Smoke Unit - 671 Turbine

[MB425]

Hi all,

Ordered a new WBB 671 GM turbine a couple weeks ago. It came last Monday or Tuesday and I finally cracked it open this morning. I have some questions about the smoke unit that I'm hoping to get answered.

1) The smoke unit (I believe it is a Seuthe (SP?) unit and fluid correct?) seems to be a little "stubborn." It tends to puff out occasional clouds with a slight "stream" of smoke in between. This is while running and in neutral. Also, when I first unpacked it, I added around 15 drops to the unit before I put it on the track. While doing some test runs, the smoke stopped maybe after 2 minutes. I added about 5 drops just in case it ran out of fluid and the same process was repeated. Is it possible that I have a defective unit? I have one MTH steamer (PS2) which, most of you probably know, smokes like a cigarette factory on fire. I also have a little Lionel 4-4-2 from the RTR set which has the piston smoke unit. The Williams is a different unit design that I'm not familiar with so please excuse me if I'm fussing over nothing. It just seemed like the smoke unit ran out rather quickly and its behavior was rather odd.

2) As I stated above, the smoke "puffs" on occasion with the popping of the fluid inside the unit. The fluid gets all over the shell of the engine. I've had some bad experience with smoke fluid (JT's Mega Steam) peeling the paint off my Lionel and MTH steamers. As anyone experienced this with the Williams (Seuthe? (SP?)) unit and fluid before?

3) Is there any way to shut off the smoke unit to prevent burning it up and also to prevent fluid from being sprayed all over the engine when filling it up? Both of my MTH and Lionel engines have this feature. If not, it may be something to consider for future smoke equipped steam models.

4) Finally, when I ordered the engine, I ordered an extra bottle of smoke fluid thinking the fluid supplied wouldn't get me far (that has been my experience with MTH and Lionel). I was surprised to see the Bachmann boys taking care of us and giving us some enough fluid for more than one fill up unlike the other guys. When I run out of both bottles (which will be a while), can I just use regular Seuthe (SP?) fluid?

Thank you for the help.

[DominicMazoch]

I use Slueth in my trains.  It seems that kind of smoke burns off quickly. 

I don't have WBB steamers, so I can't comment "apples-to apples" about it.  Don'r know if the Slueth is OK for WBB.

But I use one of those bottles with a needle to place my fluid in.  That way, you put the smoke right on the wick, and does not make a mess.

Once you get the turbine running, either place the above needle and/or blow carefully in the smoke unit.   Sometimes an air buble forms, causing a blockage where the smoke does not come out of the unit.

[MB425]

DominicMazoch, thanks for your reply. I timed how long the engine went from fill-up to empty which was about 7 minutes. Not bad IMO. I also tried blowing down the stack but nothing really happened unlike other locos. I guess it is just the nature of the beast. Thanks again.

[MB425]

Bach man: Can I damage the smoke unit by running it dry as you can do with engines with a wick type smoke unit? Thanks!

[the Bach-man]

Dear MB
I'll check on this with 3 Rail.
Thanks!
the Bach-man

[DominicMazoch]

I have had a Lionel 726 replaced with the liquid system, and it is about 7-10 mins on refills.  So that is about right.

[3rail]

Dear MB,

Fluid:
Use Williams, Bachmann, or Seuthe Fluid.  These have been tested to be OK other fluids can  be too thick and cause the unit to clog.

Operation:
Your unit is operating correctly.  Running the unit without fluid is OK.  There is no switch, but if you want to turn the unit off it is plugged into a voltage regulator board, so you can unplug it.  You can access this through the boiler front.

Regards,

3rail

[MB425]

Thanks folks.

As I noted above, I had smelled a burning smell coming from my smoke unit. I pulled the boiler front off to reveal glue holding the wires to the shell or the rubber around the smoke unit. Does anyone know of a fix or has experienced this? I would rather not send the engine back to Bachmann.

[MB425]

Fixed the melting issue - by removing the glue. Unfortunately, the smoke unit is not secured and will fall out when the engine is turned over. A poor design (the glue) if you ask me. Does anyone know of a better (melt-free please!) method to secure the smoke unit?

Also, when working on the engine, I broke off the very small tip of the metal pole in the center of the smoke unit. It still smokes fine but is should I order a new unit because of this?

Finally, on the smoke unit board, there is a large black "thing" made of metal (not the resistor) towards the back of the board. The unit became VERY hot (I could feel the heat a foot/foot and a half back) and there were two black wires on top of it. I assume these wires were the power wires but I'm not sure. They were very taught and I didn't want to break the zip-lock tie on the reverse board to loosen up the wires. Anyway, I'm worried about the insulation melting on them. Should I worry about it? Should I break the tie to give them so slack to keep them off the black metal "tower?"

Thanks again., Unfortunately this is my second WBB loco and the second one that has needed work right out of the box before I did any serious running.