Helpful Hint of the Day…Turn Them Smoke Units Off!

Living is hazardous to your health! Enjoy living!

I like living dangerously.  I run my smoke units.  I even remove the tags from my pillows . . . 

 

Bob

After watching the video Rick linked to, I almost WANT my smoke units to catch alight!!!

 

Now THAT'S impressive!!!

Honestly, if you feel unsafe running your trains with the smoke units on then turn them off. Do what you are most comfortable with. Do what is best for you.

Also, allow coffee to cool before applying to groin area.

This post is an over reaction!

I am guessing that prolonged exposure and or excessive amounts of smoke are harmful.

 

With my dad's Christmas Flyer smoke only made memories.

This is all pretty silly, from all angles.

 

BTW, there is no law against "removing tags from your pillows". This is a non-joke that

just won't die. Many know this; many don't. Probably have used it myself.

The -merchant- cannot remove these tags before the sale; the -purchaser- of the pillows can remove them all willy-nilly, even in public, in front of children!

 

Reminds me of the also never-ending silliness in movies and on TV when there is a fire

in an office, and ALL the ceiling sprinklers come on, not just the one(s) above the

fire that had the lead (oh, no! lead!) interlock melted by the heat.

 

 

None of my smoking locos have an on/off switch for their smokers. It's full on smoke all the time, until the fluid runs out. Even then there's no fire.

 

Perhaps these new fangled electronic engines are not as robust or as safe as the old conventional locos???

When such a problem does arise, I'm usually more interested in how I can replicate it than how to prevent it. I think as long as you're not running your trains unattended you're good to go. Even after this little issue, the flames extinguished themselves as soon as power was removed from the track.

 

 Of course that was an old puffer unit. If there had been a pc board involved as in a modern fan driven unit, it may have continued to smolder.

Smoke em if you gottem and keep the wicks wet whether you use them or not.

Whew!  I've been running smoking locomotives since 1951, and never had any idea how close to death I've been all this time!

 

Is there anything people won't worry about?

 

No smoke from a steamer is like cake without icing or a cat without pajamas (whatever cat's pajamas is supposed to mean).

 

Rich

 

Keep em smoking, My Christmas Pine Scent is a GREAT scent that graces my basement

Didn't some guy once spend time in jail for removing a mattress tag? He later became a movie star, I think he was in Pee Wee Herman's movie?

 

I will still be running my smoke units in my trains. There is probably a much greater chance of the little electric heater you use in your train room or halogen lighting or your toaster causing a fire than any of your trains. I have constant 18 volts on the track at all times as well, all command control and I am not at all worried about it. I have proper circuit protection and I don't go off and leave my trains running while I am out of the basement, I am there the whole time they are on. I don't go off and leave any little electric heaters on either.

 

If this was a real problem, our train manufacturer's would not be installing smoke units in their trains. They are small companies, one lawsuit over a smoke unit could put them out of business. I really don't think they want to take that chance. I am sure the smoke units are quite safe when operated according to manufacturer's instructions.

 

 

Sorry about the quality.

 

Jerry

I think I have a greater chance of getting hit in the face by a derailment while viewing at eye level and taking pics with my iPhone and cradling my Cab1 on my knee.

In my panic, I can never decide what to do first.
drop the phone, grab the remote and hit the HALT or try to catch the locomotive in mid air.
Next time I will just drop everything and catch the loco.
LOL.

If you are really worried about fire, get a dry foam extinguisher.
Or make a TMCC fire car with working fire suppression foam cannon.
Now that would be something.
But I think I would find myself lighting fires intentional cause I doubt my smoke units with ever self ignite.

Warning lights - that's what's needed here!

I'm fully aware that running the smoke unit coats the inside of the unit with residue that probably reduces the life of all the electronic components, makes the track gunky and require extra cleaning, and even using NADA unscented smoke the smell makes me sick after a while, but watching a steam locomotive run without smoke from the stack is so boring I'd rather just not run the thing.  

All my stuff is old Flyer and Marx and I have never had a smoke unit start a fire.  I did have a pikemaster switch motor short out and melt some plastic, but never had any fires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeBqFbxPXX4

 

Remember this one from a while back? funny

Smoke good!

Most of the time

Are you referring to newer engine manuals indicating

When the smoke unit is on, always keep a small amount of smoke fluid in the locomotive’s smoke generator; the generator’s element can become damaged if operated without fluid. 

Never operate the smoke unit when dry. This will cause the smoke unit to overheat and may damage your engine?

Is Candid Camera watching this thread??!!

 

If you're scared, get a dog!   

