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HOW THE SYSTEM WORKS The water (or steam) is cut off at idle for a number of reasons.
PARTS LIST
CIRCUIT CONSTRUCTION The construction is straight forward and like the Mixture
Controller, you should fully test the device on the bench before installing.
Being so much simpler this is a good project to complete first. The printed
circuid board is a small rectangular piece of general purpose board, about
1 x 1.5 inches. Make it bigger if you plan on using a larger container.
The output transister TIP32 is larger than necessary so that it will operate
reliably without the need for a heat sink. The water flow rate you choose will vary according to
the size of your engine and what sort of other high mileage devices you
have installed. However as an example and as a ball park figure, we have
installed a steam system as described on the main web site, and our flow
rate is about 1 litre for every 75 klm. This is fairly consistant whether we do
city or highway driving. The car never pings now, but it did quite a lot
before adding water. Pinging may not stop immediately, as it may take a
few hundred miles before all the deposits are cleaned from the cylinders.
Ours took several weeks. Anywhere from 5% to 25% may be correct for your
situation. There is a limit to how much water can be boiled in a given
size boiler, so if you go too high you may have cold water entering the
engine in large drops. Start at 10% and gradually increase till you find
a setting that feels right, with no idle problems and good driveability.
There are too many variables to give an
exact amount that will be correct for every situation.
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The
electronics are very simple. None of the components are of critical tolerance
and all should be available over the counter. The whole circuit, except
for the solenoid can fit inside a 35mm film cannister as shown. The valve
that we use to control the water flow is an electric solenoid such as an
idle up solenoid. These are found in most vehicles on the fire
wall and are normally used to switch vacuum. Get this component from your
local wrecking yard. They are sometimes referred to as vacuum solenoids.
They are usually made of plastic, which is good for water, but you do have
to be careful not to break off the connections. It is very important to
connect to the water hoses correctly.The 
common
connector attaches to your water reservoir, the normally closed connector
goes to the engine, or boiler, and the normally open connector goes no
where. Block it off with a cap. This configuration makes it less likely
the system will suck air. Mount it high so the water won't siphon out if
the cap leaks.
The
circuit includes a similar 2 minute delay circuit as in the Mixture controller.
In operation the idle switch, when closed, turns off the BC337 transistor
which in turn, turns off the TIP32 transistor, thus stopping the water.
The 220uF capacitor forms a 2 second delay with the 10K resistor. The water
will stop quickly, but will take 2 seconds to start again. This prevents
the system from surging when cruising at a throttle setting which is right
on the verge of opening the idle switch. All the capacitors are electrolytic
type of 16 volt rating. All resistors are 1/4 watt.