Jump to content

gary955

Member
  • Posts

    525
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    2

Everything posted by gary955

  1. Can we have a mod steer this thread back to HVO? One of the most frustrating features of this forum is topic wander. Only about half of the replies to a thread about HVO are actually about HVO. It's a very busy forum if your interest is wandering off the subject, start a new thread! you'll still have plenty of input.
  2. To bring the thread back on topic! Crown oil told me today that they will no longer deliver from a tanker to a boat. I wanted 1500lts of HVO and had an agreement from a marina for the delivery to be made at their fuel pontoon, directly from a tanker. If anyone knows of an alternative supplier, I'd be grateful.
  3. Hello All. For good or ill, I'm a fan of the Morso Squirrel and want to install one with a back boiler in my tugboat. Morso's eye watering prices mean that I'm shopping second hand. I've had a couple of squirrel 1410's in my narrowboat over the years and find them easy to control and simple to keep in overnight. I've been offered a 1435 model which appears to be very similar, apart from a larger window glass and a different way of controlling the secondary air. What is the forums opinion of the differences between the 1410 and 1435?
  4. Do you mean 10 milliseconds?
  5. Good point. I'll bear that in mind
  6. I tend to view all boaters as kindred spirits, so it's particularly galling to find that one has gone to the trouble of sneaking ashore on a private boat club mooring, and cutting or breaking the lock to a lamp post of my mountain bike and making off with it! The premises are well secured with high (locked) steel gates and a high perimeter fence backed up with thick hawthorn, so it clearly was a boater of some description. I'd quite like it back, although I realise it's a long shot. So if anyone spots a fairly scruffy white and black Cube Attention, with or without the distinctive wooden wine box rear carrier, on a boat. Please feel free to poke the boater sharply in the eye and recover my steed. Alternatively snap a picture of bike and boat and PM them to me with the location and I'll pop along to have a word. There's a drink in it for you. Stolen from the lower end of the Shroppie, so may have gone North, or South onto the Staffs and Worc's or BCN Cheers me dears.
  7. The "pureheat" on the link you posted does look like my coal...however the "pureheat" in this photo from another merchant does not. I think many merchants just use any name without consistency across different parts of the country
  8. I've been up in Wolverhapton over winter. I've been sourcing my coal from Mark at Coven Heath pump out, it's apparently called Warmfire and is supplied by N&R Fuels in Wolverhampton. I've never heard of it before, and a google search draws a blank. In my stove it burns hot and is long lasting, it leaves absolutely no clinker and produces minimal ash. The size of it is quite large and the nuts are clean with a soft matt look and with very little dust in the bags. I'm now down on the Thames and as I've nearly run out I'd like to get a few more bags to see me through the last of the cold weather. does anyone on the forum know of a supplier of it in the West London area or perhaps recommend something with similar properties? I've previously burnt Taybright, Stoveglow , Superblaize and Homebase Blaze. The Stoveglow is OK but the rest have been disappointing
  9. Yeah I have one of those on my Narrow boat, its brilliant and cooks perfectly. Thanks for the link Alan but it must be full size domestic single oven to replace the existing one
  10. We'd cook before 8 and only use the oven occasionally anyway so I don't really mind dragging the genny out for the odd occasion. We tend to use the oven for an hour only so fuel for the genny won't really be an issue....but yes, suggestions for a non rubbish built in 600mm gas oven would be most welcome as the best solution A frying pan or a lay in both seem like acceptable solutions for that one
  11. We've recently refiitted our galley including a domestic gas oven (jetted for lpg) It's rubbish! It won't maintain a steady temp and there's a wide temp differential between the top and bottom. Despite nice blue flames there's also a bit of CO when in use (about 20ppm) and it requires 240v anyway to run it's case cooling fan as its built in I'd rather go electric, we're often in marinas with power available, and when not have a Kipor 2600 suitcase genny. Some cheap ovens have a 2kw element which I'm assuming would be ok for the genny but there are many replacement elements available for electric ovens some as low as 1700w. Anyone run a domestic oven off a suitcase genny with success?
  12. Thanks all, I'm hoping to get a little further than Autherley junction on the first day but advice appreciated
  13. I have to cruise from Hatherton Junction to John Sandersons yard in Stourbridge, starting new years day. I've checked the CaRT website for stoppages and all looks clear. My intended route is down the Staff and Worc and then up the Stourbridge canal. Do any members know of any problems or can anyone recommend (or warn against) any particular overnight stop? Cheers me-dears. Oh nearly forgot, I could do with a pump out en route!
  14. Your pics look like a good recommendation. I'll call on Monday
  15. Does anyone have any recommendations for a yard able to repaint the cabin sides and roof of a 55ft narrowboat? it's a trad with engine room and back cabin so some nice sign writing req'd as well. The boat is currently near Wolverhampton but I intend to move it south, so yards on route can be considered.
  16. I think we're saying ignore the advice then? Perhaps a forumite with a Tracer controller might be able to share their experience. I sourced the panels from this company after phoning round various suppliers to enquire about the presence of bypass diodes in their panels due to the inevitable partial shading of the panels in my application. This guy was the only one to have that knowledge of his panels. He supplied Panels, controller, appropriately sized and terminated cables, good quality mountings, was very price competitive and supplied zero rated for VAT under HMRC notice 744c. I think his advice is wrong on this matter but I don't consider him a "snake oil salesman" and am happy with his company's products and service.
  17. Yes. I don't want to name him because he's been very helpful and seemed quite knowledgeable, but I'm hoping that on this occasion his advice is wrong.
