Cheddar Hercules Squeal

M

Moonraker

Registered
Country flag
I have a twelve year old Cheddar Hercules live steam loco which still runs nicely. However, ever since day one it has emitted an annoying squeal from the gas jet for about 50% of the time when running. The direction of the wind seems to be a factor and I can stop the squeal by putting my finger over the air intake. I have tried putting a loose metal sleeve over the burner but to no effect.

Has any Cheddar owner had the same problem and solved it?

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
 
I don't have chedder engine but i have experienced the sqeal / howl from gas burners, it can be caused by the hole used for the entrainment of air into the burner being in the wrong position ie to forward of the jet or to backward of the jet or a sharp edge in one or both of the entrainment holes, a LITTLE use of a file may help. Another of the methods I found was to put some stainless steel mesh inside the burner tube under the burner ports / slots, this slows down the exit of the gas / air mixture that is if the tube is big enough to allow this. This was the way domestic heating boilers with a burner under a heat exchanger used to slow the gas mixture down to get a regular burn across the burner.
the other way is to wrap the mesh around the the entrainment hole
It's a case of experiment and see what works for you.

Shaun
 
Moonraker said:
I have a twelve year old Cheddar Hercules live steam loco which still runs nicely. However, ever since day one it has emitted an annoying squeal from the gas jet for about 50% of the time when running. The direction of the wind seems to be a factor and I can stop the squeal by putting my finger over the air intake. I have tried putting a loose metal sleeve over the burner but to no effect.

Has any Cheddar owner had the same problem and solved it?

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
Click to expand...
Sounds like my daughter when she was 12! (Sorry to interrupt, I couldn't resist it)
 
Moonraker said:
I have a twelve year old Cheddar Hercules live steam loco which still runs nicely. However, ever since day one it has emitted an annoying squeal from the gas jet for about 50% of the time when running. The direction of the wind seems to be a factor and I can stop the squeal by putting my finger over the air intake. I have tried putting a loose metal sleeve over the burner but to no effect.

Has any Cheddar owner had the same problem and solved it?

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
Click to expand...

Garden Railways had an article about curing burner howl, would have been around 2009 - 2011.
 
I had a similar problem with my Regner Vincent. I put a brass sleeve over the air intake which can slide to adjust the amount of air and stop the annoying high pitched noise.
 
The problem has turned out to be wind. The slightest breeze entering the rear of the cab causes the squeal. If I cover the burner inlet on the side the breeze is coming from then it stops immediately. Hence I will need to make a wind break which allows air to freely enter the burners from above but not from the sides. This will need to be done with care....my attempts so far either extinguish the flame or make it ineffective so that the loco does not steam well.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
 
Moonraker said:
The problem has turned out to be wind. The slightest breeze entering the rear of the cab causes the squeal. If I cover the burner inlet on the side the breeze is coming from then it stops immediately. Hence I will need to make a wind break which allows air to freely enter the burners from above but not from the sides. This will need to be done with care....my attempts so far either extinguish the flame or make it ineffective so that the loco does not steam well.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
Click to expand...
I would not worry too much, many years back I was watching one of the HSB 0-6-0 Locomotives shunting around Wernigerode. The loco had the blower on all the time and it sounded just like it was a Howling Gas Burner on a Garden Railway Loco.
 
Moonraker said:
The problem has turned out to be wind. The slightest breeze entering the rear of the cab causes the squeal. If I cover the burner inlet on the side the breeze is coming from then it stops immediately. Hence I will need to make a wind break which allows air to freely enter the burners from above but not from the sides. This will need to be done with care....my attempts so far either extinguish the flame or make it ineffective so that the loco does not steam well.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
Click to expand...
Wind, sounds like you've been at Gizzy's Friday Fry-up!:giggle:
 
Moonraker said:
The problem has turned out to be wind. The slightest breeze entering the rear of the cab causes the squeal. If I cover the burner inlet on the side the breeze is coming from then it stops immediately. Hence I will need to make a wind break which allows air to freely enter the burners from above but not from the sides. This will need to be done with care....my attempts so far either extinguish the flame or make it ineffective so that the loco does not steam well.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
Click to expand...

Perhaps my idea of wrapping the air holes on the burner tube with a single layer of fine mesh may be an answer
good luck

Shaun
 
TLR said:
Perhaps my idea of wrapping the air holes on the burner tube with a single layer of fine mesh may be an answer
good luck

Shaun
Click to expand...
Shaun,

I should have mentioned that I tried that but it just reduced, all the time, the air getting to the burner making the flame less effective and reducing the steam generated.

Regards
Peter Lucas
MyLocoSound
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom