SORGOSBURD OF ESOTERIC FACTS AND IDEAS ABOUT MY WET MUFFLER

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Comment by bob mitchell on October 28, 2013 at 9:16pm

      Ok, lets work in clockwise direction starting with the white PVC Onan generator. If had you read my WET EXHAUST SYSTEMS, you would know all about it  - even know what it's insides look like. Nothing more to say except that it is from a 2 cylinder engine but has about the  same volume as my 172 cubic inch 4 cylinder diesel. .

         Next, in the seat, is the white prototype  that I am working on, mostly because it will fit between the floor and be further below the manifold exhaust exit. Lower is better to prevent flooded engines. The Newporter apron rises sharply after the engine, so the closer the waterlock is located to the engine the greater the drop from the manifold. On the other hand,  the distance from where the raw water is injected into the exhaust gases must be a minimum distance so the mixture is at a low enough temperature not to melt the waterlock.

     What I am illustrating "on"  this prototype is possible types of mechanical junctions between pipes that must be joined to create a waterlock.. Mechanical strength and fire resistence are what I am interested in. Let's start with the one with a grey fillet. This was my initial "get started enthusiasm" - just do some thing. The only hole saw I could find was 2 and 1/2", which was close to the coupling outside diameter for a 2" pipe. Though not what I wanted - I did it anyway. After I used solvent to join the coupling to the  main body of the pvc waterlock, I tried to reinforcing the pvc weld with a mixture of solvent and pvc grindings. It was pretty strong, but because of the large amount of solvent, which is extremely flammable, the joint caught  fire immediately when a bic propane lighter was applied. So I carved it all off and came back with JB Weld, which is unaffected by temp to 300 to 500F degrees, depending on which product you buy.  This truned out to be strong enough for me to stand on it when it was laying on its side. And the fillet of JB Weld would not ignite with the bic propane lighter. So at that point I started to take the project seriously.

        What I really had in mind, before I did the above because I could not find the correct hole saw diameter for two inch pipe, was to put the pipe through the 8" PVC body, and then make some custom pieces from the couplings that matched the curve of the 8" body, and then glue them on each side of the pipe (the inside and outside of the 8" pipe) so that the pipe was mechanically locked in. The two pieces to the right of the greybeard are the inside and outside - roughed in with my sidegrinder. My brother pointed out that for a finishing touch I could put sandpaper on the *' pipe and use that for my sanding surface. Those are standard fittings that will be shortened.  To the left of the grey is just a plate of pvc that I cut out for the hole - but clearly, if you wanted to double the thickness of the 8" pvc,  you could just cut this circle way oversize, and then drill the correct hole in the center - or you could just cut almost a complete band, so it would circle the pipe, and then cut a hole in that. Anyway, I don't think making a mechanically strong joint is a problem.

     Next is my actual Newporter waterlock. - a 10" by 10" cylinder (the prototype is 8  x 16 - essentially the same volume, but with a horizontal profile instead of vertical). Two things are noteworthy - the distance from the manifold to the waterlock is 24", and the inside diameter wherever the pipe is restricted is less than two inches. The long exhaust run hose shows how someone jury rigged a red smaller diameter hose inside the larger 2 1/2 inch hose reducing the inside diameter to less than 2".  It is restrictions like this that jack up the exhaust backpressure and so waste fuel. But it is also the reason I am confident a two inch smoother diameter with minimum elbows will work fine. Maybe I will even test the backpressure with a manometer.

good night, until my next brain fart hits!