MTH V 1000 smoke

A lot of times I find the wick is blocking the smoke output. If you put a small toothpick or the end of a thin zip tie down the stack, with the power off, and try moving the wick around just a bit. Don't prod the element. If you get any change, than that's usually an indication of blocked air flow.

 Sometimes after the wick burns in just a little and settles down, the smoke gets better. In those cases I think there's just a bit too much wick. I have repacked brand new wicks.

  Some smoke units don't smoke as good as others. I wonder if there's different things going on like lower current to the element for whatever reason?? (element variances?)

Thanks Joe. I am trying to resist taking it apart. Engine has about 4 hours and it seemed to smoke a plittle better yesterday. Also, seems to improve a little if I tap on the top of the stack. I did gently probe a small wire into the stack. It felt pretty solid down there and not like I was hitting the wick. The power was off when I did this.

Ed

I have had some smoke units that didn't have enough wicking in them from the factory. A little tiny piece between the element that's it. I use the braided wick material from MTH with good results.

This almost surely has the smaller single element smoke unit, not much room inside the VO-1000 shell.  Remember, diesels don't smoke that much, so it's prototypical.

 

Yes this is a unique smoke unit with single element and the PS-2 board has special flash code to compensate.  You may want to check the element resistance.  I think some of these had single 16 ohms when they should have had the smaller 8 ohm resistor.  Also make sure wick is in good contact with element and not burned.  G

Another problem with the VO-1000 is that the smoke unit is at front of the engine, and a duct carries the smoke back to the stack.  The duct is narrow, so it is difficult to get any appreciable amount of smoke out of the stack.

 

Stuart

 

 

Oh boy! As usual you guys nailed this one. Single element unit in the front connected to the  stack  by a duct. The wick was a little burned at it was wrapped around the element. I was not going to replace it because it was a little burned but decided to replace it anyway. Seems to be smoking fine now and I hope it will last. I learned a lesson that even a little burned area might effect the smoke production. Seems like it is really easy to overload these single element units with fluid. My sense is that they do not get as hot as the double element units and take longer to heat the fluid if there is too much. Will have to learn the best way to refill it.

 

Thank you all for the comments and help. 

This Forum is the best!

Ed

I've been lucky I guess that most of my engines still smoke the same way. I don't let them run dry and just add a few drops in intervals depending on how often they are run. If it's been too long, I add drops to be sure. I let them cool down a bit before I add. If the engine was run heavy in a session, I add the very next time.

 It seems like you don't need much, just a good damp wick. I have overfilled a couple slightly and wick some back out to get them smoking stronger. When I do engine service, the wicks look good. Some of them are ten years old and get regular use. I have stopped checking them unless there's a problem. Most of the problems are with new additions to my fleet.

 Some G gauge smoke units are huge. I have a couple O gauge that are tiny because of available space. I use the same amount of drops at the same intervals in all of them!

Thanks Joe. I think/hope I learned something else. With the V1000 having a fairly long duct to carry the refill fluid from the stack to the smoke unit, you can't just put some drops in, wait a minute, and then turn on the smoke. I would imagine it takes some time for the new fluid to drip down that duct. If the smoke is turned the fan would be working against the refilling fluid. When I did a little refill it didn't smoke as well as when I refilled it with the shell off. Hopefully it will be better tomorrow after the fluid has had a chance to settle in.

Ed

If there's only a small burned spot, I will frequently move the wick to a fresh area, that usually restores it.  Once you have a couple spots like that, then I replace it.