Finally A Flash Steam Boiler That Works!! 

Amen to that!

It almost exploded. Not a good design.

Yes!

Good points - thanks

I agree with your idea of running water through either the grate, or a portion of the tubing in the chimney. It takes a huge amount of energy to boil water, but only a bit more to superheat it. I think the reason the steam volume was so low is that the boiler needs more surface area in boiling section and less in the super heater. Also, I would suggest a larger firebox for more BTUs before having to add more wood.

I disagree with you here, you actually don't need a whole lot of steam in terms of volume to get work from it, the most important are temperature and thus pressure, this is exactly the reason why in every coal fired power station the water is boiled in the wall of the boiler and super heated in the heating elements in the fire box, especially as the system is self regulating once you are actually running at pressure, the best way to run this system would actually to be boil the water in the chimney, then going though the flu box and finally into the fire box.

The high pressure steam blasting out is blowing out the match. You can see the match starter burning completely. He should have pulled away as soon as they started to ignite.

Detroit "TRASH BURNER" at near INTERSECTION of I-75 + I-94 ...used a heavy steel conveyor grating to *BURN GARBAGE* ...FUEL OIL WAS SPRAYED ONTO GARBAGE TO IGNITE/ BURN WET GARBAGE ...SLOWLY MOVING GRATING/ CONVEYOR SLOWLY , METHODICALLY MOVED LEFT-OVER NON-COMBUSTIBLE MATERIAL OUT OF FIRE BOX TO A DUMPSTER .....STANDARD BOILER TUBES (~5/8 thick ) ALLOY TUBES WORE THIN VERY FAST ...SO ...AUTOMATIC M.I.G. WIRE WELDERS COVERED ENTIRE BOILER TUBES WITH ~ 1/8 inch THICK STAINLESS STEEL .....IF YOU BUY A STEAM CLEANER MACHINE ...small WATER RESERVOIR or DIRECT CONNECTION TO A WATER HOSE (COMMERCIAL CARPET , STEAM CLEANING MACHINES ) ..."BOILER" IS 100% , ~1/2 inch O.D. STAINLESS STEEL TUBE IN A MASSIVE MULTI COIL ....ANYONE CAN EASILY INVESTIGATE , PHOTOGRAPH ",JUNK/SCRAP YARD" UNITS or ...NEW UNITS IN "SHOWROOM" ......IS EFFICIENCY EXCEEDING 15% .....MOST COAL FIRED POWER PLANT ELECTRIC GENERATOR (A.C.) are ~32 % efficient >>> coal in >>> electricity out ....they have a shredded metal rotating HEST EXCHANGER THAT RECOVERS HEAT FROM SMOKE STACK and FEEDS **HOT** AIR INTO FIRE BOX , RAISING EFFICIENCY ~5% (?) ....use a AXIAL , PERMANENT MAGNET A.C. GENERATOR *** NO STEEL NEAR WINDINGS *** and raise GENERATOR EFFICIENCY !! ... COMPARED TO COMMON ROTOR/ STRATOR type **1850** designs

Definitely worth doing.

Absolutely. Just a little exhaust from stage 1 will make a huge difference in efficiency.

Two working safety valves is critical. These are off the shelf components from model engineering suppliers. In you UK you have plenty of sources like blackgates

But I'm not in the U.K.

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 oh! Where are you? Looks and sounds like the uk 🇬🇧. :)

@@chiefauditor1683 Ireland - so not so far away, except the import duties make buying anything from there crazy

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 a lot of model engineering parts are made by people in the hobby. Still at reasonable prices. I’m not familiar with model engineering in your neck of the woods but I’m sure you have them. Well worth the time. Also take a look at a blower for the chimney. Basically a ring with very small holes. 1/64th. Tiny jet of steam up the chimney drawing the fire.

I thought that too; I'm glad it is not just me.

Good idea

And salt as well. If the burned skin is intact, just after heat contact, use cold water first and apply a lot of salt. It prevents from the 2nd degree burns and blisters, I think, due to osmotic draining of excessive liquid.

