What is "steam cylinder oil?"

[Mike S]

What is "steam cylinder oil?" Is this a special oil for steam engines? If so, where do you get it? Or is it just motor oil injected into the steam?

[Joe K]

...an extremely viscous (at room temperature) oil which is injected by some means or another into the steam inlet pipe of a steam engine.

Feed of steam

oil to the cylinder is most definitely "drip" in nature with a small droplet being injected at the rate of perhaps one a minute or even less. Those who run a condenser will find the oil will eventually "coat" the condenser tubes. Velocity oil separators can be used to advantage to separate the entrained oil mist from the exhaust steam and loofa sponges are frequently seen in the condenser hotwell to keep the oil from being pumped back into the boiler.

Steam cylinder oil is most frequently known as "600W" oil and can be or might not be compounded with other substances such as grease/graphite/beeswax. It barely pours at room temperature but is designed to be an adequate lubricant as it thins out at steam temperatures.

There used to be different "grades" of steam cylinder oil. The seminal book "Steam Engine Principles and Practice" by Terrell Croft describes various grades of oil available in the 1920s when the book was printed and mostly these grades seemed to follow steam temperature and whether the steam was wet or dry or superheated.

With the decline in demand for cylinder lubrication in our present day, the large varieties of steam oil are no more. Oil suppliers/refiners now carry one or perhaps two grades of steam oil but almost all carry at least one.

Some steam hobbiests complain about not being able to find steam oil. It's a little rare and not exactly the kind of oil you'll find at the local hardware store. However, if you find a branch sales office for Exxon, Gulf, or any of the major refiners, they should have something of this sort for sale. The downside is that likely you'll have to purchase a minimum of 5 gallons and possibly a 15 gallon drum.

The Model A Ford crowd uses 600W oil in the transmission and rear differential of this venerable antique car. Quart size quantities are available from the Model A parts suppliers and can be purchased online from such places as www.snydersantiqueauto.com or www.macsautoparts.com

Failing in getting a supply of 600W oil this way, ordinary "STP" lube oil additive can be used straight from the can. It's claim to fame is high viscosity, high bearing pressure, high lubricity and all of these make for an adequate albiet rather expensive cylinder oil.

One steam hobbiest I claim acquaintance with promotes the use of automatic transmission fluid. While a bit fluid at room temperature, the service that the oil is designed for includes the ability to retain viscosity at elevated temperature. He liked to raid junkyards and drain ATF from junk cars to get the best buy!

Hope this all helps,
Joe

Steam cylinder oil: must be viscous at the required temperature.
must not carbonize and form residues or evaporate too
rapidly.
must resist the washing action of the moisture in steam.
must seperate easily from the steam.

Some references say that up to 10-12 per cent tallow can be used in the oil to emulsify with the steam and provide a film of lubrication. Excess tallow when exposed to high operating temperatures decomposes and forms carbon and corrosive acids.
It seems in this area that reliable oil dealers can supply steam cylinder oils. I can't remember some of the brand names right now but the main line oil cos. each have them. Check with local boiler rooms to see what industry is using.
Rick.

[Dale Noel]

This link had been posted previously : http://www.steamenginelube.com/

[Andre Blanchard]

Here is another link to the site Dale Noel gave, some PDF files with some info on steam oil.
http://www.steamenginelube.com/resources.htm

This page (a copy of part of an article from 1870) is mostly on lubricators but has some tidbits on the oil.
http://www33.brinkster.com/iiiii/mcc...ion-steam.html
______________
Andre' B. Clear Lake, Wis.

[Mike McKnight]

If you want it nice and easy to pour, leave 'yer tallow pot on 'yer boiler or steam cylinder. By the time you have up steam, it's nice and runny!
Mike M

[Chuck Sindelar]

Originally Posted by Mike S

What is "steam cylinder oil?" Is this a special oil for steam engines? If so, where do you get it? Or is it just motor oil injected into the steam?

I would not use anything that did not have tallow in it--seems to me from memory that 5% and 7% are available here--but the folks in the office don't seem to know much about it--they might even tell me/you they don't carry it. But they likely do carry a worm gear lube that has 5 or 7% tallow in it, and is 600W--and a salesman did a bit of checking and told me he had been advised it works just fine as a steam cyl. oil. I have been using that every year for about 20 years and it seems to be working just fine
Chuck

[Glenn Gieszler]

http://www.exxon.com/USA-English/Lub...XCylesstic.asp


we buy this in 55 gallon barrels 4 different grades contains tallow, depending on your operating temperature, if nothing else it is good data to read, direct from the maunfacture, I agree we have found nothing better than a product containing tallow.

[Glenn Gieszler]

http://www.exxon.com/USA-English/Lub...EXDYNAGEAR.asp

In the past we have used Surret for open gear drives on heavy equipment but see it has been dropped from their line, we used this product type on all open gear drives does not attract dirt and ouze all over the place, of course soem can and still use cylinder oil and they actually list that as a potential use in open gears, comes in small container.

[LundMachineWorks]

I have a 55 gallon barrel of old cylinder oil that we purchased when we bought our engine. I have a good supply for myself, but the show that my engine goes to started providing oil and purchased Steam cylinder Oil from Schaefers. It seems to be exactly the same as our old barrel of oil.

