@grubeci yah, it wasn't till the last few steam locomotive types that they started condensing steam, or using automated fuel feeds and junk, by then, diesel electrics had the lead. i think some regular ones even had the remarkable range of 8 miles on a tank of water, and used a LOT of coal, cause they threw the heat away.
@felderup I have a friend who is willing to give me a heater core to turn into a condenser, so I will probably skip the feeing exhaust back into the tank idea. The problem with that people have told me although I don't see it being that much of an issue is right before entering a pump if the water is hot enough coming out of the tank it can turn into steam as a low pressure area forms during the intake of the pump, which can screw up the water pump, so I've been told.
@Stanleyguy101 same as hydraulic pumps, they're miserable with suction, so it's recommended intake filters aren't used, the pistons will just pull right off the rods. there is a benefit to heating the feed water, but i spose depending on the pump type, it may be best to not heat too much. possibly the exhaust pipe heats the water, then goes to the condenser would be best.
@felderup I would make a feed water heater, but in the current arrangement of the bike, that would be impractical. The feedwater would have to take place after the boiler check so that the water couldn't be bypassed, but the boiler check is several feet away from the engine it would require a snaking exhaust line, which would be terrible for back pressure although I guess I could do it before the check, but it would have to snake. The condenser would be right next to the engine.
@Stanleyguy101 well, my bike... i plan to build lamont style, so i don't need to go to so much trouble, the feed water is preheated, in a coil, circulated in a coil attached to a tank on the side, then released to a coil for superheat.
@felderup I still haven't gotten into the craze of lamont boilers. A few people have built them, but I think they are more complex and require electricity for a feed pump or at least some drive mechanism, which could not be run by the engine at least not when sitting still. Also I don't understand why you'd have a tank which just loses heat because it is seperate from the burner, if the section had fire tubes and used flue gases I would understand that like the Hudspith bike.
@Stanleyguy101 from my point of view, there's two major advantages to a lamont. unlike a flash boiler, it stores energy which prevents waste, and the circulation prevents things like scale and air bubbles from sticking to the tubing in the hottest part of the flame, which creates pinhole leaks. and if you follow dobles advice to use regular motor oil, the scale is blown out with the steam anyway, and wets the tubing surfaces, they last lots longer.
@felderup It depends though in a study I saw lamonts had higher efficiency, but I just have a boiler design that I have not had problems with and I understand how it works and how to build it. I've only ever seen very vague descriptions basic ideas of how lamonts are designed. Storing heat doesn't necessarly prevent waster though because if you have to fire up then immediately put it away then you've heated much more water then you needed. Flash boilers make it on demand. Thanks for scale info.
@felderup If scale problems are prevented by oil then that isn't a problem for flash boilers infact they like the oil anyway to prevent rust like you say. In my bike I put oil in the water with a dispersent to mix it in and oil runs through the whole system no oil pump. I need a condenser to reuse the oil mix though will save me oil. Plus many people who built bikes at one point used bleed valves like blow downs to get excess water out. I have videos of my bike "Richard Smith Steam Bike".
@Stanleyguy101 yeah, the way i read it, doble condensed the oil out before it reached the motor too, then added a metered amount to the motor steam. if i were building now, i'd just use the crankcase as the outlet for the oil condenser, it'd keep things well oiled, and when high oil level was reached, suck in oil instead of water... experimental of course, or loony.
@felderup That may be true, but my bike uses so little oil that it would make no sense to have an oil pump. Also, steam cylinder is not SAE30W crankcase oil they are different, although a little 30W doesn't hurt if you would dump your crankcase oil otherwise.
Why not just feed the oil back into the condensed water in the tank?
Remember when oil vaporizes it would plug your boiler with carbon?
Don't know how you clean that
You couldn't run a steam engine on oil because like water it won't expand
@Stanleyguy101 if the boiler ran dry, then the oil would burn, but if it didn't, no carbon. with the detergents and dispersants the oil would wet the surfaces and encapsulate the carbon, preventing burning. of course, i wouldn't suggest running a steam engine on oil, i'd remind myself too much of the nuts that would want to run a gasoline engine on magic water, it's simply a lubricant. as for the pump, it depends on whether gravity feed of the oil is possible.
@felderup I know that's the principle of some lubrication cups for engine bearings, but that's a much slower feed rate
I have given thought to using the vacuum created by the water pump to suck oil into the water feed line just before it goes into the pump via a nozzle and a cup of oil.
@felderup The problem with that is that injectors can get clogged easily and then your engine seizes because there is no way to tell if it's getting oil. Plus those are built for the locomotives which run at 140 psi usually max. My bike can go well above 300. It would blow the injector apart and it would get too hot with 700 degree steam going through it and no water to keep it cool.
thats a beaute, i wonder if humans kept alogn with steam if we would have a better world. i heard with extremly compressed steam u can get more power out of it
yeah, my father was saying that ...for old railroad engines they'd have to fill up with water...oh no water, snacks, gas...so much to fill.
grubeci 2 years ago
@grubeci yah, it wasn't till the last few steam locomotive types that they started condensing steam, or using automated fuel feeds and junk, by then, diesel electrics had the lead. i think some regular ones even had the remarkable range of 8 miles on a tank of water, and used a LOT of coal, cause they threw the heat away.
felderup 1 year ago
I think it looks great and it probably has a longer range then my steam bicycle, which can go like 20-30 minutes on a tank of water haha
Stanleyguy101 2 years ago
@Stanleyguy101 maybe build a condenser, running the steam exhaust tube through the water tank would be a good start, then you'd also get preheat.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup I have a friend who is willing to give me a heater core to turn into a condenser, so I will probably skip the feeing exhaust back into the tank idea. The problem with that people have told me although I don't see it being that much of an issue is right before entering a pump if the water is hot enough coming out of the tank it can turn into steam as a low pressure area forms during the intake of the pump, which can screw up the water pump, so I've been told.
