How Do I Light My Steam Engine Fuel Tablets?

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the challenges of lighting fuel tablets for a model steam engine, specifically those made of Methenamine. Participants share their experiences, suggestions, and various methods for igniting the tablets, as well as considerations for alternative fuel sources.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Experimental/applied

Main Points Raised

  • One participant struggles to light the Methenamine tablets using a cigarette lighter, noting they do not catch fire despite being labeled "highly flammable."
  • Another recalls using ordinary matchsticks to light similar tablets decades ago, but does not remember any special techniques.
  • Some participants suggest that the tablets may have absorbed moisture and recommend baking them or using ash as a catalyst to improve ignition.
  • There are suggestions to use alternative methods, such as lighting the tablets on a gas stovetop or using candles, though safety concerns are raised regarding these methods.
  • One participant successfully lights the tablets by using a specific technique of placing them in the tray and lighting them edge-on, but notes that it consumes many tablets to generate steam.
  • Several participants express skepticism about using candles, with warnings that it could damage the boiler.
  • There are discussions about converting the steam engine to use an alcohol or oil burner as a potential solution for fuel issues.
  • One participant humorously anthropomorphizes the steam engine, naming it "Ole Gal" and sharing experiences of maintenance and operation.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the best method to light the fuel tablets, with multiple competing views on techniques and alternative fuel sources remaining unresolved.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention the possibility of the tablets being hydroscopic, which may affect their performance. There are also references to safety concerns with various lighting methods, and the discussion includes personal anecdotes that may not apply universally.

Who May Find This Useful

Model steam engine enthusiasts, hobbyists interested in alternative fuel sources, and individuals seeking practical advice on igniting Methenamine fuel tablets may find this discussion relevant.

BadBrain
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I recently bought one of those model steam engines, which came with a box of fuel tablets which I can't figure out how to light. I've put them over my cigarette lighter until they snap, crackle, and pop but they just won't catch and my engine won't go.

How do you light these things?

The box describes the substance of the tablets as Methenamine, and it gives a warning that says they're "highly flammable".

Yeah, I wish!
 
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I remember those tablets, but I don't remember what they're called, or whether I had to do anything special to light them besides an ordinary matchstick. (This would have been 35-40 years ago.)
 
BadBrain said:
How do you light these things?
I don't know.

Is there a way you could rig it up to run off an alcohol burner?
 
They may be hydroscopic and have absorbed water. You might bake some in the oven at low heat and see how they behave afterward.

You might also try rubbing on some ash as a catalyst. It works for sugar, and also mixtures of sugar and potash.
 
zoobyshoe said:
I don't know.

Is there a way you could rig it up to run off an alcohol burner?

I don't see how. It's a Wilesco model D456, with a small fuel tablet aperture.

I've thought of buying some candles for a child's birthday cake and chopping them into pieces small enough to fit in the fuel slide.
 
Phrak said:
They may be hydroscopic and have absorbed water. You might bake some in the oven at low heat and see how they behave afterward.

You might also try rubbing on some ash as a catalyst. It works for sugar, and also mixtures of sugar and potash.

I tried rubbing them in sugar, and it didn't work. I don't had any potash lying around: I'm a physicist, not a chemist.
 
BadBrain said:
I tried rubbing them in sugar, and it didn't work. I don't had any potash lying around: I'm a physicist, not a chemist.

Um. Rub with ash, not sugar. Though it probably won't work. It was a possible quick fix and long shot, though ash will probably help with lighting them.

Try the oven trick for a few hours or a hot sunny window for a few days.
 
If you have a gas burning stovetop at home, put one of those on the small stovetop, light it and see what happenes. It might burn, then take it with a pair of pincers and have fun, if not then there are a lot of things than clould have happened including too much stabilisers or the wrong chemical.
 
Lok said:
If you have a gas burning stovetop at home, put one of those on the small stovetop, light it and see what happenes. It might burn, then take it with a pair of pincers and have fun, if not then there are a lot of things than clould have happened including too much stabilisers or the wrong chemical.

I do have a gas range, but I detect certain safety issues involved with your suggestion (I live in an apartment building).

I think I'm just going to try my candle trick.
 
  • #10
try holding a match flame to one. Maybe the cigarette lighter isn't working because it's not a flame.
 
  • #12
These are the small white bricks, right? I also had them some thirty years ago. Since they're flammable, I wouldn't mess with them. I would just buy new ones at the store, they can't cost more than a few bucks...
 
  • #13
They should light instantly with a match. Don't use candles instead; you might burn a hole in your boiler.
 
  • #14
MarcoD said:
These are the small white bricks, right? I also had them some thirty years ago. Since they're flammable, I wouldn't mess with them. I would just buy new ones at the store, they can't cost more than a few bucks...

This is probably the best solution: just buy fresh ones.
 
  • #15
I finally got it to work!

Instead of putting both tablets in at once, and attempting to light them through the air holes in the sides (which allowed the metal fuel tablet tray to conduct the heat of my match away from the fuel tablet) or trying to light the tablets from above (which frustrated my attempts due to the tenancy of heat to rise), I finally learned to place only one tablet into the tray, and then light it edge on (applying maximum heat to minimum surface area), and, once I got that tablet going, to insert another tablet into the tray, and then to insert the tray into the boiler firebox.

