Steam & Excursion > Very good pics of the 844

Good pics of the 844.. It's great to have her back and running, again...may she rack up thousands of safe miles....and produce thousands of happy smiles....Its what they do BEST...

Got any pics of her boiler being 'blown down"?
Any  "reports" of routine boiler water concentration mediation?

Remember,  there's a Bounty for pics of  each separate blow-down sequence,----- must be individually separated locale, one winner per 'incident'....

W.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/16 14:59 by wcamp1472.

Yes very good pictures, Wes I don't think we are going to get any pictures of blow downs and general boiler maintenance. Everyone is just happy she's out again so they can get pictures of her. I fear the mud build up is starting again and we will be at square one in a few years. IMHO

CS

Apparently, it took less than one hundred twenty 'accumulated steam' days of of the earlier 'daily routine'  (before she burbled and slogged to  a stall,  3-years , or so, ago)....  That resulted in a re-do of a whole' other 15-year requal period...for what purpose?

So, start a calendar-record of the number of days she is (apparently) under steam--- since the July fire-up. How many, so far?
Appaerently, the 'count' procedure that's used by the current team is at variance with the approved method...so maybe you dial-in
a 'fudge factor' of +25%.....

Personally, I prefer the U.P.'s earlier, classic steam days, practice of VERY frequent drain-downs and "boiler flushes" .
Do ALL you can, in known "bad water" districts, to keep the boiler as clean as you do to the outside.... The innards are way more important than "chrome" and "straight" wind wings....

Without the routines of regular blow-downs and boiler wash-outs, the concentrations of impurities & build-up of so-called "water treatment" chemicals will inevitably result in the same, or similar outcomes.

​W.


 

I agree Wes, How many steam days so far do you think? I'm thinking 4 counting today since the major restoration project of a locomotive that I was understanding to already be restored for decades now. But oh what do we know......

CS

I dont understand not blowing the boiler down. JUST DO IT!

Buttons2013 Wrote:
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> I dont understand not blowing the boiler down.
> JUST DO IT!

Since the current manager re-piped the Wilson sludge remover system, the remote blowndowns can NOT be used if there are ANY members of the public at track side , on the Engineer's side.

Buttons2013 Wrote:
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> I dont understand not blowing the boiler down.
> JUST DO IT!

I agree, but this is the problem. Where the blow down is still placed on the 844 it cannot be blow en down safely when people are around the locomotive or when it is moving with people lined up all along the right of way. There was a picture posted in a thread a few days ago that shows where the blow down is.

CS

A public blowdown picture?   Horrors.   Isn't this a family friendly forum. 

Tominde Wrote:
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> A public blowdown picture?   Horrors.   Isn't
> this a family friendly forum. 

Oh Boy, thats a good one..... I have to admit!

CS

HotWater Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Buttons2013 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I dont understand not blowing the boiler down.
> > JUST DO IT!
>
> Since the current manager re-piped the Wilson
> sludge remover system, the remote blowndowns can
> NOT be used if there are ANY members of the public
> at track side , on the Engineer's side.

Sounds lik Da Ja Vu!

Raw speculation here,..... About the original original Wilson  'separator'  on the 844....

Just to reiterate, it's vey possible that the original 'vane cylinder',  the stationary element that assists in the centrifugal separation of particles heavier than water, that's inside the 'can' might well have been severly eroded ( since 1944?).

During the blowdown operation, the boiler water is inserted at a tangent to the can circumference, it mounts at the very top of the can, the high velocity water stream swhirls around inside the can, the heavier water droplets and the 'mud', chemicals and solids are contained in the 'can' and drains to the ground, the relative clean and lighter steam vapor vents through the vanes
( that re-direct the water away from the top vent hole...)..  The vane element resembles a common  'squirrel-cage' fan rotor, but it's stationary... The vented water swirls around, and not the separator vanes..
The steam and the expansive pressure-wave are vented to the atmosphere, out the top vent...the whirling water & sludge is dropped to the ground, out the bottom-mounted drain pipe...

The 'white stuff' that was marking up the top of the 844 might simply  have been  'un-separated'  boiler water, whistling straight out the central top vent.  The apparent defect could also be the result of  encrustation of the interior separator vanes by the all the earlier blow-down events, going back over decades....

So, it might have made more sense to have cut apart & analyzed the condition of the vane element ----- however, one could have simply located a donor locomotive and exchanged-out a for 'younger' separator 'can'.

The analysis of the original unit would have meant cutting off the top of the 'can' , lifting the vane structure ( welded under the can's top), examining, and verifying that the vanes were deformed, encrusted, or missing.   That's way more analysis than I normally would do ......I probably would have simply tried replacing the whole separator can...it would probably be a simple task of breaking of the two pipe unions, cutting the mounting securements, and installing the replacement 'can'... Separator cans are factory mass-produced, and easily interchanged...

Its possible that a simple substitution could have avoided SO MUCH  subsequent after-drama, needless tinkering and redundant do-overs of the past 3-years, all THAT effort might have been redirected to the 4014, and IT  might have been well-along towards running....Oh, well...

Just my feeing about how to correct what might be a very real concern, that if not corrected, would continue get worse.

​W.

 



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 07/24/16 04:16 by wcamp1472.

Ideas about Wilson blow-down separators ----- see "Very good Pics of 844", earlier message, below...

W.