14 



The Florists^ Review 



Jolt 22. 1920 



ter of the boiler. All burners should 

 enter the fire box at or below the grate 

 level. Place a gate valve in the oil 

 line high enough to allow taking off, 

 below it, separate lines for as many 

 burners as are to be operated. Each 

 oil line should have a t)lugged tee in it 

 near the burner to permit blowing out 

 that oil line with steam when clogged. 

 Put a valve in each oil pipe leading to 

 a burner, on the other side of the tee 

 from the burner, in order that the oil 

 line may be closed at will to take off or 

 blow out the burner. 



Steam for the Burner. 



The steam for operating the burner 

 «hould be taken, from an independent 

 point on the boiler, in no case from 

 Another line or main. Keep that steam 

 pipe as near the boiler as possible or 

 wrap it well with asbestos to prevent 

 ■condensation. A globe valve of the 

 same size as the steam tube of the 

 burner should be attached to the steam 

 pipe to control the steam. I find it most 

 <5onvenient to place the steam line or 

 lines above the fire doors and the oil 

 lines between the fire and draft doors. 



It is, I believe, necessary that the 

 flame of an oil fire be prevented from 

 striking, either directly or indirectly, 

 the plates or flues of a, boiler; therefore 

 a target of fire brick should be built for 

 the flame to strike against, in such a 

 manner that it will not be deflected 

 against the plates. I should prefer not 

 to operate a cast-iron boiler with oil 

 under any circumstances. 



Storage and Supply Tanks. 



Coming to the storage tank for the 

 oil, I should recommend one constructed 

 of heavy galvanized iron. It should 

 be oil-tight and water, mouse, bug and 

 insect-proof. Placed preferably almost 

 entirely underground, it should be well 

 coated with aaphalt on the outside. It 

 is most economical to have a storage 

 tank which will hold a full carload of 

 oil; that is, 200 barrels. This amount, 

 allowing as high as ten per cent for 

 waste in the form of unburnable sedi- 

 ment, will probably be sufficient for the 

 whole season for each 5,000 feet of 

 glass in the range. My own average is 

 125 barrels for that amount of glass, 

 allowing nothing for waste. A tank 

 wagon will be required if the storage 

 tank is too far from the railroad for the 

 oil to be unloaded directly into it. 



If the storage tank is below the level 

 of the burners, as it is likely to be, a 

 small supply tank, to which the oil can 

 be pumped from the storage tank, will 

 be required above the burners. This 

 small tank should have two openings in 

 the bottom, a 1-inch for the oil line and 

 a 2-inch in the center, where two or 

 three feet of 2-inch pipe may be at- 

 tached, bushed at the lower end for a 

 «4-inch stoam cock; this would serve as a 

 water trap and also for cleaning out sed- 

 iment from the tank. A valve in the 

 lower end of this pipe would not do, 

 since, if the hole for drawing off the 

 water is more than %-inch, suction will 

 draw off more oil than water. This 

 email supply tank serves well for a trap 

 to catch all sediment and is easily 

 cleaned out. I have never found it nec- 

 essary to clean out my storage tank, as 

 I get all the dirt, a little at a time, in 

 the small tank. Furthermore, in case 

 of accident or of the fire going out 

 when no one was near, the most oil that 

 would be lost would be whatever the 

 BJnaW tank contained. 



The oil must be kept entirely free 

 from water. It is said that oil and 

 water will not mix, but with fuel oil it 

 is different. While free water can 

 eventually be drained off, the small 

 particles of coke and earth will hold 

 water in suspension for an indefinite 

 time. Oil so saturated cannot be 

 burned; a rag soaked in such oil and 

 ignited will sizzle and fry. In the fire 

 box, if the fire flies into a mass of 

 sparks it means either water in the oil 

 or condensation from an improperly 

 protected or too long steam line. 



Starting the Fire. 



With the storage and supply tanks 

 installed and the oil burner or burners 

 ready in the altered fire box, it is time 

 to think of starting the fire. 



It is advisable for a beginner to fire 

 up with wood the first few times. Pile 

 in wood or rubbish that will burn well 

 until the steam gauge registers twenty 

 pounds. Now open the steam line and 

 blow out condensation, leaving steam on 



Do You Bum Oil? 



If you do, quite possibly your 

 experience has been different 

 from that described in these 

 columns. There may be other 

 greenhouse men, readers of The 

 Review, in your section who 

 would profit by learning of your 

 experience, gained under the 

 same conditions as their own. 



