Poor Smoke on Pere M Berk

Hi Al,

There's a few things to do and check.

1ST did you drill out the air intake

2nd make sure there's nothing blocking the stack hole

3rd make sure the smoke unit is lined up with the shell

4th are you sure the resistor is touching the wick material

5th make sure the smoke is turned up to high on your remote

Alex

This this a fan driven? If so make sure the wick isnt blocking the fan outlet port were the wick sits at... I did his mods to a MTH smokeunit and man it really smokes now too on my 3rd rail unskirted S1 duplex..also blow down the smoke stack too ,it might manists buildup.. 

Allan...

Are we talking the scale Berk or the one that comes with the RTR set?  My RTR Berk doesn't smoke all the well but my scale one does fine when I want it.

Thanks all for advice.I did  carefully drill out the hole and ensured the smoke unit was aligned.I do get smoke but only wisps.I will go in and check the air flow.This is the Scale legacy unit I tend to operate more as we get close to Christmas.Perhaps I am just used to MTH steamers that I  find smoke wonderful.Al B

This sounds like the puffer unit, they've never been up to the fan driven smokers.

This one has a fan.

I've never had any complaints about my Legacy fan driven smokers, if that one is doing that poorly, there is certainly something wrong.  The Legacy units shouldn't need drilling, at least that's what I've been told.  Could you have an issue with the smoke regulator and not the actual smoke unit?

Perhaps the regulator is the issue.I will inspect the unit again.I suspect I the air flow is beign restricted. I may have stuffd too much wicking in there.I have followed Mike R's video on smoke adjustments and made changes, including drilling air hole larger even on legacy steamers.I  find it makes a huge difference.MTH  steamer smoke like crazy.

Good morning Al, John is right there must be something wrong. Here's a video of a Lionel N&W J from 2007 2008 that I just upgraded. The smoke output is just as good if not better than the newer engines. Maybe the resistor is not touching the wick material. also was there a wick material around the resistor that needs to be cut off and maybe you should put a new resistor in. What is the model number of this engine

Alex

What is involved in "drilling out the air intake?"

I have to admit, even the cheap MTH units lay out a thick cloud of smoke, they seem to have figured that out early in the game.

Alex may be right, the resistor has to be firmly in contact with the wick, but not totally covered.  I've never found it that critical exactly how the wick is in there, as long as there is some airflow through the smoke chamber.

Drilling the air intake is just making the hole bigger.  However, you have to make SURE you don't damage any of the nearby PCB traces.

Adjusted the wicking to allow air flow, soaked prior to close up and all running well now.This one eas hard to get smoke chimney aligned.Smoke was coming out bottom of body.Adjsuted and all Ok.Thanks all for input and advice.Al B

I've noticed a couple of my locomotives that I have issues aligning the smoke unit, the mounting bracket may be bent on yours.  Glad it all worked out.

Drilling the air intake larger draws more air in =more air being sucked in more smoke it blowing out..I'd drilled 1-2 size bigger then the orginal hole size. As for the wick.. 12" is to much..Mike think said on the video to use? I'd used 6" and bang it worked.. also MTH units has 2 heating elements and lionel only has 1..So thats why MTH puts out more smoke then lionels smoke units....

Be VERY careful not to damage any traces on the PCB when you're doing the drilling.

I have a scale 1225 Berk and it smokes very well. I go with the theory that there is something wrong with the smoke unit. I would return it to Lionel and let them correct the issue.

joseywales is correct, the amount of wicking Mike demonstrated in the video was too much.I drilled hole 1 size larger VERY CAREFULLY.I went back in and reduced amount of wicking Mike recommended to half.I also had to adjust the smoke unit as it was not aligned properly ( that could have been me taking the boiler off).Anyway this is a real smoker now.Al B