Calor gas bottle caps

[casper ghost]

Does that mean that you never go through tunnels?

 

Tim

 

As I did the exhaust system myself I was a bit cunning, (or daft, must have had too much time). I can switch my exhaust so it goes out the side by turning a lever, no soot on my roof or my head

[Tam & Di]

As I did the exhaust system myself I was a bit cunning, (or daft, must have had too much time). I can switch my exhaust so it goes out the side by turning a lever, no soot on my roof or my head

 

.......... and you leap down into the enginehole and switch it over at each bridgehole and then back again? Or you leave it coming out the side and switch over in each lock?

 

I suppose a system of levers or even a solenoid could avoid the gymnastics, but I found a cutter worked fine to achieve the same end without the complexity.

[casper ghost]

.......... and you leap down into the enginehole and switch it over at each bridgehole and then back again? Or you leave it coming out the side and switch over in each lock?

 

I suppose a system of levers or even a solenoid could avoid the gymnastics, but I found a cutter worked fine to achieve the same end without the complexity.

 

I originally had the exhaust out the side, then I got comments saying how nice the engine sounded and I wanted to put it out the roof so while doing it I just T'd off.

I only put it out the side when going through very long tunnels, like Harcastle etc, when I give it some stick to clear the engine or if a friend wants to sit on the roof. It is normally just left out the top. Never really had trouble in bridges but my little engine doesn't have much blow..

[soldthehouse]

Them damned yankies again....

 

My favorite pet hate word at the moment is transportation. Those that use it in place of 'transport' ought to be shipped to a penal colony.....

Penal colony... I think thats treatable these days...

[Chris Pink]

do people start engines without replacing the stack, in which case surely they must remove the plug to fit the stack.. I,m probably missing the point..

 

ummm, yes sometimes.

 

It lands with a plonk on the roof.

 

and the plonker below giggles.

 

must make an amusing sight but of course I've never seen it.

 

 

I assume that the bottles they came off are no longer made?

[Derek R.]

Not much of a point to be missed. You take the cap off the stub, and go in the engine 'ole. Start her up, and come out with the pipe (which you keep in the engine 'ole) and place it on the stub.

Of course, I've forgotten at times, when I've been in the 'ole doing something, and it's especially easy done if you have through accommodation - you just forget about the cap! You soon get reminded when it fires up. Never lost it in the cut is what was amazing.

 

Derek

[ditchcrawler]

I use to have a bean can that often got shot off up in the air bit now I just screw a 2" T in the roof socket, this stops the water running in but also leaves an oven exhaust when I start the engine. I also use it in tunnels if I remember in time,if not I just get crap in my eyes

[magnetman]

ummm, yes sometimes.

 

It lands with a plonk on the roof.

 

and the plonker below giggles.

 

must make an amusing sight but of course I've never seen it.

 

 

I assume that the bottles they came off are no longer made?

 

they don't fit caps on new calor bottles - they were on the old light green 26lb(?) type which would be more or less equivalent to the new 13kg. now they just have a cage to protect the valve which doubles as a handle of course but is not removeable in the way the caps were. Maybe they changed systems because canal boaters were always nicking the lids

 

I've had various cast iron gas bottle tops out with the magnet over the years including a larger version than the standard calor type which I discovered was from a welding gas bottle.

[pete harrison]

So what happens with the cutter? Certainly we used Calor bottle caps, as did virtually everyone we knew - they were readily available and did the job very well. We also had a rather flash brass shell case for our short pipe till Andy Farquarson managed to lose it - they were also commonly available at the time. In case people don't know, you use a tall pipe when loaded, but a short pipe when empt. Don't know how the term "stack" got into this - they were always "pipe" as far as I know.

 

At last, somebody who has the same opinion as me regarding the correct use of exhaust pipes !!!

 

I have always known the short version as a "titch pipe" and the tall version as a "stack pipe". I understood the "cutter" to be the (optional) loop rivetted across the top of the "titch" or "stack" pipe that cuts and deflects the exhaust fume that prevents debris being blown down from the underside of bridges and tunnels.

 

To my mind the correct use of exhausts can easily be explained. When a motor or pair are running empty the engine does not need to be run so hard, and consequently should produce less exhaust smoke meaning the "titch pipe" could be used. When running loaded, especially when towing, the motor boats blades do not slip through the water so easily due to the increased frontal area of underwater hull causing some back pressure and hence resistance, as well as the dead weight of a butty. This causes the engine to run under an increased load and inclined to smoke a little more, especially when combined with shallow water and the friction of the mud on the bottom of the boat. Clearly if this smoke was at cabin top level it will make things unpleasant for the steerer so the "stack pipe" would be used. The other thing to bare in mind, and slightly more obvious is that the stern end profile of a loaded motor is lower than that of an empty motor. The lower profile when loaded will allow a "stack pipe" more clearance at bridges, tunnels, trees e.t.c. than when empty. I have also heard the term "river pipe" which I understand to be a taller "stack pipe" for use on rivers where height is not an issue and the engine can be run very hard.

 

One of my observations of the past 20 years or so is that owners like to run their engines at lower revs when 'cruising' (rather than working) as they think it sounds better - and most boats are permanently empty anyway. This causes the engine not to acheive its full operating temperature and smoke due to innefficiancy requiring the use of the "stack pipe" all of the time. I found this to be the case almost every time when I was a Narrow Boat Trust Ltd. steerer where for the first day under my control the exhaust would constantly be clearing itself of carbon in the foorm of thousands of small soots on the cabin top. After a day or so the exhaust would become clear and the whole experience behind a "titch pipe" would be much improved.

