Graham Bowers

Pleased you got sorted. I'm not a "regular" however followed up as I got an email. alert.

I saw the bump on the Willington gauge prediction and rather hoped it was a data error. It didn't seem to be reflected in downstream station predictions.

Thanks. I'll pop along in the morning and check how things are. It's come up 45 Cm since I was there yesterday. Thanks. Yep, the floodgates were closed yesterday. My lines are slack so hopefully all is OK.

I didn't do anything, it was just there. I see that not all locations have a predicted level though.

I moor between Derwent Lock and the flood lock at Shardlow, so Crockers. I see the forecast level of the Trent at Shardlow is to exceed the existing record. I called yesterday to slacken the ropes however was wondering at what Trent Shardlow level the river backflows over the lock and raises the level in the pound please? Thanks

I've had a 25 foot long 6 foot 10 inch beam GRP cruiser for over 10 years, a Wavey Rider Elite - not many around. Here is a bit about it that may prompt some things to think about. We use it for leisure only, up to a couple of weeks spring to autumn. I do jobs in the winter sometimes and it can be cold unless the heating is on. The hull was sound, however it's been rewired, re-plumbed and had a new gas system. Despite having a boat safety certificate, the gas system had lots of un-necessary straight connections and they had been applied with red jointing compound. The wiring was a rat's nest of bell-wire. The simple water pump was powered through a switch that had to be held on to get cold water, i.e. not a pressurised system. Engine is a 10 HP Honda 4 stroke outboard that has can produce 10 Amps DC at nominal 12V for battery charging. It takes 4 hours daily running the keep the batteries charged when we are out cruising . (2 leisure, 1 engine start). I don't run the engine for charging alone if we are moored up and on-board for days. I usually use a Honda suitcase generator in that case for an hour or so a day. The fridge is the biggest drain on the batteries. Petrol is a bit of a pest however I use the internet to find petrol stations. I have a collapsible sack barrow. Spare petrol is stored in the outboard "compartment" so any petrol vapour can drain overboard. It's a no-no to store it where vapours could end up in the bilge, for example, and potentially ignite. Heating is a propex, room sealed. It's quite noisy however doesn't get left on at night when we are in bed as the gas is turned off at night. I'm in the process of installing Celotex thermal insulation as part of a running re-fit so the propex doesn't have to run as much. I'm not sure how many cruisers are insulated however it's worth asking the question for any boats you consider. Hot and cold water. A Shurflo pump and accumulator feed a cold tap and a Morco instantaneous water heater that in turn feeds a hot tap and a shower. Refrigeration is a 12 Volt Shoreline coolbox which has a conventional fridge compressor, so not absorption or peltier technologies; they don't seem to be available any more, although there seem to be competitive offerings. I have had a couple of rainwater water leaks where seals on holes in the roof for rails had failed. Easy to fix, once you find the source. Trouble is, the water can appear some distance from where it gained entry. I replaced the sliding window fabric runners with flocked rubber as the woven tape runners at the bottom had rotted. But it's a bit thick so the windows take some moving. I have something else to try. Handling in wind can be interesting however I wouldn't let that put you off. Just stay moored if it's bad. Hope this helps.

Thanks for replies. I think speaking to the suppliers is the necessary next step.

As a replacement for the rotted lower fabric U section runners I tried flocked rubber channel, however it is thicker than the fabric it replaced, so the windows are stuck. Anybody know if the fabric channel is still available please as my searching has not been successful?

I phoned Morco today and they stated the spare jet is the same as the installed jet. And the reason was simply that they had an over-supply of that part. It seems a bit of an odd thing to do, but I'm going to accept it at face value.

The appliance is also marked up that it is specified for propane at 37 mb. I re-read the manual and the spare jet label and there was nothing to suggest it was for conversion to methane. The pilot flame became progressively worse so I’m satisfied a blockage was the cause. However for completeness I will check with Morco why a spare jet was supplied. The jets do have markings however I need a magnifying glass to read them.

I put in the spare jet and the pilot flame now bathes the thermocouple. It fires up and operates perfectly. Thanks for all assistance received. Graham

OK. Thanks for your input.

Thanks Mike. Interestingly the unit came with a small plastic bag containing a brass part and fibre washer, labelled "Spare pilot injector part code MP0110". It looks like the part at the base of the pilot assembly. Not sure if this is usual for Morco - it seemed to be a sort of "expect trouble" statement.

