Thursday 12 February 2015

Yet another Plan B

It seems a bit extravagant, but it is cold.  It is getting lighter in the early evenings, and I am still experimenting with "photo's in the dark"
      The crane in the boatyard, if you can't make it out!

I still haven't got the Eberspacher fixed, Eberspacher don't care about customers, that is why they sell things through agents.   So I picked up a Propex heater.  If for any reason I can't use the diesel heater, then I can use the LPG one, and vica-versa. 

A stainless inlet/exhaust plate goes on the outside...
   ..and two stainless snakes come into the boat.

The heater fits into the bottom of a cupboard quite neatly.  now at least I have heating.


The heater took less time to fit than I thought, so I made a start on the saloon seating.  This will eventually have a slide-out section so it will turn into a bed.

Monday 9 February 2015

Winter chills

Well, I've received the Eberspacher back from pf jones, "tested on the bench and fully working".

Now I have isolators, and a neater pipe layout, it is much easier to fit back in place.

Plug in the controls and GO!   The pump starts pumping water for thirty seconds, then....nothing.  The system shuts down.

Diesel is coming out of the diesel pipe, the water pipes are full of water, water is coming out of the bleed screw, 13.9V present at the boiler.

Plug in the controls and GO!   The pump starts pumping water for thirty seconds, then....nothing.  The system shuts down.

The controller reads error code 14, which is over temperature, but the boiler hasn't even lit yet.

Back to the distributor on Monday....


Monday 2 February 2015

Bugged by diesel

Now it is nice and frosty in the morning, the eberspacher decided to pack in.  I tried clearing the error codes, but it would not light.  I had to remove it in order to return it for fixing.  This is where I wish I had fit isolator valves to it.









Once I had turned off all of the radiators, I managed to get most of the water from the header tank collected in a bottle for re-use.  I removed the boiler and, while it was off, decided to tidy up the pipework running to the boiler, to reduce any chance of airlocks.  I spent about an hour cutting pipes, and fitting them behind the engine, dangling almost upside down, and banking my head on the mains cupboard repeatedly.

When I tried the pipe with some water, almost every joint was leaking!.  I removed all of the pipes, dangling almost upside down, and banking my head on the mains cupboard repeatedly.

It was then I discovered that, instead of 22mm pipe, I was using 20mm conduit!

Never start a plumbing job on a Sunday!  Sod it, I decided to go to the pub.  Just to be different, I decided to go to the butcher, 14 miles or so along the canal. 

It was a beautiful sunny day, if a little cold, as I walked towards the remains of the old Blackburn Royal Infirmary,

..through Mill Hill...

..and up to Infirmary locks.





Just beyond Whitebirk, the canal was frozen, leaving the ducks confused.











When I returned to the boat, there was a new arrival.



Needs a bit of TLC.