Subject: Re: [baidarka] Steam box
From: Juan Ochoa (jochoa@ll.mit.edu)
Date: Fri Feb 21 2003 - 10:33:14 EST
Randy Wright wrote:
>Here is what I know.
>Steam under pressure is a lot!!! hotter that steam in an open system.
>
True. At atmospheric pressure, steam cannot be hotter than 212 DegF.
>Pressure cookers are designed to be sealed.
>
That is why pressure cookers cook food faster. At the elevated pressure
inside the pot, the steam temperature can rise well above 212 DegF. I
don't recall the table off-hand, but I recall the temperature at 15 psi
is something like 240 DegF.
>Trying to vent steam off to send to a steam box could be a big problem.
>If you try it be very careful.
>
Mostly due to the connection problem and the small opening at the top of
the pressure cooker. The whole point of the cooker is _not_ to loose
steam. That is why it has a small tube at the top.
>Here is what I suspect:
>The steam vented from a high pressure source is hotter and dryer than
>steam in an open system and would drive the moisture out of the wood.
>It may be more like putting it in a very hot oven than in a steam box.
>
I don't think so. Steam is water vapor. If the cooker, or steam box
for that mater, is completely filled with steam (no air left) the
humidity will be 100%. Wood placed in this environment will not dry
out. It can't. The steam vented from the higher pressure source will
be hotter, but as it exits the vent tube, it will cool to 212 DegF
rapidly.
My recommendation is to follow Brian's advice. The Wagner steamer is a
reasonably low cost / high utility solution. The pressure cooker would
be a pain in comparison. My particular solution is a junk pot with a 2"
diameter hose pushed through a cookie tin lid set on top of the pot.
Were I to do it again, I'd buy the Wagner.
>But I would be very careful using steam under pressure.
>
>
I couldn't agree more. High pressure steam to the novice falls in the
same category as chainsaws. Use with great caution.
Juan Ochoa
Harvard, MA
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