Office of Steam Forum for Model & Toy Steam Gas & Hot Air Engines

  Good description of your new engine.  The working heater is a blessing.
The lower sight glass gave me troubles with mineral deposits.  I used
diluted citric acid to start it to crumbling and finished clearing it
with a wooden skewer (won't scratch metal).  Thankfully, mine did not
fall off.  The heater on mine was also good, so I added water, plugged
in, and off it went.

  To be honest, I try not to run the Empires with original heaters too
often.  So far, I've had one Empire go incandescent before failing, and
two others with burned out heaters I replaced with cartridge heaters. 
Be careful and avoid water dripping down the sides and running down into
the heater area.  The water fillup and using the whistle are two culprits.

Good Luck,
Wayne