I plan to take my 740 out for as many trips as possible, weather permitting, over Christmas. Its make or break time ! Will the boiler fail again or will it work reliably ?

Surprised nobody has said Happy Christmas to everyone yet ??

I don't take my steamer out in the salt season - it makes such a horrible mess of everything brass and copper. Our local council are obsessed with salt and have a 4000 ton store of the stuff just for Nidderdale which they blather all over the place with the least possible excuse. Local explanation is that the US forces at Menwith Hill insist on salted roads around the area - personally I am not one who blames the US for everything (sadly there are few of us left) - it's more to do with getting through our council tax money so they can demand more for next year.

Having said that I keep my 1925 Salmson on the road all year, well covered with waxoyl, and will be out on New Years Day. Last year we had a run in Derbyshire on a day when heavy snow had fallen and no salt laid - bliss as the Salmson is just delightful on snow and ice with terrific traction as it has no differential.

Best of luck with your boiler Ian. Bit too soon to wish Happy Christmas - wait a couple of days please.

Mike

Ian,

I too like to be out over the holiday season. We have a large gathering in the next village every boxing day (about 500 vehicles) and I try to get to a VSCC meeting on New Years day.

However, my stam cars are not condensing so I have to be very careful with the weather conditions if I am to avoid making the roads unsafe for others. On a crisp day I can lay a blanket of fog which can be very dangereous particularly for approaching vehicles.

I was seriously reprimanded last January by a couple of elderly women who followed me down a long hill(regulator shut) and then found themselves enveloped in steam as I started the following ascent!

Peter

Peter what you need is a tall funnel to send it up into the air - perhaps one of those with decorative splayed out frilly bits at the top like a Mississippi sternwheeler - just about right given the scale of the Mountain Wagon. Or possibly a salt injector to stop the steam freezing.

Mike

Mike,

I'll get a chimney design drawn up for next year's crimbo card!

Peter

I had our 1916 Stanley Mt. Wagon out today for a 30 mile run. With it being only 35 degrees F. out, it was a traffic hazard with my vapor cloud. I closed the throttle for any oncoming cars. One poor fellow following me on a long up hill finally pulling over to the shoulder and parked it as there was no use for him trying to find the road while I was still on the hill. I do have one advantage with my noncondensing engine exhaust. It is turned down and slightly to the shoulder of the road so as to not make too big of a fog bank on the road. My boiler exhause exits directly behind the boiler as like in condensing cars. At a good speed, its condinsate gets pretty well lost. On a slow up hill, it is hell for the other drivers. We run our Stanleys year round. Their carriage house is heated and we bring them out for a run when we have the opportunity. I was stopped recently by the police on one trip. He told me, as he was holding my driver's license: "These antique cars are not exempt from today's pollution laws". My reply to him was: "Sir, my steamer runs cleaner than your cruiser". He replied with a shocked look on his face "Steamer?" He handed back my drivers license as he left and replied with "Have a Good day."

Fired my 740 yesterday and everything went very well, Took it gently with the firing and the boiler seemed to hold up fine.

The constant howling I have previously experienced has gone, I can only put it down to the redesign of the burner interface ring that is sitting on top of the burner plate around the edges, must be enough to change the natural frequency of the burner.
Only managed two trips around the block, approx. 6 miles, as the fog closed in. Ran at a steady 25 to 30 mph with steam pressure at 400 psi, burner pressure at 120 psi, I must adjust this up to 140 and see what the difference is.

What sort of steam pressure should I be expecting at this speed ? I guess I have some fine tuning to do with burner nozzle sizes and fuel pressures.

Hopefully manage a few more attempts over Christmas.

Have A GREAT CHRISTMAS !

Ian ,

What is your steam auto set to close at? The speed at which you can drive continuously would be a speed which brings the boiler pressure down by about 50psi from the pressure at which the steam auto shuts off. This is the point at which the steam auto is open to the maximum and you are getting the most power out of the burner. If the pressure drops lower than this then you are using more steam than you are making. I know nowt about condensing cars but would think it should be able to maintain 40mph without losing steam pressure.

I use 120psi fuel pressure and number 60 jets.

Anyway now it is time to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very steamy New Year.

Mike



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 12/24/06 09:48AM by Mike Clark.

Peter,

Just read in the paper that among the many wonderful measures this government proposes to reduce the amount of paperwork etc (which it has spent the last 9 years thinking up) is a change of law so that steam buses can be exempt from rules which determine where their exhaust must come out.

My first thought was that this meant you but I now realise that you currently comply, with your exhaust near the ground, but that the rule is being introduced so that you will be allowed send it up in the air like a steam wagon. Apparently people want to convert steam wagons to buses for tourist use and our masters estimate that this change in the law will save each user about £10,000. I hope you are grateful for this! I would have thought it a good idea to make all buses send their exhaust uppards instead of at the passers by.

I also read (too much news is not good for a person) that one of the concerns in the future widespread adoption of hydrogen fuel cell cars is that for every kilo of hydrogen burnt they emit 9 litres of water as fog to ice up the roads in winter. The latest version is expected to go 120 miles on 4 KG of hydrogen. No doubt this is true but I wonder how much water is created by an I/C engine on which is using four times as much fuel, some of which is making water - need a bit of chemistry to work that out.

Mike



Edited 1 times. Last edit at 12/24/06 03:56PM by Mike Clark.

Fired up successfully on Boxing day and completed two further trips round the block, another six miles. Steam pressure steady at 375 psi, fuel pressure at 130 psi and a steady speed of 35 to 40 mph.
Stopped to change over the neighbors who were having a ride, steam automatic shut the fuel off at 500 psi and then it happened again. Firstly steam started to blow from the venturi tubes, the car enveloped in steam and then water ran out of the Venturi's. So we pushed it back into its shed again.

Shame that happened especially as the car was running the best I have ever had it running. So I will try and refill the boiler tomorrow and try again. Still need to tweak the jet nozzle size to push the boiler performance up.

Looks like I need that new boiler I have ordered.