Not enough steam

Hi there I have purchased a boiler & engine to install into a WINDERMERE LAUNCH & I am having a problem holding dry steam to the engine, w hen I looked into what I think you call the smoke box, The coils of the super heater seem to be belowe the fire tube, So it apears to me that the heat from the burner is missing the super heater tubes & going directly up the chimney,The coils of the super heater are horizontal to the boiler & wondered if they were vertical the heat will pass through them as it goes up the chimney. PLEASE HAVE YOU ANY HELP YOU CAN GIVE TO ME ( A COMPLETE NOVIS )

Thank's,

LIMELIGHT.

P.S AM I IN THE WRONG SECTION ??.

Hi LL -

The firebox should be at one end of the boiler where the fire is (naturally!) and the smokebox at the other with the chimney. The superheater coils ought to be in the space where the gas burns or in some of the tubes, the 'products of combustion' travel along the tubes to the chimney drying teh stem on the way.

Some less powerful boilers take the steam and pass it through a couple of coils in the flame to dry it, though not intensly enough to be true 'superheat'. If your boiler is a simple cylinder above a firespace. this could be what you have.

Is it possible to take a photo?

And , yes, you probably are in the wrong section, but you have been found!

Neil

Hello Neil.

Thank you for answering will take a photo & get it on the Topic.

Limelight.

Hi L-L,

I wouldnt worry too much about superheat, for the small temperature rise Its not worth worrying too much about it. Unless you have a steam pressure above 80 psi the ammount of superheat would be minimal

However as Stub says the superheater coil should be in the combustion space and above the flame.

Andy

It is normal practice in boat boilers to put the coils at the smokebox end as it is convenient and they are not desperate for superheat. Some cynics call these coils 'steam dryers' when they want to disparage your set up. It may help a little to reposition them.

However if you are new to the area it is probably just that you are seeing a lot of condensation in the tubes and engine. It takes a ridiculous amount of time for everything to heat up enough to stop this. Quite often it only heats up fully half a minute before the gas runs out.

Nice belt sander picture, would like to know something about it- wonder how it got into the start of this thread?

When I saw the picture I thought the topic was about the sander not having enough power - glad to see Limelight has had some good advice on what the post is really about though.