Thanks for all the replies…Everyone!
I have to admit while running my Trains yesterday I think I experienced withdrawal symptoms. I’m going to buy some chewing gum today and see if that helps…lol
I think I will spend a little time today cleaning all the residue that has accumulated on my Track, Rolling Stock, and Engines.



K.C.

Mostly I choose to run my trains with the smoke unit off because I choose to do so and not because I worry about a fire or damage to the smoke unit.

  Ahhhh....i guess i should recalibrate my injectors 1.5 min into video NS east bound.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ_WjCrtmgk

Smoke is an element of realism in model railroads. When you rely on smoke to be generated by smoke fluid that is essentially a high paraffin, high flashpoint, low volatility, ultrapure lamp oil, there is always a possibility of a fire but I judge the risk to be mimimal.

You don't leave your trains running without anyone in the room, so if a small smokestack fire develops you are there to attend to it. The chance of an engine fire is less that having a fire in your toaster oven or having hookup wires burn from a short or derailment. Enjoy the smoke feature. Just don't leave the room when running trains, then everything is completely under control and safe. If you are still concerned keep a fire extinguisher near the layout. We never run without smoke here

I have found the "smoke can be dangerous", for want of a better name, threads useful. I am new to the hobby.

 

I have learned:

 

1/ How smoke units actually work. I had no idea about the wadding, or that running a smoke unit dry was a bad thing. Eric Siegel's video on "How to Repair a Noisy Smoke Unit," was useful too.

2/ That smoke fluid comes in two "flavors," not to be confused with scents. One is flammable, if only very slightly, and one is not and . . .

3/ Having a fire extinguisher handy to the layout is a good idea, smoke or no smoke. I will also be installing a smoke detector in the trainroom with it being within easy reach so it can be neutralized when I do want to use smoke.

 

Still not sure if I will use the smoke feature in my higher-end models.

 

Just watching some videos indicates to me I that I likely will not use the smoke feature until spring, when I can have the skylights open for ventilation.

Having a fire extinguisher is a good idea whether you have trains or not.

 

I should have added above, that my smoke units run until I hear my wife hollering down the stairs "Do you have that smoke turned on again?" I reply, "No, Dear!" and immediately turn it off.  

I don't think I have heard of a fire originating from a smoke unit which is not to say there hasn't been one.

 

I absolutely understand that some people simply do not like the smoke and/or the smoke irritates someone in the house.

 

As for health concerns.  I've not seen anything authoritive  yet that affirms there is any risk.

 

FWIW I am 68 and lived a pretty fun life.  I believe that for me there is a far greater risk from the bottle of  Kentucky Bourbon that sits on the shelf next to the smoke fluid In my train room.

 

Ed

FWIW   A very wise person once told me the following: "Real steam has a reason to smoke. Toy trains have no reason or need to smoke". It makes sense when you think it through.

Holy sh!!  When did they come up with this?  I was getting my bathtub layout ready.  Now, I've got to rethink the whole thing again!  

By the same token real trains need horn, bells, whistles, windows and lights, toy trains don't. We can take this to it's logical conclusion. Real trains have a reason and need to exist, toy trains don't. We make a model of a train and want it to look as realistic as we can or want to but we don't put a smoke unit in it because it's not needed?

 

Jerry

Notice: As of 1/1/16 any type of ladder 5' or less in height will no longer be legal.

 

Ladders less than 60" in height are of insufficient length to display all mandated  bilingual warning stickers.

I think the conventional only folks really need watch out on this one.

There are more fluids than 2.(outside of our "norm")

Seuthe type uses its own fluid and has been used in some O.

Toys usually take a mixture of water(not here..its coming), and a mineral, or vegetable oil.

 

Other good ideas, and notes,

Power strips with a breaker, GFI, etc, fuses/breakers on track wires too.

Two transformers must be "phased" to be used together safely.

Better too fat a wire, than to skinny.

Many Lionel loads are safe to take into the bathtub

I highly suggest the rubber band powered submarine, and the battery op Coast Guard boat.

The Boat-loader gives you boats to protect  

Or attack  

 

 

 

That sounds like "stool" to me

I doubt you have to worry about engine smoke unit fires unless you continually overfill them, or as I have seen some do, fill them while they are still moving. I say that because I was at a train club meet and other people kept adding smoke fluid to my K-Line GS4 as it was going by. I saw fire puffing out the stack, and shut it down.  It bent some internal piston the repairman told me.

.....

Dennis

It depends, I might if I'm in my bathtub running my trains at the time. 

I usually run with smoke, and will probably keep doing so for now.  I find it washes away with a scotch or two.