Steam powered generators

[gands]

Does anyone have any experience with steam powered generators, I have Googled them and they are out there but does anyone have any personal experience in using one, thank you.

[Erratic]

Wood gasification might be a better choice.

[LowKey]

Wood gasification might be a better choice.

Pithy and possibly correct, it still wasn't what he was asking.

Try this as an example-

Q= Can anyone tell me about an AR-15?
A= An AK-47 might be a better choice.




OP-
To have a steam generator you'd actually need:
A steam engine+ boiler+generator head+assorted belts and/or gearing.
You should be aware that firing up the boiler and getting it to your engines operating pressure* may take a bit more than an hour, and that you'll need to be present the entire time you are in operation...from the moment you light the fire in the boiler to the time when the fire is out and the pressure is exhausted. Not being there runs the risk of your boiler turning into a bomb. Depending on temperatures and pressures, one gallon of water can contain the explosive energy of 1 stick of dynamite; your 50 gallon boiler might level your entire BOL if you don't babysit it.

Wood gasification should let you run a normal internal combustion engine on wood, and there isn't as much risk if you leave it unattended.

Spend some time with google and do some reading before you decide one way or another. I'll likely be going with steam, but I have a use in mind for the exhaust steam. IF I were just looking to run a generator I'd be leaning towards wood gas (and may set that us as a back up anyway).

[wagdhead]

Lowkey is very correct in everything he says.

You might want to check out the Annual Puget Sound Steam Gas Show: http://www.psatma.com/

Many of the guys who are involved there are really into old and modern steam technology, and they love to talk about it.

My steam experience is more in the "wethead" side of the world with boilers and readiant heat, but I did get to go to the Puget show many years ago, and it is a good source of info.

[gands]

Thank you for the responses, my question stems from the potential of having no liquid or gaseous fuels i.e. : gasoline, diesel, propane or natural gas to operate a generator. I realize the potential of the pressures that steam can create, I do believe that a pressure/relieve valve could work (i.e. like that of a hot water relief valve) while the operator isn't at hand. True it does take time to build pressure, but if you need the electricity and you have the time it would be better than having to do without electrical power. Here's a couple of sites that I found.

http://www.otherpower.com/steamengine.shtml
http://www.mikebrownsolutions.com/stmpwr.htm

[LowKey]

Thank you for the responses, my question stems from the potential of having no liquid or gaseous fuels i.e. : gasoline, diesel, propane or natural gas to operate a generator. I realize the potential of the pressures that steam can create, I do believe that a pressure/relieve valve could work (i.e. like that of a hot water relief valve) while the operator isn't at hand. True it does take time to build pressure, but if you need the electricity and you have the time it would be better than having to do without electrical power. Here's a couple of sites that I found.

http://www.otherpower.com/steamengine.shtml
http://www.mikebrownsolutions.com/stmpwr.htm

Treat the overpressure valve the same way you should treat the safety on a firearm:
Solely as a backup to your human error, not as the primary mechanism to prevent accidents.

I'll be very blunt here-
If you operate a pressure boiler and you leave it unattended you are an idiot, an idiot placing everyone in the potential blast radius in danger. You may as well light a long fuse with an unpredictable burn rate on a stick of dynamite and walk off with the intent of returning to extinguish it before it blows. Please don't be an idiot.
Just. Don't. Do. It.

Look things over and if you want steam, go for it. Just do it right, and do it safe.
Figure out your power consumption, size a battery bank, and plan ahead for the days you'll need to run the boiler...and block that time out for anything else. Learn to knit or something to kill the time, but don't walk away from it and don't let yourself get distracted. Steam burns are worse than fire caused burns.

[KnightoftheRoc]

Steam burns are worse than fire caused burns.

QFT- especially high pressure steam, which can be WAY higher in temperature than the 212'F an open pot of boiling water will produce- I'm talking 400, 600, in some cases higher, degrees that can MELT your flesh as the pressure it's under then sloughs it off of you. Even opening a steam valve is a different safety protocol than a regular valve. I'm not going to lecture you NOT to explore this, but by all means, learn, learn, learn before putting any of it into practice. Steam power, to me, seems an energy intensive way of getting power, with an awful lot of thermal loss involved, and it's not the first direction I'd explore, but it's been done, proven to work, and can be replicated, so if that's how you want to go, then I wish you success and safety.

