The SH282 Boiler just exploded, and I have no idea why

[Rowan]

I was cruising along from Harbour and town, going up the standard route from the harbour to steel mill, 30km/h hauling 600 tons no problem. I had just done full maintenance on the loco, full water, full coal, everything. I was keeping the water meter in the middle roughly, steam pressure was about 12 bar, the regulator was about three quarters reverser full forward. Can anyone explain what happened?

[Talkingpeanut]

Something to pay attention to is that the water level in your sight glass is affected by the motion of your boiler. When you're climbing a hill the boiler is physically tilted up and the water rushes back, making the glass look like it is fuller than the boiler actually is. When you crest the top of a hill, the boiler levels out again and your visible water level absolutely plummets, uncovering the crownsheet and exploding the boiler

Best way to avoid that is to keep it in mind: when climbing you have less water than you think, so fill your boiler as much as possible before you crest the top of a hill

[Rowan]

Originally posted by Talkingpeanut:

Something to pay attention to is that the water level in your sight glass is affected by the motion of your boiler. When you're climbing a hill the boiler is physically tilted up and the water rushes back, making the glass look like it is fuller than the boiler actually is. When you crest the top of a hill, the boiler levels out again and your visible water level absolutely plummets, uncovering the crownsheet and exploding the boiler

Best way to avoid that is to keep it in mind: when climbing you have less water than you think, so fill your boiler as much as possible before you crest the top of a hill

Ah maybe this is where I went wrong, I had it in my head backwards, thanks

[Karlack26]

Ya you really go to pay attention, as you go into a climb what you water level was and you might just want to add some as you crest, you can always dump water too if you ended up adding to much.
Also if your dropping to 12 bar your water usage will go up. ideally you keep it between 13-14 bar.

[Rowan]

Originally posted by Karlack26:

Ya you really go to pay attention, as you go into a climb what you water level was and you might just want to add some as you crest, you can always dump water too if you ended up adding to much.
Also if your dropping to 12 bar your water usage will go up. ideally you keep it between 13-14 bar.

I try not to keep too much steam because surely that'll make the boiler explode too?

[Azige]

I had similar experience in the same route. I drove to a leveling out and checked my stats, water level was invisible so I opened the injector, pressure was low so I kept the fire burning, then it exploded. If our accidents were not caused by a bug, it should be what others explained above. Now I will close the damper first whenever I level out from climbing or start to go downhill, then check the water. I don't know whether it is the correct way to operate a steam engine but I haven't experienced another explosion.

[Karlack26]

Originally posted by Rowan:

Originally posted by Karlack26:

Ya you really go to pay attention, as you go into a climb what you water level was and you might just want to add some as you crest, you can always dump water too if you ended up adding to much.
Also if your dropping to 12 bar your water usage will go up. ideally you keep it between 13-14 bar.

I try not to keep too much steam because surely that'll make the boiler explode too?

the boiler has a safety valve that blows at 14 bar dumping excess steam. But if your in a climb you don't want to dump all that steam if you can help it so if you see it creeping towards 14 bar just add water if thats not enough close the dampers. If thats not enough give it more cut off. With all the above you have a lot of control over how much steam you be using and producing.

[Pops]

Yeah like Karlack26 said you can can't exploded from over pressurization all your doing is wasting water(Not sure if the steam release is simulated to consume water). I try to keep the fire cold enough(400-600 seems about right) that I don't get this safety valve popping and only pour on the coal when I need it(800-1000 heavy hauling climbs). What I want to know is what happens when you really cook it 1200+