Hose connection?

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PeteThePen1
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Hose connection?

Post by PeteThePen1 » Fri Jun 01, 2018 7:34 pm

Hi Folks

Please could I draw upon the expertise of those of you who are trail boaters and have condensers?

The context is that I am re-plumbing Frances Ann from being a puffer to either puffing or condensing. In puffing mode one launches, opens the lake feed cock and then works on one's musculature with the hand pump until there is water in the glass.

If one goes somewhere in which the stuff you are planning to float upon is not something you would like to introduce to the boiler, what do you do? I am wondering if it might be worth adding a spur to the lake feed line with a hose connector fitting on it. One could then use the local water supply to fill the boiler. If it was positioned upstream of the hand pump, it would not matter if the local water pressure was low, or if the supply was coming from (say) a rainwater butt.

Having finished steaming and pulled out the boat, if one is a puffer one can simply blow down to empty the boiler and tow home with an empty boiler. If one condenses, what on earth does one do with the hot well, condenser, etc? Do they live their lives full of water?

Your observations and experiences would be appreciated.

Regards

Pete
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TahoeSteam
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Re: Hose connection?

Post by TahoeSteam » Fri Jun 01, 2018 8:55 pm

We have just that on the "Sandin", and "Persistance". Having the hose connection before the pump also allows one to purge all of the air out of the feed system whilst filling up.

If we've drained the boiler for storage, we also drian the condenser and hotwell.
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fredrosse
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Re: Hose connection?

Post by fredrosse » Sat Jun 02, 2018 2:58 am

After an outing I prefer to fill the boiler totally with water.

1. Run boiler pressure down to 40-50 psig coming to the trailer ramp. High sight glass, Fire out.
2. Load the boat on the trailer and tie it down,
3. If you are a puffer or a condenser, you should have a 15 gallon reserve feedwater tank, so align the reserve tank to the boiler, directly thru the feedwater pump.
4. If you wish, dump steam into reserve feed tank, heating this water drives all the Oxygen gas out of the water. Run steam down to 15-20 psig, shut steam, shut whistle valves, etc.
5. Open bottom blows (I have 3), get about to bottom of sight glass, shut blowdowns.
6. Drive home, as the boiler cools, a vacuum will form in the boiler, and reserve feedwater will be pushed into the boiler by atmospheric pressure, filling the boiler completely.
7. If you have a condenser and hotwell, they do not need to be drained.

This procedure is used throughout the season. The boiler, hotwell, reserve feed tank, and condenser are fully drained, and dried, over the winter season.
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fredrosse
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Re: Hose connection?

Post by fredrosse » Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:07 am

When cruising as a puffer, in brackish water that should not be used in the boiler, then I use the reserve feed tank as a water supply. I can run 1 - 2 hours on the 15 gallon tank, and it is generally easy to stop at a marina and refill the tank with potable water. Of course, if you are condensing you should not need to use much of your reserve feed water.

HOWEVER, even running condensing I would still use the reserve feed tank water as much as possible, throwing the condensate into the bilge. This avoids contaminating the boiler with any possible oil, which is considered very bad for any boiler. Cheap "Oil Sorb" pads are littered in my bilges, capturing oil as much as possible.
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PeteThePen1
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Re: Hose connection?

Post by PeteThePen1 » Mon Jun 04, 2018 8:48 pm

Hi Folks

Many thanks for your useful comments. I will go ahead with the reserve tank idea, and see if I can set that up so that it will also allow a hose supply (Test steaming on the drive?). I doubt if I will get space for 15 gallons - there is a locker that might hold 10 litres... Sod's law applies of course as I have not long completed a rather convoluted bit of plumbing for which one of the elbows will now need to become a tee. Hey Ho!
Lake feed system (500 x 375).jpg
Lake feed as seen from the site of the boiler.
Lake feed system (500 x 375).jpg (50.78 KiB) Viewed 4852 times
Regards

Pete
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Re: Hose connection?

Post by gondolier88 » Mon Jun 04, 2018 9:58 pm

Pete,

I wouldn't bother with the reserve tank in FA as there isn't enough room to hold enough water to make it worth the effort- given where the locker location is I doubt even filling the reserve tank would be an easy exercise; in an ideal world a tank holding enough water to get you a couple of miles to a jetty in an emergency would be great- that size tank would take FA down by the bows by way too much. Given the hull is just about on it's limit with COG when carrying the cabin and passengers I would do all you can to keep weight amidships and not add anything you really don't need.

Hope you're getting closer to getting steam once again onto one of the best injectors in the SBA!!

Best wishes,

Greg
Don't get heated...get steamed up

http://www.simpsonboatbuilding.co.uk
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