[RioGrandeFan]

I have only ran mine on rollers so I am not sure if mine does the wheel slip thing but the video on youtube from Accucraft shows plenty of wheel slip when running it at a steam up event last summer, I just thought the rail was slippery from water and oil and needed to be cleaned off.

I do have the same issue of trying to keep the pressure up while adding water wether be hand pump or axle pump but I am convinced that I need more experience and practice firing this loco after all the only live steam loco I have ever had before this was a Ruby that is simply designed to run out of water before fuel so on that model I never worried about the water level after the initial fill.

What kind of run times are you getting? My current issue is I can't get the fire to stay lit for more than 15 minutes and after that the gas tank is empty.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

For me this is a big learning curve coming from a Ruby. It seems like the adjustment of the axle pump bypass will always need to be adjusted based on load being pulled, speed, fire temp and so on. I guess otherwise there would be no need for the bypass and the boiler would always stay at the appropriate level via the axle pump. I did notice when operating mine there was a time when the sight glass was reading pretty low so I stopped the locomotive and closed the bypass and hand pumped the boiler until roughly 3/4 full on the sight glass. After that pressure dropped to around 20psi but only took maybe a minute then I was back at pop off pressure. Also every time I stop to check water I burp the sight glass using the blow down this helps to get accurate readings.

Hopefully I will add RC soon and maybe its easier to monitor wheel slip using that.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Riograndefan,
You say that your pressure is up fast after using the hand pump, mine takes a good 4 minutes.
If you could, to compare apples to apples, time how long your engine takes to pop off after initial light off. And what air temp, fuel, water level..... I'm interested in comparing the boiler efficiency in our two engines. Like I stated before I suspect a blocked jet, but want to very before disassembly.

It takes about 8-10 minutes to reach pop off from a cold light with 0psi in the boiler. I only try to let my might sight glass get around half full before hand pumping water into the boiler. Where is your sight glass when you hand pump? I'm thinking if yours is lower maybe around a 1/4 full its taking longer to get up to pressure since your adding more water at once. Temp anywhere from low 40s to low 50s, fuel is butane (gonna try camping gas soon) and I start with 3/4 on the sight glass.

Did you ever obtain the manual? I can email it to you if you'd like. It specifically says in bold letters "A strong fire is crucial to keep the model at pressure during running."

 

[RioGrandeFan]

I just thought of something. Do you have an infrared thermometer/ temp gun? You say the gas tank on the ruby stays warm from the surrounding heat in the cab. Maybe you can fire up the ruby and take a few temperature readings of the gas tank. It would give us an idea of ideal gas tank temps.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

It looks like your c-18 stays around 20-40psi? Mine usually stays around 50-65psi. I am only at 40psi or below when I have too much water in the boiler and then when it builds pressure back to pop off I can hear a see water being released from the safety valve, I can even hear it in the blower (these sight glasses are not very accurate and every time you stop you might want to open and close your blow down valve to purge air from the sight glass). My flame is 90% blue and the ceramic portion of the burner has an orange glow to it. I have also never had my fire flame out like that. I constantly have my blower slightly opened when the throttle is opened incase I stall and when I close the throttle I open the blower more. If you are running with the blower widely open your wasting pressure and same goes for the cylinders cocks. I've learned with the cylinder cocks that if they are open you can move the locomotive but it take quite a bit more throttle/pressure and you figure half the pressure is getting shot out the bottom of the cylinder instead of making power. I did notice you never closed the cylinder cocks. Does your pressure gauge ever go over 40psi when sitting idle?

Things I would try;
-slight opened blower when running
-close cylinder cocks after you clear the cylinders
-stronger fire
The manual does says strong fire is needed for proper operation.

I have ran both butane and butane/propane mix in about 55 degree weather and they both had the same performance probably not cold enough where I'm at. I am headed to snow country tomorrow and I will running the c-18 along with the c-25, I will try straight butane and mixed gas and see what happens.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

My fire and ceramic burner do not look like that. I will take a picture maybe later today. But I think you’ve found your problem (the burner) as suspected.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Any progress on your burner issue?

I ran a C-25 the other day it was around 28 degrees outside with no issues. Ran on 80/20 mix fuel with cold water surrounding the gas tank. Hopefully you get the burner resolved.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Mine doesn't look like that at all and I haven't done anything to the burner. Hopefully it's just the jet, maybe they installed the wrong jet? If not it could be the brick or But very disappointing.

Maybe talk with Cliff at Accucraft before spending any more $

Convert it to coal! haha

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Here are the only pics of the fire I have. Tomorrow I plan to fire it up. I’ll be sure to take better pics of the fire.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

I don't think there is any difference in our locomotives at all. You have a gas flow restriction somewhere could be jet, debris in the gas lines, the brick, kink/bend in gas line or maybe the gas regulator valve on the tender. I know when I push down slightly on my gas regulator when fire is lit it will almost go out.

Has your fire ever been stronger since owing this loco?

I am not sure how far I open the gas valve. I open it until I have a nice strong blue fire maybe half turn. Tomorrow I will check that. I have been meaning to put indicator line on the knob so I can keep track of where it's at.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Here is my fire. Sorry there are so many pictures it’s quite the challenge to take good pictures of the fire.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

I think our fires look similar now. Glad to see it’s firing better.
I look forward to hearing if you can now keep the pressure up along with the performance.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Last time I ran mine it took roughly 8 minutes to pop off pressure at this point I killed the fire, topped off the gas tank, re lit the fire and ran for 50 minutes. I was quite impressed with the run time.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

I've been meaning to ask you, on your c-18 does your blow down on the sight glass leak? no matter how tight I close mine it leaks.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Mine doesnt pop off as frequently when I have my boiler on the full side. I am finding out mine performs best with half or a quarter full sight glass.

I still think Accucraft should have had a coal option just like they do for the C-25

 

[RioGrandeFan]

I am very interested in the purpose of the baffle as well.
Are you running blended fuel or just butane?

As far as the water level goes I deff hear your concern. The first few times I fired my c-18 within ten minutes I killed the fire because I was so nervous as to how much water was actually in the boiler vs what the sigh glass was telling me. My sight glass was very inaccurate. Since then I have drilled out the banjo bolts and seems to have really helped but I still don't really trust the glass. I've been told as long as you have water in the glass your good but if your on the low side you really need to baby sit. I have also learned how my locomotive sounds and performs with a full boiler and when water is getting on the low side. When my boiler is on the lower end I'm popping off pretty frequently and when popping off its pure steam, when my boiler is on the full side I can hear it from the stack and rarely pop off unless I close the throttle but when it does there is a good amount of water shooting out along with steam.

The manual says "If the level drops lower than the top of the water gauge nut, stop the engine and use the hand pump to add water."
My question is and may be dumb but where is the water gauge nut? I kinda thought the water gauge had a upper and lower water gauge nut? Hopefully someone can chime in here, I am still a noob.

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Is this the bottom nut you are referring to?

 

[RioGrandeFan]

Thanks for confirming for me.