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@Stanleyguy101 same as hydraulic pumps, they're miserable with suction, so it's recommended intake filters aren't used, the pistons will just pull right off the rods. there is a benefit to heating the feed water, but i spose depending on the pump type, it may be best to not heat too much. possibly the exhaust pipe heats the water, then goes to the condenser would be best.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup I would make a feed water heater, but in the current arrangement of the bike, that would be impractical. The feedwater would have to take place after the boiler check so that the water couldn't be bypassed, but the boiler check is several feet away from the engine it would require a snaking exhaust line, which would be terrible for back pressure although I guess I could do it before the check, but it would have to snake. The condenser would be right next to the engine.
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@Stanleyguy101 well, my bike... i plan to build lamont style, so i don't need to go to so much trouble, the feed water is preheated, in a coil, circulated in a coil attached to a tank on the side, then released to a coil for superheat.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup I still haven't gotten into the craze of lamont boilers. A few people have built them, but I think they are more complex and require electricity for a feed pump or at least some drive mechanism, which could not be run by the engine at least not when sitting still. Also I don't understand why you'd have a tank which just loses heat because it is seperate from the burner, if the section had fire tubes and used flue gases I would understand that like the Hudspith bike.
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@Stanleyguy101 from my point of view, there's two major advantages to a lamont. unlike a flash boiler, it stores energy which prevents waste, and the circulation prevents things like scale and air bubbles from sticking to the tubing in the hottest part of the flame, which creates pinhole leaks. and if you follow dobles advice to use regular motor oil, the scale is blown out with the steam anyway, and wets the tubing surfaces, they last lots longer.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup It depends though in a study I saw lamonts had higher efficiency, but I just have a boiler design that I have not had problems with and I understand how it works and how to build it. I've only ever seen very vague descriptions basic ideas of how lamonts are designed. Storing heat doesn't necessarly prevent waster though because if you have to fire up then immediately put it away then you've heated much more water then you needed. Flash boilers make it on demand. Thanks for scale info.
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@felderup If scale problems are prevented by oil then that isn't a problem for flash boilers infact they like the oil anyway to prevent rust like you say. In my bike I put oil in the water with a dispersent to mix it in and oil runs through the whole system no oil pump. I need a condenser to reuse the oil mix though will save me oil. Plus many people who built bikes at one point used bleed valves like blow downs to get excess water out. I have videos of my bike "Richard Smith Steam Bike".
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@Stanleyguy101 yeah, the way i read it, doble condensed the oil out before it reached the motor too, then added a metered amount to the motor steam. if i were building now, i'd just use the crankcase as the outlet for the oil condenser, it'd keep things well oiled, and when high oil level was reached, suck in oil instead of water... experimental of course, or loony.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup That may be true, but my bike uses so little oil that it would make no sense to have an oil pump. Also, steam cylinder is not SAE30W crankcase oil they are different, although a little 30W doesn't hurt if you would dump your crankcase oil otherwise.
Why not just feed the oil back into the condensed water in the tank?
Remember when oil vaporizes it would plug your boiler with carbon?
Don't know how you clean that
You couldn't run a steam engine on oil because like water it won't expand
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@Stanleyguy101 if the boiler ran dry, then the oil would burn, but if it didn't, no carbon. with the detergents and dispersants the oil would wet the surfaces and encapsulate the carbon, preventing burning. of course, i wouldn't suggest running a steam engine on oil, i'd remind myself too much of the nuts that would want to run a gasoline engine on magic water, it's simply a lubricant. as for the pump, it depends on whether gravity feed of the oil is possible.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup I know that's the principle of some lubrication cups for engine bearings, but that's a much slower feed rate
I have given thought to using the vacuum created by the water pump to suck oil into the water feed line just before it goes into the pump via a nozzle and a cup of oil.
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
@Stanleyguy101 with a model size injector, you'd run steam past the inlet, and it'd suck oil in, just take a little steam.
felderup 1 year ago
@felderup The problem with that is that injectors can get clogged easily and then your engine seizes because there is no way to tell if it's getting oil. Plus those are built for the locomotives which run at 140 psi usually max. My bike can go well above 300. It would blow the injector apart and it would get too hot with 700 degree steam going through it and no water to keep it cool.
Stanleyguy101 1 year ago
very attractive!!
angelb650650 3 years ago
Fantastic! Where did you buy it?
I am sorely tempted to try and build a steam bike of my own now..
Just beautiful :)
rowanofrin1 3 years ago
waw... kren....
i wanna try to build it.
rusnanerces 3 years ago
Its not the sort of bike you can just nip down to the shops on.Plus i wouldn't want it to fall on me.All that flame and boiling water.
gautrek1 3 years ago
@gautrek1 primarily why you'd use a monotube flash boiler with a really hot flame, like the doble, which could get up and running in about a minute.
felderup 1 year ago
love it
maplelaffs 3 years ago
thats a beaute, i wonder if humans kept alogn with steam if we would have a better world. i heard with extremly compressed steam u can get more power out of it
sb6lb3 3 years ago