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Author Topic: 4th of July Madness!  (Read 2156 times)

Steamburns

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4th of July Madness!
« on: July 04, 2024, 01:15:38 pm »
Happy 4th of July to all on this forum.

Here is a fun steam up I had this morning. The sheer power of the J50 is unreal. I could hook up about 5 more accessories and it wouldn’t have a problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM4fEIhVUBg
The steam engine has done much more for science than science has done for the steam engine.”

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txlabman

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2024, 04:47:54 pm »

Travis:

Looks like a great way to spend the 4th of July in Texas with temperatures hovering near 105F and a heat index of 112F! 🤠

Charlie

RedRyder

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2024, 05:49:59 pm »
Happy 4th!

Steamburns

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #3 on: July 04, 2024, 06:51:40 pm »

Travis:

Looks like a great way to spend the 4th of July in Texas with temperatures hovering near 105F and a heat index of 112F! 🤠

Charlie

It’s brutal.   I am a northerner by blood, I loathe the heat!  Jun-Sep is awful here, lol
The steam engine has done much more for science than science has done for the steam engine.”

― Lord Kelvin

1stimestm

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2024, 08:25:39 am »
Looks excellent to me! Here in SW Utah we’re heading to 113 for the weekend.

Stoker

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2024, 09:24:59 am »
It got a bit above 100 here yesterday, even though I'm up against the foot of the mountains living at 6000 feet, with 14,000 foot tall peaks less than five miles away to the West. But it was undoubtedly a few degrees warmer down 2000 feet lower in the valley below us just a couple of miles to the East. Not at all surprising for us here in the High Desert in July, less than 30 miles out of Death Valley!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Steamburns

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #6 on: July 05, 2024, 09:00:48 pm »
It got a bit above 100 here yesterday, even though I'm up against the foot of the mountains living at 6000 feet, with 14,000 foot tall peaks less than five miles away to the West. But it was undoubtedly a few degrees warmer down 2000 feet lower in the valley below us just a couple of miles to the East. Not at all surprising for us here in the High Desert in July, less than 30 miles out of Death Valley!


Does your boilers produce steam faster than ours? I know water will boiler faster at 6000 feet in elevation, but at a lower temperature.  Also you lose maybe 1-2 psi in vacuum than you have at sea level!
The steam engine has done much more for science than science has done for the steam engine.”

― Lord Kelvin

Stoker

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #7 on: July 05, 2024, 09:49:47 pm »
It got a bit above 100 here yesterday, even though I'm up against the foot of the mountains living at 6000 feet, with 14,000 foot tall peaks less than five miles away to the West. But it was undoubtedly a few degrees warmer down 2000 feet lower in the valley below us just a couple of miles to the East. Not at all surprising for us here in the High Desert in July, less than 30 miles out of Death Valley!


Does your boilers produce steam faster than ours? I know water will boiler faster at 6000 feet in elevation, but at a lower temperature.  Also you lose maybe 1-2 psi in vacuum than you have at sea level!

Well, it isn't quite as simple as all that. Yes, water, in an open container, boils at a lower temperature with altitude. In the old days, explorers like Fremont even used the temperature of boiling water to estimate their altitude for mapping purposes. However, in a closed container, like a boiler, altitude really doesn't enter into that side of the equation!

Altitude does enter into the equation on the other side however, in that at higher altitudes, you have fewer air molecules carrying the heat from the flame to the boiler shell or pot bottom. Furthermore, due to reduced oxygen availability, the flame does not burn as hot either.

As an aside, I worked for years at relatively extreme elevation of 12,500 ft above MSL (approx. 1/3 of the way up through the atmosphere) where cooking certain foods like rice, beans or pasta was basically impossible, due to the reduced temperature of the boiling water, thus a pressure cooker had to be used if you wanted any of those foods for dinner. Heck, even oatmeal was tough to cook to a soft mush like consistency and tended to be a bit "crisp", so breakfast could be impacted as well!
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.

Steamburns

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #8 on: July 05, 2024, 11:52:09 pm »
It got a bit above 100 here yesterday, even though I'm up against the foot of the mountains living at 6000 feet, with 14,000 foot tall peaks less than five miles away to the West. But it was undoubtedly a few degrees warmer down 2000 feet lower in the valley below us just a couple of miles to the East. Not at all surprising for us here in the High Desert in July, less than 30 miles out of Death Valley!


Does your boilers produce steam faster than ours? I know water will boiler faster at 6000 feet in elevation, but at a lower temperature.  Also you lose maybe 1-2 psi in vacuum than you have at sea level!

Well, it isn't quite as simple as all that. Yes, water, in an open container, boils at a lower temperature with altitude. In the old days, explorers like Fremont even used the temperature of boiling water to estimate their altitude for mapping purposes. However, in a closed container, like a boiler, altitude really doesn't enter into that side of the equation!

Altitude does enter into the equation on the other side however, in that at higher altitudes, you have fewer air molecules carrying the heat from the flame to the boiler shell or pot bottom. Furthermore, due to reduced oxygen availability, the flame does not burn as hot either.

As an aside, I worked for years at relatively extreme elevation (12,500) where cooking certain foods like rice, beans or pasta was basically impossible, due to the reduced temperature of the boiling water, thus a pressure cooker had to be used if you wanted any of those food for dinner. Heck, even oatmeal was tough to cook to a soft mush like consistency, so breakfast could be impacted as well!


D’oh! Makes sense now.   However I got it wrong.. with lower atmospheric pressure you’d have more power on your steam engine, IE more vacuum at the steam exhaust.
The steam engine has done much more for science than science has done for the steam engine.”

― Lord Kelvin

Stoker

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Re: 4th of July Madness!
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2024, 12:03:12 am »
True, but only a very few pounds less pressure resistance to your exhaust pressure, so negligible to a high pressure boiler engine combo, but perhaps more significant to our models that operate at relatively low pressures?!?!

Now if you are operating with a condenser that actually manages to pull a vacuum on your steam exhaust, then you are definitely gaining a bit more power, if you have your system balanced to be able to make use of that pressure differential.
"Information is not knowledge, Knowledge is not wisdom, Wisdom is not truth, Truth is not beauty, Beauty is not love, Love is not music: Music is THE BEST...   
Wisdom is the domain of the Wis (which is extinct). Beauty is a French phonetic corruption of a short cloth neck ornament currently in resurgence..."
F. Zappa ... by way of Mary, the girl from the bus.