Steam startup

Good question. I'm sure I won't understand the technical part, but would be interested to see the number of steps and time involved in each.

Hank and Jo Ann: It is MUCH simpler than the big stuff like full-sized locos and steamboats, but I can give you an idea about how I go about getting MISSIE up and running on a daily basis. MISSIE is a 20' long steam launch with a three horsepower 2 cylinder compound engine...propane fired with a copper water tube boiler. Max of four people... I fill my day-tank with tap water (15 gallons) and fill the boiler with my electric pump (12 volt) (2 1/2 gallons...I have previously put the battery on charge and look for the "green" indicator light telling that it is charged). Install two full propane jugs in the bow and crack the valves open. The gauge there will go from red to green and I then turn them off while I do more checking...Since the line valve is closed, the gauges should remain green indicating no leaks in the propane system. I then open the port side propane tank only (and the line valve) and the pilot light is then lighted. If adequate water still shows in the gauge glass, I start the main burner (simple rocker switch). I make sure that the drains in the high and low pressure valve boxes are open as well as the exhaust vent to the atmosphere. I crack the main throttle and the simpling valve to heat both the high and low pressure ends of the compound engine. Since I have a water-tube boiler I start to get steam in about three minutes (no pressure yet...but enough flow to start heating the engine. Since I have "D", or slide valves (not piston valves), I can get by with some water in the cylinders when starting. By the time I have checked all the safety equipment aboard there is plenty of pressure to turn the engine over and warm it. This calls for pressure on the gauge and the simpling valve used to kick her over only; then closed. She is usually on a trailer and I back her into the water and if I remembered to put the drain plug in, she floats! When launching in still water with little wind, she stays on about a 30' tether and I then reel her into the float, tie off and park the car. I many times do this solo. Sometimes when tethered to the dock I will slowly roll her wheel (propeller 18" x 23") while I park the Suburban and trailer. I and my crew (if any) don our life jackets and get aboard...with a crew, I can get them to launch me in the boat making for simpler/faster handling. The routine oiling, charging, replentishing tanks is done before leaving the house (barn, where MISSIE lives). If I do not have to wait in a queue to launch...lighting off upon arrival, I can, when alone, launch her, park the car, get in and back away within a timed 14 minutes...without rushing. With a trained crew and in a hurry, I estimate I could back away in eight or nine minutes from cold...leaving them to park the car etc. When she stays in the water over night, it takes me about five minutes after safety check to pull away...full pressure not necessary. MISSIE's boiler runs at 120 psi (Burner cuts off) to 90 psi when burner turned back on. She normally runs with about 65 psi on gauge and makes 5.3 mph for a total of a little more than 20 miles on a full twenty pound tank of propane. Since MISSIE is a condensing boat, she pumps her own condensate back into the boiler. There is some loss to atmosphere and of course all of the whistle steam is a loss. If there are no bikinis in sight about a half-cup of water per mile will do for makeup. But I find that water loss is directly proportional to the number of bikinis spotted by the engineer and inversely proportional to their size. Most of my makeup comes right out of the river...no water treatment. There are three ways in which to add boiler water...chain drive off the engine; 12 volt electric pump and hand pump. MISSIE has logged over 2000 miles in 163 launches over eight seasons. I hope this helps...Cap'n Walnut.
PS: Shutdown is quite simple. Tie off, turn off the burner, shut the main propane valve and walk away. Before next time, the tanks topped off, the oil separator cleaned, the battery recharged...some say you can run all summer on one charge...I never trust it, although I have run a full week without (about 80 miles...but not at night that requires running lights). If ovenight in the water I just top up needed liquids and lube the engine. The engine gets oiled with steam cylinder oil and lubed with synthetic grease along with the trailer wheels. Cylinder oil is injected into the steam line feeding the engine and also used on eccentrics and crosshead lube.