[1floridacracker]

you tube has several examples of two stroke engines converted to run on steam.

[azrael99]

i'm also interested about steam generator.

stupid question like that: what would be better as fuel for that kind of burner ? wood or coal ?

[KnightoftheRoc]

For most people, wood is more plentiful, but coal burns hotter, so you'd use less fuel on coal per hour of operation. Got a coal deposit on your land, go with coal. If not, wood is pretty much your only viable option.

[azrael99]

can you use both ?

like wood when dont have coal, or coal when you have less wood ?

[KnightoftheRoc]

A few of my customers had tri-fuel boilers; oil gun, wood or coal fired firebox. They had no issues with either use, some even mixed the two. While MY job was to service the oil gun portion, I'd peek in to see what the wood side was like, and it generally was cleaner than the oil side of the operation. I don't see where using either would be an issue, PROVIDED the fire box was built properly to begin with- coal gets hot enough to fracture and completely ruin good steel over time.

[azrael99]

could you show me what those boiler look like ? are they handmade or is there commercial made one ?

[Dawgboy]

I received a Steam Cert while in the USCG, but the only "Steam Generator" I ever touched was the Donkey on the Buoy tender I spent most of my time on. We used steam for hoisting and re setting very large anchors for shipping channels. It was a royal bitch to maintain, and was eventually refitted with a hydraulic system. Still, it was very effective for moving a 10 ton load. Not only that, but we could use the steam for heavy de-icing, which was very nice.

I personally think it's very doable if you want to immerse yourself i it as a hobby now. Cobbling a boiler and a triple expansion engine together out of scrap without qualified help is a good way to turn yourself into a kebab real quick, but a small uniflow or slamvalve is easily doable in a garage if you know your way around power tools.

As everyone says, be very careful, as burns really hurt, and over pressures explosions are way worse.

[KnightoftheRoc]

I received a Steam Cert while in the USCG, but the only "Steam Generator" I ever touched was the Donkey on the Buoy tender I spent most of my time on. We used steam for hoisting and re setting very large anchors for shipping channels. It was a royal bitch to maintain, and was eventually refitted with a hydraulic system. Still, it was very effective for moving a 10 ton load. Not only that, but we could use the steam for heavy de-icing, which was very nice.

I personally think it's very doable if you want to immerse yourself i it as a hobby now. Cobbling a boiler and a triple expansion engine together out of scrap without qualified help is a good way to turn yourself into a kebab real quick, but a small uniflow or slamvalve is easily doable in a garage if you know your way around power tools.

As everyone says, be very careful, as burns really hurt, and over pressures explosions are way worse.

You aren't kidding. Water is weird, once it's under pressure, and steam is water, with a few additional quirks of it's own. Once under pressure, it's possible to achieve temperatures well over the normal boiling point of water (212F/100C). With the higher heat. comes higher pressure, and a bit of a crazy spiral of temp/pressure climb can begin. This is great for driving a pressure operated piece of machinery, like a steam piston on a locomotive, but also highly dangerous. Steam pressures and their higher temps can literally melt flesh, sloughing it right off the bone. There's even a protocol involved for opening a steam valve for this reason. Ignore it at your own risk- you could end up as the title character in the next Faceoff movie. And no, you WON'T look like Travolta OR Cage.

So, with that happy news out of the way- here's a typical boiler unit like I was talking about:

These can also be had with a gas burner included, which is what makes it a TRI fuel burner- the firebox for wood/coal/rabbit poop/chicken mcnuggets/whathaveyou is considered just one fuel out of the three. If know what you're doing, the gas heat could be set up with regulators for BOTH natural gas and LP (separate regulators with the outputs piped to a common burner line), and the oil gun could be physically swapped out for a waste oil burner gun (which can also burn normal fuel oil), giving you the ability to utilize nearly any fuel source. Many of these units are designed to be installed OUTDOORS, on a concrete slab, giving you the room required for these big mommas. You could also build a cement block housing for it, if your security concerns warrant it. If this is what you want, be sure to provide PLENTY of intake air for the unit.