3 wick burner

[Roberts wood light railwa]

Just got my three wick burner through the post and I've filled it with meths. Problem. ... only the first wick seems to be getting meths the other 2 stay dry. What's going on? Also how tall should the wicks be? Any other tips welcome cheers

James

[Big Jim]

Others may tell you differently but...
IMHO the wicks should be just poking above the tubes, enough to give you a flame high enough to just touch the boiler. Check that they are not too tightly wedged down the rear tube to stop the meths flow to the others.

[Roberts wood light railwa]

Cheers I did notice that no meths was getting through to the front 2. If I need to have the back and middle one high up to allow the meths through which makes them stick to high up shall I trim them?

[steampig]

Sounds like the feed-tube is blocked between the rear wick and the front two. When reviving elderly Bowman-300 burners (5 wicks, not just three) I start by playing with water rather than meths to see what's going on (any residual water will be cleared by the meths, when you come to burn some, as they mix freely and the water just makes the first meth burn a bit cooler).

So pour the meth back in the bottle, carefully put the wicks to one side, and see what happens when you put water in the fuel tank - the level should rise up instantly in all the wick-tubes to match that in the tank.

If it does, shake/blow out all the water, rinse with and discard a bit of meth (especially the wick tubes), replace the wicks making sure they reach the bottom of the tubes, packed firmly but not too tightly - they should moisten almost instantly which they won't if packed to tightly, half fill, and all three wicks should light up and burn.

If the levels do not instantly equalize in the tubes, there is a blockage, probably in the feed tube. How you clear this depends on how your burner is constructed (the B300 burners invariably have the crud of ages  in the tube). There may be a soft-soldered plug in the front end of the feed tube - popping this out and running a wire through into the tank does the trick for me. You may be able to get a soft wire into the feed tube from the tank end and push an obstruction up past the front burner tube - it all depends how your burner was made.

The rules are
1) Fuel should arrive freely in all the burner tubes
2) The wicks should reach all the way to the bottom of the tubes
3) The wicks should be packed firmly enough for good capillary action to lift the fuel swiftly (seconds of filling) to the top - packing too tightly or loosely inhibits this
4) 6mm-6.5mm Stove Rope is an excellent source of cheap wick material, provided you pinch a wick that burns dry (I always burn mine dry to clear the meth smell) before relighting, as they can glaze over in their last moments and don't burn well again until tweaked (this happens with other wick materials too).

When that's all working, adjust the wick heights so the flame is about 1.5cm high, mostly blue with a touch of yellow at the top, and see how the loco steams.

Good luck

[MDLR]

How you clear this depends on how your burner is constructed (the B300 burners invariably have the crud of ages  in the tube). There may be a soft-soldered plug in the front end of the feed tube - popping this out and running a wire through into the tank does the trick for me. You may be able to get a soft wire into the feed tube from the tank end and push an obstruction up past the front burner tube - it all depends how your burner was made.

Take a trip to your local florist and acquire a length of floristry wire (it comes in various thicknesses) which is soft iron wire which you should be able to bend into the connecting tube with the sid of a pair of long-nose pliers.

[Roberts wood light railwa]

Thanks guys when there's no wicks in all the wick holders fill with meths instantly so I don't think bits blocked. How can i tell if a wick is too tightly packed?

I'll have another play around tomorrow and see what I can do.

[steampig]

If the adjective tight springs to mind it is probably too tight. You want to insert the wick so there are no significant air-holes in it, but still plenty of fine space for the meths to pull itself through. The definition is functional. If the capillary action is working, it's OK. Any sort of tamping down is a definite mistake. It should be quite easy to remove a wick from its tube with your fingers.

What are you using for wick? If it thins naturally (ceramic fibre?) could try putting enough in each tube that it doesn't fall out when inverted, and if that's too loose for good 'wicking', work up from there.

If the wicks are of a piece, you seem to have one working wick - does that work in any tube and the others not? if so, try to spot what's different about the others (compacted??), and fix them (roll them about between your fingers?). And point 4 above - have they heat-sealed themselves when short of fuel? (just work the ends about a bit)

The wick must go all the way to the bottom of the tube in good state, otherwise some wicks will give up before others, as the level of fuel drops below their ability to raise it to the top.

[Roberts wood light railwa]

Thanks for that if I remember from earlier one of them was very stiff to move about in the hole. I'll have a go at sorting this out from what you've said. Cheers again

[Roberts wood light railwa]

burner sorted and running well constantly blowing off so the next thing will be a uprated safety valve and a water top up valve

cheers for the help guys

james