Re: oil firing (was firebox Facts!)

[Keith Taylor]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vance Bass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: "Multiple recipients of sslivesteam" <sslivesteam@colegroup.com>
Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2005 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: oil firing (was firebox Facts!)


> Hey, Keith,
>
> Following your good info about coal ashpans, I was reminded of a
> question I have been unable to answer about the oil-fired model I'm
> building. The thing has a tank under the oil bunker that I took to be
an air
> tank at first. But on closer examination of the plans, there are two
> problems with that: no air pump, and little sliding flaps on the ends
of the
> tank. So, clearly, it's not an air tank.
>

Hi Vance,
I have little or no experience with oil burners on locomotives, but I
think that tank may in fact be a pre-heater for the vaporizer, like was
used on Stanley steam automobiles. This was only used during the initial
firing and would heat the burner itself so that as the fuel entered the
burner nozzle, it would vaporize the fuel and ignite. Once the burner
nozzle was hot, you could turn off the pre-heater, as it wasn't there to
heat the oil, but the burner. At steam car meets, you will see the
fellows today, in the interests of safety, use a propane torch like a
Bernz-O-Matic, to heat the burner, and not use the car's preheater, as
that was basically a gasoline blow torch permanently mounted to the car!
Keith