Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants / A Practice Treatise Setting Forth the Principles of Gas-Engines and Producer Design, the Selection and Installation of an Engine, Conditions of Perfect Operation, Producer-Gas Engines and Their Possibilities, the Care of Gas-Engines and Producer-Gas Plants, with a Chapter on Volatile Hydrocarbon and Oil Engines

by Rodolphe Edgard Mathot

Fig. 52.—Method of mounting pipes.

The water, which results from the combination of the hydrogen of the gas with the oxygen of the air, is deposited in most cases at the bottom of the exhaust-chest. It is advisable to fit a plug or iron cock in the base of the chest. Alkaline or acid water will always corrode a bronze cock. In order that the pipes may not also be attacked, they are not disposed horizontally,

but are given a slight incline toward the point where the water is drained off. If pipes of some length be employed, they should be able to expand freely without straining the joints, as shown in the accompanying diagram (Fig. 52), in which the exhaust-chest rests on iron rollers which permit a slight displacement.

For the sake of safety, at least that portion of the piping which is near the engine should be located at a proper distance from woodwork and other combustible material. By no means should the exhaust discharge into a sewer or chimney, even though the sewer or chimney be not in use; for the unburnt gases may be trapped, and dangerous explosions may ensue at the moment of discharge.

The joints or threaded sleeves employed in assembling the exhaust-pipe should be tested for tightness. The combined action of the moisture and heat causes the metal to rust and to deteriorate very rapidly at leaky spots.

When several engines are installed near one another, each should be provided with a special exhaust-pipe; otherwise it may happen, when the engines are all running at once, that the products of combustion discharged by the one may cause a back pressure detrimental to the exhaust of the next.

It is possible to employ a pipe common to all the exhausts if the pipe starts from a point beyond the exhaust-chests, in which case Y-joints and not T-joints are to be used.

The manner of securing the pipes to walls by means of detachable hangers, lined with asbestos, is shown in a general way in the accompanying Fig. 53. The object of this arrangement is to render detachment easy and to prevent the transmission of shocks to the masonry.