If you’ve read my post on buying my steam engine you might have come away with some questions. You might want to know where to look for a steam engine. What to look for if you find an engine? How often and what kind of inspection is needed? And a few other pieces of information I’ve learned from other members of the community.
Finding a Steam Engine
Once you have decided you want a steam engine you need to find one. There are a few routes you can take. You may find one for sale at the local tractor show like me. Steam engines also come up for sale at auctions for antique equipment. There are also online forums where you may find a steam engine. Finally, networking in the community may lead you to an engine for sale you wouldn’t find any other way.
Local Tractor Show
Visiting your local tractor show can help you find an engine in two of the ways I listed. The first is that you might get lucky like I did and find an engine with a for sale sign. The second way your local tractor show will help in your search is networking. Networking with the steam engine and antique tractor community can be invaluable.
My local tractor show occurs the second weekend in November and is a great time to learn. Before I started attending and volunteering regularly I’d say I knew a lot of people, but not to the point I could call them for help. Now I have a list of people who aren’t just willing, but happy to help work on an engine.
Through the contacts I made I have been able to make sure I’m doing things right. This includes having help look at my engine prior to purchase. It also includes help in getting my engine inspected and the plumbing all done to code. Having friends you can leverage to help makes you less likely to make a mistake or get hurt.
These contacts will also be a great help if I want to get another engine. Since a lot of the people I know now also know other people in the hobby it means they are more likely to know if someone is getting ready to sell. Like a lot of other hobbies you’ll find people more willing to make a deal to someone connected through friends versus a stranger.
Tractor Auctions
Auctions are a way to find a steam engine if you aren’t able to find one through your network. You may be able to get a good deal depending on what is being auctioned. One auction group that I check out regularly is Aumann Vintage Power. They hold online and in person auctions covering everything from hit and miss, to advertising, to toys, to tractors and steam engines. I recommend anyone looking to get into antique tractors to use auctions as at minimum a way to watch prices.
The risk with auctions is that you may be limited in what history you can gather. I recommend anyone buying an engine to go and physically look at the engine. There are a lot of problems that may get missed in pictures. If possible it’s best to see if the engine has a certified boiler, and if not then it’s worth seeing if you can ultrasound in a few places.
Online Community
If you don’t have an active local community, or the next show is months away, then joining an online community is another way to network. With the expansion of the internet has come the shrinking of the apparent distances between people in hobby communities. Smokstak is a great site where the steam engine and antique tractor community can be found.
Smokstak has information on tractor shows as well as a forum and for sale section. They are a great resource to learn more about steam engines. You can also ask any question you have and get a response from their knowledgeable members. The ability to read through previous questions and just general stories from the members can teach even experienced members of the hobby something new.
Kicking the Tires
Once you find an engine you are interested in you will need to give it a good look over. If you are really lucky you’ll find an engine with current certification in the state you live in. Even better if it belongs to someone local who has operated it recently and who is willing to help you after the sale. Unfortunately not everyone will be so luck in their purchase.
If you are not so lucky you will need to take a good look at the engine before buying. The most important thing to remember is that there are few issues that will kill an engine, just that will cost a lot to fix. The best example of not dead, but expensive would be a bad boiler that needs replacement. Boiler inspection is important, and at least in Georgia, required to run in public.
The Boiler
Checking the boiler before you purchase the engine can be difficult depending on the engine. For my engine there are no handholds you can open to look inside. On a larger engine you can open the handholds, take a flashlight, and get some idea of the boiler state. Important places to look are towards the bottom of the boiler where water drains from last, and the stay bolts over the firebox.
What you are trying to determine when looking in the boiler is how much material has been worn away. Beyond visual you can also take a small hammer to tap along listening for different sounds. You also want to tap the stays to see that they are solid. Given that even light hammer strikes can cause something to break it’s best to ask before doing so. I can’t easily describe the sound of bad metal or a bad stay, but anything that sounds different from other similar locations should be considered suspect.
The best way to check a boiler is an ultrasound. As luck would have it, that’s how I had mine checked. A member of my local engine community has an ultrasound thickness tester and knows how to use it. For my boiler the original thickness was a quarter inch, and given it’s age it shouldn’t have lost a large amount from that. The amount of metal loss that is acceptable varies depending on size and pressure, but always less loss is better.
Flues
Flues are an important part of the boiler, but are their own unique part. The flues are responsible for carrying the heat and fumes from the firebox to the smoke-box. They go through the boiler and are subject to the same pressure as the boiler itself. Flues are the place where you are likely to get your first real leak. As such they are meant to be replaceable.
