A Catechism of the Steam Engine · Chapter 40Management of Marine Boilers
This chapter is not translated yet. You are reading the original.
726. Q.--You have already stated that the formation of salt or scale in marine boilers is to be prevented by blowing out into the sea at frequent intervals a portion of the concentrated water. Will you now explain how the proper quantity of water to be blown out is determined?
A.--By means of the salinometer, which is an instrument for determining the density of the water, constructed on the principle of the hydrometer for telling the strength of spirits. Some of the water is drawn off from the boiler from time to time, and the salinometer is immersed in it after it has been cooled. By the graduations of the salinometer the saltness of this water is at once discovered; and if the saltness exceeds 8 ounces of salt in the gallon, more water should be blown out of the boiler to be replenished with fresher water from the sea, until the prescribed limit of freshness is attained. Should the salinometer be accidentally broken, a temporary one may be constructed of a phial weighted with a few grains of shot or other convenient weight. The weighted phial is first to be floated in fresh water, and its line of floatation marked; then to be floated in salt water, and its line of floatation marked; and another mark of an equal height above the salt water mark will be the blow off point.
727. Q.--HOW often should boilers be blown off in order to keep them free from incrustation?
A.--Flue boilers generally require to be blown off about twice every watch, or about twice in the four hours; but tubular boilers may require to be blown off once every twenty minutes, and such an amount of blowing off should in every case be adopted, as will effectually prevent any injurious amount of incrustation.
728. Q.--In the event of scale accumulating on the flues of a boiler, what is the best way of removing it?
A.--If the boilers require to be scaled, the best method of performing the operation appears to be the following:--Lay a train of shavings along the flues, open the safety valve to prevent the existence of any pressure within the boiler, and light the train of shavings, which, by expanding rapidly the metal of the flues, while the scale, from its imperfect conducting power, can only expand slowly, will crack off the scale; by washing down the flues with a hose, the scale will be carried to the bottom of the boiler, or issue, with the water, from the mud-hole doors. This method of scaling must be practised only by the engineer himself, and must not be intrusted to the firemen who, in their ignorance, might damage the boiler by overheating the plates. It is only where the incrustation upon the flues is considerable that this method of removing it need be practised; in partial cases the scale may be chipped off by a hatched faced hammer, and the flues may then be washed down with the hose in the manner before described.
729. Q.--Should the steam be let out of the boiler, after it has blown out the water, when the engine is stopped?
A.--No; it is better to retain the steam in the boiler, as the heat and moisture it occasions soften any scale adhering to the boiler, and cause it to peel off. Care must, however, be taken not to form a vacuum in the boiler; and the gauge cocks, if opened, will prevent this.
730. Q.--Are tubular boilers liable to the formation of scale in certain places, though generally free from it?
A.--In tubular boilers a good deal of care is required to prevent the ends of the tubes next the furnace from becoming coated with scale. Even when the boiler is tolerably clean in other places the scale will collect here; and in many cases where the amount of blowing off previously found to suffice for flue boilers has been adopted, an incrustation five eighths of an inch in thickness has formed in twelve months round the furnace ends of the tubes, and the stony husks enveloping them have actually grown together in some parts so as totally to exclude the water.
731. Q.--When a tubular boiler gets incrusted in the manner you have described, what is the best course to be adopted for the removal of the scale?
A.--When a boiler gets into this state the whole of the tubes must be pulled out, which may be done by a Spanish windlass combined with a pair of blocks; and three men, when thus provided, will be able to draw out from 50 to 70 tubes per day,--those tubes with the thickest and firmest incrustations being, of course, the most difficult to remove. The act of drawing out the tubes removes the incrustation; but the tubes should afterward be scraped by drawing them backward and forward between the old files, fixed in a vice, in the form of the letter V. The ends of the tube should then be heated and dressed with the hammer, and plunged while at a blood heat into a bed of sawdust to make them cool soft, so that they may be riveted again with facility. A few of the tubes will be so far damaged at the ends by the act of drawing them out, as to be too short for reinsertion: this result might be to a considerable extent obviated by setting the tube plates at different angles, so that the several horizontal rows of tubes would not be originally of the same length, and the damaged tubes of the long rows would serve to replace the short ones; but the practice would be attended with other inconveniences.
732. Q.--Is there no other means of keeping boilers free from scale than by blowing off?
A.--Muriatic acid, or muriate of ammonia, commonly called sal-ammoniac, introduced into a boiler, prevents scale to a great extent; but it is liable to corrode the boiler internally, and also to damage the engine, by being carried over with the steam; and the use of such intermixtures does not appear to be necessary, if blowing off from the surface of the water is largely practised. In old boilers, however, already incrusted with scale, the use of muriate of ammonia may sometimes be advantageous.
733. Q.--Are not the tubes of tubular boilers liable to be choked up by deposits of soot?
A.--The soot which collects in the inside of the tubes of tubular boilers is removed by means of a brush, like a large bottle brush; and the carbonaceous scale, which remains adhering to the interior of the tubes, is removed by a circular scraper. Ferules in the tubes interfere with the action of this scraper, and in the case of iron tubes ferules are now generally discarded; but it will sometimes be necessary to use ferules for iron tubes, where the tubes have been drawn and reinserted, as it may be difficult to refix the tubes without such an auxiliary. Tubes one tenth of an inch in thickness are too thin: one eighth of an inch is a better thickness, and such tubes will better dispense with the use of ferules, and will not so soon wear into holes.
734. Q.--If the furnace or flue of a boiler be injured, how do you proceed to repair it?
A.--If from any imperfection in the roof of a furnace or flue a patch requires to be put upon it, it will be better to let the patch be applied upon the upper, rather than upon the lower, surface of the plate; as if applied within the furnace a recess will be formed for the lodgment of deposit, which will prevent the rapid transmission of the heat in that part; and the iron will be very liable to be again burned away. A crack in a plate may be closed by boring holes in the direction of the crack, and inserting rivets with large heads, so as to cover up the imperfection. If the top of the furnace be bent down, from the boiler having been accidentally allowed to get short of water, it may be set up again by a screw jack,--a fire of wood having been previously made beneath the injured plate; but it will in general be nearly as expeditious a course to remove the plate and introduce a new one, and the result will be more satisfactory.
735. Q.--In the case of the chimney being carried away by shot or otherwise, what course would you pursue?
A.--In some cases of collision, the funnel is carried away and lost overboard, and such cases are among the most difficult for which a remedy can be sought. If flame come out of the chimney when the funnel is knocked away, so as to incur the risk of setting the ship on fire, the uptake of the boiler must be covered over with an iron plate, or be sufficiently covered to prevent such injury. A temporary chimney must then be made of such materials as are on board the ship. If there are bricks and clay or lime on board, a square chimney may be built with them, or, if there be sheet iron plates on board, a square chimney may be constructed of them. In the absence of such materials, the awning stanchions may be set up round the chimney, and chain rove in through among them in the manner of wicker work, so as to make an iron wicker chimney, which may then be plastered outside with wet ashes mixed with clay, flour, or any other material that will give the ashes cohesion. War steamers should carry short spare funnels, which may easily be set up should the original funnel be shot away; and if a jet of steam be let into the chimney, a very short and small funnel will suffice for the purpose of draught.