I am not a licensed marine engineer, but I designed the boiler settings, etc., for the Belle of Louisville's Nooter boilers. Originally, to start up, the first thing is to fill the boilers. It could be done several ways, but the easy way was to fire up the auxiliary boiler (never called that, even by African-American firemen) and use a steam pump. In coal-burning days oily rags and kindling wood were placed on the grates, a thin layer of coal was spread and the fire was touched-off. A wait of several hours was used by the engineers to oil around, check valves, gauges and drains.
When the Belle burned bunker C oil the fuel was heated by the auxiliary boiler while the main boilers were filled with water. When the bunker C was heated to a liquid state, firing jets were turned on to atomize the oil and drive it into the furnace. A torch made of an oily rag on a steel rod ignited the fuel. Again there was a wait of several hours, etc.
Today the Belle burns a much lighter fuel which is shore-power-electrically pumped to the burners during warm-up. The fuel does not have to be pre-heated. Ignition is still by torch, I think.
The long wait for the water to boil is still used to oil around, fill the chemical feeder for the feedwater, check everything and open drains to get rid of condensate in engines for pumps, propelling engines, etc. When working pressure is reached the fuel is atomized by steam.
When working pressure is attained the cylinder cocks are opened and the throttle opened a crack to warm up the cylinders, steeriing engine, steam lines and feedwater heater.
All of these chores are relatively straightforward and easily understood, but it is not like turning on the ignition key in an automobile.

Very good explanation Alan. As I worked a few lay-ups as watchman and Mate on the DQ and MQ I did get to see the start-ups a few times and it is fairly simple just time consuming. Oh and I will hopefully be attending your Talk on the 18th of July.

Thanks Tom. I was hoping that you would post MISSIE's proceedure. BTW, what is the simple valve? It takes you less time to launch and get going than it took me to step the mast, bend on sails and get the Lightning ready to sail, even with crew halping!

Hank: MISSIE has a compound engine like the DELTA QUEEN...exhaust from the starboard engine on the DQ is taken to the port side and then runs the engine there. She has a "simpling" valve too, and it is used to give the low pressure engine a boost of high pressure steam as when getting her offa dead center and starting...really just a squirt...she doesn't run that way. MISSIE has the same thing and it is used for the same thing...getting offa dead center when starting/reversing etc. The term derives from the fact that there are "simple" engines and "compound" engines and the simpling valve makes a compound temporarily into a simple engine. In MISSIE's case, she is a fore-and-aft compound two-cylinder engine connected to a propeller shaft while the DQ's two engines are direct-connected to each side of the paddle wheel. Typically, although not always...the high pressure cylinder is half the diameter to the low pressure engine. In the DQ, the HP is 26" in diameter; the LP is 52" in diameter...both have ten-foot stroke. MISSIE's are 2 1/4" by 3 3/4" by 2 1/2" stroke. MISSIE also condenses her steam just like the DQ does for added efficiency and ooomph! Cap'n Walnut

Thank you, sir. That's very clear, and a piece of information new to me. Thanks also for the origin of the term.

Alan's explanation of our procedures on the Belle pretty well sums up our process after washing the boilers. Keep in mind, though, any engineer worth much will add a few of their own personal touches to the process. Nowadays, without the aux. boiler, we will use our air compressors to atomize the fuel until we get the pressure around 30-50 psi. For many years we burned #4 fuel oil, which was a challenge to burn cold in the spring after washing the boilers. On those sort of days we'd try heating our day tank externally (torpedo heater, halogen lamps around the base of the tank) a while before lighting the burners. Last year we were burning #6, and it gave us nothing but trouble when trying to fire a cold boiler, in spite of our efforts to heat it. Now we are burning #2,which requires little, if any, heating and is as cheap for us to burn, presently, as the cost of #6.
Another habit we have drilled into our minds for raising steam on a "cold" boiler is to make absolutely sure our 1/2" bleeder valve on top of the main steam line is open when we take steam off the boiler. This is to eliminate any possibility of a vacuum developing while we take steam off. Even though the Belle's plant is open to atmosphere, a vacuum can still has a chance to develop within the confines of the system. this bleeder valve also gives us an indication when steam is building and purges the system of air.
As far as a daily routine is concerned, it very dependent on how many trips, if any, we ran the day before and how soon to be ready for the next trip. As a general rule, though, we will not let pressure drop much below 50psi before raising steam. With many days in between trips, we will take steam off the boiler, but will will not cool the boiler. With the insulation we've added to this plant in recent years, she'll hold heat in the furnace for several days. Unfortunately, when there are so many days in between trips, it can get expensive to keep steam up. Yes, from an engineer's perspective, it's much better for the plant to keep steam on to avoid the stresses of expansion and contraction, as well as the possibility of leaks developing around gaskets. As I mentioned earlier, though, she'll hold heat in the plant, nowadays, with the added insulation.
As Alan mentioned, this is a time consuming process. It can also seem like a tedious process of opening and closing valves, checking for leaks, and recognizing where things need to be tightened or loosened. It is also a labor intensive process, to say the least, and takes a watchful crew. Once a procedure is learned, though, such processes can seem like riding a bicycle. You still have to watch for those bumps in the road and deal with the unexpected. Anyway, that's my nickel's worth to this.

