Alternative Fuels

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Gra2472
Posts: 273
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Location: Monte Rio California

Alternative Fuels

Post by Gra2472 »

Good morning live steamers. I hope that many of you are making progress on your winter projects. I know that I am not. Too darn cold and wet in the shop. Plus I shut everything down and prepared for the river to flood last week while I was in Orlando. Not a bad trade if I say so myself. Anyways, my wife and I replaced our wood stove with a pellet stove this year and it got me thinking. It’s not a realistic alternative of course, but have any of you ever experimented with wood pellets in your locomotives? I might try it in a small locomotive just for fun. I imagine that I’ll be shoveling like a mad man to keep up.

Stay warm and safe out there.

G
7.5" Allen Mogul
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The railroad is almost done.
G. Augustus
Monte Rio, Ca.
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tsph6500
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by tsph6500 »

Most wood pellets are made of sawdust compressed with a binder (glue). You will curse yourself trying to clean the flues after burning them in your locomotive.
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Gra2472
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Gra2472 »

You’re probably right
7.5" Allen Mogul
3 x 7.5" West Valley Baldwin Westinghouse Electrics
The railroad is almost done.
G. Augustus
Monte Rio, Ca.
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cbrew
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by cbrew »

and i doubt one can get enough heat out of pellets to fire a boiler
If it is not live steam. its not worth it.
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Bill Shields
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Bill Shields »

ah...I have a friend in Canada who has run his live steamers on virtually anything that can burn....wood pellets being one -> dried CORN is the other..

very little binder in a kernel of corn.... :shock:

it all depends on how much you want to shovel into the firebox..and how much you want to clean (as Jim L has pointed out).

HOWEVER there are pellets available (if you know where to look), that have no glue in them.

Some even have hemp in them (among other things)....so you can get high while running a steamer.
Last edited by Bill Shields on Mon Jan 16, 2023 3:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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SPSteam2491
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by SPSteam2491 »

There was an article in Live Steam magazine years ago that showed a different grate setup to run a typical coal burner on wood pellets. It used smaller holes and created troughs for the wood pellets to burn in.

A few friends and I experimented with firing my Tom Thumb (vertical boiler) with wood pellets and standard grates years ago. We did do a 50/50 mix of wood pellets and coal so that not all the wood pellets would fall through the grates. It made plenty of steam and was very easy to clean out after and was fun running it that way. The wood pellets make a ton of smoke which is harder on the eyes as compared to coal smoke. For fun, we stopped inside a 100' long tunnel until it was full of smoke, then made a dramatic exit. We did notice an increased amount of embers being thrown when hauling a load when the pellets were being burned. We didn't have any screen over the smokestack would could have decreased this.

If a proper grate setup was made, it's feasible with a smaller locomotive to run completely on pellets. As for the glue binder, there are plenty of alternatives that don't use glue if you are concerned. Wood itself has natural resins in it so firing and engine on pellets would be comparable to firing on sticks.
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Soot n' Cinders
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Soot n' Cinders »

I have seen people run on pellets. The more successful option I've seen is scraps from local lumber related businesses. Cabinet shops usually have high quality hard woods, but I've also seen people have good luck with pallet plants and one guy even has used cutoff from a truss plant if you're ok burning pine.
By far the best I've seen is a buddy in Tennessee who gets hickory scraps from an axe handle plant. Those things have a ton of heat in them!
-Tristan

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datman
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by datman »

There are quite a few videos on YouTube of people burning sawdust and waste oil combo in a house heater, not sure how good it would be in our application???
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Bill Shields
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Bill Shields »

waste oil? and breathing what is contained in it?

it might work, but i have enough trouble with cancer without encouraging more....
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Marty_Knox
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Marty_Knox »

Here in Michigan you can buy bags of cherry pits. I heard that someone ran burning them, but I don't remember who. I bought a couple of bags but haven't tried them yet. But mice chewed one of the bags open and made a mess!
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Fender
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Fender »

I tried running with the pellets with middling success. It makes many sparks when running heavy draft. It might work better with reduced draft. Okay for firing up, but if you have plenty of scrap lumber, why bother?
Dan Watson
Chattanooga, TN
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Bill Shields
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Re: Alternative Fuels

Post by Bill Shields »

Because you can feed it with a stoker?
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