# Butane pressure valve?



## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

I've been doing a lot of work on my Aristo 0-4-0 live steam loco lately. I've come up with a question and I hope someone can suggest an answer. What is this on the side of my butane fuel tank?
http://www.mylargescale.com/Communi...le="DSC01052 by ztribob, on Flickr"><img src= 

It's the brass thing on the side with a screw slot in the center and a lock nut around it. There is a small line that comes down from the throttle valve that goes into the top of the black part of this (just behind the brass but not attached to the tank, it's hard to see because they are both black) then the line comes out of the bottom and goes over to the fitting that supplies butane to the fuel line that runs to the engine. I assume this is a pressure control. Do butane fueled live steamers normally have a pressure control for the butane supply? 
Thanks, Bob


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## Jerry Barnes (Jan 2, 2008)

The LS Mikado had one that sort of looked like that. I bypassed mine, some gutted them. Seems to run fine without it. Never seen one on any other steamer.


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## Phippsburg Eric (Jan 10, 2008)

Is it intended to be a pressure regulator as you might find on a welding gas tank? Makes some sense to have one if the goal is to make the engine as easy to operate as possible...provided it actually works.


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Posted By Jerry Barnes on 24 Oct 2012 02:02 PM 
The LS Mikado had one that sort of looked like that. I bypassed mine, some gutted them. Seems to run fine without it. Never seen one on any other steamer. 
Thanks Jerry,
Did you just cut the line on both sides and find a copper tube with the same ID as the OD of the original tube and solder it on or ???
Bob


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Posted By Phippsburg Eric on 24 Oct 2012 03:08 PM 
Is it intended to be a pressure regulator as you might find on a welding gas tank? Makes some sense to have one if the goal is to make the engine as easy to operate as possible...provided it actually works. 
Hi Eric,
Mine seems to be giving me troubles so if I don't need it I'd like to get rid of it.
Bob


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Hi Bob-

What work are you doing on your 0-4-0? Mine has just been steaming along for 14 months now, with no problems to speak of. Seems easy to use and not too fussy apart from steam leaks around the cylinders. I just got a goodall valve for mine to ease refilling the boiler.

Regrds

Jerry


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Posted By Naptowneng on 24 Oct 2012 07:13 PM 
Hi Bob-

What work are you doing on your 0-4-0? Mine has just been steaming along for 14 months now, with no problems to speak of. Seems easy to use and not too fussy apart from steam leaks around the cylinders. I just got a goodall valve for mine to ease refilling the boiler.

Regrds

Jerry

Hi Jerry,
I've had mine for a little over two years now. It ran great up until this past summer during the NMRA layout tours mine quit running. After the NMRA convention ended I got into it and discovered the rod that activates the limit switches to stop the travel of the servo throttle valve under the locomotive (the valve that supplies steam to the cylinders) and come loose and allowed the gear to drive off the end of the gear it engages and chewed it up. Anyway, I posted a question on here about it and Dave (Cocobear) told me he replaced his whole servo mechanism with a high torque servo that you might use on an airplane or car. I made the conversion on mine and it ran great for a while, then I broke the butane filler valve and found out from someone else on here that the Ronson Jetlite lighters have a filler valve that will fit. I made that change, ran it several times and now the pressure valve on the side of the tender tank is giving me trouble. Each of these was unrelated to the other problems (well, in the process of replacing the filler valve I might have gotten some crud into the tank and caused the problem with the pressure valve).

I hope yours continues to run great and doesn't give you any problems. The servo change was a very involved thing. I suggest you make sure that the rod that activates the limit switches doesn't come loose. If you flip your locomotive over you should be able to see it toward the front of the locomotive. There is a circular brass plate with gears along the edge with a rod, held by a screw, that pivots at the plate end. Make sure that screw is tight. If it falls out you could have the problem I had. 
Bob


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Many people had problems with this regulator on the Aristo LS Mikado, and bypassed it. 

Some people found that there was junk in it and cleaning it out made it work ok. 

There are apparently some side effects of removing it, that the "cold" from "regulating" the flow is now all concentrated at point point, not spread between the regulator and the throttle. 

Greg


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Thanks Greg,
I guess I'll try taking it apart first and clean it and see if it works better. If I was going to bypass it I have nothing to lose by trying to clean it out first. 
Bob


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Ok, after Greg's comment about possible side effect if I bypassed the pressure valve I decide to see if the Live Steam Forum on the Aristo site had anything about it. Sure enough there was a discussion from Sept of this year where some people had removed it and others had cleaned it. Anyway, I took mine apart (didn't see any obvious dirt) and put it back together but adjusted it to not reduce the pressure at all, or very minimally. Tried it out and it seems to work much better (actually, it did work much better, but until I use it for a while I'll hold off on final judgement). If it gives me trouble again I'll probably gut it and try it that way. 
Thanks to everyone,
Bob


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## Charles (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Jerry Barnes on 24 Oct 2012 02:02 PM 
The LS Mikado had one that sort of looked like that. I bypassed mine, some gutted them. Seems to run fine without it. Never seen one on any other steamer. Jerry
We setup any Aristocraft with both the bypass and heater system along with a better filler valve to more efficient setup. As shown below cleaning might not resolve the problem


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## cocobear1313 (Apr 27, 2012)

Bob, I removed mine as it was a continual thorn in my side.


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## Bob in Kalamazoo (Apr 2, 2009)

Charles, 
Mine didn't look anywhere near that bad. Although, it's presently not doing much of anything.

Dave,
Thanks for letting me know that you've also removed yours. All the advice you've given me so far has worked out great. This locomotive worked great for almost two years, and then everything seemed to start giving me problems. Thanks to all the help on here I now feel rather confident at rebuilding most anything on it. It works great again, just in time for the cold weather. We should get a few more days or warm weather before I give up with live steam outside I do not try and fire it when my hands are freezing. I bring it down to the basement and run it down there. Sparkies are made for running in the snow. 
Bob


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