Olfelt

A special section just for steam engines and boilers, as without these you may as well fit a sail.
ron parola
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Re: Olfelt

Post by ron parola » Sat Aug 20, 2016 4:55 pm

Dick was saying on his small boat, the Andante, he would shut the steam off to the engine once in a while to see where the water really was since it was always at the top OR above the glass when running. The 40sq ft in my boat now doesn't raise the water at all under load, just expansion as it gets hot BUT it holds 30 something gallons of water AND is a very slow steamer. The new one holds 7.5 gallons at this point although that might have to be adjusted after we see how it works. The tubes are fully submerged, it will be interesting to see what effect higher or lower water level will have on steam rate. My 1915 US naval manual says they abandoned "enhanced circulation" boiler sometime before '15, these being boilers with tube outlets above the water level due to too much maintenance, leaking I guess? cheers rp
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DetroiTug
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Re: Olfelt

Post by DetroiTug » Sat Aug 20, 2016 11:14 pm

I ran the Loco with Ofeldt last weekend with one wheel jacked up to flush air out of the feedpump piping. Under steam the water level remained constant on opened and closed throttle. I was watching it to see the water level slowly rise to make sure it was taking feedwater.

I see whats happening with the high steam dome and high water level, the coils are flooded. Steam bubbles created on boiler demand (as Bart alluded to) are raising the total water level. I think if the water level was ran half way up the coils at cold, the sight glass would be stable.

Not sure why the Navy abandoned tubes that exit above the water level, but that is how Ofeldts work. My friend has been using one very similar to mine for six years and it's fired very hard and very often, he's never had any issue with it. It has no steam dome at all on it. Just a head in the center drum right above the top of the coils. Takes steam right out of the center of the head. And yes he gets carry over if he isn't careful. He has three vehicles with Ofeldts in them. Two carriages and a bike. I'll do a thread in the future on his bike boiler, very interesting design that solves the issues when mounting a large steam generator in a confined space. A new type based on the Ofeldt.

Went back up in the thread and looked at the pics. The elevation for the sight glass is incorrect for an Ofeldt. The bottom of the center drum should be the outlet for the bottom of the glass. An Ofeldt this size only holds about a gallon or two of water, but they make steam very fast and lots of it. Mine will boil water from cold in about one minute.

Image

-Ron
ron parola
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Re: Olfelt

Post by ron parola » Sat Oct 29, 2016 9:19 pm

OK, boiler is done and am working on the wood lagging. I have been running it with an old engine and have gotten up to full running pressure slowly; no leaks or explosions! Took parts off the old boiler so now I've got the stack (and whistle!) attached which off course gave me the draft I needed to really turn up the burner. Water level stays pretty stable albeit high with the engine but the whistle really moves it up and the whistle is pretty wet for a while. I'm running the whistle ( and bilge eductor) off the same port, this enters the steam dome fairly low and makes a 90 up to the top of the dome, HOWEVER I didn't put a top or a bend on that standpipe so once water gets in there there is about 4 inches of pipe to drain, I may have to move that fitting, but will wait and see if it's a problem when really hot. So I've now pulled the old boiler out and found the rearmost "stringer" has delaminated from the hull, dammit. This isn't really a stringer just a block molded to the hull and it's pulled the epoxy and some of the wood laminations out with it. So now hull work is on the clock. It's a West Systems hull so scarfing and gluein' is in my future! Cheers rp
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Re: Olfelt

Post by TahoeSteam » Sun Oct 30, 2016 6:34 am

Ron,

Happy to hear of the progress. Cant wait to see the pictures!

Sorry to hear that hull work is in the future :(

Can you shoot me your email or cell# so I can send you some pictures of that burner I was telling you about?
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Re: Olfelt

Post by RGSP » Sun Oct 30, 2016 8:57 am

ron parola wrote:... found the rearmost "stringer" has delaminated from the hull, dammit. This isn't really a stringer just a block molded to the hull and it's pulled the epoxy and some of the wood laminations out with it...
Any idea why it's come off Ron? I have what some might think was an unhealthy interest in structural failures - I claim it's the best way of avoiding them in the future! While I'm being nosey, are the wood laminations from solid + glue, or some form of plywood?

