Superheater question
Posted by:
ianc (IP Logged)
Date: April 28, 2010 05:29AM
I've got the boiler to the point of one very small weep at 400 psi, and consensus is that I should fire it up. (Gradually.) I'm to the point of fitting the burner to the boiler. When I took it off, I found that the superheater had no support other than the two steam connections. Do I need more support? (I'm not keen on hanging two kg. of metal from the fittings.) If I do need more support, the easiest way to obtain it is to hang the superheater from a couple of rods through the tubes. I can obtain 1/8" SS rods, or 3/16" TIG rods. Anyone know the melting temp of either? Or should I support it from the bottom, which would be stronger, but more difficult, as it would require figuring out what the dimensions of the supports should be?
And while I'm at it, when I removed the smoke box I found that every tube had a spiral strip of metal. The purpose is to provide more heat to the tubes, and hence to the water, but I'm not sure it helps much, as I understand that most of the heat in the tubes is in the lower 30%. Any comments gratefully received.