need help with my frank s

stevedenver

stevedenver

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i am having diffiuclty keeping up adequate pressure
no steam leaks, cleaned the jet
all screws, wheels, linkages etc are tight and proper, as well as lubed
using water bath for gas pressure

any help or thoughts?
i am thinking i may get some stainless steel mesh and wire and wrap the burner to spread the flame

but
at one time the loco seemed to keep pressure better-
it will reach blow off, but then, after a a single loop run, slight grade, about 70 feet, runninglight-it will drop from 2.2 bars to about 1.5, then another loop (just barely crawling over the peak of the grade, it will drop to 1.1 and need to stand , throttle closed, to build pressure

some help would be greatly appreciated on whats going on
 
Water around gastank to cold? Needs to be warm but (not hot) to keep gaspressure.
Enough steam oil?
 
I don't suppose there is low pressure weather in Denver at the moment starving the burner of oxygen a little?
 
One well know design fault on these locos is the gas valve where the O ring can get sticky causing the valve to rotate closed a little after you have set it, which may be happening to you, try putting a little silicone grease on it.
 
water bath tepid or more, and water drained and replaced as it cools
plenty of steam oil with air space at top of tank to increase efficeincy,
cant help the altitude-but its what is always has been-low pressure doesnt remove oxygen-it moves in moisture around here typically

gas valve is working-but it is rather touchy either on or off-confident its open as i can hear the raor-but ill try some lube tonite or soon..

took out the burner this am and its clean as is the jet line-used needle and blew it from both ends, nozzle end into gas line first then reverse, with pressured air

keep thinking lads!
its appreciated
 
This is a very long shot; no chance the boiler has any scale on the waterside is there?
Realistically, the shortage of steam is likely to be gas related; the gas valve is the most likely culprit if the nozzle is clear.
Just my two cents...
Dave.
 
stevedenver said:
no steam leaks, cleaned the jet
Click to expand...

Have you tried brushing a little soapy water over the steam joints (including the safety valve) to double check ? Its dosen't take much of a weepy joint to lose a lot of steam.

What about the gas and the gas tank ? Have you emptied the tank through the open hose (outdoors) to flush it ? Tried a fresh can of gas ?

I'll dig my Frank S out later and have a study, but if you want to test the burner, we can each do a firing up test and time it. The rules are a bit complicated, but if you've reached a dead-end it may be worth trying.
 
fresh gas-this might be the issue, as this happens to be a different brand of economy asian gas designed for on the table cooking -different than i have used before-(certainly smells the same)

-but ill give these a go-soapy water and the like -good ideas as there indeed may be something leaking

will also try some vinegar-although i have never run it dry-been very careful as i have seen the severe scorching and bubbling that can happen to the paint job
 
actually fire up to 2.1-2.2 bar is pretty quick-about 5minutes or so
its keeping enough pressure for sustained running on my grades
(hmmmm-this seems to indicate, as youve all mentioned-either not enough gas pressure or a leak-or simply too much grade or too little BTU capacity)fwiw -the loco runs great when ive run it on my patio on the flat (different than current set up), even with a tiny bit of grade-but ....it does usually run about 1.5 bar -but ive tried to do this simply to conserve water and to increase efficiency in running as my guru taught me )
 
well it seems the 80-90 f days skewed my perception of how hot the water bath should be-
got aggressive with the water temp-downright hot in small amounts- and things are back -pulling fine with 1.2 bar
what a numpty!
good lesson /reminder about how critical gas pressure is

10 points to plamerston!!!
 
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