An interesting problem. Related to engineering through the amount of tea that we drink?
As you may or may not know, with a friend I own and operate a commercial miniature railway near Chippenham in Wiltshire (The Lackham Museum and Woodland Railway - "The Pheasant Line"). I also like collecting railway memorabilia and display it (and where possible) put it to use on the railway.
One recent asset I have acquired is a water boiler, reputed to have been last used at Market Rasen buffet. I would like to bring the unit back into operation again, but I have hit a few snags. (Pictures of the boiler can be seen at
The water boiler was made by Maxol of Manchester (a company owned by a Mr B Lowmax). A search on the internet led me to the modern "Burco" boilers as the current owners (who themselves are part of Murphy-Richards!) I e-mailed their National Accounts Manager (Christopher Oakley) who very kindly carried out some research on my behalf. It would appear that it was probably manufactured in the late
1950's and was originally designed for Town Gas. (Whether it was ever converted to Natural Gas is unknown). Regardless of that, the burner (a separate part) does not meet current safety regulations (e.g. there is no flame failure device), so even if I converted it to Propane, I couldn't use it in a public area anyway.So, I need to design and build a new burner. As this is gas and I am very nervous of this area, I actually need someone else to design and build a new burner! I have spoken to Burco and they cannot help, it would appear that they are a manufacturing plant only (no design facility - for this sort of work anyway!)
As this is a piece of original, untouched "memorabilia" I would prefer not to butcher the original burner, but to design a new burner with the same "form, fit and function". (However, if minor mods could be made to the original without destroying the design I would be interested, e.g. converted to Propane and a flame failure device fitted)
In an ideal world I would like to buy one "off the shelf", however I don't know where to start looking.
Therefore, can anybody suggest a company that makes or modifies these sort of burners and who may be able to help me?
Thanks in advance.
Peter