  18. The supplier of my solar panels has surprised me by insisting that when I charge the batteries via my mastervolt 25amp charger or via the engine alternator, that the Tracer 20amp MPPT solar controller must be disconnected from the batteries and that the solar panels must be disconnected from the controller! Is this advice correct? I certainly didn't do this on my narrowboat with it's single solar panel and PWM controller.
  19. Thanks all for the reply's I think I am now able to make a decision. Mike I agree with what you say about accessibility of the controller although ironically I've chosen the less accessible option which is within an electrical panel in the wheelhouse. If it turns out to be a right pain then I can mitigate it with a remote display available from the controller manufacturer. I'm hoping that having set up battery type, voltage and charging voltages on the controller initially, the battery monitor will keep me informed as to current in and out of the bank. Smiley Pete, Nicknorman, Asia_off_grid I've worked out cable sizes from panel-controller and controller-battery's to be appropriate for 1% voltage drop. Future expansion is limited by space available as I want the installation to be as discrete as possible to maintain the classic look of the boat. The panels are on the wheelhouse roof but I have to maintain access to the radar, navigation lights, GPS and VHF antenna's, perhaps I could squeeze one more panel on and I have included this in the calculations. Tony. Good to know that you have successfully used a common neg return without affecting performance, I think this was my main concern. Logic suggests that a 35mm2 cable is going to be better than a 10mm2 cable but I had a lingering doubt, wondering if pos and neg wires should be matched pairs.
  20. Mike has a point in that the wheelhouse installation would be preferable from a convenience point of view but I ask the question because the electrical integrity is paramount. What I didn't mention is that I have a Victron battery monitor installed and having the negative from the solar controller on the wheelhouse busbar would avoid the need for another ring terminal to be stacked on the load side of the battery monitor shunt (there are already three) The 3m of 10mm2 wire would be a minor expense in the grand scheme of things. I'm not an electrical engineer but I'm assuming that the dissimilar cabling from the controller to the battery's would not be an issue. ie 10mm2 dedicated positive and 35mm2 shared negative. is this correct? It's always a little difficult to explain to explain these things in writing, is my post clear?
  21. I'm fitting solar panels to my boat, 3x 100w panels. It's not a narrowboat installation, and with the panels on the wheelhouse roof and the battery's near the bilge of our little harbour tug, there's some fairly long cable runs involved. The panels are wired in series and together will produce a max of about 57v at 5.5amps into a MPPT controller and from there to the battery's at 24v and about 12.5amps. These are theoretical maximums which in reality will never be reached with flat mounted panels. The cables from the panels to the controller are 4mm2 and to get the controller within a metre of the battery's the cable run will be in the region of 8m. The supplied cable from the controller to the battery's is 6mm2 of 1m length. The alterative is to mount the controller in the wheelhouse to make the panel to controller cable run 5m. The neg from the controller to battery could be made off to a nearby neg busbar which returns to the battery's via a 35mm2 cable and the pos from the controller could be taken to the battery's via a new 10mm2 cable of 3m length. Which installation do our electrical experts prefer
  22. I once replaced the back boiler in my squirrel stove with a stainless steel pattern item which was very much cheaper than the morso part. I'm thinking of doing the same another boat but can't remember where I sourced the part. I feel sure that I would have shared my good fortune in finding a bargain with the forum, but am unable to find the content.... Any ideas?
  23. We need to become a little more self sufficient on power and are looking toward some solar. Our boat is a small vintage harbour tug and to preserve her profile and classic appearance the installation needs to be as discrete as possible. I think we have room for approx 300-350w of panels on the wheelhouse roof. The problem is that despite being roof mounted there will be a number of things putting parts of the panels into shade, including the navigation lights, the signal mast and the radar scanner. I noticed that CIS thin film panels work well in low light, does this include partial shade as well? We are not able to orientate the panels toward the sun, they will be mounted flat, so will the thin film technology be a benefit for our application. We would have room for 2 x 165w panels but both would be partially shaded most, if not all, of the time. Our alterative would be 7 x 50w small polycrystalline panels. These are 12v but I assume that they could be wired in series and then run through a MPPT controller to charge our 24v bank? With 7 panels I think that at least 3 panels would be completely unshaded and in direct sunlight at all times and the others partially shaded. I've been told that a mono or poly crystalline panel will not produce any power when partially shaded unless they include bypass diodes fitted between cells or groups of cells. How do I determine the presence of such diodes if not indicated in the manufacturers or suppliers literature? I realise that this is not an ideal installation and we are unlikely ever to see the rated power from the array, what we’re looking for is the best compromise under the circumstances.
  24. I agree it does sound a bit bonkers, but when we're doing a complete domestic fit out then it might have a significant impact on initial outlay. We have to have a generator to make ourselves self sufficient off grid (it also enables us to buy a much lower power invertor), so that's a "must buy" expensive purchase. We also need an oven but gas ovens are rare these days and expensive, whereas basic electric ovens are cheap as chips, so the £200 difference in the oven purchase price can help pay for the genny or go towards some solar
  25. Thanks for the reply's. I could mitigate the risk from the petrol by storing both the genny and the petrol in a ventilated wooden box on the deckhouse next to the gas bottles. Or of course, use gas as the fuel and eliminate the petrol altogether. Any view on whether the genny in question would run an electric oven?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.