When you think of steam power, you might imagine steam engines or chugging locomotives. However industrial steam generators (or boilers) serve many purposes:
gtboiler supply professional and honest service.
An electric steam boiler can convert approximately 97% of electric energy to steam energy. These steam generators are best for those applications requiring a steam output of 0-100 psig.
Automatic safety controls'a liquid-level controller, for example'maintain appropriate water levels and shuts the generator off if the water supply drops below safe levels. Steam generators with this functionality can operate continuously without overheating.
Stainless steel steam generators are best for applications in which it is crucial to have clean steam to meet quality control requirements. The stainless steel minimizes contaminants.
View our selection of steam generators.
Like
Loading...
MagmaJctAz
I've seen a thread about SP locomotives. Steam generators are mentioned, what are they? What purpose do they serve?
--MagmaJctAz
In steam days steam from a locomotive boiler was used to heat passenger cars among other things. This was piped back through the cars via a steam line next to the air line. When diesels began to be used in passenger service, the cars still needed steam. So diesels in passenger service had a steam boiler installed to supply steam for the passenger cars. This boiler was often called a Steam generator.The other type of "steam generator" was the steam powered turbine generator that generated a small amount of electricity to power electric lamps on a steam locomotive that replaced the old oil burning lamps around the turn of the century ().Ted Curphey
For more Electric Steam Boilerinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.
Andy
Ted forgot to mention that some Air-Conditioning (read ATSF, for one) also had what was called Steam Ejector Air Conditioning. Somewhat like todays heat pump. To this day many old timmers say it is/was the best system. I remember it really cooling down the cars, they could have been used as meat lockers when allowed to cool to the bottom threshold. The connections between cars were a 2 to 3 inch pipe wrapped in Asbestos or other insulating material. These couplings were a real pain to keep from leaking and no where as flexable to work with at the trainline and signal hoses. Andy
Man, questions like that start to make me feel old:-)
It doesn't seem that long ago since I rode my last train heated with steam heat generated from the diesel locomotive ("Canadian" in ), but I guess that is almost a generation ago.
TopcoatSmith
Pretty much a self-explanatory question but...
czephyr17 wrote:
It doesn't seem that long ago since I rode my last train
> heated with steam heat generated from the diesel locomotive
> ("Canadian" in ), . . .
The Skeena in '89 from Prince George to Jasper, with a steam generator car behind the F-40.
Ahhh, now I feel old . . . .
TCSmith - the Canadian was still steam heat at that time as was the Super Continenetal behind real Fs.
Just to elaborate a bit, the typical steam generator was fairly automated and consisted of nested coils of tubing with a diesel fuel burning oil burner blasting down the middle with the hot gases passing between the coil tubing and going outward and upward out a stack. Water was pumped in at one end and steam with a bit of water came out the other end and went through a separator. The idea was that a bit more water than would be evaporated would keep the tubing flushed from scale buildup to some extent. The whole thing was supposed to automatically follow steam demand such that more demand would cause more water, more fuel oil and more forced airblast through the thing. I'll leave it to someone who actually used one to expand on how well they did or didn't work. Not all steam generators were this way--I think the Pennsy GG-1 electrics used something akin to a small vertical firetube boiler. But this was the typical Vapor-Clarkson (brand name) steam generator.I have a bit about steam generators including drawings and some first hand accounts on my web page:Scroll down to the train area and click on All About Steam GeneratorsBTW, I would really love it if some operating train museum or tourist railroad would get a steam-ejector A/C going. Coldness from steam is, um, cool. (Yeah, I know about steam driven absorption units in big buildings...) Ditto simply being able to ride a steam heated car in winter with all wisps of steam from under the train.One of my favorite memories as a teen was to watch the S/B Amtrak Panama Limited making its station stop in south suburban Homewood. There was a period when regular power was a P30CH and an E unit which had to lead because of signal (ATS?) requirements. Being steam heated that meant one of those ex-E9B turned steam generator cars placed behind the POOCH since the latter lacked steam pipes. One night a pipe had broken somewhere (less than 30 miles out mind you) on the SG car and steam was billowing like mad and you could tell the steam generator(s) was working like mad to try to keep up pressure given all the smoke it was blowing.
While visiting the Artrain in Hillsboro OR the other day, I noticed a couple of the cars behind the still had steam connections under their couplers. These were the "Tool car" I think it is called, and the next car back. (Not the actual Artrain cars) Are these steam lines still functional? or just nobody went to the effort to remove them?
Thanks,
Keith
sarge
The steam connections on the cars you looked at are still functional. They would be connected to the 's train steam line to provide heat to the cars. Steam to the cars is controlled from the cab of the locomotive.
MagmaJctAz
My father told me this is how submarines in the Navy were (are?) cooled. Now sure how it worked, but one could use steam for cooling purposes.
--MagmaJctAz
Andy wrote:
> Ted forgot to mention that some Air-Conditioning (read ATSF,
> for one) also had what was called Steam Ejector Air
> Conditioning. Somewhat like todays heat pump. To this day many
> old timmers say it is/was the best system. I remember it really
> cooling down the cars, they could have been used as meat
> lockers when allowed to cool to the bottom threshold. The
> connections between cars were a 2 to 3 inch pipe wrapped in
> Asbestos or other insulating material. These couplings were a
> real pain to keep from leaking and no where as flexable to work
> with at the trainline and signal hoses. Andy
>
> [%sig%]
Has the Grand Canyon Ry. converted their fleet
from steam to electric heating? They were
still using steam generator cars in winter a
few years ago, but I had heard noises that they
were planning to go electric.
I'm replying to a post from , but in any case I noted on youtube a video showing one of their FPA-4's displaying what look like wisps of steam from the top rear of the engine, distinct from the darker exhaust.
As the train recedes you can catch a wisp or two of what looks like steam (diesel exhaust is not wispy, but ejected forcefully high up) from the SGU.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdBe63j2uCo&feature=related
Jon Archibald
CN/VIA/train horn enthusiast