Also. Gary Jones from Owatonna Minnesota adds tallow to his oil by purchasing aminal tallow or lard from a grocery store.

[Andrew Mackey]

I would not reccommend trans fluid as a cylender oil. In the presense of water, trans fluid will emulsify, and turn caustic. It will corrode aluminum severely, and will cause galvanic reactions between brass and iron - leading to heavy pitting of both metals.
Andrew

[Ask The User]

Mobil also sells 600W steam oil in 55 gallon drums. If anyone is interested I'll get the actual number off of the drum I have, though your local Mobil dealer should be able to set you up. I'm pleased with it.

[Forrest A]

Originally Posted by Andrew Mackey

I would not reccommend trans fluid as a cylender oil. In the presense of water, trans fluid will emulsify, and turn caustic. It will corrode aluminum severely, and will cause galvanic reactions between brass and iron - leading to heavy pitting of both metals.
Andrew

Boy, I'd think that you wouldn't want it in your (aluminum housed) transmission then either...

Forrest A

[John Deck]

Mobile Oil also has 600W in 5 gal pails the cost in Wichita is 58.75 plus tax as of a month ago. 600W has all of the requirements for use with steam traction engines. It excedes the temp requirments and has tallow in it. It is used in refinery and chem plant operations for steam driven pumps.

[survivingworldsteam]

Originally Posted by John Deck

Mobile Oil also has 600W in 5 gal pails the cost in Wichita is 58.75 plus tax as of a month ago. 600W has all of the requirements for use with steam traction engines. It excedes the temp requirments and has tallow in it. It is used in refinery and chem plant operations for steam driven pumps.

As a matter of fact, I believe that is what we use to fill the lubricators of the steam pumps in the chemical plant I work at.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Project

[Randall Marquis]

The links posted by Dale and Andre' for Green velvet are good ones. We used it on our steam locomotives at the Mt. Rainier Scenic R.R. on both superheated and saturated engines with good success. Before, we used chevron's Steam Cylinder oil also with good results. The green velvet also worked well on the running gear, so made a good all in one oil.

[AndyG]

You need to attend the Pawnee Steam School to hear Larry Creed's talk on Steam Cylinder Oil. I've heard it twice and will try to give you the highlights. Steam Cylinder oil is still made in limited quantities mostly for use as worm gear oil (same thing).
-Steam cylinder oil must contain animal fat to allow it to emulisfy in the steam instead of separating out and laying in the bottom of the pipes. Beef tallow is the best animal fat used for this purpose.
-Refrain from using old steam cylinder oil. Cylinder oil is hydroscopic which means that it attracts water from the atmosphere. When you open the can you get some moisture into the oil. The water will combine with the oil making it acidic and no one wants to put an acid into their cylinder. The components of cylinder oil may tend to separate over time and variations in temp. If the tallow separates out of the oil if becomes useless. Some folks recommend that you keep the oil from freezing to prevent separation. I'm not sure if freezing is an issue or not. Only buy enough oil to get you through the current show season.
-Use the proper cylinder oil for the pressure that you are using. As you know, the steam temp and pressure are directly related. There are charts that tell you the temp of you steam at a given pressure. 100psi = 327 degrees (I think). If you use an oil that is rated well below your pressure the heat will literally burn it and you will not have the needed lubrication and have carbon build up in the valves, cylinder, and exhaust. If you use an oil that is rated higher than your pressure if will not emulsify with the steam and only lay in the bottom of the pipes leaving you with little or no lubrication. Steam cylinder oils will be labeled with either a temp range or a pressure range, use the correct one! If the label in the can doesn't have the temp info get a spec sheet from your oil jobber.

[Mike S]

Thanks for all of your responses. I don't own a steam engine, although I would like to! They are always the first thing I go to see at the shows. I have just always heard about "the smell of the steam cylinder oil" and wondered what it was.

[Ken Majeski]

Quote [Refrain from using old steam cylinder oil. Cylinder oil is hydroscopic which means that it attracts water from the atmosphere. When you open the can you get some moisture into the oil. The water will combine with the oil making it acidic and no one wants to put an acid into their cylinder. The components of cylinder oil may tend to separate over time and variations in temp. If the tallow separates out of the oil if becomes useless. Some folks recommend that you keep the oil from freezing to prevent separation. I'm not sure if freezing is an issue or not. Only buy enough oil to get you through the current show season]

Well.... I and others have used oil that is over 40 years old with excellent results. I am nearing the end of my old supply. Another guy is still using oil left over from a locomotive roundhouse with the same results. I have to say I've had better results with the old stuff than the new...

If the oil is Hydroscopic please explain how it can work in a displacement lubricator... If it attracts moisture from the air it certainly would attract moisture from the condensed steam and you would end up with whipped cream and acid in your lubricator and a ruined cylinder....

I geuss I am old fashioned as I put years of experience above what I hear from some oil salesman.

I am going to use Chevron cylinder oil w iso 460 in a Nichols & Shepard twin simple at 125 psi, what do you all think? , has anyone here used this oil with success or Disaster?
Thanks for your input