need info on boiler size ECT.

[the-mitchster]

ive build a steam engine out of a 3.0 hores briggs. i need some insite on how big this thing will need to be???? im planing on building a monotube for cost and safety reasons. how many feet of coils will i need and how much steam will it have to produce?? ???

 

[Kermit]

You really MUST know the pressure you will operate at.

at standard atm pressure. 1 lb of water will occupy approx 1600 times more volume as steam.

At 45 lbs gauge(60 absolute) 1 lb of water will occupy approx. 600 times more volume as steam.

Operation at 45 pounds gauge would involve you finding the cubic volume and the number of strokes the piston makes every minute(RPM's) and computing the amount of cubic volume you must fill every minute.

Divide that by the 600 factor of expansion and you will have the amount of volume the corresponding water will occupy inside your boiler. This is the amount of water that must be evaporated every minute at that pressure. You will want at least 10 to 20 times this volume in your boiler minimum. for that size engine you are probable gonna need one about the size of a small refrigerator.

The other expansion factors for steam pressures in between 0 and 45 can be found by extrapolation from the two listed above.