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| Favourite firing method- electric, meths, solid fuel |
| electric |
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6% |
[ 2 ] |
| meths |
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51% |
[ 15 ] |
| solid fuel |
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13% |
[ 4 ] |
| gas |
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13% |
[ 4 ] |
| all above |
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13% |
[ 4 ] |
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| Total Votes : 29 |
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Message |
MTA
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 26 Jun 2006
Posts: 7378
Location: West Sussex
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 Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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| bessytractor wrote: | meths and gas for me. I prefer meths over gas though. It is silent and doesn't sound like a banshee wailing, and it also doesn't explode as badly 
I'm with mamodfan on the coal option! I always saw oil and gas firing in a miniature passenger hauling loco as cheating! |
Likewise! With coal you can keep an engine in steam forever (well, in a dream world where nothing failed) as well as oil, but with gas you can only get limited running times as you have to stop, refill the gas tank then raise steam again...
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Chris Mann, 2008:
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johnreid
Steam Supreme Being
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
Posts: 11140
Location: Friendship Indiana, USA
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 2:13 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | but with gas you can only get limited running times as you have to stop, refill the gas tank then raise steam again... |
Again, an overlooked advantage of the electrically fired ones, it runs till you run out of water.
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bessytractor
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 31 Dec 2006
Posts: 2433
Location: Chertsey, Surrey
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 2:14 pm Post subject: |
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| MTA wrote: | | bessytractor wrote: | meths and gas for me. I prefer meths over gas though. It is silent and doesn't sound like a banshee wailing, and it also doesn't explode as badly
I'm with mamodfan on the coal option! I always saw oil and gas firing in a miniature passenger hauling loco as cheating! |
Likewise! With coal you can keep an engine in steam forever (well, in a dream world where nothing failed) as well as oil, but with gas you can only get limited running times as you have to stop, refill the gas tank then raise steam again... |
theres also absolutely no skill required. With oil and gas you can just shut the supply down a bit if the engine is blowing off, or turn it up if you need more steam. With coal your engine management needs to be good. With the other two its akin to a dimming light switch, no fun.
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Roly Williams
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 02 Aug 2006
Posts: 2840
Location: Lambourn
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 3:22 pm Post subject: |
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| MTA wrote: | | bessytractor wrote: | meths and gas for me. I prefer meths over gas though. It is silent and doesn't sound like a banshee wailing, and it also doesn't explode as badly
I'm with mamodfan on the coal option! I always saw oil and gas firing in a miniature passenger hauling loco as cheating! |
Likewise! With coal you can keep an engine in steam forever (well, in a dream world where nothing failed) as well as oil, but with gas you can only get limited running times as you have to stop, refill the gas tank then raise steam again... |
Well, it depends on where the gas comes from! If you were using piped mains gas it would last as long as you liked.
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Roly Williams
"The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then marry him" (Cher) |
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igy569
Full member
Joined: 08 Mar 2008
Posts: 692
Location: Uxbridge, MA
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| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 4:17 pm Post subject: |
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Well... i just completed my first meths burner. I fired the D21 with it. What an iprovement!! It does smell funny, but it wears off quick. Little hard to regulate, but I seem to have fixed that by capping 1 or 2 wicks to keep the heat down. Runs for over an our on half a tank!! 
Going to make a small one for the D12. |
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psantama
Junior Member
Joined: 18 Sep 2007
Posts: 105
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| I guess I am the only electric steamer here... in my school. without windows anything other than electric suffocates my students. |
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Mister Occlusion
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 28 Jul 2007
Posts: 3787
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 1:41 am Post subject: |
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Coal could be classed as solid fuel, too.
Me, ah, I like electric. I can just smell my brain cells frying when I run meths indoors.
It also lets me task differently. With meths I am tending the engine. With electric I am tending to what the engine is driving.
Of course now it's warm enough and light in the evenings long enough. Maybe I'll fix my leaky-line Jensen 75 and burn some alcohol.
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Roly Williams
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 02 Aug 2006
Posts: 2840
Location: Lambourn
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| Posted: Tue May 13, 2008 11:51 am Post subject: |
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| Mister Occlusion wrote: |
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It also lets me task differently. With meths I am tending the engine. With electric I am tending to what the engine is driving.
...
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I think I'd disagree there. Once lit, a meths burner will look after itself and put itself out before the water runs dry. With an electric heater, you must keep an eye on the water level.
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Roly Williams
"The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then marry him" (Cher) |
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Mister Occlusion
Steam Legend!!
Joined: 28 Jul 2007
Posts: 3787
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:21 am Post subject: |
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Well... Most of the meths burners I use need tending to every 6-8 minutes. I barely have enough time to run a proper experiment before I'm refilling the thing again 
...or watching them nervously when they decide to boil over, or flare up
And there's still the matter of my brain. It's not much, but I've gotten attached to it.
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johnreid
Steam Supreme Being
Joined: 06 Sep 2007
Posts: 11140
Location: Friendship Indiana, USA
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| Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 2:29 am Post subject: |
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Brains are overrated
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