There were a couple of missteps in the last round of plumbing that I had/wanted to fix. The first had to do with the way that the parts were supported when they were brazed. The intense heat from the oxy-acetylene torch combined with the pressure of the vise caused the brass parts to soften and deform. The result was a complete set of oval compression fittings - sniff.
I made a couple of compression dies from some scrap aluminum to try to salvage the work.
Fairly straight forward to use: drop them into the vise and crush the living *&^#&@#$ out of them.
We will find out if these are round enough when I fill the boiler!
I used North American 1/4" tubing for very first run that I made from the boiler to the manometer. The 1/4" is really close to 6mm, but the fittings, well, don't really fit. I was also not particularly happy with the stack of adaptors on the back of the meter, so I swapped it all out for a new 4mm line with a coil to catch the condensation. The nice thing about the 4mm is that it can be bent easily and without much fear of the wall collapsing. I made the coil by winding the tubing around a cylinder by hand.
Here is the line, with the fittings brazed in place (round ones this time) and ready to be installed.
I also wanted to add a tank drain to the plumbing system. I don't really understand why this isn't a more common feature. The HX setup means that the mineral concentration of the water in the boiler is constantly increasing as pure water is drawn off in the form of steam. On the Aurora, a proper boiler flush can only be done by removing the case and disconnecting the lowest convenient fitting, which is the line to the level gauge. What this actually means in practice is that boiler flushes don't get done nearly as often as they should. I built the stainless boiler as a (nearly) drop-in replacement for the copper original. However, I don't intend to build a level gauge as I think that they are vestigial and appendix-like. This means that the ports can be used for something else - e.g. a drain!
That is an ooooold valve. I'll have to find something a little better eventually.
That, I think, is it for now for the plumbing. Here are a few shots of the finished setup.
I made a couple of compression dies from some scrap aluminum to try to salvage the work.
Fairly straight forward to use: drop them into the vise and crush the living *&^#&@#$ out of them.
We will find out if these are round enough when I fill the boiler!
Here is the line, with the fittings brazed in place (round ones this time) and ready to be installed.
I also wanted to add a tank drain to the plumbing system. I don't really understand why this isn't a more common feature. The HX setup means that the mineral concentration of the water in the boiler is constantly increasing as pure water is drawn off in the form of steam. On the Aurora, a proper boiler flush can only be done by removing the case and disconnecting the lowest convenient fitting, which is the line to the level gauge. What this actually means in practice is that boiler flushes don't get done nearly as often as they should. I built the stainless boiler as a (nearly) drop-in replacement for the copper original. However, I don't intend to build a level gauge as I think that they are vestigial and appendix-like. This means that the ports can be used for something else - e.g. a drain!
That is an ooooold valve. I'll have to find something a little better eventually.
That, I think, is it for now for the plumbing. Here are a few shots of the finished setup.
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