On the positive side, it's a lot better for it to show up now, and be reasonably easily repairable, than after the new boiler is in, or partly in.
ron parola
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Re: Olfelt

Post by ron parola » Mon Oct 31, 2016 5:14 pm

Well the block follows the shape of the hull so it's down at the bottom of the bilge at one end and up under the floor at the other, it's about 6in tall and tapers to 3/4in over a distance of 1.5 ft. The lower end supports the pads the boiler sits on, that area is oily, watery soaked delaminated hull which extends up the hull about 4-5inches, above that there is a foot or so that appears to never been bonded to the hull; the glue has the impression of the hull but it never stuck. Further up are a few inches that the glue HAD a death grip on the floor, I HATED to break that loose but had to pull the block off. I think that just the fact the boiler is tall and very top heavy with a smallish mounting area ( and only three mounting pads!) added to the fact the block wasn't stuck down all the way the boiler just leveraged it loose over time. New boiler is much shorter and lighter and I may give it another mounting point. Will try to get some pix posted, after the rain stops! cheers rp
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Re: Olfelt

Post by ron parola » Mon Oct 31, 2016 11:29 pm

OK, here's some pix of the bottom of the bilge where the block had come from and next to it upside down is the block, you can see the area on the block where the glue wasn't stuck to anything. To work we go. And if ANYONE knows how to resize pix on a Motorola Droid 2 turbo let me KNOW, a PAIN sending it to my computer and doing it there. You would THINK it would be simple; BAH! rp
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Re: Olfelt

Post by cyberbadger » Tue Nov 01, 2016 1:25 am

ron parola wrote:And if ANYONE knows how to resize pix on a Motorola Droid 2 turbo let me KNOW, a PAIN sending it to my computer and doing it there. You would THINK it would be simple; BAH! rp
Upload it to imgur. On imgur click on the down arrow -> Get Share Links -> BB code (forums). Add a 'l' before the .jpg and imgur will give you a large scaled version of the image.
-CB
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Re: Olfelt

Post by DetroiTug » Tue Nov 01, 2016 2:04 pm

Ron,

Just a suggestion.

Several years ago I installed a 4 cyl Graymarine in a fiberglass boat built for an outboard. Learned a lot on that project, like inboard and outboard hulls are totally different - outboard hulls typically concentrate displacement near the stern, etc. After moving everything heavy aft, it finally sat level, it was a great little boat.

But I needed two timbers to mount the engine to and the bottom was not very strong in that point. I fitted two long rails of White oak down along the keel at the proper span. How to attach them was an issue. What I wound up doing is drilling from the outside and using Stainless steel lag screws bedded in. It worked perfect, never had any issue with it. The two strings of 7/16" bolt heads and washers, although not aesthetically pleasing, caused no issue. If that broke under normal usage, putting it back the same way is possibly going to yield the same result eventually. The lighter boiler should help though.

-Ron
ron parola
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Re: Olfelt

Post by ron parola » Wed Nov 02, 2016 10:56 pm

Yeah I'll do that as a last resort, I HATE to put more holes in the hull!! But my more immediate concern is the inside of the hull where it's delaminated,I cut back two layers of laminations and it's still oil soaked, I don't want to cut in any deeper, but I'm afraid the epoxy won't stick the the oily wood. I've been soaking it with acetone and have flood light on the area; as the wood warms the oil comes oozing to the surface, and you can press on it and have it ooze out also, I guess I'm just going to keep it warm for a while, keep wiping it down and keep soaking it with acetone, the wood seems fine, no rot, just oil soaked. Any suggestions? This is gonna slow down boiler install! cheers rp
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