Countess conundrum

bobg

bobg

Registered
Recently I took a look round my Countess, before a steam up, and noticed that there was a problem with the water gauge. It appeared to be reading erratically. During the steam up the gauge proved to be unreliable, so steam up abandoned. No time to deal with it before a long holiday, so I only got back to it yesterday.

My first thought was a good boiler washout (always good with bigger boilers). No real difference, so tried some white vinigar in another washout. Still no difference.

I removed the cap at the top of the gauge, and before removing the glass I decided to try and clean it in situ. With a straightened paper clip and a small bundle of threads of the edge of a piece of cloth I gently rubbed the inside of the glass and removed a layer of 'dunno what', it was almost colourless but perhaps slightly brown. 99.9% of it came out on the cloth so I wasn't too concerned about the residue, but another washout should have got it out anyway.

Has anyone else had this problem with a water gauge. I always use 'safe' water, but as the loco is relatively new I did wonder about it being flux residue.
 
I ignore those gauges anyway Bob - they're usless without a blowdown to prove the passageways IMHO. The VoR has a 'klinger' style gauge that is much better, the others manage perfectly well without one!
 
I tend to agree, small water gauges are notoriously inaccurate, my concern was more what was the residue/coating that was inside the glass, it was definately causing the water level to 'stick'.
 
I tend to thik your idea of flux may be right - or how about oil pulled back into the boiler from the lubricator if the regulator is left open as it cools???

NHN
 
Good thought; but I'd have expected it more to float on the water rather than stick to the glass. Still, a possiblity I suppose.
 
Apparently the way to make those small water gauges work, is to put a small diameter brass wire inside the water gauge i.e. a vertical wire. Cut it so it is slightly shorter than the gauge, so it doesn't get squashed when you do the fitting up at the top.

Not got a roundtoit on my locos yet, but it is supposed to work!!

Probably disturbs the meniscus thats forms on the water surface. :confused:
 
WELL!!! I have to say that's a brand new one on me. I haven't heard that idea before. Does it have to be brass or will some other metal like copper do? (Much easier to come by) Should it be as straight as pos? (I'm thinking of sources of thin brass wire like a suede brush which tends to be curly)

Very interesting!!!

:clap::clap::clap:
 
I guess anything that won't go rusty.... a bit of brass wire from the K&S metal stand at the local model shop is what i'd use.
 
The only thing I can say is, I shall have to try it, although Countess' gauge was fairly good before this problem occurred, and I didn't get time yet to see if it is back to normal after the clean out.

It's such a simple solution to a problem that confounded the master of all model engineers L.B.S.C. that my 'gob' is well and truly smacked.

Bravo Doug!
 
Bob - Doug is quite right - this works a treat. I used a piece of fine diameter silver solder, or you could use fuse wire. It breaks the meniscus and works just fine on my Peter Angus loco which has a very fine tube. My Countess has moved on so I didn't get round to trying it on that.

Until I used this trick, I had considered all 16mm tube type water gauges to be useless and just used guesswork.

Cheers
Chris
 
Here the best water gauge ever made. It never plugs up. It lets you see right into the boiler. It's from an Aster/LGB Frank S.

Frank%20S%20Sight%20Window.jpg

 
I have fitted my " Earl " with the wire in the gauge glass and it does work . I cut the wire short enough to fit down in the glass tube first. I then made a loop on each end of the wire smaller than the inside diameter of the tube. This loop helps to center the wire in the middle of the glass and break the surface tension. The loop should be small enough not to put pressure on the glass , but " float " lightly in the middle of the glass. I have also done the same thing to my new " Plantation " and it makes a big improvement.

Steamboat modellers use this idea I was told.

Charles M
 
Arhhh! similar to the Mamod one.
 
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