My experience with my K4 is mixed. At times it will fire just fine and can be balance just fine. At other times its a bitch to even get it lighted. The engine wants to make like a flame thrower out the smoke box.
I have always used the tank valve on the tender for a firing valve. I leave the burner valve open by several turns. Yes the tank valve is sensitive to slight movements but I have acquired the demon tweak for the correct amount. Yes I use the burner sounds for clues as to what's going on inside the flue. When you hear spit, pith kinda sounds that means liquid fuel is coming out the jet. This condition occurs most often just after the tank is filled. Kevin O'Connor tells me that the outlet from the fuel tank is half way up the side of tank therefore it is liquid leaving the tank and vaporizes to gas while in the rubber tube going to the burner. Eventually (as the level of the fuel in the tank falls) it will only vapor going to the burner. I observed a (near - none were hurt) disaster with a K4 while attending the 17th National GRS convention in Seattle this year. While at Pete Comley's open house a K4 was being fired and the valve nearest the burner was the controlling valve. Several attempts had failed to get a proper light. After a proper light had been achieved the operator filled the tender water reservoir with warm water to keep the pressure up. Well this caused a sudden increase in pressure and the rubber gas hose burst allowing liquid butane to flow without control out the end of the ruptured hose. Never before have I seen such a model engine fire. The flames were radiating in a 180 degree pattern from horizon to horizon about the cab. They were shooting up 18 - 24 inches with great fury. The operator was able to reach in and close the tank valve and the fire was extinguished. All of this lasted about 5 - 8 seconds. My point in telling the story is that if the controlling valve was the tank valve this wouldn't have happened. And the addition of hot/warm water in the tender should be done before you crack the firing valve so you can control the additional pressure. And of course we always check the condition of our rubber hoses before firing don't we. (Yea right!) Now I'm not a tank engineer so I don't know at what pressure these things will fail. (No doubt someone on this list will regale us with the official temperature vs gas pressure table.) I must say that I regularly use hot/warm water in the winter time to improve gas firing. This past weekend we had the coffee percolator filled with distilled water and I measured the temp. It was 185 degrees at the spout. Pretty warm. Kevin O'Connor has lectured (during this summer's 49er steamup) on radiant poker burners. He basically puts a 50 mesh stainless steel screen over the slots of the stock burner and covers this 50 mesh screen with a brass tube that has lengthwise slots cut in it. This then is covered with a humped up piece of 20 mesh stainless steel screen which is attached with wire ties. When the burner is lit at a low gas level the bottom tube lights and when the humped up part gets hot enough it begins to glow. It is now incandescing and an even radiant heat is produced. The modified burner is placed in the flue upside down from normal. That means the original slits are pointed down. You can go from a red orange glow to orange to white depending on how much gas you send to the burner. It runs silent. So you must adjust the burner by sight not sound. Read Kevin's article and see some photos at: http://southernsteamtrains.com/notes/radiantpokerburners.htm As of today you have to make your own burner. I don't know of anyone selling them. No doubt someone will offer them for a fee but you can make one yourself. It isn't that hard. The answer for me is to make a radiant burner for my K4. Along with the new burner is the issue of fine gas control. The stock valve on the tank gives only coarse control. (small movement, lots of gas) The fix for this requires a lathe to reshape the end of the valve into a bottle nose dolphin shape. With this shape the bottle nose part sticks into the valve seat causing a restriction to the gas flow as it is opened. Fine gas adjustment is possible with this shape. This has been a long winded answer to your question Richard but the short answer is trial and error teaches what is the best setting for your engine. Clark Richard Finlayson wrote: > > Greetings, > > I'm seeking pointers for firing my K4 equipped with standard burner. > The tank regulator is intact, as is the regulator just upstream of > the burner assembly. The burner fits loosely in the backhead, but > stays in the boiler and aligned due to a bit of pressure from the > flexible hoses once the tender is coupled. Is this normal? > > I have had several very nice runs with this locomotive, but have > never really been able to balance out the burner to my satisfaction. > I feel I've either got it up too high, or that it flashes out when I > reduce it based on past experience with the way burners sound. Kevin, > where would I be without the burner roar to help me with the fuel > setting? (GRINS!). > > Any tips appreciated. Mike Martin gave me some tips that I... uh... > forgot. I think we were regulating with the valve closest the burner > which is also what I've been trying lately. > > Thanks! > > -Richard > -- > ================================================== > Richard Finlayson > [EMAIL PROTECTED]
