Accucraft sight glass, erratic water level ?

[RobB]

Hi,

I've got a brand new, steamed twice only Accucraft Countess. At points during a run, I want to fill the water with my 'pumpy bottle'.

I stop the loco and look at the water level, it's says the water is above the boiler. I start to pump water as it can't be above the boiler. The water then shows 1/4 full, then rises slowly to show full again, then drops again, up and down, up and down it goes??

I've had a few guys look at it during a run/fill and they all say it's not reading correctly. Is this normal ?? How do you all fill the Countess, she runs perfectly

Thanks,
Rob.

 

[bobg]

Small water gauges are notoriously difficult. There is one simple trick which I got from this Forum and can confirm works very well. Cut yourself a short length of thin fuse wire and fit it INSIDE the gauge glass. Simple with Counttess to remove the cap on the top and just poke it down inside.

It appears to work by disturbing the minisus on the top of the water. While you have the top off, clean the inside of the glass if you can, that will also help.

 

[RobB]

Thank you

 

[JRinTawa]

The sight glass in my Leader isn't the most reliable either, seems to settle though when the regulator is open. I top up water every 8 to 10 minutes (every 3 laps of our railway) and count the number of squeezes of the pump bottle - 30 to 35 which puts in about 30ml - rather than rely on the level in the sight glass.

 

[RailsNRivers]

Somee suggestions:

- Keep the glass really clean and degreased (watch for minute powdery and oily deposits etc which can 'snag' the water in the tube
- Loosen and then re-tighten the cap nut on top of the top elbow before each run (to ensure no air locks)
- Try and get the banjo bolt jet pointing towards the gauge glass (seems to keep the air/steam more agitiated and 'blow' it to the right level)
- If practical to do so and enough material in the gauge glass elbows, bore them out to accept a larger bore tube, any larger tube helps, the larger the better (I tend to do this anyway so you can use standard 5 or 6mm bore model engineering gauge glasses rather than the bespoke Accucraft 4.87mm tubes (??)

Hope this helps

 

[dunnyrail]

Another thing to help read is a piece of metal or card behind the gauge with lines at an angle of around 45 degrees from horizontal, helps with reading the water level. All to de with refraction or summat, water looks level and more visible.