Steam cylinder insulation

[jamespetts]

The insulation on the steam cylinders of the smaller Stuart models is a metal sheet curled around the outside of the cylinder, leaving an air pocket between the cylinder wall and the outer metal coating. Would the cylinders be better insulated if that air gap was filled with kaowool, or is it best left as an air gap?

[alanstepney]

The best insulation is still air.

However, in "our" models insulation has little or no effect as it is not thick enough. It needs to be around 4"+ thick to be really effective, which obviously it cannot be.

You cant scale nature!

[ron]

Hi James
I did a bit of experimenting last year, the best gain I got was from insulating the steam feed pipe. I insulated the cylinder of 'Victoria' with wooden slats, it improved it slightly but I did it mainly for asthetic reasons it wouldn't be worth the work involved for efficiency.
Ron

[jamespetts]

Thank you for your replies :-) There'd be very little work involved in stuffing kaowool inside the cylinder, so it'd be worth it for even a small gain. The question is: would it produce a small gain, or might it actually be worse than rather less than 4" of air?

[ron]

Personally I think you would be wasting your time, but there's no harm in trying
Ron

[circlip]

Balsa wood.

[havoc]

As said above: dry still air is very good. If you stuff anything in it and it get a tiny bit wet it is worse than doing nothing. And if you do fill it, then don't pack it, leave it fluffy.