Starting a Tangyes Stationary Steam Engine Safely

Описание: This video explains the procedure for starting a stationary steam engine from cold. It includes animations. These are Tangyes steam engines made in 1870 and 1890 in Birmingham, England.

It covers lubrication including filling and operating the displacement oilers. There is another video showing how the displacement oilers work, including animations:

   • How a Steam Engine Displacement Oiler Works  

There are several other relevant videos on this channel
   / @evan-e-cent  

How to start a stationary Tangyes Steam Engine

The most important thing to remember is that water is not compressible. If the engine is started with water in the cylinder it can blow the head off the engine. The space remaining in the cylinder when the piston is at top-dead-center (the unswept volume) is very small, so it may not take very much water to cause a problem. When the engine and steam pipelines are cold water and steam begins to pass through, it condenses onto the cold surfaces producing a lot of water. This water must be drained out before the piston is allowed to move under steam pressure.

It is necessary to open the large red steam valve on the engine to pass steam through the engine to warm it up. HOWEVER, it must only be opened a crack to let a small amount of steam pass though. If it is opened too far it can cause the piston to move and the engine to start running before you have finished draining the water. So great care must be taken in opening this valve.

Our larger Tangyes engine, on the left side, does not have any insulation around the cylinder and tends to run cool, especially at low engine speeds, and this can result in water condensation, even when the engine is running. For that reason the drain valves are left slightly open when the engines are started, but also open “just a crack” even when the engines are running. When open they can make a lot of noise and steam in the room. There are several valves that are used to drain water out of the system. On our engines there are three: One on the steam line near the displacement oiler, and one at each end of the cylinder. These are located at the lowest points on the underside of the cylinders.

Before starting up check and refill all the oilers. A red oil can is used for steam oil (red for hot applications) and the blue oil cans contain bearing oil for the cooler engine bearings. The bulk supplies are labelled and the steam oil is in a large square container and the bearing oil is in a round drum. A funnel and a bottle of oil may be more convenient than the oil cans for filling oilers.

FILL OILERS: First fill the steam displacement oilers:
a. Make sure the displacement oiler is not under steam pressure. Some oilers have a main steam valve but others do not.
b. Take the lid off the top. Most oilers have a big black knob to remove the filler cap but some require a spanner.
c. Use a rag or can to drain the water out of the oiler by opening the drain valve or cap. Then close the drain.
d. Fill with steam oil and replace the filler cap.
e. Fill the simple gravity fed bearing oilers on the big end bearing, main bearings on for the crank shaft, and wrist joint/slider. (Spanner required)
f. Oil the top of the Pickering ball governor and its gears.

STARTING PROCEDURE:
1. Open all three water drain valves.
2. Open the main steam valve just a crack to let steam into the engine. Take great care not to allow the engine to start.
3. Manually turn the flywheel so that the piston is at top-dead-center. Wait for all the water to drain out through the rear drain.
4. Manually turn the flywheel so that the piston is at bottom-dead-center. Wait for all the water to drain out through the front drain.
5. When you are satisfied that only steam and a few drips of water are escaping through the drains, you can very carefully begin to open the steam valve to run the engine.
6. Gradually increase speed if you wish, but to conserve steam we usually run the engines as slowly as possible.
7. Adjust the displacement oiler until you see a drop in the sight glass (or glass tube) every few seconds (eg 5 to 10 seconds)

SHUTTING DOWN:
1. Make sure all drains are left open so that water does not accumulate and cause rusting.
2. Turn off all the oilers.

By Evan Lewis. See oilers on    / @evan-e-cent  
1st February 2026