Dead fire bed

The dead fire bed is a measure to counter the problems of firing with lignite or other low-quality coal on steam locomotives .

When burned, this coal disintegrates too early. Still glowing pieces of coal fall into the ashtray and burn there completely. The lack of heat leads to a lack of steam. The fallen coal damages the ash pan by burning out or warping. For a dead fire bed, a layer of smaller stones is applied to the grate of the fire box (track ballast, crushed bricks, coal slag, etc.). Then the fire is kindled. The glowing pieces of coal are held back by the stones until they are completely burned out. Only afterwards do they fall into the ash pan as ash particles. In this way, the efficiency of the boiler is maintained with bad coal and damage to the steam locomotive is avoided.

literature

• Johannes Schwarze, Werner Deinert, Lothar Frase a. a .: The steam locomotive . Transpress, 2005, ISBN 978-3-344-70791-0 , pp. 782 ff . (Reprint of the 2nd edition from 1965).