Olfelt

ron parola · Post by **ron parola** » Sun Mar 20, 2016 9:28 pm

OK, I'm in the throes of building an Olfelt to replace my old Semple, a LOT of coiling! Now in the process of drilling the centre pipe BUT before I go any farther, I've been thinkin' ( BAD idea) As anyone tried a water wall around the firebox ( on an Olfelt type)? Simple coils of pipe would work fine WHEN water was being pumped in, but there would be no natural circulation otherwise. Any thought therein? ronp

barts · Post by **barts** » Sun Mar 20, 2016 10:57 pm

I'd use a refractory lining. The surface will become glowing hot and radiate heat towards the cool tubing. Cold water walls are good at absorbing heat, but the fire must not touch the water walls, otherwise you'll get incomplete combustion and smoke. I'd use a hard refractory and fiber wool behind it; around the tubes I'd use a stainless liner and more fiber wool.

- Bart

fredrosse · Post by **fredrosse** » Mon Mar 21, 2016 11:28 am

To use a simple coil type furnace waterwall you would need to assure water flow whenever the fire was activated. The only simple way to assure this is with an oil fired atomizing burner and feedwater pump driven by the same motor. A waterwall with short coil sections ( say about 20 tubes connecting to a ring header at the bottom, running upwards at a healthy slope to 20 connections on the drum ) would work ok, and would also need a downcomer to assure good circulation in the waterwall tubes. However building that arrangement would be very labor intensive. That would be an expensive fabrication, with benefits of radiant heat absorption in the furnace.

Bart's suggestion is so much more reliable, with assured tube circulation in the high temperature regions of the boiler, and has worked well in many installations.

ron parola · Post by **ron parola** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 12:36 am

Yeah I thought it would be too complex, ok back to drilling rp

barts · Post by **barts** » Tue Mar 22, 2016 1:11 am

If you're going to build a boiler w/ a mandatory water pump, build a Lamont boiler

.

- Bart

ron parola · Post by **ron parola** » Tue May 03, 2016 7:23 pm

Movin' along slowly, but making progress with boiler, so before going any farther along decided to check welds. Hydrolocked boiler and connected it to shop air and ran it up slowly; maxed out compressor 130ish psi. Damn, I guess I'm better at welding than I thought; NO leaks. So next step will be top and bottom and whatever connections I need. And yes I will do a proper hydro test when complete at twice + operating pressure, Now was a good time If I had to get inside and repair. Anyone going to Clear Lake meet this weekend? ronp

barts · Post by **barts** » Wed May 04, 2016 3:57 am

Good job w/ the welding... won't make Clear Lake this year.

- Bart

TahoeSteam · Post by **TahoeSteam** » Wed May 04, 2016 6:55 pm

I'd sure like to see some pictures Ron

I won't be making it to clear lake after all. Been on shift since last Friday morning. Got today off, then back on shift tomorrow morning through Monday morning.

Ironman · Post by **Ironman** » Sun May 08, 2016 3:13 pm

ron parola wrote:Movin' along slowly, but making progress with boiler, so before going any farther along decided to check welds. Hydrolocked boiler and connected it to shop air and ran it up slowly; maxed out compressor 130ish psi. Damn, I guess I'm better at welding than I thought; NO leaks. So next step will be top and bottom and whatever connections I need. And yes I will do a proper hydro test when complete at twice + operating pressure, Now was a good time If I had to get inside and repair. Anyone going to Clear Lake meet this weekend? ronp

Good work on the welding.
A good source of pressure when hydrotesting is a pressure washer. If you plumb in a tee and a gate valve on the tee, you can discharge the water from the pressure washer. Slowly close the valve until the gauge on the boiler is reading the test pressure you want to have in the boiler, and then close the valve feeding the boiler.
Remember that the sun, or even ambient temperature will raise the test pressure in the boiler as the water inside warms up.

I do this in the AM and come back to read the gauge in the next morning, as ambient temps should be close, and check for pressure drops. It takes very little loss to drop pressure in a hydro test.

ron parola · Post by **ron parola** » Wed May 11, 2016 9:16 pm

Ok back from Clear Lake, had a nice time, rain held off although there was lighting and some drizzle & Steve fell asleep under his Blankie in the back of the boat coming back from dinner, sorry Wes. And tried to post some pix but they were too large so will see if I can make them smaller, why yes I AM an idiot when it comes to confusers thanks for asking.
So I was thinkin', I know BAD idea just clear your brain, but here goes; I'm now working on the bottom weld cap. I am going to support this mess by welding 10 1/2in pipes into the cap, radiating outwards and downwards at bit ( just a few degrees) and into a 2in sch 80 pipe circle ( 20in around). This circle will then bolt to the firebox AND have the feed water inlet. So the whole of the support system is water cooled, what I am wondering is; would it be worth while to have maybe half of the pipes that radiate out to go UP into the boiler and have the other half just at the very bottom of the weld cap, POSSIBLY to promote convection circulation within the supports? Thoughts therein? Or am I just full of it.... I can handle it!
And I do have an air operated pump that I use to hydro Stanley boilers; 1200psi NO problem! Cheers rp

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