Wilesco D22 - Alcohol Test series - 5: Final Methanol Run

Last video shot today, running on a freshly filled methanol burner, and driving the generator. I don't know if you can read the gauge (Mister O needs a decent viddycam), but pressure begins just past the 1.5bar red line and quickly drops to hold at about 1 bar. A disappointing run to be sure.

I think that, at least for the D22 (and this particular burner), Methyl Hydrate / Methanol as a fuel is only of benefit in the cost savings dept. I refilled the boiler 4 times in the course of this afternoon. In the past a session where I refill it 3 times sees me burn off more than a whole box of Esbit. Today I burnt 6 bricks, just to do the baseline comparison. I cannot guess how much alcohol I burnt, but it was probably well under 75cents worth.

The other tradeoff is that where we clocked the Esbit burner as providing roughly 18 minutes worth of flame, the alcohol burner lasted no more than 7, and was pretty much spent after 6.

I think for next summer I will be investing in a butane setup for this engine, unless the Jensen bug bites and I go over to electric ;)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Steam
• Wilesco
• D22
• Alcohol
• burner

[bloolouboyle]

Just to throw in--I buy Fondue fuel at a Dollar store near my house near Toronto-you get 500 mils. for a buck and it burns really well and can run my machine for 16-18 minutes-BTW thanks for the tip on distilled water Mister O.

[MisterOcclusion]

I bought some cheap sterno'ish stuff too, though I've not used it yet. It was pretty dessicated - the tins were over half empty.

I poured a little meths into the tins, shook them up, added more, shook em up... eventually the entire tin was filled and the stuff was still jellied. I had no idea that one could reconstitute dried out sterno.

Distilled water saves having to boil vinegar to get deposits out ;)

[robkar1967]

Hi, When people say they are running there steam engine on METHS, are they refering to Methanol or Menthalated spirits.

I have D22 tried Menthalated spirts but not a great heat source.

Thanks

Rob

[MisterOcclusion]

That took me quite a while to determine too, because the countries that call it "meths" don't seem to have heard of methanol, whereas where I am methanol, or methyl hydrate, is all I can get without going to the US for a day trip.

Meths is indeed short for Methylated Spirits, or Denatured Alcohol in the US. It's a good heat source, but some brands are better than others, and some burners better than others.

I use it mostly because it's cheap.

And with a good burner it makes a big difference.

[IR9hordaland]

What wilesco steam machine has the highest bar

[MisterOcclusion]

I don't understand your question..

They are all designed to run at around the same pressure, if that's what you mean. The safety valves all let go between 20-25PSI I believe.

I hope that's what you were after.

[Mechknight73]

Any ideas of the approximate torque outputs? have been thinking about using a steam engine like this one as a "living power plant" on an HO scale layout, but have to find out what kind of power one can turn out, before buying one

[9020powrmax]

All my wilesco's are set up with home-made propane burners (You can use pilot units out of LP waterheaters,furnaces,etc. Just make sure you use a regulator of course and a valve to control amount of flame.

[robkar1967]

Thanks very much for the info

[IR9hordaland]

thenks for your answer, i was that i meant