Water to run our engines

Hi guys
I gess that this would go in here as it is to do with all of us ..
I got asked today what the water was to be ???? Ok arter a bit of giggling and so on .
If we just use tap water then the bolier will fill with scile .{Ie the kettel }
But if we were to use Deinoses water or filered water Ie britter {no seile}
I do have a modle that is best run on Destiled water. But to make it dose take me a long time .
Can someone on here plesae tell me .

Evening HughB,

You really need to stick some additive into the water mate, basically you can get like an "All-in-one" chemical to stick in. It's as I recall an oxygen scavenger, anti scale and anti sludge, one stops the water from "Frothing" as particles accumulate in the water, one is to keep any solids in suspension and the other speaks for itself. I'd be pretty suprised if STW didn't have any of this kicking about somewhere or know of somewhere were you can order a 5ltr bottle of it chap but you're right on your thoughts of no normal tap water, it'll bugger ya boiler quick as anything.

Hope this is of help to ya chief..

Best regards

LilyJack

Hugh,

The first couple of times you fire it up you will need to use tap water as you will need a little scale to build up otherwise you will suffer priming, once you have fired it a few tmes then you can use the water treatment.

Vapor

I'v never seen anyone us a treatment in a copper boiler as long as it's blown down properly at the end of a steaming to get any krud out it'll be fine.
water treatment will only be needed if it's a steal boiler to stop rusting mainly.


Jo

Hi All

Here's my pennies worth on this one.I was told when I started this engine,the best water to use would be rainwater from the water butt in the garden (filtered of course to remove dead rodents and spiders).Apparently this is because rainwater hasn't been treated to the crap tapwater gets and should be good for a copper boiler.I don't know wether this is true or not,but the bloke who told me this owns a full size Fowler,and he is also a plumber so I guess he should know.This was the way I was going to go,but I think I shall wait now.

cheer's Tony

Okay, I'm going to have a "cabbage" moment here guys. I've been pondering this one all bloody night shift last night. Why do you not need water treatment? I'd worked on WardFire supersteam triple pass supersteamers in the job from last and the water treatment stage was incrdeibly important, I was under the assumption that "frothing" was an important issue and treatment was given to prevent "caqrry-over". Any input on this one would be cool, it isn't a dig at anyone at all, it's just I know of one way and would like to know the reason for NOT having to do this..

Cheers muchly

LilyJack

Hi guys
Thanks for this as I did wonder if you would giggle .....If I distill it will take about 2 days to fill my boiler,
As for rain water humm it has got all the carbon monxide in it that is way I see stalik tites in the caves ..

Hugh,

The best thing is to fill the boiler with petrol that way you will only have to fill in the once

and if you do!!! can you gimme a shout when you fire it up?? I'll look out me bedroom window for the "mushroom cloud"

HI well that is better
Next time I will not do this

Hi everyone.

I've copied below a small section from the steaming instructions for the 4" Burrell. This obviously is targetted at steel boilers but alot of it is still appropriate for copper ones. I will be writting some instructions in the near future for our 2" Burrell.

Water Treatment

USE IT! But be careful. You can cause more damage by overdoing it and ignoring routine maintenance than if you used untreated water. I would not use water treatment for the first dozen steamings. This is to allow time for all the ‘muck’, cutting oils, flux, scale etc to be removed. It will also slightly reduce the tendency for your boiler to prime.

You can use water straight from the tap, and initially treat it in the boiler via the plug in the Tubeplate. I don’t treat the water in the tender as I’ve found that it tends to foul up the clackvalves.

Rainwater used to be quite acidic (I don’t know if this is still the case) so if you intend to use rainwater get it checked first.

The two brands of water treatment I’ve used in the passed with good results are called “DM Fluid” and “Heatreat 502”. I’m sure there are many other brands equally as good. This treatment works in three ways, firstly it removes harmful chalk, secondly it de-oxidises and thirdly it coats the steel with Tannin, this helps prevent rust. It removes the chalk and de-oxidises the water by forming a ‘sludge’. This ‘sludge’ must not be allowed to accumulate in your boiler. Regular use of the blowdown valve and washing out will prevent it accumulating. If, the majority of the time, you will be using water from the same supply, then it would be worth while getting the water analysed so you know exactly how much treatment needs to be added. People using water from a hard water area will need to add more than those living in a soft water area.

Hope this helps

Regards

Steve

Afternoon Steve,

Cheers for that chap, I was curious on this one so that clears it up pretty much. Might be able to pursuade you to "Stock" some of this for customers maybe? Don't panic, I'll not need none for about another 8 months or so

Best Regards

LilyJack

Hi Guys,

Just been searching the net and found

http://www.livesteammodels.co.uk

They do supply Heatreat 502 and their advise was quite interesting. Do not buy in large quantities it only has a 12 month shelf life.

Delivery on a 1 litre bottle is about £11 ouch!

Anyone going to Little Eaton - Derby??