How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

This forum is dedicated to the Live Steam Hobbyist Community.

Moderators: cbrew, Harold_V

User avatar
Drprez
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:55 am
Location: Las Vegas

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Drprez »

NP317 wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 9:38 pm
Fender wrote: Tue Sep 27, 2022 2:27 pm Are you wanting white, black or gray smoke?
An important question if you are trying to represent reality.
Black smoke implies over-firing with incomplete combustion. Or soot from sanding the flues.
White "smoke" implies steam. It can also represent an extinguished oil fire that is ready to explode! (I've seen that. It blew the fireman back against the tender!)
Gray smoke = mixing of smoke and steam.

And as stated by LVRR2095, a clear stack = optimum firing.
If you watch old(er) films of steam locomotives in the 1950s, the clear stack of the approaching locomotive often suddenly went black as the fireman saw the photographer and decided to give them dramatic oil smoke, thinking that is what they wanted! That was filmed on GN and NP oil-burning locomotives in Washington State.
Just don't let the railroad's bean counters see that. Black smoke meant $$ wasted up the stack.

So: What are you hoping to illustrate in your filming?
RussN
It’s more for the dramatic look on screen and the sun setting we need it to be thick for it to “come alive” on screen.
Nicholas Kalair
Las Vegas, NV

...the best is yet to come...
User avatar
Drprez
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:55 am
Location: Las Vegas

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Drprez »

Maybe I should ask does anyone know of a pellet that will smoke by heat and not fire? That will be thick like the fog juice where I can put a few in a “container” with a small vent hole to give a consistent smoke?

Or any ideas how to run a copper line from a Reservoir or something through the right heat and temperature and then out without overheating it that’s my fear
Nicholas Kalair
Las Vegas, NV

...the best is yet to come...
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10459
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Bill Shields »

Water temp n the 100 psi boiler is not the same as exhaust steam temp...which unfortunately is not the same as stack temp

You might be able to something at the very top of the stack with an insulated feed line..

Beyond that..cooler operating area...??
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10459
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Bill Shields »

Google "colored smoke from jet airplane"

Guarantee is hot...but may not be safe to breathe
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
User avatar
Fender
Posts: 3084
Joined: Wed May 02, 2007 8:33 pm
Location: Chattanooga TN

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Fender »

I can offer no insight about “chemical” smoke. I assume the humidity there is too low for steam to work, because it would evaporate almost instantly. The easiest way would be to put a handful of wet sticks (like popsicle sticks) into to firebox. They would burn up quickly and produce a negligible amount of ash.
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
User avatar
Greg_Lewis
Posts: 3014
Joined: Wed Jan 15, 2003 2:44 pm
Location: Fresno, CA

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Greg_Lewis »

I presume you need this while running. Will there be a person on the tender visible in the shot? If not then is the danger of the smoke negated? If not would a respirator mask be adequate for protection?

What is the camera angle? Could the smoke be generated through a tube on the side of the stack that 's away from the camera and thus out of view but that looks to be coming from the stack? Perhaps something like a 2-inch or so diameter hose running out of sight to a smoke generator on a following car and then run up behind the stack as seen from the camera position. If the smoke is top priority then a camera angle could be chosen to accommodate this.
Greg Lewis, Prop.
Eyeball Engineering — Home of the dull toolbit.
Our motto: "That looks about right."
Celebrating 35 years of turning perfectly good metal into bits of useless scrap.
User avatar
Drprez
Posts: 59
Joined: Tue Apr 02, 2019 3:55 am
Location: Las Vegas

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Drprez »

It’s moving so it needs to find out of the stack

I’m thinking of making a copper coil in the funnel and some how like a lubricator put a drop or two in every so long I just need to find the temp sweet spot.

Has anyone used the smoke sticks for HVAC testing? Is it a chemical or a wax?
Nicholas Kalair
Las Vegas, NV

...the best is yet to come...
User avatar
Trainman4602
Posts: 3482
Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 9:26 pm
Location: New Jersey

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Trainman4602 »

Dirty coal will give you plenty of smoke or over firing will do the same pouring green coal on the fire will do it something us coal advocates love to have a clean tack
ALLWAYS OPERATING MY TRAIN IN A SAFE MANNER USING AUTOMATIC AIR BRAKES
User avatar
SPSteam2491
Posts: 271
Joined: Tue Feb 21, 2017 2:30 pm
Location: Mukwonago, WI

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by SPSteam2491 »

With the engine being propane fired, putting coal or wood into the firebox isn't a viable option.

Perhaps a different approach if you are going for the dramatic effect is to run the engine on compressed air for the shots and utilize a smoke generator through the firebox (with no fire) or injected into the smokebox. This removes the heat from the equation while still give the chuffs and noise of the engine. Since you have a propane car behind the engine, replace the propane tank with a compressed air tank to keep it hidden. Just tossing an idea out there that may spur another idea as well.
Thanks
John LaFavor
Pacific Design Shops
ChooChooChris
Posts: 94
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2022 2:01 pm

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by ChooChooChris »

try feeding fog juice via a copper pipe though the firebox into the flues and into the smokebox where it can sit open ended. Low cost and worth a quick test. copper, tubing, syringe or even just a cap on the copper and let the vaporization handle it. As long as it is under 550 degrees it should work so a container in the smoke box could even work fine maybe a container in a waterbath?
-Chris Srch---- Home track Tradewinds and Atlantic Railroad
User avatar
Bill Shields
Posts: 10459
Joined: Fri Dec 21, 2007 4:57 am
Location: 39.367, -75.765
Contact:

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by Bill Shields »

It this loco a coal burner or propane?
Too many things going on to bother listing them.
User avatar
NP317
Posts: 4557
Joined: Tue Jun 24, 2014 2:57 pm
Location: Northern Oregon, USA

Re: How to make “fake” smoke for boiler

Post by NP317 »

Can you inject the smoke fluid into the stack blower to get the effects you seek?
Then is becomes controllable with the blower valve.
RussN
Post Reply