Dan: Your experience with No.6 oil parallels mine in a stationary source in Cincinnati. Only, back in the daze when I was working, No.6 oil was the still-bottoms from the refinery and had a fair amount more of BTU (if memory serves, 140,000 BTU/# vs 120,000 BTU/# for No.2) and was some cheaper than No.2...which is about the same a Diesel fuel or home furnace oil. We had to quit No.6 oil (aka Bunker C) because it had too much sulfur to meet EPA regulations and we ended up with a blend of No.6 and No.2 which we called No.4. Dan, tell the folks the number of engineers/firemen on shift on the BELLE, and what licenses are needed. What time you have to get to the boat in order to leave on time and how often do you blow down? Do you use city water for makeup augmented by river water as I do and how do you treat the water. Your boilers are steel...MISSIE's is copper and rightly or wrongly, I don't treat the water...just blow it down. Cap'n Walnut.

When warming up the cylinders, how do you admit steam? Normally and let her roll dead slow? Or do you have a valve setting that allows steam to both sides of the pistons with the exhaust or drain cocks open so no motion is created?

Hank,
Typically you "roll 'er back and forth" to warm up the cylinders, a little throttle, and forward, then reverse, then forward until she rolls over. Also, usually leave the drain cocks open in case any water carries over, or condenses because the cylinders are so cold.Close the simpling valve (if there is one) and let her warm up at a low throttle setting, and close the cocks when they show just steam. At least that's what I did with the Mikahala (steeple compound). It does take a bit of "feel" and "listen."
S'
David D.

Hank and David: MISSIE is simpler than that in that if I heat the valve boxes with their drains open (simpling valve and throttle cracked open), I can start her and water (condensate) in the cylinders will simply push its way past (unseat) the "D" valves and no harm is done. But MISSIE does have cylinder cocks that can be used to warm the cylinders in the conventional manner. With all the inertia of the wheel and pittman, water in the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE's cylinder could deadhead against the poppet valves and might well blow a head off the cylinder...the drains not big enough to vent the pressure fast enough or if left closed. Thus the caution used with warm-up there. It is a tribute to all those generations of engineers that this has evidently never happened. Don't know if we can say the same for the DQ as she has had a cylinder replaced (low pressure, I think) and ran through her self another time methinks. The former could have been from inexperienced navy personnel in the engine room. That is why it is said that old-time engineers would not walk in front of a cylinder head when under steam. Cap'n Walnut.

Tom,
The No. 6 was quite a bit cheaper than No.2 when we were buying it. However, we had to get it shipped from Cincy, which added more to the price. We also had a fee for cleaning the truck. There was no doubt No.6 had more BTUs, as was shown in the amount of maintenance we had to do to the furnace this winter, which can also be factored into the price we paid for it. Fortunately, we decided to blend a load of No.2 with our No. 6 at the end of last season to save us the aggravation of trying to heat a COLD boiler with a COLD and THICK No. 6.
On our shifts, we run the Belle with a fireman, striker, and a licensed engineer. As a general rule, we try to give ourselves two hours before boarding to get steam up, get things in order, and make sure all the equipment is carefully and thoroughly warmed up. This can be a long laundry list sometimes, and our schedule will dictate how easily this is done. I could spin a long thread on just what the striker and engineer have to do to get ready for a trip. As Alan so aptly stated, it’s so much more than just turning the key. How often we blow down will depend what our chemical tests tell us from previous trips and what sort of reaction the boiler has to our treatments. This time of year, with the rains keeping the river muddy, we’ll do a blow down before every trip.
As far as the treatment goes, we look at the pH level, oxygen level, and how many solids are in the water. We use caustic soda, soda ash, sodium sulfite, and a polymer. We also have our surface skimmer to control solids. The powder chemicals are fed directly into each drum, whereas the liquid polymer goes in just before the feedwater stop-check valve in order to condition the valve as well. We do have a certain range from our chemical tests in which we like to keep the boiler. The only time we really use city water is when we have plenty of time to fill the boiler after washing it. Otherwise, we like to exercise our main fire pump to fill up. It’s nice to start the boiler up with clean city water, but, considering the amount of water we cycle through while underway, that will last for, possibly, one trip. Let me know if my rambling made any sense—easy for me to carried away on different tangents with this.

