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Other Fuels / Re: Lister on Steam?
« on: August 31, 2015, 03:44:58 PM »
Thob, nope, wasn't planning to bugger anything up. I've enjoyed thinking about a conversion, which is different.
And I did start with somethng else, as I wrote. A Tecumseh conversion. I cast a new head (I cast iron) and built a rotary valve that worked quite well. There aren't any oil field engines in Vermont, as far as I know.
Condensate in the oil can be a problem, but this and solutions to it have been discussed elsewhere many times before, and it's not necessarily a non-starter for conversions. Sometimes water with a small amount of oil is used as the actual engine lubricant. If interested in learning about that approach you can probably find online Bart Smaalders very well known long term accounts of his compressor conversion steam boat.
Or, If the engine runs engine oil at higher than the boiling point of water it can also rid itself of condensate -- in fact condensate issues occur not just on a steam engine, but on a diesel or gas engine run infrequently and/or in cold conditions. There are threads here discussing oil flow heating for that condensate removal purpose.
Thob, your description of a traditional slow speed double-acting D-valve steam engine is accurate, but there are many other historic and practical types including single acting engines, with enclosed crankcases splash lubrication, and no stuffing boxes, like the Westinghouse high speed engines used for power generation.
And I did start with somethng else, as I wrote. A Tecumseh conversion. I cast a new head (I cast iron) and built a rotary valve that worked quite well. There aren't any oil field engines in Vermont, as far as I know.
Condensate in the oil can be a problem, but this and solutions to it have been discussed elsewhere many times before, and it's not necessarily a non-starter for conversions. Sometimes water with a small amount of oil is used as the actual engine lubricant. If interested in learning about that approach you can probably find online Bart Smaalders very well known long term accounts of his compressor conversion steam boat.
Or, If the engine runs engine oil at higher than the boiling point of water it can also rid itself of condensate -- in fact condensate issues occur not just on a steam engine, but on a diesel or gas engine run infrequently and/or in cold conditions. There are threads here discussing oil flow heating for that condensate removal purpose.
Thob, your description of a traditional slow speed double-acting D-valve steam engine is accurate, but there are many other historic and practical types including single acting engines, with enclosed crankcases splash lubrication, and no stuffing boxes, like the Westinghouse high speed engines used for power generation.