Ruby superheater?

1574 Views 2 Replies 2 Participants Last post by plumbfishy, Dec 11, 2008

plumbfishy

Discussion Starter · Dec 10, 2008

This comes from wanting to make cosmetic changes, not from a need to increase performance, but it might. I read Richards thread about his Ruby mods, and Kevin Strong has a great article on his site. In both cases they took steps to lower the boiler, and I'd like to do the same. Ruby sort of reminds me of a woman in formal dress, holding her skirt tails up to tip-toe over a mud puddle! The main obstacle is the steam tube and where it enters the block. It looks like it would be possible to cut off and block the exiting inlet, then drill and tap the top of the fitting in the same way that the exhaust outlet is done and then fit it with an ell union. Then the burner could be carefully drilled next to the bolt that holds it in place, and the small lip on the boiler notched in the same place to allow the steam tube to run through the flue. This would allow the boiler to come down all the way to the reversing piston if so desired. I don't think the copper tube would be affected by the high heat of the burner, but I am concerned that oil could burn inside the steam tube and leave deposits that might eventually restrict or even clog the tube.

Has anyone tried this?
Can anyone think of a good reason not to?

I would be happy to hear any opinions

Kurt

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placitassteam

· #2 · Dec 11, 2008

I installed a superheater on my Ruby but it did not seem to make much difference in the performance. However I would not use a copper tube, use a stainless steel tube for the part thatis inside the flue. I haven't had any problems with oil residue in the superheater. Not sure about your mods to the reverser block. The heat required for silver soldering could warp it so that the valve piston would not seal.

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plumbfishy

Discussion Starter · #3 · Dec 11, 2008

Thanks for the input,I never thought that I could warp the block. I had thought about bending the existing steam tube up into the smoke box from the block, but worried about the tight bend.Even at that I would still need to solder a fitting to the tube. By drilling and taping from the top, I could use a mechanical fitting to make the connection, though I'm not sure how to block the old line. Well if I work up the nerve to mess up a perfectly working engine, I'll be sure and share the results.

Thanks Again,
Kurt

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