Edited March 3, 2010 by pete harrison

[RLWP]

Is there something in this about an unloaded boat being further out of the water so that a stack pipe is at risk of being knocked off by bridges and trees? A titch pipe wouldn't have that problem

 

Richard

[casper ghost]

Is there something in this about an unloaded boat being further out of the water so that a stack pipe is at risk of being knocked off by bridges and trees? A titch pipe wouldn't have that problem

 

Richard

 

Someone didn't read the whole of the lengthy explaination just before your post

[RLWP]

Someone didn't read the whole of the lengthy explaination just before your post

 

Ahh, I see it now. I got half way through a paragraph on engine loading and assumed the rest of it

 

Richard

[magnetman]

Despite the suggestions that a hinged flap either does not work, or is not traditional, I can distinctly remember quite a few Working boats had them in the 1960's. From recollection, the Brays on Roger never used a tall stack, just a hinged flap at cabin roof level.

 

are you sure that wasn't simply a 'cutter' mounted on a very small titch pipe?

[Timleech]

I have always known the short version as a "titch pipe" and the tall version as a "stack pipe". I understood the "cutter" to be the (optional) loop rivetted across the top of the "titch" or "stack" pipe that cuts and deflects the exhaust fume that prevents debris being blown down from the underside of bridges and tunnels.

 

'Titch' (pipe superfluous) and 'Tall Pipe' in my book. And yes, 'cutter' as you describe.

 

Tim

[alan_fincher]

Despite the suggestions that a hinged flap either does not work, or is not traditional, I can distinctly remember quite a few Working boats had them in the 1960's. From recollection, the Brays on Roger never used a tall stack, just a hinged flap at cabin roof level.

Wrong I'm afraid, David......

 

Mike Askin's recently published pics show Roger with a standard tall-pipe and cutter.

 

 

I can't imagine a flap doing what's required, as surely it would cause exhaust to be hang about at cabin roof level, and back into steerer's face.

 

Let's see who finds their "evidence" first....

 

I'll keep trying to find an authentic piture of a steerer in a Bowler.

 

Your task is to find an operating working boat using an American lorry style flap over the exhaust.

 

Having had the misfortune of trying to steer Bexhill through a tunnel in the 1970s where Union Canal Carriers (or the Duddingtons) had removed it for safe keeping, I can assure you that there are few more important items on a working boat than the cutter.

 

(Think Black & Whiite Minstrl Show, here!).

Edited March 3, 2010 by alan_fincher

[jake_crew]

I put a soup tin over the top, but i've forgot to take it off too many times, it just gets thrown up and usually ends in the canal..

We do exactly the same thing CasperG.

 

And when we do forget, we can tell because the first "crump", after knocking up the de-compressors, sounds slightly muffled - and then sometimes followed by a little splash.

[soldthehouse]

Wrong I'm afraid, David......

 

Mike Askin's recently published pics show Roger with a standard tall-pipe and cutter.

 

 

I can't imagine a flap doing what's required, as surely it would cause exhaust to be hang about at cabin roof level, and back into steerer's face.

 

Let's see who finds their "evidence" first....

 

I'll keep trying to find an authentic piture of a steerer in a Bowler.

 

Your task is to find an operating working boat using an American lorry style flap over the exhaust.

 

Having had the misfortune of trying to steer Bexhill through a tunnel in the 1970s where Union Canal Carriers (or the Duddingtons) had removed it for safe keeping, I can assure you that there are few more important items on a working boat than the cutter.

 

(Think Black & Whiite Minstrl Show, here!).

What does a cutter do, I presume its the loop I can see on top of the exaust, is it merely a method of dispersing fumes

[antarmike]

What does a cutter do, I presume its the loop I can see on top of the exaust, is it merely a method of dispersing fumes

It stops you coming out of Blisworth tunnel with a roof and face full of soot, spiders, and brick remnants....

[alan_fincher]

Yes,

 

Depending on the engine, its exhaust, the exact size of the hoop, and its width, it will "vee" out the exhaust.

 

Typically when worked hard it may push it out each side at maybe about 45 degrees upwards.

 

This goes a long way to making the steerer breath less fumes, and also stops all the "cak" from tunnel roof being deposited on your head.

 

A fairly restrictive cutter can significantly change the exhaust sound too, often resukting in a more "robust" sound.

 

EDITED TO ADD:

 

My brother always was a man of less words than me, so got in first!

Edited March 3, 2010 by alan_fincher

[antarmike]

It is not unusual to have three pipes, a tall, a short and a happy medium...

Middle pipe always turned itself round

Short pipe and Gas bottle top!

Tall pipe got converted to an organ pipe which really made a nice sound. (I was bored one day!)

Edited March 3, 2010 by antarmike

[Tam & Di]

and also stops all the "cak" from tunnel roof being deposited on your head.

 

and crud and bits of dead pigeon from the underside of bridges too, of course. It also gives you something else to polish in your idle moments.

[Nickhlx]

and crud and bits of dead pigeon from the underside of bridges too, of course. It also gives you something else to polish in your idle moments.

 

 

You can't polish a dead pigeon...

 

Nick

[Tam & Di]

You can't polish a dead pigeon...

 

Nick

 

if they're recently dead you might polish them off, carefully spitting out the lead shot.

[alan_fincher]

I thought whilst underway the pigeon box was designed for catching the stuff ?

[hughc]

On every motor we have owned I have fitted a folding exhaust stack. In view of the KISS maxim this is operated with a lightweight shaft (an eight foot dowel fitted with a hook) by the steerer. The stack on Wyrd is about a metre long and throws the exhaust gas well over the head of the steerer. Regards, HughC.