Pellets or liquid smoke

You can use fluid in your old PW smoke units w/o converting them. I use Mega Steam in all of my PW engines w/ no problems.  You should be able to tell the difference in the units by looking at them. 

Old style or new you can use smoke fluid in it.

However 3/4 drops is max or you will flood the smoke chamber.

Just add more when it stops smoking.

All brands will work.

To tell whether the smoke unit has been converted, look into the smoke stack. If you see a ceramic chip, and a mica plate with fine wire wrapped around it, then it still has the original style pellet smoke element.

As has been posted, an original style pellet smoke unit will work with either pellets or fluid.
Individual preferences certainly do vary

The first heater type smoke units do not have the ceramic form. Just that fine wire wrapped around a mica plate.

Thanks guys.   All the rest of my locos are modern, so I'm out of my element with this one! 

So what is the reason people convert the old units?   Just when they burn out?   To increase the smoke duration or output?

Bob

Yes, they just burned out.  Generally through misuse.  You'll often find PW smoke units that are completely clogged with melted smoke pills, and/or overheated and damaged.

As others have said, there's no reason to "convert" them to anything, since they'll work just fine on smoke liquid.  Just clean them out and replace the old element and wick, and they'll be good as new.

Here are some pictures to show the difference between smoke elements.

Pill type heater elements and liquid smoke refit element.

Larry

That would be a downgrade, in my book.