I got myself a Wilesco D2 steam engine. It is a nice little steam engine that is a little more civilized to casually run compared to my Wilesco D10. What I mean is that it is less noisy, it smells less, it takes less space and you run it until it has no water left and then just blows out the candle.

A few findings…

Oil
The Wilesco D2 is all about lubricant. I ran my brand new engine once. Quite (relatively) much grease came out of it. I filled up again, it ran worse, and after a while I couldn’t get it to run at all. If the machine vibrates to the point that it does not stand still it needs more oil. The package comes with oil, the instructions tell you to use oil, but the D10 is less sensitive. I can conclude after a few runs that the original Wilesco Z83 oil is better than ordinary sewing machine oil. I can see the difference that the sewing machine oil works for a while but its effect disappears, while the Z83 lasts longer.

Fuel
The machine comes with one beeswax candle. I love bees, and the candle works fine. An ordinary teapot candle does not produce enough heat. It is not hard to find beeswax candles where I live, but I dont know if they are comparable to the Wilesco candles.

I find that a better option is to use the Ethanol burner from my Stirling engine. The price and convenience of ethanol (red spirit, or Meth?) is better than the candle, I think. Perhaps the ethanol runs warmer than the candle and you need to be more careful to remember to blow it out, but on the other hand the ethanol burner only lasts for 30 minutes – the time the engine is designed to run.

Conclusion
Get the Z 83 oil when you get the machine. The included oil is small and quite greasy to deal with (it is not a bottle). And consider getting an ethanol burner. Check this video.