Your contribution would add 

 to The Review's presentation 

 of the subject. By that means 

 the whole trade learns w^hat 

 each member of it learns. 



So tell us your exjjerience 

 with oil heating, both your trials 

 and your triumphs. 



until line and burner are hot; close the 

 steam valve and rake to one side any 

 ashes or unburned matter that may be 

 in the path of the oil flame, which will 

 not start if there is any obstruction in 

 front of the burner, and then open the 

 oil valve, to make sure the oil will flow, 

 and close it again. Be sure that there 

 is a lively blaze in the fire box from 

 either the wood or a rag dipped in kero- 

 sene and thrown in; open the steam 

 valve one turn of the wheel; slowly 

 open oil valve, and the fire is started. 

 Never turn on oil and steam without 

 having a good blaze in the fire box, no 

 matter how hot the fire box may be; 

 always close the oil valve at once if 

 the blaze goes out before the fire starts. 

 Too much oil for the steam will cause 

 black smoke; too much steam for the 

 oil will cause a light-colored fog, with 

 a flame that is broken up, sickly and apt 

 to go out. 



To increase the fire when first started, 

 turn on oil until the flame sho'"« amoke; 



turn on more steam until the flame 

 shortens, and then turn on oil and steam 

 as before. 



If wood is available in large quanti- 

 ties and at a reasonable price, if is 

 practicable to depend entirely upon 

 wood to start the fire; otherwise a small 

 steam boiler must be installed. I use 

 both methods, but find, since installing 

 an 80-horsepower boiler, that my little 

 2-hor8epower boiler will not hold enough 

 water with one filling to get up steam 

 in this large boiler, starting from a cold 

 condition. I believe that a 4-hor8e- 

 power vertical boiler would be much 

 better for this purpose. If the boiler 

 is to be shut down for only three or 

 four hours in the middle of the day, 

 radiation may be shut off, steam pushed 

 up a few pounds and the fire turned out; 

 if the boiler is well protected, it will 

 generally hold steam until the fire is 

 needed again. 



Getting up the First Steam. 



Twenty pounds steam pressure, hav- 

 ing the steam valve half open and the 

 oil valve wide open, should be about 

 the proper adjustment if the burner is 

 rightly made. Then the fire can be 

 turned up by closing the steam valve 

 more or less, but to turn the fire down 

 to any extent it will be necessary to 

 close the oil valve as much as may be 

 required and adjust the steam valve to 

 the amount of oil. When a burner has 

 the oil valve entirely open and the 

 steam valve has been closed until a 

 faint trace of red flame can be seen in 

 the fire, with tiny ringlets of smoke at 

 the tip of the flame, the capacity of that 

 burner has been reached. 



The higher the pressure of steam 

 used, the less the volume which will be 

 required. Consequently, with a greater 

 pressure a smaller quantity of water is 

 taken from the boiler as steam to 

 operate the burner. Ordinarily at 

 twenty pounds pressure one-half gallon 

 of water is taken from the boiler for 

 every gallon of oil burned; therefore 

 the water capacity of the boiler will 

 determine how often the water level in 

 it will need attention. It is an advan- 

 tage to arrange to carry a pressure of 

 twenty-five or thirty pounds, so as to 

 have a reserve of five or ten pounds, 

 giving time to change burners if neces- 

 sary without shutting off the radiation. 



Test of a Good Fire. 



Many oil firemen believe that if no 

 smoke can be seen issuing from the 

 stack the fire is perfect, but I have 

 found this to be true only to a limited 

 extent. I believe that the one test for 

 a clean fire is that the fire and fire box 

 should be the beginning and the end; 

 nothing should go beyond. And the 

 fire box itself should be clear of smoke 

 or fog. Not a trace of red should be 

 seen even at the very tips of the flame, 

 which should be pure white with a tinge 

 of yellow, perhaps, at tips and edges. 

 With an asphalt base oil it may be im- 

 possible to prevent a slight fog in the 

 fire box; also, when the fire is being 

 started it may be somewhat red and 

 smoky until the fire box is well heated. 



The arrangement for draft is at times 

 rather difficult. The holes for the 

 burners and the open slides in the regu- 

 lar draft doors will generally give draft 

 enough. I have sometimes found it 

 necessary to open the fuel doors a little, 

 thereby giving draft above the oil 

 flame. Oil in burning, together with the 