Given the amount of caustic chemicals in the boiler, how do you handle the blow down water? Does EPA make you retain and dispose of that water in some particular manner? As far as I'm concerned, go ahead and spin that long thread on the engineer & striker's check list.

Turning the key on a steamboat!

Dan Lewis;17122 wrote: Tom,

On our shifts, we run the Belle with a fireman, striker, and a licensed engineer. As a general rule, we try to give ourselves two hours before boarding to get steam up, get things in order, and make sure all the equipment is carefully and thoroughly warmed up. This can be a long laundry list sometimes, and our schedule will dictate how easily this is done. I could spin a long thread on just what the striker and engineer have to do to get ready for a trip. As Alan so aptly stated, it’s so much more than just turning the key.
.

Here is an example of the 'disconnect' (ignorance or lack of info) on the part of office people working for a steamboat company: back when I was working summers on the NATCHEZ, Doc came aboard 'all steamed up' - he had just taken a phone call from a gal in the office. It was 8 AM and she wanted the NATCHEZ out in Algiers Bend for some photo ops at 8:30 - she didn't have a clue that it "is so much more than just turning the key"!
On the NATCHEZ an additional task for the Chief early in the day is to turn the air conditioning on for the dining room crew in the sweltering summer heat! I don't know how it is now, but back in the 1980s-90s we could tell who the Chief was that day by when the a/c came on!

To those of you who do not know...or have not guessed by now, Dan Lewis is a licensed steamboat engineer and as far as I am concerned he can spin away on the things needed to start the BELLE OF LOUISVILLE as long as he wants. In contrast to your operation, Dan, we, with a large Cincinnati industrial boiler (over six stories high and capable of vaporizing over a half million pounds...200 tons of water in an hour) put well water across a hot lime softener to get it down to about 25 parts per million hardness. We then put it across an ion exchange resin bed and the water was at ZERO hardness when it was fed into the boiler. We too used sulfite, plus hydrazine as an oxygen scavenger to protect against corrosion of the steel tubes...made of common A-36 carbon steel. A steamer cannot afford the space for all the equipment we had, even if they had the resources to acquire it. An advantage the the DQ has over the BOL is that she condenses her steam and puts it back in the boiler after removing the lubricating oil (oil is a no-no in boiler tubes). That means that the DQ feedwater is already partially heated, distilled and free of contamination compared to the river water that BOL (and MISSIE) use for makeup. Cap'n Walnut

NATCHEZ also has a condenser plant, does she not? The JBS seems to have 'scape pipes. Does anyone know what operating peculariaties her flash boiler has? How about the CHATAUQUA BELLE?

Yes, the NATCHEZ has condensing systems. Someone (not a crew member) got the idea in the late '80s to add phony scape pipes. Not only did the needed steam take away from the whistle, but they were just too much with all the flagpoles on the roof too. Unfortunately, they mysteriously 'disappeared' one winter layup down in the canal away from the office...
Here's a picture of one of the phony scapes. This is the only postcard I've ever had published. That's Vic Tooker in his calliope/banjo playing duds. And before you say something doesn't look right - it doesn't and isn't. The publisher took artistic license and reversed the picture for the 'golden mean' ideal, even if it made the picture wrong. So that picture was taken at the Toulouse St. wharf and that is the Gov. Nicholls wharf over the calliope console. And of course the whistles are reversed, etc. etc.

