Mike,

Thanks for the interesting link and converting it into layman’s terms (that’s how I like it).

All,

On the subject of cleaning boilers someone once mentioned the use of dishwasher tablets! Has anyone had any experience of this?

Don

Don,

Those are fascinating photos - the inside of a Stanley boiler is usually a pretty mysterious place.

In fact this boiler design is really different from the ones I've seen. No one that I've seen in the US would ever be able to look into the side of a boiler, or supply water to it through a hole in the side - they're all wire-wound, and all threaded ports are in the top and bottom sheets.

In the photo of the inside, facing the water inlet - are the 2 lower holes for the blowdowns? They appear to be about a couple inches above the bottom sheet - could this contribute to poor scouring of the sheet at the edges?

Kelly

Kelly they do make some inspection camera that can look inside a ¼ inch pipe taped holes or the hole at the throttle.

[www.buy.com]

[www.google.com]

Rolly

Kelly,

The bottom two holes in question, one is for the bottom connection to the water gauge and the other isn’t used. There are no blowdowns at the back of this boiler, just the two at the front, that’s the problem.

Don

I suddenly twigged something!

When I fitted a feedwater heater to the Stanley I had the impression that the water inlet from the clack to the boiler was getting clogged much more often. Now I understand why. The plumbing is the same as Don's car with the water going in through the side of the boiler which is usual for a solid case boiler.

Without the feedwater heater the water was going into the boiler cold and the warming up and consequent formation of crud, was happening in the body of the boiler water rather than in the feed pipe fitting. With the heater, which is able quite often to feed water at 100 centigrade, the water was already hot enough for the reaction to take place in the feed pipe fitting just where extra heat was added from the boiler casing.

Mike

Hi,
With the miniature traction engines it says that you should let a layer of furr build up in your boiler before adding boiler water treatment. On Mamods and the like I use Lime juice. On how long a Stanley boiler should by Grandfather's 1900 Mobile has done every LBVCR apart from one since 1989 and GDSF nearly every year since then plus a few steam rallies. That is about 1670 miles which I think is quite good for a Small Runabout.He has scorched the boiler about twice since then For pictures of this car have a look on Sussex sport photography website, LBVCR 2010 and car no 75 or BS 8065.Old Timer.



Edited 2 times. Last edit at 12/21/10 06:11AM by Old timer.

On new boilers first being put into service, the first challenge in the boiler during blow downs is rust in the water. The steel boiler shell contributes to the rust in the boiler water. Any steel grindings left in the boiler also quickly turn to rust and they have a hard time passing through the blow down valves. Eventually, the rusty water during future blow downs subsides to clear water and the minerals start to take over. It is during this periond that the boiler "furs over" inside with minerals from the feed water. Then becomes the new challenge, to control the mineral build up in the boiler. Depending on your water type, is how you address the boiler water treatment in the future use of the boiler.

Just to give you an update on my boiler.

After removing all of the tubes, I then tried to remove the lime scale that was stuck on the inside of the boiler shell. If you have ever tried to remove cement from inside a cement mixer you’ll know what I was up against, even a hammer and chisel wouldn’t shift it.

So I cut a 45 gallon drum in half and placed my boiler inside one half. I then filled this with a mixture of hot water and Furnox DS-3. This is used to clean domestic boilers. I left it to soak for a few days – this may have been longer than necessary as the boiler was totally clean when I removed and rinsed it.

I think this Furnox DS-3 could be very useful for cleaning steam car boilers – maybe once a year. The beauty of this chemical is when mixed it is yellow in colour but the colour changes to green and finally blue when the de-scaling power is exhausted. In other words when you drain the chemical out of your boiler, if it is still yellow there is no lime scale present (it has done its job or there was none in the first place) if it is green or blue there’s lime scale still present and you will need to give your boiler another dose.

I also tested this chemical in varying strengths on some of my old boiler tubes and it does work, I did get it to turn green with a weak solution but not blue. It’s safe to use on copper, brass and steel.

Don

Good tip Don, thanks.

I never used a cleaner like that but my Stanley was always overwintered with central heating corrosion inhibiter. I used Sentinal X 100 - mainly because I liked the name - I'm sure the Fernox equivalent would be just as good. Drained off in Spring, the water always came out completely clean.

Mike

Ho!!!