As to the question "how much water is in the boiler" with two gauges showing, hard to tell....Probably each boiler would be slightly different....Why would it matter anyway, as long as it was enough to keep the crownsheet safely covered for the grade being operated on?
As to how much water can a single injector add per minute???
That depends on a couple things...
1. Is the engine "working", or just sitting? If "working", how hard?
What Johnson bar and throttle setting?
2. Is the water supply valve fully open or has it been screwed down to regulate the water feed to just what the engine is using for the way it is presently working??
We never ran the injectors full on, except maybe when filling the boiler to put the engine away...When on the road, we always screwed the water feed down so as to keep the boiler water level according to the water glasses/gauge cocks/ at a constant level, not too full (to keep from working water over into the cylinders and spoiling lubrication), not too far down ( so as to have adequate water over the crownsheet when tipping over the top of a hill).
The engines I worked on had the squirt hose in the cab connected to the feedwater line between the injector the boiler check valve.
You could approximately set the water feed valve by putting the injector on, then opening the valve to the squirt hose, and screwing the water supply valve down until the hose gave forth a fine "spray" rather than a solid stream...That would usually be close. Then once we had it figured out, we had a little piece of baling wire wound on the water supply valve handle to indicate it's "proper" position when the engine was working normally. After a bit you could get the water feed set to just equal what the engine was using, and you could keep the water level in the gauge glass somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 full.
Too much cold water feed would kill steam pressure, too little feed and you'd lose water quickly if working upgrade, so it was a juggling act to keep the water where it needed to be in the water glasses. You had to watch the hogger and work with him on this....
We would start out with the boiler full up at the top of the glass, get down and put in one fire, then get the injector on and set, then get back to firing. On a start up a steep grade, you had about ONE chance to do this right without screwing it up...
either that or the hogger would pull his gun on too and then you'd probably lose steam pressure due to too much water going in.
If you didn't get the water set right just then, you'd likely end up having to stop and fill the boiler and then "blow her hot" before safely starting out again...
This would get you in trouble with the hogger.
At the top of the grade, you would lay back on the firing when approaching the top of the hill and leave the injector on for a bit to keep her from popping when he shut her off over the top, and also so you would have sufficient water to start downgrade. The injector could be finally shut off after the water level was where you wanted it while going downgrade, and only pulled on when needed to maintain it there.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2008 10:49PM by Etrump.
