Rough and Tumble Engineering

by James H. Maggard

I am aware that some engineers claim that the boiler should be blown out at about 5 pounds or I0 pounds pressure, but I believe in taking the common sense view. They will advise you to blow out at a low pressure, and then, as soon as the boiler is cool enough, to wash it thoroughly.

Now, if you must wait till the boiler is cool before washing, why not let it cool with the water in it? Then, when you let the water out, your work is easy, and the moment you begin to force water through it, you will see the dirty water flowing out at the man or hand hole. The dirt is soft and washes very easily; but, if it had dried on the inside of boiler while you were waiting for it to cool, you would find it very difficult to wash off. .

You say I said to force the water through the boiler, and to do this you must use a force pump. No engineer ought to attempt to run an engine without a force pump. It is one of the necessities. You say, can't you wash out a boiler without a force pump? Oh, yes! You can do it just like some people do business. But I started out to tell you how to keep your boiler clean, and the way to do it is to wash it out, and the way to wash it out is with a good force pump. There are a number of good pumps made, especially for threshing engines. They are fitted to the tank for lifting water for filling, and are fitted with a discharge hose and nozzle.

You will find at the bottom of boiler one or two hand hole plates-if your boiler has a water bottom-if not, they will be found at the bottom of sides of firebox. Take out these hand hole plates. You will also find another plate near the top, on firebox end of boiler; take this out, then open up smoke box door and you will find another hand hole plate or plug near lower row of tubes; take this out, and you are ready for your water works, and you want to use them vigorously; don't throw in a few buckets of water, but continue to direct the nozzle to every part of the boiler, and don't stop as long as there is any muddy water flowing at the bottom hand holes. This is the way to clean your boiler, and don't think that you can be a success as an engineer without this process, and once a week is none too often. If you want satisfactory results from your engine, you must keep a clean boiler, and to keep it clean requires care and labor. If you neglect it you can expect trouble. If you blow out your boiler hot, or if the mud and slush bakes on the tubes, there is soon a scale formed on the tubes, which decreases the boiler's evaporating capacity. You, therefore, in order to make sufficient amount of steam, must increase the amount of fuel, which of itself is a source of expense, to say nothing of extra labor and the danger of causing the tubes to leak from the increased heat you must produce in the firebox in order to make steam sufficient to do the work.

You must not expect economy of fuel, and keep a dirty boiler, and don't condemn a boiler because of hard firing until you know it is clean, and don't say it is clean when it can be shown to be half full of mud.

SCALE

Advertisements say that certain compounds will prevent scale on boilers, and I think they tell the truth, as far as they go; but they don't say what the result may be on iron. I will not advise the use of any of these preparations, for several reasons. In the first place, certain chemicals will successfully remove the scale formed by water charged with bicarbonate of lime, and have no effect on water charged with sulphate of lime. Some kinds of bark-summac, logwood, etc.,-are sufficient to remove the scale from water charged with magnesia or carbonate of lime, but they are injurious to the iron owing to the tannic acid with which they are charged. Vinegar, rotten apples, slop, etc., owing to their containing acetic acid, will remove scale, but this is even more injurious to the iron than the barks. Alkalies of any kind, such as soda, will be found good in water containing sulphate of lime, by converting it into a carbonate and thereby forming a soft scale, which is easily washed out; but these have their objections, for, when used to excess, they cause foaming.

Petroleum is not a bad thing in water where sulphate of lime prevails; but you should use only the refined, as crude oil sometimes helps to form a very injurious scale. Carbonate of soda and corn-starch have been recommended as a scale preventative, and I am inclined to think they are as good as anything, but as we are out in the country most of the time I can tell you of a simple little thing that will answer the same purpose, and can usually be had with little trouble. Every Monday morning just dump a hatful of potatoes into your boiler, and Saturday night wash the boiler out, as I have already suggested, and when the fall's run is over there will not be much scale in the boiler.

CLEAN FLUES.

We have been urging you to keep your boiler clean. Now, to get the best results from your fuel, it will also be necessary to keep your flues clean; as soot and ashes are non-conductors of heat, you will find it very difficult to get up steam with a coating of soot in your tubes. Most factories furnish with each engine a flue cleaner and rod. This cleaner should be made to fit the tubes snug, and should be forced through each separate tube every morning before building a fire. Some engineers never touch their flues with a cleaner, but when they choke the exhaust sufficiently to create such a draught as to clean the flues, they are working the engine at a great disadvantage, besides being much more liable to pull the fire out at the top of smokestack. If it were not necessary to create draught by reducing your exhaust nozzle, your engine would run much nicer and be much more powerful if your nozzle was not reduced at all. However, you must reduce it sufficiently to give draught, but don't impair the power by making the engine clean its own flues. I think ninety per cent of the fires started by. traction engines can be traced to the engineer having his engine choked at the exhaust nozzle. This is dangerous for the reason that the excessive draught created throws fire out at the stack. It cuts the power of the engine by creating back pressure. We will illustrate this: Suppose you close the exhaust entirely, and the engine would not turn itself. If this is true, you can readily understand that partly closing it will weaken it to a certain extent. So, remember that the nozzle has something to do with the power of the engine, and you can see why the fellow that makes his engine clean its own flues is not the brightest engineer in the world.