@@bonobo9904 dear bonobo9904, please, with no offense meant, look up proppper burn wound treatment online. Applying salt is one of the last things you should do as far as I am informed.

That's what i thought. Without knowing much about oven/boiler designing, the new design around 6:55 looks pretty darn good and professional! Reminds me of some vintage indoor ovens used in log houses? 😅

Thanks - that's the bell-shaped thing on top of steam locos, right?

Thanks, D. : - )

This is a great idea! I think he already makes charcoal on his property, and activated charcoal has lots of great uses

Thanks, Tracy. Yes, the grinder is suprisingly useful

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 Tim, I cannot find you on Patreon. Can you help me?

His system isn't closed. The steam is free to escape through the copper tubing. There is not valve trying to over pressure the tubing.

@@jameskniskern2261 Yes, as long as the steam is not put to any work, the system is opened, but as soon as the steam sees an obstacle, such as trying to operate a steam engine, pressure will begin to build.

@@Gin-toki if the pressure builds there is a safety valve that is the blow off point. There is no collection reservoir to build pressure the pressure is created forward of the float valve. He may need a check valve on the water to prevent steam backflow. But with a safety valve at the 1st stage boiler, the entire steam generation system is protected by said valve.

I think he's going to build a vacuum steam engine... No scary high pressure!!!??

Welcome aboard!

Thanks, Albert : - )

I'm sure it would work for bigger radii, but for bends this tight?

Maybe just use elbow fittings, and instead of using Teflon tape just use old-fashioned packing?

Nice idea. The only problem I see is the thickness of the tube wall and the radii you want here are not practical for it to work ..... and spring bending only works with copper pipe so the grate is out for that! Your pinhole problem can be fixed (next time, because there is always a next time) by grinding the cut edges of the tube to be welded at 45 degree. This would allow for deeper penetration of weld rather than just the surface .... the finished weld will look better too ;0) It is a bit out of fashion nowadays but Gas welding might give the best results with the grate but is probably not worth it unless you are doing production runs. If you had run your gas torch on the original chimney it could have started the draw causing the exhaust fumes to then take over the heating ..... but your fix was more elegant! I have just found this channel ..... Well worth a sub!

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 trumpet 🎺 and other brass horn makers use frozen soapy 🧼 water. Soapy enough to easily blow bubbles with the water. Freeze it then bend it. You'll also want to use a very high grade of stainless steel tubing meant for this type of heat exchange. At superheated temperatures 🌡, the steam will actually begin to break down some and into hydrogen and oxygen. And will rapidly degrade the steel otherwise.

In this case the extra turbulence is likely beneficial to the longer exposure of the liquid/vapor to heat. Nothing to solve, but good thiunking when flow is the restriction (it isn't here).

I like it!

Yes, I might have a go at that too, one day. It's all very interesting.

Thanks, Rasmus - very interesting

Collab with Keith Appleton?

thanks - I had no idea they were out there

Thanks, Terry. But how tight were you bends?

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 the heavy wall tube we used had multiple bends 90 O on one end sand packed tight proper heat should bend what you want

I think they're very difficult to get working properly and have very little power

Thanks, Pieter - good idea

Thank you! You too!

In fact you need much more energy to superheat the steam than you need to boil water

@@wayoutwest-workshopstuff6299 You just need higher temperatures, but the needed energy is wayyyy lower... For example: If your fire produces a usable power output(without losses) of 1kW, and you start with 1kg(approx.1Liter)of water, it takes 418 seconds to heat the water from 0°C to 100°C. To convert all the water to steam it takes additional 2230 seconds. But to superheat all the steam from 100°C to 200°C it just takes less than 200 seconds... To make this numbers more useful for continuous steam production, i calculated it for 1kW of heat input and 10°C feed water temperature: From 1kW total input power, you need 135 Watts for preheating the water, 800 Watts for producing steam, and 65 Watts for superheating the steam to 200°C. These numbers are just for steam without any pressure. As the pressure (and therefore the boiling temperature) rises, you need more energy for preheating the feed water and less energy for superheating the steam to 200°C...

Thanks, you too!

Welcome aboard!