Just curious if any of you have had any issues with your gas flow between the tender and engine being “limited”.

I pulled the nozzle and cleaned it, it seemed to improve some. The line is completely open in between with no blockages.

It seems to be that it may be the valve on the tank by process of elimination. Not sure if there is anything I can do at that point, though?

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

Matt

Gentlemen,

I subsequently answered my own question after I posted.

I went through every part of the fuel delivery system and cleaned every piece I could. The fuel valve needle had a layer of crud on it. The burner from inside of the boiler had a layer of crud on it. Just about everything I couldn’t see had a layer of crud on it.

I went through, got everything cleaned up until it looked like new. Pieced it all back together, readjusted the air/fuel mixture, and we were off. Everything worked great.

So if anyone else has issues like this… use my lesson and experience to your advantage! (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

Take care!

Matt

Is the tank too cold? Sometimes if the tank is cold, the flow will be slow until it warms up (if its next to the boiler). If it is a tender Try putting warm water not hot water around the tank. That should help.

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for the reply.

I did check that knowing the from the past it’s froze up on me. It wasn’t frozen prior to the cleaning of its components.

But what’s funny, is now that its back to its normal flow rate, I definitely needed to put the warm water (Arizona room temp) in the tender to keep it from freezing on me.

Matt

Matt, I do have problems on a couple of engines, but this is simply because the pipe bends too much and creates a kink restricting the flow. Pretty trivial but happens and it is not always obvious at the first sight. Usually the culprits are i) the positioning of the gas tank outflow pipe ii) the positioning of the hole in the tender iii) the length of the pipe. I think I extended the pipe on a couple of engines to prevent this happening. Best wishes from Tokyo, Zubi

Matt Z said:

Hey Shawn,

Thanks for the reply.

I did check that knowing the from the past it’s froze up on me. It wasn’t frozen prior to the cleaning of its components.

But what’s funny, is now that its back to its normal flow rate, I definitely needed to put the warm water (Arizona room temp) in the tender to keep it from freezing on me.

Matt

Matt, that’s exactly what should happen. Now that you have cleaned things, much more gas can get out of the tank in a given period. The faster the gas escapes and the pressure inside the tank drops, the faster things will cool and possibly freeze. Before, when things were dirty, the flow was restricted enough that it must have negated the effect.

There are a couple of tips I have learned that will help running gas fired live steamers reliably.

1. Put a small bit of rolled up blotting type paper in the gas jet to stop any crud blocking the broached end.

2. Store your gas bottles upside down and give a quick squirt before attaching to the tank to clear any contaminents that will have collected at the “bottom”.

3. If you can change the jet supplied with Accucraft locos to something better, do. In the UK we use Ronson #6 but these might need a thread adapter. The broaching on the factory ones is sometimes poor and leads to poor lighting up characteristics.

4. don’t be tempted to use a pin to clear a jet. Use a bit of solvent and the blow through directly from a gas canister.

Max.

Gents, as always, this is been helpful and imformative.

Max, I don’t have any issues lighting off, so would it still be beneficial to acquire a new jet?

Matt

Matt, isn’t it always beneficial to have spare parts on hand? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

Matt Z said:

Max, I don’t have any issues lighting off, so would it still be beneficial to acquire a new jet?

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. as they say. It might be beneficial if you checked if in the US users and service agents have the same wariness for the factory fitted jets as we do in the UK. If so see what is a suggested straight fit replacement in your part of the world. All my US Accucraft have been done this way - K-27, Mogul, 3 cyl’ Shay and Clmax and it solved some issues I was having. Max

David Maynard said:

Matt, isn’t it always beneficial to have spare parts on hand? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

Sure David, until people start calling you names like… Hoarder! (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

I’d also add one more to Max’s list of hints:

Try not to over fill the gas tank leaving just a bit of air in the top. This helps keep liquid butane from trying to pass through you hose and jet.

Randy, let them call ya names. When they need that metric, left handed, miniature, brass gizmo, that they laughed at you for buying 3 of, you get to laugh back, when they buy it from you at 3 times what you paid for it.

David Maynard said:

Matt, isn’t it always beneficial to have spare parts on hand? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

Ha ha… you oughta see my garage and work bench!

When filling the gas tank on the bigger tanks, does it seem as if there is a point where your refill won’t fill anymore? Have the two containers equalized at that point?

Matt, I would bet that it looks a lot like mine. I am always surprised when something I didn’t know I had turns up. I think some of my stuff is reproducing when I am not watching.