[Steam-engine] boiler feedwater injector conection

James Mackessy jmackess at twcny.rr.com
Sat Nov 5 19:07:16 PST 2005


Hey Rick! If you don't have a port on the boiler, how about a tap in the
main steam line to
supply the injector? Steam is steam, the injector won't care if it's on the
boiler or close to
the boiler. I wouldn't go drilling and tapping any holes without running it
by the inspector
first to see how fussy your state is about such things. As for a pump, it
can be as simple as
a displacement rod running into a chamber through a packing gland, with two
off the shelf
check valves plumbed onto it. If it's small enough, it can be run off the
engine's eccentric, as
they often did on early engines. I've even seen some with a disk with a tee
slot on the end
of the crank so the stroke could be adjusted to control volume. When the
engine runs, so
does the pump. Adjusting the volume to an amount roughly equivalent to what
the engine is
using would be the goal, and that won't be much. This works best at lower
pressures, such
as 65 to 85 psi. It does add a load to the eccentric strap. The little
Leffel 5HP rig I've mentioned
uses two 1/2" injectors, and that was OK with the inspector up here, but now
a duplex pump
has been added "just for fun". There's a lot of ways to get the job done,
but it sounds like you
are going to have a lot of fun with this rig! Good Luck and play safe!
Jim M.




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