take much to knock up a drive arm as per the steering box.

Approx reduction 6:1

Bit like one of these?

**LINK**

Honda industrial engine

I'm sure its got to be in that region Neil, the boiler is obviously making steam and plenty of it, It's just not keeping it in.

BUT if as Ron says the blower and regulator are shut, where can the steam be coming from?

Logic dictates that if all avenues for the steam to escape are covered, then pressure must rise.

So, if with a good fire and all valves shut, pressure is not being seen there must be a hefty leak from somewhere else.

Could there be a Stay cap / nut missing / loose (hollow Stay? - not familiar with this boiler) this would show up on the pressure test.

There does look like there is a fair amount of what looks like soft solder on various joints - could these have blown, unlikely as it again has passed a test and any excessive smokebox pressure is likely to be forced back into the firebox (blower off), and Ron says its ok on air.

Could it be that the steam blower is not actually shut? wouldn't have thought that that would have caused a drastic failure in pressure rise, part of the steam test is to run at max blower and check that the safetys can cope with the steam produced.

Could it be a broken or incorrectly reading pressure gauge ( I see no test markings) but if the gauge was out the safety would have shown some action.

Ron, any chance of a bit of video in the smokebox when its up and running? I agree with Neil that a blower venting to excess would give the problems described had you not already stated that all valves were shut.

Then again, is the blower valve actually shut, and that the valve handle isn't just spinning on the spindle with the valve stuck wide open?

I wouldn't go too mad on lapping this Ron, you were running cold and you can't always tell if the regulator is going to seal until it warms up.

Only as a personal preferance of mine, I don't mind if the regulator leaks a small amount, it helps to warm up the cylinders and the drain cocks relieve any build up of pressure.

I would also surmise that a very small leak like you describe would not cause too much in the way of preventing steam pressure being built up.

All the best

Always a pain to try and diagnose a problem from a distance, But it looks like its generating steam, so if its not building pressure with a good fire like on your video (provided the fire door is normally closed) it must have a major leak.

When you say if you don't use the blower the fire goes out are you referring to the electric blower on the smokestack? That would be quite normal, but the use of the steam blower at that time would not be of much use, except to drain off any steam produced at the low pressure.

It needs a second pair of eyes on it Ron, I don't think its anything serious if it passed its test ok. Good luck at the new club.

Hi Ron, referring to Julians original post, if steam was getting to the cylinders via a leaking regulator it would have to either go through a cylinder inlet (unlikely in mid gear, but a small possibility) or through a poorly seating exhaust valve.

Either way, there would be a possibility of some piston movement.

But as you say it runs fine on air, and had a boiler test recently, I would still suggest that the blower was opened too early and too wide.

That would rob a lot of steam from the boiler straight up the exhaust.

I normally start my boilers with kindling and a little coal, and even throttle the electric blower back so as not to produce a massive draught, you shouldn't really try to raise steam too quickly.

Then with about 30 psi on the gauge I remove the electric blower and just crack the steam blower open while adding more coal.

Have fun

Lofty

Ron, I think you may be opening the boiler steam blower too early, there doesn't appear to be a lot of water on the gauge so priming is unlikely.

If the regulator was not shutting properly there would be some movement on the wheels even at 10 psi and you say it starts and stops on air ok.

I can't make out your pressure gauge red line but I wouldn't be thinking about opening the steam blower until you had at least 25 / 30 psi on the clock and then only a crack of the valve.

hope this is of use

Lofty

John, have you tried a set of Zeus tables, you can directly read the imperial fraction / imperial decimal and nearest metric equivalent all on one line.

Depending on the humidity I get between 3 and 5 litres of water a day on average from my dehumidifier.

As others have said, it's not easy to judge, however, if I build something I expect to do the best I can and am pleased to show it off in all its glory.

Buts thats just the beginning.

I expect to get a long operational life out of my builds, regular runs, regular maintenance and repairs as required, so a Loco, that is now just over 25 years old and still runs regularly hauling kids at a local club, still looks good but has the look of maturity about it.

So, each has to be judged in its own right, the beauty of the finally finished item or the 'lived in', well used old timer that has stood the test of time.

Each equally important.

Hi Bob

Can you see anything obvious from this hastily grabbed Youtube video? **LINK**

The only difference between demineralised water and distilled is that the former is not bacterially sterile.

As this could be used in a boiler and not for potable consumption it shouldn't be any problem at all.

As a club, and in a hard water area, we always used rainwater whenever possible, and only debris filtered it (leaves and insects etc) through something like a few layers of cheesecloth.

There shouldn't be anything nasty in the water itself, only what it collects on touching materials, TDS or Total Dissolved Solids are a result of water passing over / through high mineral contaminants (ie causing 'hard' water) and in your case, if you are in a soft water area, the only test you need to do is look at the inside of your kettle, if its clean, then its totally suitable to use in your boiler.

The other point to note is that if a boiler containing hard water is 'blown down' properly before fully cooled there will be little or no residual coating on the inside or tubes.

I would suggest checking the RCD itself, they do go soft especially if they have tripped a lot.

That came out last November, here's a link to the process which was published in 2011   **LINK**

Edited By Lofty76 on 12/03/2014 18:33:10

Thats virtually the same as one of those 12volt tyre compressors, and noisy as a very noisy thing.

I use an old freezer compressor (suitably de gassed of course).

I noticed that out Makerbot Replicator X2 and associated scanner/digitiser is now sitting in the corner gathering dust at work.

Bit of a flash in the pan methinks.