Normally the flues are rolled into the flue sheet on both sides. On my engine they happen to be welded in, this will be a problem when one starts leaking. The first thing to check is that none of them are plugged. A plugged flue means it probably leaked at one point an the owner didn’t replace it. If any of the flues appear to have a noticeable gap around it, or cracks in the flue sheet there may be a problem.
Hydro Test
Another way to test the boiler and flues if you can’t do an ultrasound is a hydro test. For a hydro the boiler is filled with water to the top of the steam dome. Once full you use a pump to add pressure up to the pop-off pressure of the pop-off valve. As you bring up the pressure you will be looking for leaks. This test should provide some peace of mind that the boiler will at least hold the max expected pressure while cold. It also verifies that one of the most important safety features is working properly. You can also confirm the pressure gauge is showing correct values at pop-off.
The Firebox
The last major part of the boiler is the firebox. From a pressure vessel standpoint the crown sheet across the top of the firebox is the most important. The crown sheet takes the majority of the heat from the fire. If it doesn’t have water over it then the steel will become weak. When checking the firebox take a close look for warping in the crown sheet, this could mean a low water situation occurred at some point. Another of the boilers safety features is also in the firebox, the fusible plug. Make sure the plug is present and appears to be in good condition.
While you are looking in the firebox you also want to check the grates. Grates let air come up from under the fire as well as allowing the ash to fall down. You want to make sure the grates aren’t cracked, or warped. Poor grates can cause the fire to fall or make the engine generally difficult to fire.
The Engine Proper
Assuming you found no deal breaking issues with the boiler the next big piece is the engine itself. A good first check is to see if things move easily. Ideally there won’t be any items that should move that are difficult to move. Part of this check also includes seeing if things that shouldn’t move are loose.
An important part of checking the engine is the oilers. Depending on the engine layout there may be multiple oil cups in addition to a primary oiler. Any oil cups shouldn’t have dirt and grime in them. There should be oil in the glass cup kind, and a fabric or cotton with oil in the small cup style. For the main oiler you should check that it dispenses oil. On a crank type oiler that can be done using the hand crank on the side. For a displacement oiler you will need to look online.
The Running Gear
If your steam engine is a traction engine you will need to check the running gear. For my engine I could roll the engine by hand. My engine also has a gear reverse instead of a normal reverser. For a larger engine the best route is to make sure the clutch and reverser move easily. You can also check for any issues with the gears, grease fittings, and axles.
Miscellaneous
By now all of the major components of the steam engine have had at least a once over. From here it’s best to check the plumbing, feed water,wheels, bunkers, and other odds and ends. For the plumbing the most important thing is that any pipes from the boiler to the first shutoff valve are schedule 80. Also important is that all the valves, both manual and check, are rated for steam and greater than your expected operating pressure.
The feed water system is critical to the operation of the boiler. The rule of thumb is to have at least two independent methods to get water into the boiler. This can be two of the same type, like two injectors. For injectors you can check they are clean, but operation can only be checked under steam. For my engine the second water pump is an electric pump that can easily be tested. There are also various other types of steam and mechanical pumps, and each should be looked over carefully.
The wheels of your engine will most likely be steel construction. If you plan to run in a parade then having rubber, either cleats or bands, is important to not harm the road. Check wheels for any cracks in the metal. Also check the status of the rubber to see if it needs replacing. The rubber on my wheels has some cracks and will need replacement in the near future.
The last major part is the bunkers. This is where you will most likely sit or stand to operate the engine. Check that the deck is solid, and that any water tanks don’t have leaks. You will also want to check that any fuel bunkers still have enough metal to handle wood being thrown into them.
Inspections
Once you have purchased you engine you will need to handle having it inspected. In Georgia the requirement is to have an ultrasound inspection every five years. On all the years in-between you will need to have a hydro test done, at least in the antique tractor club I belong to. All of these requirements help keep you and other safe.
If your engine is on the small side like mine you may be able to avoid the inspection requirement. If you don’t have to be inspected I would still encourage it. It’s far better to go through the inspections and find an issue there than to find it when under steam.
Insurance
The last point I will touch on is insurance. The insurance you will need isn’t so much to protect against loss of the engine, but harm to others. In most cases you will get insurance through the club you belong to. This is the best route as it tends to be cheaper with better benefits. For the parade and tractor show I participate in the insurance is required. Our insurance also requires training, which helps make everyone safer.
At the end of the day it’s far better to pay a premium just in case something goes wrong. One doesn’t have to look very far in the past to see a deadly steam engine explosion. In that case training and knowing what could go wrong would have gone a long way to prevent it.