I need a smoke unit for a chimmy on my lay out. I had the sluth but it burned up any thing else that not to expensive?
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Seuth is the best. Just be careful not to over power it. Mine's been working for years. Also, just like an engine, you don't want to run it dry.
If it cant be put in the building, Seuth is the best.
In a building, I would look for a wire wound PW element so you wont have to worry as much about it running dry. It will float smoke as long as any extension tubes aren't too long.
I use JB weld to hold units to tubes. I wont fail from the fluid oils. Or leak if its all cleaned well first.(sand a "plastic" lids shine off first)
I don't think a fan unit would work well without building an expansion chamber, and/or limiting the intake port some, to weaken the flow.
I think 27-28Ω is right for resistors if I remember right. So resistors of about 30Ω+ should give you less heat as the number of ohms rises.
Why do you believe that "running it dry" would be bad? Do you believe that the smoke is carrying away significantly more heat that convection of hot air would? I do not find that plausible. Or is there some other reason?
As the oil vaporizes it does carry away a significant amount of heat. After it runs dry there is in effect no "coolant" to absorb the heat and carry it away and the filament will get very hot and eventually burn out.
Running a smoke unit dry has been shown to shorten the life of a smoke unit, this is not an urban legend as it were.
Jerry
which seuth? I had one could never get it to work right