25 Responses

1. What is making that horrible noise? Steam engines are nearly silent.

2. is this like an old smokemachine or something?

3. @partsproduction I do have a slightly larger engine than this though. Its a Sears & Roebuck 8 horse. I restored it over about a five month period and I run it on steam at a local fair. Steam is supplied to me by a big Steam Donkey since I don’t have a boiler large enough to power it yet.

4. @partsproduction It’s not my engine. But from my trained eye I would say this engine is roughly 6 HP. The boiler was not built for the engine per se, From what I read on their website the had the boiler for a while then bought the engine at a later date. And the exhaust should be restricted somewhat, I’m not sure if they did with this engine, but a good rule of thumb for blast nozzle size is a little over 1/7th of the bore to produce the right amount of draft with no noticable back pressure.

5. @0812201 It’s not like any exhaust steam sound I’ve heard. So your using the exhaust for forced draft, and it must be restricted to some degree to get velocity to move more air. There is very little back pressure?

   What is the nominal HP rating for the engine? Was the boiler built for the engine or did you find a boiler that met the engine’s requirements. It’s a great looking engine BTW, I hope to find one about that size soon.

6. @partsproduction What, the exhaust? Yes. Thats what causes the chugging noise on all steam engines with the exhaust routed up the stack. Thats why steam locomotives chug, thats why traction engines chug, and thats why this stationary plant chugs. And it chugs for that reason, to create its own draft.

7. @0812201 Is that what is causing the noise?

8. Heh, that thing’s really loud. Though it looks fucking awesome.

9. I think what I love about this most is that instead of an experimental toy making all sorts of ridiculous claims, there it is. Working under load and making usable electricity.

   It’s not some high priced eye candy full of expensive parts put out by some no answers website looking for investors, it’s a useful, running machine with huge amounts of documented, working science behind it.

   Not only do I love the windmills from these guys but I love this as well. Because it freakin works!

10. Even so, I personally would not make it a condensing solid circuit engine for the draft, injectors, and the shear complexity of it all. Condensers and hotwells are better suited to turbines as an oil separator isn’t needed, and their high consumption of water makes having a condenser more practical and efficient for recirculation. That’s what they do in steam driven power plants.

11. Quite often the hotwell has the oil seperator built into it.

12. Then having a feedwater heater/condenser would be fine because it wouldn’t bother the pump. And in case the exhaust pressure is taken away by the feedwater heater/condenser you can get a forced draft from the boiler’s own steam blower. Which is basically a valve off of the steam manifold with a narrow pipe going up the stack with a jet at the end to create a vacuum within the smoke box and draw the fire. Most of the time they only use that to get up steam faster when starting up.

13. Also, the condenser is getting rid of your natural forced draft from the engine because it’s condensing the steam. Plus Injectors don’t like hot feedwater, because it won’t pick up and you wouldn’t be able to get water back into the boiler. They should have a hand pump as an auxiliary feedwater system in case the injector acts up. Also what they should have is an eccentric driven feed pump connected to the engine. That way, the engine will automatically replaces what it consumes in water.

14. Also, using a condenser and hotwell wouldn’t be practical either because if you injected straight condensed exhaust into the boiler, It would raise hell by making the boiler foam and prime because the exhaust from the engine also contains used cylinder oil. And oil in a boiler is not good. So to solve that, you would need an oil separator, further adding to the complexity of the system which is not needed.

15. That’s why they have an injector. Because it’s directly using the steam from the boiler to force water into the boiler. The steam mixes with the water through a series of mixture cones at a tremendous velocity thusly forcing the boiler check valve open and admitting water. When the steam comes in contact with the water, it preheats it right there. So there is no great thermal shock to the tubes and firebox.

16. super great idea.

17. very cool. wish I had one.

18. Ever thought of a coil of pipe in the smoke stack to pump water round before your central heating boiler (assuming you have one)? No fire, the water goes out the same temp it goes in and the central heating boiler does all the work. With a fire, the water is heated up and the central heating boiler only had to add a tiny bit, if at all.

19. Lag the boiler too.

20. Along with a silencer and force draft I would consider fitting a condenser and running the hotwell reasonably hot, so you don’t pump cold water into the boiler. You could run a vacuum pump on the exhaust but with a single cylinder engine it isn’t worth the effort.

    Conserving as much heat as possible while still operating the temperature difference across the engine will push the efficiency right up.

21. Awesome. What year is the engine?

22. Kas per Sh?..

23. I love that smokestack.

24. heat your house power your house and a AC your house all you need is wood and there ant so shortage of that

25. Dang it, Dan….. Now I am going to have to build/restore a steam engine for another alternate source of power. That is way too cool. Oh yeah… We have LOTS and LOTS of oak here in Texas! (Pin Oak, Live Oak, etc.) I can also get (for free) all the oak pallets and scraps I could manage to haul off.