3/8" Penberthy 00-21 Injector, Starting and Feeding

Bonus footage from "How to Operate a Small Portable Steam Engine" it depicts the ease of operation of a brand-new 3/8" NPT Penberthy Lifting Injector with the water valve pre-set in the ideal position for feeding without excess overflow.

[@adamgentry332]

Where can a man find one of those penberthy injectors?

[@steamandsmoke97]

Gotta keep an eye out for them online or at Steam Shows and Swap Meets. Emerson/Pentair who now owns the rights to Penberthy no longer makes them. But also it depends on the application because there is a guy making Injectors now that are far superior in quality to anything that Penberthy has ever made, which is quite a serious claim to make, but it's true. However, he only makes them in certain sizes and it depends on what your budget is. What Boiler are you trying to feed with it?

[@adamgentry332]

@@steamandsmoke97 it's a watertube boiler. I believe it's rated at 15hp. The safety valve on it is 300psi

[@steamandsmoke97]

@@adamgentry332 Penberthy never even made an Injector that will operate at 300 psi, and I'm afraid Eccentric Engineer doesn't either. Both of their maximum operating pressures for their High Pressure range of injectors is 200 psi. What on earth do you need upwards of 200 psi to run?!

[@adamgentry332]

@@steamandsmoke97 I purchased the boiler with the safety valve already on it. I'm running an E.H. Wachs 4x5 Vertical steam engine. The engine is rated at 26 hp at 300 psi and no I don't reckon I need that much power, but I assume the safety valves are also pricey to purchase.

[@steamandsmoke97]

@@adamgentry332 If it's an old school D-Valve E.H. Wachs with an open frame and with drip lubrication or grease cups, 300 psi will probably blow the cylinder casting to pieces. D-Valves Cylinders were never ever intended to take that kind of pressure. If it's a Modern, High-Speed, Piston Valve Engine with an Enclosed Crank Case and Splash Lubrication, then you can put that kind of Power to work and the Engine can take it. But that's still pushing it, Reciprocating Engines very very rarely ever saw above 200-250 psi except in Steam Cars, some Marine Plants and in Late-Era Steam Locomotives. If it's an old D-Valve Engine that you have, the Maximum you'd ever want to put through it is 150 psi, a 4 X 5 Engine is about an 8-10 Horsepower Engine as advertised. Plus, D-Valves need to run on Saturated Steam to ensure they have adequate lubrication in addition to the Steam Cylinder Oil. At 300 psi, while still considered Saturated Steam if it's not put through a Superheater, it's still naturally superheated if the operating pressure of the Engine is considerably below that of the boiler pressure, which it will be. Saturated Steam at 300 psi is 421 degrees. So the Steam will be very dry. Piston Valve Engines don't care about that as long as they have enough oil. Unbalanced D-Valve Engines will get destroyed. Plus you'd need a special Steam Cylinder Oil that can take the Higher Heat. If you put a 150 psi Safety Valve on it, which I suggest, you'll have plenty of power and you'll be able to use an Injector. But you always need at LEAST two ways of getting water into the boiler, so you need either two injectors, or an injector and a feed pump. If you operate higher than 200 you can only use high pressure feed pumps. Also, if your local Boiler Inspector hears that a hobbyist is operating a 15 Horsepower Boiler (which is definitely large enough to be considered a Power Boiler) at 300 psi he'll likely hit the ceiling. God forbid something fails, and all of the valving and plumbing you have on that Boiler HAS to be rated for that kind of Steam Pressure too. 300 psi of Steam will kill you in the blink of an eye. If you're not experienced I highly suggest doing further research and hanging out around experienced Steam guys so you can learn from them.