This last weekend saw me make another couple of visits to the boat to try and crack the heating problem. On Saturday I took along our friend Richard the electrician. After a bit of ferreting about and being sent down a blind alley by a wire that had come adrift a busted motorised valve was diagnosed. Savile Town Wharf is very handily placed for plenty of shops for DIY and other bits and pieces and a new motorised valve was easily obtained. When we got back to the boat the new Horstmann was larger than the original so would not fit on the base plate fixed to the three pipes. That meant I had to part the connections. Then I had to cut some off the copper pipe for the bottom connection to fit up into the brass three way valve. That achieved we proved that all the electrics were now right and all systems were go!
The three way valve beneath the new motorised valve. The light blue calorifier can be seen on the left.
The next thing we had to do was bleed all the air out of the system that had been introduced when we opened the pipe work. I ensured the header tank level was maintained and then went round bleeding the five radiators we have in the boat. Next it was down the engine hole to bleed the pipework there using the new bleed valves that had been added on elbows above the Hurricane unit at Calcutt Boats on the way north last year. All went fine and so I was confident when we switched the Hurricane on and set the timer and thermostat to produce heat. Everything started up as expected. I continued to monitor the level in the header tank to ensure that any air coming out of the system had more fluid to replace it and not allow it to suck air in. Quickly I found the level increasing and pretty soon it was coming over the top and out into the back of the boat. The antifreeze'coolant is quite 'greasey' so cleaning up was not so easy.
The expansion tank is found at the top of the cupboard above the calorifier. The thick black cable can be seen leading to the new motorised valve. The switch in the cupboard is for the immersion heater when on mains power.
A also saw that my pipework connections were leaking so it was off with the nuts again, and of course I didn't have the right size spanner so was having to make do with a mole wrench! The magic PTFE tape was wrapped round ( I have watched plumbers get it right every time but I seem to drop the reel and wrap it the wrong way etc etc) and then all back together. It was then round the radiators and pipework topping everything up again and rattling pipe runs to displace a bubbles before setting the heating going again. You would think I would have learned wouldn't you but no, The coolant once again came gushing out of the expansion tank and all over the deck. That was it. We had been there hours and hadn't had anything to eat, and just a couple of hot drinks. The back doors had to be open so we were cold with the breeze blowing straight in. I had to get Richard back to Selby so I dried everything up and we just left everything as it was and went home. Thanks very much Richard, you achieved your side of the work as the electrics work now! I did get to watch the rugby the next day. Maybe on Saturday the match would have been very thrilling but knowing the result I just thought that England made too many mistakes to allow France to score and make it very difficult. At that showing I'm not sure whether New Zealand or South Africa will be too worried for the World Cup later this year.
I talked Helen into coming back with me on Sunday to get it all going again. I needed somebody to keep the expansion/header tank topped up whilst I was running around checking everything else. We soon set to after a delay in getting there as the M62 had been closed due to somebody jumping of a bridge on to the carriageway near Goole. We soon had the system filled up and bled, and once again I didn't learn my lessen and it again 'boiled' over and into the back of the cabin. I checked again, and once again I took no precautions as I was convinced I had it this time. Of course I hadn't, and it was on hands and knees mopping up for the last time. That was it, we had had enough and left it until another day, and another 'three coats of looking at' before I made another attempt.
Helen had bought an off cut of carpet to fit near the stove so before we went home I fitted that and it looks very good. When Helen had picked me up earlier in the week she had bought me a piece of acrylic to experiment with double glazing for the windows. We have hopper style windows on most of them. I didn't really want to have to cover these up to make them available for us and so that we could almost have the secondary glazing as 'permanent'. I would be able to seal the acrylic sheet to the bottom and two sides using magnetic strip A and B, but at the top there was a gap so this wouldn't be possible. I bought some neoprene gasket of the right thickness and then attached the magnetic strip to this so the top of the acrylic as gripped to the frame below the hopper. I am pleased with the result and the look of the final assembly. We are going to see how it performs as secondary glazing. I'm sure it will assist heat loss but will have to see about condensation. If it is okay we will do the same to the other five windows the same.
This photo shows the gap between the acrylic sheet and the window frame below the hopper filled with the neoprene strip.
We also had time to manufacture a window for our side hatch that we can fix and remove easily from inside the boat and just use the bolt holes from the steel doors already there. It seems safe and secure, and doesn't look too ugly at all, and will be a great boon to let light in for the dinette even if the weather is inclement.
All in all we started with hot water but no heating and now have no hot water or heating, but we have achieved other objectives at a very reasonable price so I am not too downhearted. More research required before returning again.
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