Some mighty fine stuff in this thread, for certain! Thanks much to Cap'n Bates, Chief Lewis, Cap'n Walnut.....and to Hank for kicking it off!

At the risk of putting many of you to sleep; I’ll see if I can give a condensed version of what the striker typically does to get the engine room ready for a trip. I say “condensed” because when we wrote a start up list for the striker it ended up being about four pages. This list was assuming the striker already had the basic training to do these tasks and simply needed a reminder written down for reference. Keep in mind the engineer will often team up with the striker to do these tasks.
When going on watch, the first things we all check (sometimes in the dead of winter out of shear habit) is the boiler pressure as we walk by the boiler room and the boiler water level as we walk into the engine room. When I go through some of these tasks I like to prioritize them to give some order and sense, along with combating my absent-mindedness. This will start with whether we do a bottom blow, so the fireman can get a good start on raising steam. Sometimes the fireman will handle this task once the engineer has decided if it is necessary. If we have enough steam for it, we’ll get the house pump warming up. This little pump, dubbed “Iron Mike” (so christened for Chief Mike Pfleider), will send river water to toilets and heat potable water. The next set of tasks will be to check all fluids. This will start with checking the water level in the chemical feed tank. The tank is near our gauges for the potable water tanks, so I like to take a glance at those while I’m there. Also in that vicinity is the line we use to get our boiler sample water, so I’ll get that out of the way and give the water time to cool for the test. Next, I’ll go through the generators, checking fuel, oil, and coolant levels. Topping off these tanks can take some time because the fuel is gravity fed from a tank in the boiler room. This is a good exercise in patience and not getting distracted by an errant deckhand trying to bum a tool from us.
Once the generators check out, I’ll head for the sacred grease can. Packing grease into the main bearings can be a SLOW task if that grease has sat after a cold night, so I like to throw the can on top of the house pump to limber it up some. After the main bearings are packed, we’ll turn down all the grease cups (one set on the crank bearings and one set on the crossheads). At this point, depending on how the time looks, it may be a good time to catch a breath, a drink of water (especially on a warm day), or a bite to eat. This may be a good point to any housekeeping (sweeping, mopping, shining brass, or wiping down equipment). This could also be a chance to grease any other equipment that is due (pumps, steering, and capstan). There is also the matter of checking safety equipment and communications. This includes emergency lights (in the engine room), all alarms, fire extinguishers, fire stations, and the phone.
We also have the ice machine on the wharf boat to check. This can be especially important during those dog days of summer. This can often mean cleaning the condenser coils when they get gummed up from all of the highway dirt thrown at us. No ice machine can mean a hefty bill for buying SEVERAL bags of ice at the last minute. Anyway, I’m starting to wander off the main trail here. Back in the engine room we still have our boiler test to do. Once those numbers are written down, the chief on watch can ponder these results to determine the best treatment and draw the prescription out in the log book.
Now we’ve reached a point that’s likely to be when we start warming up the steering, ship-up jack, feed water pump, and the main engines. Once we start cracking steam valves open, though, our fireman will likely light the burners soon after. To save our firemen the hassle of shutting the burners down again to switch to our generator, we’ll go ahead and switch to our generator once we start warming up. This is also a good time to head over to our potable pumps, close the shore water valve, open the discharge valves for our two pumps, and close their breakers to get them on-line. How long we take to warm up generally depends on the weather and how long it’s been since the last trip. On average, though, a good 30 minutes of letting steam blow through will do. This 30 minute window is a good time to grab the oil can and start climbing the engines. Even after all the times I’ve oiled these engines, I still use the same routine I was taught from my first season to keep track of this.
By the time the engines have been oiled, all oilers filled, and the crosshead slide cups (sardine cans?) topped off, it’s probably time to get the wheel rollin’. Let’s saunter over to the throttle and ship-up jack. Now we can make sure our steering and ship-up jack valves are completely open and the safety chain is off the top of the jack. We’ll work our valves on the jack to limber it up. Once we’re satisfied with that and we’ve made sure the wheel is clear, we’ll GINGERLY get the engines working and open up the drip oilers.
We still have the feed water pump to cajole into service and the chemical feed pump to start. The feed water pump (“Big Bertha”) limbered up with a bypass valve that allows the pump to stretch its legs before it begins pumping into the boiler. By the time we get the wheel rollin’, though, we can close her condensate drains and bypass valve and make sure she can get the stop/check opened and water going to the boiler. Now we walk back behind the boilers, open our stop valves on the chemical pump discharge, flip the switch, watch the blue indicator light come on, and listen to a healthy chemical pump. Barring the unforeseen, with passengers finding their way up the main stairs, the Belle’s engine room is ready for another trip. If you managed to read this far and not fall asleep, then give yourself a pat on the back. Remember, though, you only suffered through the “condensed” version.

