[Steam-engine] Oiler injector for our Wach's

[Andre' Blanchard]

When running it on air I would just use an air oiler/lubricator, just 
checked McMaster Carr they have a 3/4" for less then $50.00 a smaller one 
may work but the price is not that much different.  Keep the oiler close to 
the engine so the oil droplets have less chance to settle out.  I would go 
with at least 3/4" hose and less then 20 or 30 feet long.  If you use a 
smaller hose try putting like a 5 gallon or so, surge tank at the engine 
with a larger short hose to the engine with the oiler in that line.
Looked up your pics on webshots.com, looks good.

I have a horizontal with an 8" bore and stroke and I have run it on air, it 
runs but it acts like it would really just rather not.  I have a boiler 
that I am getting back into shape, it still needs some work and a finial 
inspection but I have looked it over, tapped everyplace, did a hydro check 
to 60 psi and the other weekend I decided as long as it is on my land and I 
am the only one around I would take it up to 15 psi on steam.  It is an oil 
burner so there is little chance of overshooting, just have to shut off the 
oil valve.

I had 50 feet of 1" steam hose between the boiler and the engine, opened 
drain valves on the cylinder and valve chest and cracked the throttle 
valve, blew until there was mostly steam coming out, rolled the flywheel 
over 180 deg. and warmed up the other end of the cylinder.  Closed the 
drain valves, left the ones on the cylinder open just a bit, opened the 
throttle a bit more and she started to roll over and gain speed.  It 
settled in at about 30 RPM and just as smooth as you could ask for, this is 
in contrast to when running on air when if you tried to go too slow it 
would want to bounce back off the compression and stop.  On steam it will 
run with just 5 psi on the boiler and the throttle valve is still not open 
all the way but the cylinder drains have to be open some because things are 
getting pretty wet at the end of that long hose.

And this is with an engine that really should have a sleeve, a new piston 
and rings put in it.  The cylinder has a crack down the side that has been 
welded up on the outside some time in the past and the rings have about 1/4 
gap while in the cylinder.  The piston was also welded up, I am assuming 
someone feed it a slug of water at some point and crashed it.


Neat thing is with the engine running slow and the burner off on the 
boiler, you can stand beside the boiler and at every stroke when the valve 
opens you can hear the water in the boiler start boil for a split 
second.  I have never heard that at a show, too much noise around.
___________
Andre' B.




At 08:40 PM 4/21/2005, you wrote:
>Rick;
>      If you are using compressed air, you may want to get a pneumatic
>lubricator,
>that bleeds oil into the line. Regular cylinder oil won't work right for air
>as it
>depends on the temperature of the steam to be properly dispersed. I have an
>engine that I run at home on air and at shows on steam. On steam I use a
>displacement oiler, at home I use an air line lubricator, it looks like a
>filter with
>a small dial on it. Cylinder oil in the former, SAE 20 in the latter.
>      One thing I can tell you, is there is a lot more power on steam than
>there is
>with air. Consequently, when the governor is adjusted to run 200 RPM on air,
>she will go like a bat on steam if I don't readjust the governor. I always
>run air
>after a day of steaming to push the water out and to leave a good coat of
>lube
>on the cylinder. Good Luck with your engine!
>Best Regards;
>Jim Mackessy
>Syracuse, New York
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Richard Strobel" <Richard_Strobel7 at msn.com>
>To: "Steam-engine mailing list" <steam-engine at lists.stationary-engine.com>
>Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 6:15 PM
>Subject: Re: [Steam-engine] Oiler injector for our Wach's
>
>
> > I appreciate it Andre'..and enjoyed reading the text.  Now this brings up
> > another question...Lots of these old oilers required condensation to raise
> > the level of the oil so it would flow out into the steam.  But for now I
> > will use compressed air, so am I forced to use a mechanical injector like
> > Francis spoke of before?
> >
> > RickinMt.
> >