The Heat is ... Off

For those of you eagerly awaiting news of my progress, prepare to be disappointed. I squandered most of the weekend going over the drawings, making the pieces for the steam box (for bending wood) and trying to set up the boiler.

The boiler in question is the one from the old boat which I had removed (by myself, all 589 lbs of it) and set next to the pole barn. I had originally planned on using to fill the steam box when I was ready, and I still do. Also, while I was constructing the barn I also happened to remove the massive pre-war air conditioner from the house. I took from it the main condensing coil, strung that up from the rafters, but a fan behind it, ran some steam, and viola, heated barn.

For those of you who hadn't heard, the old boiler developed a leak in the seam around the firebox door after I had misjudged the weather and left water in the tank during a freeze. Nothing major, but that same freeze caught some water left in the coil and blew that out as well. So it was cold in the barn again.

Not to be deterred, I got out the mig gun and fixed the boiler some weeks ago good enough for steam now. For a new condenser, I visited a local junk yard and pulled a radiator from a Ford Expedition, milled some bushings to fit the hose inlets, put the fan back in place and ran the hoses to the boiler. Here's a pic of the installed radiator and the fan. Everything is held together with wire ties for those interested in the mounting tech.

I filled the tank up with the hose and it looked like I succeeded in my repair. No leaks from the previously busted seam. I then got up a few pounds of steam, turned on the fan and opened the valve to the radiator. There was an immediate hissing sound that was obviously a leak somewhere. Walking inside the barn, it was obvious that the seal around the inlet bushing was leaking a fair amount of steam. The bushings are run around with a bead of JB weld, which I had inadvertently cracked while putting on the plumbing, but I had machined the bushings to be within .01" of the opening, so I had hoped that letting it heat up would seal it up. But alas, it was not to be. The leak was not from the bushing seat, but whatever new fangled hose attachment plastic PoS that was still on there. I'll have to take it down and and figure something else out.

I also wanted to try out two other systems that I had worked up. The first was the new hot well system, I previously had the condensate dripping into a bucket which I then put back in the boiler with a foot pump. That was very tedious. I also wanted to have a place to blow down the boiler at the end of the day so that I wouldn't have to either leave it full and risk another freeze or waste the water and refill it each time. Luckily (not so much according to my wife) I had kept a plastic 30 gal drum from my biodiesel days. I put some fittings on that to both catch the condesate and as a holder for the blow down water. I have to say that it worked like a charm. We'll see how it handles a freeze. I may be back to the bucket yet.

All the valves worked fine, including the one connected to the accessory I was most excited to try out. The Earl has lent me a fine three note steam whistle to replace the little tooter that I have now. This thing is massive, with the longest horn coming it at a whopping 32"! It had to come off of some old steam tug or locomotive. I had hoped that I would get some fine notes out of it today. But it was not to be. I raised 20 lbs of steam and pulled the cord to only get a massive cloud of steam and a faint moan. We'll see when the new boiler is on line if it's even usable.