I got the engine working, and it even operated the little machine-shop I bought to go with it.

Even so, it took me several tablets just to get up a head of steam in the engine, and, even then, the boiler and cylinder were both extremely leaky (with the cylinder leaking both water and lubricating oil), and I always had to twirl the flywheel to get the cylinder to operate.

All in all, it's going to cost me a fortune in fuel tablets to get this engine to run for any decent amount of time.
 
  • #17
Anyways, the Ole Gal (hey, I think that's what I'll call her, seeing as every steam engine deserves a name, and every steam engine is obviously female (temperamental and high-maintenance) stopped running a short time ago, so I gave her a major maintenance work over: washed out her fuel tablet tray, topped off her lubricating oil, wiped her down (I'm finally beginning to understand why steamships had crew members entitled "oilers" and "wipers"!), and replenished her boiler water.

Firing "Ole Gal" up again!

Let's see what happens!
 
  • #18
Ole Gal gave me lots of good service this evening, but she ate up all my fuel tablets in the process.

Like I said, I'm going to go broke running this thing.

Just like a woman!

(My favorite video of which song just happens to be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5yQ8JJ8R9E"

***

One more point:

I use the engine to operate the Wilesco M56 Model Plate, which consists of a grinder, circular saw, and drill press, but I must mention that the last doesn't seem to work, no matter how high I hike up the tension in the transmission belt. I can find no port for lubrication oil for the drill press, so I've simply found it best to disengage it from the mechanism to keep the entire arrangement operating at peak efficiency. Even so, I've tried to use the circle saw to cut through matchsticks and toothpicks to no avail: way too little power behind the tools (although I was able to score some small degree of success with the grinder versus the matchsticks).

***

I have more fuel tablets on order, but I have no idea how soon they'll get to me.

***

Thanks for all of your kind suggestions.
 
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  • #19
Is this what you have? :

 
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  • #20
BadBrain said:
Ole Gal gave me lots of good service this evening, but she ate up all my fuel tablets in the process.

Like I said, I'm going to go broke running this thing.

So? Convert her to an alcohol burner. If you don't mind the soot, an oil burner works well, too.

Just like a woman!

What? Soot?

Just joshing with you.

I knew a modeler (cars, planes) who kept a steam engine running next to him for decades. It powered little saws and grinders he'd built. That was in the days before Dremel, of course.

His was powered by oil lamp. He was always cleaning the thing, so he later converted to methanol. He had quite a miniature machine shop in his garage, and I think he designed and built the thing himself. Even had throttles and fire control slides like a locomotive.
 
  • #21
zoobyshoe said:
Is this what you have? :




Yes, that's absolutely what I have.
 
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  • #22
DoggerDan said:
So? Convert her to an alcohol burner. If you don't mind the soot, an oil burner works well, too.
What? Soot?

Just joshing with you.

I knew a modeler (cars, planes) who kept a steam engine running next to him for decades. It powered little saws and grinders he'd built. That was in the days before Dremel, of course.

His was powered by oil lamp. He was always cleaning the thing, so he later converted to methanol. He had quite a miniature machine shop in his garage, and I think he designed and built the thing himself. Even had throttles and fire control slides like a locomotive.

I guess I don't have your friend's experience with power plants. The only alcohol I have in my apartment is the stuff I'm drinking right now, as well as isopropyl alcohol, which I originally purchased for the purpose of testing whether certain water-based systems were dependent upon the physical properties of water (which isopropyl alcohol does not share), and which I've recently begun to use against my bedbud infestation (as isopropyl alcohol is toxic to bedbugs).

I just hope I get my replacement fuel tablets ASAP!
 
  • #23
BadBrain said:
Yes, that's absolutely what I have.

Sexy! :smile:
 
  • #24
OK, ten days later, I finally got my new fuel tablets throughout the mail, and I"m lighting "Ole Gal" up again!
 
  • #25
I can't understand how it has been over a week since this comment:

BadBrain said:
Ole Gal gave me lots of good service this evening...

...and no one has come with the obvious smart aleck remark it deserves. Haha. Steam power is fascinating to me. Had the oppurtunity to ride a steam locomotive train a number of times as well as crawl all over the engine in cold storage. Completely comsumes me. Also watched a sawmill run by steam power. Again, fascinating.
 
  • #26
Averagesupernova said:
I can't understand how it has been over a week since this comment:



...and no one has come with the obvious smart aleck remark it deserves. Haha. Steam power is fascinating to me. Had the oppurtunity to ride a steam locomotive train a number of times as well as crawl all over the engine in cold storage. Completely comsumes me. Also watched a sawmill run by steam power. Again, fascinating.

I've watched, not only steam railroad locomotives, but an old-timey single expansion engine aboard S.S. Sabine at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut.
 
  • #27
Oh come on. Are you not even going to try Phrak's suggestion of sticking the highly flammable fuel in the oven and baking it?

(We are trying to cull the burgeoning ranks of PF members...)
 
  • #28
DaveC426913 said:
Oh come on. Are you not even going to try Phrak's suggestion of sticking the highly flammable fuel in the oven and baking it?

(We are trying to cull the burgeoning ranks of PF members...)

Haven't tried it yet, and I yet live to post again!
 

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