Building a Holmside boiler will i have enough heat

[maninshed]

One of my projects is a Holmside, I have completed the fabrication work on the boiler & have started silver soldering it together. So far the firebox tube plate and tubes & crown stays (I decided to fit crown stays just seemed like a good idea) have been soldered up & the barrel is complete. I'm at the point where the two sub-assemblies will go together, what is concerning me is will I have enough heat with propane only to complete this boiler, what especially concerns me is the foundation ring. I have two sets of Seivert equipment, with one each of the two biggest burners plus a selection of other including the biggest neck burner. I have a hearth and firebricks plus ceramic fibre to help retain heat. Has anyone else done a reasonable sized boiler with propane only, some moral support would be welcome.

Martyn
Sutton Coldfield.

[jma1009]

hi martyn,
the HOLMSIDE boiler isnt really as big as some 5"g loco boilers, and martin evans specified thinner plates,
so you should certainly be ok with propane. yes, you may need a hand with the backhead and foundation ring with an extra pair of hands on your second torch. i always add the front of the foundation ring to the throatplate early on with high melting point stuff. this considerable simplifies aligning the inner firebox assembly and one less joint to worry about. if you plan to silver solder the firebox stays, leave the inner firebox doorplate off until after doing the stays.
you will need plenty of thermalite building blocks obtainable from any builders merchants (very cheap, but for heaven's sake let them dry out thoroughly indoors first). the more firebricks you have the better - you will need to cut them and pack them round quite a bit.
cheers,
julian

[ejparrott]

You will certainly have enough heat, what is likely to be more of a problem is being able to get close enough to the boiler to apply the silver solder! I highly recommend getting larger than normal rods/sticks, my boss and I have a theory that a lot of model engineers come unstuck trying to use 1.5 or 2.5 rods when there is this much heat around. He has some 3.2 he prefers to use and finds it much more stable.

[maninshed]

Thanks for the positive feedback guys, your right about the reflected heat and using small diameter silver solder sticks. Also the idea of fitting the front section of foundation ring first is a good idea. I shall not be tackling the job until the weather gets better though,thanks.