# Goodall valve question



## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Another newby question, where is a good place to get a goodall valve and the pump bottle for it? Also, where's the best place to put the water filling port on a vertical boiler, especially if you want to be able to fill it while it's vertical? It's kinda obvious with a horizontal boiler, but not so much with a vertical boiler.


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## StevenJ (Apr 24, 2009)

Weebee, Jim Sanders, can make great goodall valves and bottles. Try emailing him [email protected]


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Accucraft make one and sell the bottle to go with it. The thread is metric.


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## Nutz-n-Bolts (Aug 12, 2010)

Link for the Accucraft e store. Steam parts page: http://www.accucraftestore.com/index.php?categoryID=369 

You could place the fill plug on top of the Smoke box if you ran one more tube between the top sheet and the smoke box top. Did you settle on a stack diameter yet?


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber,
for vertical boilers we solder a bushing at about 2/3 height. For our donkeys we used Goodall valves with 90Degree nozzle, so the filler can be inserted from the top. But if the boiler is bolted to a reasonably big model, you can use a normal Goodall valve. A rather bad photo shows the arrangement. The valve is barely visible on the left side (the fitting in the center is for the safety valve):












Regards


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## steamtom1 (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber,

What locomotive do you have? I have a Regner Willi with a vertical boiler. Regner makes a water fill system for it that works well.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

Tom, I don't have a locomotive, I'm in the process of building a boiler. 
Randy, I think I'm going to go with 3/4s of an inch for the stack, too big to look realistic, but hopefully it will "breathe" well. I was thinking that 1/2 inch would be too small without help. 
Henner, I think the idea of the 90 degree elbow for the valve is a good idea for what I want. I'm curious, I can understand why the bushing for the goodall valve wouldn't be any higher than 2/3s of the way up, not wanting to inject the water into the steam area, is there a reason for not putting it lower on the boiler? 
I'll have to go check out the links given, see what they have.


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## HMeinhold (Jan 2, 2008)

Amber,
here is a link to the Goodall type valves (straight and elbow) for our donkeys:

http://wegmuller.org/logging/Sheet16.pdf 

I don't think it matters too much where you inject the water; some 1:1 locos had the feed on top, others from the side. We chose this location for the donkeys, as the prototype seemed to have them there.
Regards


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Most horizontal boilers injected in or near the front of the boiler, away from the firebox. Some even let the water in on a plate so that it dribbled over a large area. The idea was to minimize thermal stresses. No matter where you add cold (relatively) water, you lose steam pressure, but if it were injected near the fire the thermal stesses could be damaging.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I guess it makes sense that the vertical boiler would have the injector 2/3s of the way up, not to close to the firebox. 
Henner, thanks for the link! Now I understand how they work. 
This has me wondering if a goodall type bottle would work with a "clack" valve.


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Amber on 16 Mar 2012 11:56 PM 
I guess it makes sense that the vertical boiler would have the injector 2/3s of the way up, not to close to the firebox. 
Henner, thanks for the link! Now I understand how they work. 
This has me wondering if a goodall type bottle would work with a "clack" valve. 


The type of valve has nothing to do with the water pressure source. The "Clack" valve is a miniaturization of the 1:1 prototype Clack valve, substituting a ball, bead or shaft for the "flapper" found in most prototype Clack valves. The Goodall valve is just an excellant replacement design that would be hard to duplicate in the 1:1 world. 

The spray bottle pump is just an easy way to provide the "work" element to power the pressure to move water.

The "Clack" name comes from the sound of the "Flapper" (not unlike the flapper in a flush toilet, but made of metal) snapping shut, after each pulse of water goes through on those boilers equiped with a mechanical pump or when the Penberthy "Injector" is shut off for that type.


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## Amber (Jul 29, 2011)

I assume that is harder to make a clack valve as small as a goodall valve and that's the reason for using the goodall valve in small boilers. I noticed from my reading that most clack valves are mounted under the boiler somewhere on a locomotive that has some kind of a pump installed, probably to hide it to not distract from the looks of the locomotive. I'm curious, does a miniature clack valve have any kind of a spring in it to hold the ball in position, or is it entirely dependent on water pressure? 
Also, how well does the silicone sleeve hold up on a goodall valve, with it being exposed to the heat of the steam and water? I can see that it's easily replacable, I'm just wondering how often that would be necessary if you ran the boiler a lot.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

if a goodall type bottle would work with a "clack" valve. 
Simple answer: Yes. 

My C-19 has an Accucraft 'clack' or check velve on the backhead (which I added - it comes with a blank fitting.) I've been feeding it with my squirt bottle, which was set up for a goodall valve. 

incidentally, I added a quick-connect to make the process more robust mechanically. The bottle was the female end with the plastic tube pushed on it. The male end is soldered to the check valve, which I dismantled and drilled out to take the quick-connect fitting. I have a photo somewhere.


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Amber on 17 Mar 2012 09:05 AM 
I assume that is harder to make a clack valve as small as a goodall valve and that's the reason for using the goodall valve in small boilers. I noticed from my reading that most clack valves are mounted under the boiler somewhere on a locomotive that has some kind of a pump installed, probably to hide it to not distract from the looks of the locomotive. I'm curious, does a miniature clack valve have any kind of a spring in it to hold the ball in position, or is it entirely dependent on water pressure? 
Also, how well does the silicone sleeve hold up on a goodall valve, with it being exposed to the heat of the steam and water? I can see that it's easily replacable, I'm just wondering how often that would be necessary if you ran the boiler a lot. 





The Accucraft check valve has a spring to hold the ball. It isn't always well-seated - I've taken both of mine apart to seat the ball so it doesn't leak water all over the footplate. 

The silicon on a Goodall does fail regularly in my experience, so you have to keep some replacement tube (aircraft fuel tubing.)


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