Dab: OK, this is warm-up. Now, what do you do when under way?? Cap'n Walnut.

No chance of sleeping here! Sounds like the auxiliary systems take more time than the propulsion machinery. Still, ya gotta have them all. I assume that starting from cold, you have to fire the boilers and raise some steam before any of the process can begin. Nice to have a system that holds heat and steam over night. From what I have read, the early systems wouldn't do either and you had to start by filling the boiler with the hand pumps.

Sorry for the lag time on my response. As one of our engineers would say to his striker when going through his duties while under way, WATCH THE (insert desired explicative) BOILER WATER! Also, answer the bells. I like to tell passengers it's not a good sign to see engineers scrambling around the engine room. After we turn around to head back to the barn, one of us will step out on the fantails to check the main and crank pin bearings. We'll walk around the engine room glancing at gauges, checking the chemical tank, and making sure the pumps are chugging away.
As far as what Hank mentioned about the boilers holding heat, we've made an effort to insulate, especially in recent years. The only down side I've seen to this is lengthening the amount of time we take to cool the boilers down before opening them up to wash ("boiler day"), but we schedule these days far ahead, allowing for needed time to cool down.

Graceful Ghost: Being lazy, I prescribe to the KISS method of steaming up, which one can do on a small wood burner. No worries about fuel pumps, generators, condensers, refrigeration, and such as there ain't none.

First you cleans out the ashes from the previous day. By this time they are no longer red hot, but one must find a safe place to dump them as they may still have fire starting properties. We save wax paper cups, milk cartons, cardboard cartons, and also use narrow strips of wood to start the fire. Wax paper cups make a good fire starter, and on hot days, people drink lots of lemonade out of said cups. Notice no flammable liquids enter the picture, although we keep some charcoal starter fluid on hand in case it is a damp day or we are in a hurry. Once things get going we start to add the larger boards and then, while that cooks, do things like fill the water tanks, compute how much chemical to go in with the water, which is added with a measuring bottle and poured into the same hole that the hose goes in. The water is softened by a water softener. There is usually enough water in the boiler to show in the gage glass, but if not, it can be put in with an electric pump or there may be enough vacuum in the boiler to suck it in by opening the boiler feed valves. We usually hold off on adding a lot of water until there is a good head of steam because we don't want to destroy our weak pressure with a huge slug of cold water. We can also add water with a steam pump, a crosshead pump (while under way), or a hand pump (God forbid). We have automatic oilers, so the reservoirs are checked and topped off. During the raising of steam, one usually has to load a few wheelbarrows of firewood, which consists of scrap lumber from a very handy cable reel factory. It is already cut and dried and just the right size. Slides are hand oiled and wheel bearings are greased using a grease gun. Before warming up, we make sure oiler valves and boiler feed valves are opened. Drain valves are usually kept open a little all the time as the steam is pretty wet. The main steam valve is cracked and steam goes back, pushing water ahead of it, and when all of the H2O is spewed out, the wheel starts to turn.

No one else does this: Before we leave, enough water is added to the boiler to enable us to use the steam as a bow thruster to turn the boat around, and still have some water in the boiler after several seconds of blowing steam out a nozzle on the port bow. This also doubles as a blow down, part of boiler maintenance.

Now wasn't that easy. Took a lot of words, so I hope I didn't lull anyone to sleep. I should have put it all in past tense as we don't do tours any more, but someone else is, and they better be doing the same thing. It takes about 2 hours, assuming you had steam the day before. We lose all our pressure, but that water is very hot. We like to warm up the engines at least a half hour, usually 45 minutes.