The Steamboating Forum

Hi Ron,

So you let some oil down into the oiler by opeing the top valve. The you close the top valve and open the bottom valve to allow the oil to enter the engine.

i assume the steam is off when you open the lower valve and then you close the lower valve and turn the steam back on ? It would seem like if you left the steam on that the pressure would basically just push the oil up into the oiler.

jon

P.S. - Hope to drop the check in the mail to you tomorrow for the neptune. I keep forgetting

With the steam on; pressure would equalize in the reservoir very quickly and the oil would drain out.

Jon The lower valve on the right is turned off,unless you wish to add oil to the engine. The upper cap ,unfortunatly is not shown,but just open the cap,pour the oil in,replace the cap ,then turn the lower vavle on to let the oil drip into the steam line. The boat came with a mixture of cylinder oil and graphite.As the former owner has passed to the great steam place in the sky,I was unable to gain any info on this mixture.Any one care to elaborate on this mix? Den

I'd think you'd use as little oil as possible... just form a paste/slurry. The piston valve engine I have now seems to need little/no oil, EXCEPT when laying up... the bronze piston valve does love to get stuck in its bore; I made this a pretty close fit since there are no rings, and any bit of rust seems to lock it up tight.

I have a home-built displacement oiler right now; I think I may switch to something more suited to delivering more oil just when I lay up the engine - I may just add a single tap to the top of the piston valve (and perhaps the piston itself) to facilitate a thorough oiling there when done w/ the engine for more than a day or two.

- Bart