Gallery, Projects and General > Project Logs
I bought a steam engine
awemawson:
Oi - my bench vise is a Record No 3 and it ain't that big :bugeye:
vtsteam:
John, I'm not sure of the manufacturer. The true Westinghouse engines that I've seen online had different shaped crankcases. But I think I now have a clue to the maker-- it is coming from Michigan and I found this online about a Detroit, Michigan engine maker.
I think there's a strong resemblance in the photos on the museum webpage linked below, and I also know mine has a 4" bore. Not sure of the stroke yet. It's supposed to arrive next week.
http://newsm.org/steam/murphy-two-cylinder-steam-engine
vtsteam:
I'm guessing that It might run 20-30 hp if it's a 4" x 5" twin and it can run maybe 1000 rpm on 175 psi.
I don't really know, of course, but that's a chair butt laptop engineering guess without much solid ground to go on.
I don't need that much hp -- my 6 hp Listeroid diesel will put out 3 kw steady, and in a power outage it will run most everything in the house, except the hot water heater.
So I will probably run this baby more modestly on steam, after repairs/restoration, and, if and when I ever have a boiler etc. for it.
600 rpm might be a good number, and that's the same as the Lister. My gen head is a 5 kW Chinese ST-5. Wouldn't be more than a pulley change to mate that up.
vtsteam:
I might be off on that hp calculation. I'm not sure if it should be figured differently for this engine than the usual steam way, since it's a single acting engine. Maybe it should be more like 15 hp at 1000 rpm and 175 PSI (at the boiler).
Well anyway, probably 600 rpm will provide plenty of juice, and maybe push the ST-5 gen head to to make its max 5 kW rating, rather than the 3 kW I get now with the LIster. 10 hp out of the steam engine would do that.
vintageandclassicrepairs:
Hi Steve,
Thanks for the reply,
I'm chuckling away quietly here, "Murphy Iron Works Michegin " (plate on engine)
Us Irish got everywhere :wave:
It would be a cool setup to have the steam engine/ genny backup,
I wonder if you could also get domestic hot water as a by product?
Exhaust steam to a heat exchanger maybe?
Lots to think about :scratch:
John
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