boiler cleaning

N

nomis

Registered
My accucraft forney has a fairly unreliable water gauge.
I bought it used, so suspect that the fittings to the boiler may be partially blocked...

I have dismantled the glass once (very carefully) and tried poking a wire through the boiler fittings, which helped a little.

I think it would be worth giving the boiler a good clean, what methods have people found to work well?

White vinegar?
How long should I leave it in the boiler?

Thanks
 
I've used white vinegar in the past. Left it in about 30mins or so.
Then a good rinse. Initially the used vinegar came out just a vaguely pale bluish.
This was a Jane about 15 years old. I hope this vindicates my use of local (Merseyside) soft tap water.

I've since used it on a couple of oldish Roundhouse locos with the same result.
None of the locos had any sort of blockage, though.
Also, none showed any difference in performance afterwards.

I recently bought a pack of proprietary kettle descaler, which is still in store, somewhere.

The problem with any product is going to be persuading into the blocked pipe.
I would think little by little, with the wire you mention, over several sessions.

If the pipe can be removed, then an ultrasonic bath may do the trick to loosen the blockage.
I've used this on dismantled safety valve parts.
 
I've freed up a blocked water gauge pipe with white vinegar before by just leaving the solution in... but blowed if I can remember how long I left it in, I'd guess not long. Like Rob, the resultant liquid came out a pale bluish...

ATB
Steph'
 
StephH said:
I've freed up a blocked water gauge pipe with white vinegar before by just leaving the solution in... but blowed if I can remember how long I left it in, I'd guess not long. Like Rob, the resultant liquid came out a pale bluish...

ATB
Steph'
Click to expand...
A couple of hours? I think that's how long I left in one of my loco's for but I cannot find the thread where I found the information from originally. :-\ if indeed it was on here ::)
 
I think your problem is unlikely to be down to a contaminated boiler. I've found that the small diameter glass tube level gauges commonly found on production locos may be OK in theory - but in reality there are a number of factors working against their successfull operation, including -

- too small internal diameter of the glass tubing.

- the even smaller restrictions in the often tortuous route of the upper fitting because of being connected indirectly to the boiler via the steam manifold - not directly into the backhead itself.

- the disproportionate effect that the surface tension of the water (meniscus effect) has due to these inadequate fittings and connections. This can make it difficult to clear any bubbles - especially as the vast majority of these gauges have no blow-down provision.

- similarly, the disproportionate effect that any steam oil carried over into the level gauge has on the level reading.

I think the only manufacturers that have really resolved these issues are - 'Roundhouse' with their flat glass level gauges with direct tappings straight into the boiler - and 'Aster' with their ultra large diameter glass tubing, big bore fittings and blow-down capability.
 
Bit of fuse wire in the glass helps break up the surface tension on this locos with a glass tube. With Roundhouse one can clean thoroughly by unscrewing the whole water gauge unit from the boiler and sliding off sideways. This will make things much easier to clean rather than going in only via the gauge glass.
 
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