Thanks gents. The pilot flame does not play on the flame failure probe (thermocouple) and MtB is on the money with the distance of about 1/4 inch. To the right of the pilot burner there is damage to the sheet metal shroud that was there as received. This is a brand new unit so I wonder if the unit has had a knock in transit that's resulted in that visible damage and also displaced those pilot parts. If so it must have been quite a knock as the adjacent parts that could have hit it are quite a way from the sheet metal, so I'd concluded that part was damaged during the manufacturing process and allowed to flow through the system. I'd have expected it to have been tested during manufacture and the thermocouple tip was blued, indicating it has felt heat. I'll let you know how I get on.

The test condition is with the sink hot water tap fully open and I've tested the water pressure in that condition and it's over the low limit of 0.2 Bar. Since the system is operating at full flow, I'm not sure how I'd increase the water pressure. I have, however, operated the system by opening the hot tap in 10 second bursts and then allowing the pump to re-pressurise the accumulator. It still cuts out. Also, I forgot to say before, but I measured the volume pumped in the 20 seconds it took to trip out, and it was just over 2 litres, so the average flow rate is over 6 litres a minute, which is within spec. All that smokey stuff in the second video is indeed smoke, from a smoke match, as I did a flue spill test. Trouble is I'm not sure how to interpret the result. Thanks for commenting.

Knew I should have edited that out ? In mitigation, I'd point out there was only the one, on this occasion!

I’m having a bit of bother getting a new Morco Primo 6 water heater commissioned and am hoping for some pointers please. It’s brand new and is a replacement for a Rinnai 58e. The problem is it trips out after about 20 seconds. Both the main burner and the pilot light are extinguished, however water continues to flow. This has happened consistently over several days with varying wind conditions. See video of a tripout event. Gas pressure seems OK. It has a dedicated 10mm feed from the propane cylinder and the pressure at the inlet with the burner off is 15.5 inches of water (38 millibar) and with the burner firing is 14 inches of water (35 millibar). Stated nominal inlet gas pressure is 37 mb and allowable pressure drop when the burner is on is 2.5 mb. The commissioning instructions also require the gas pressure to be measured at the burner. I measured 9.5 inches of water (24 mb) and the requirement is 28 mb. A little low, however the instructions indicate that required pressure is needed for full performance. All pressures measured using a U tube water manometer. Water pressure seems OK. Minimum pressure is 0.2 Bar, which is 6.7 feet of water. I put a 5mm tube from the heater water inlet up to the top of the TV mast which is 9 feet above the heater inlet and water came out the tube with gusto when the burner was on. The flue is just over the 600mm height requirement. It’s the same flue the Rinnai used. The Morco (Innovita) has a flue gas spill transducer that from my reading seems to be a temperature “stat” however I don’t think the Rinnai had this functionality. I did a smoke match test and don’t really know how to interpret it, although I did video it, also attached. Finally, and don’t hate me for this, for test purposes I unscrewed the spill transducer from it’s location on the diffuser and placed it in a small jamjar out of the fluegas flow, although it is still connected electrically. The thinking is that if I took the spill sensor out of the equation and it stopped tripping, then the tripouts were probably due to a spill problem. Putting the spill sensor in the jamjar made no difference at all. Other than making the flue longer, I think I’ve done all I can. I’m not to confident that would help based on the experiment of taking the spill sensor out of the diffuser. Thoughts please…………………….. tripout.mp4 spilltest.mp4

Not sure which equation you mean, but I'm going to stick by my guns and maintain that experiment is your only way to obtain meaningful information If you wish to discuss further I suggest we switch to voice and IM me your phone number and contact times. In the spirit of the forum you could post a precis of the conversation. Good luck Graham

That's not a bad suggestion. It depends on the OP's reasons for wanting to improve the thermal resistance of the windows and the bu99eration he is prepared to accept. Is it about price of heating, comfort in that favourite armchair by the window, or both. Putting appropriately designed removable insulated "shutters" on the windows when it is dark in the winter will achieve the same heat savings or better and eliminate cold air down the back of the neck. You have to stow the shutters when not in use though and deploy them when needed. Graham

Me too ;-)

You have posed a very complex heat transfer problem that in my opinion could theoretically be answered but practically is in the too hard to do pile. This is because there are so many factors involved you would require many terms in the equations and have to make many assumptions. Also, to develop a reliable mathematical model would require experimental work to validate the model and the application of fudge factors. I used to do heat transfer sums for a living btw and have had plenty of exposure to mathematical modelling of various types of problems. If all you really want to know is the potential effect of double glazing then I feel more practical and workable approach that can provide useful info would be to simulate the effect of double glazing by doing a practical experiment. Your scenario is overnight, so solar loading is not a factor. You'd need to find a series of nights that have similar weather in order to obtain meaningful results. Others have mentioned U values. I'd take the alternate approach of estimating the R values (thermal resistance) of your current windows, estimate the R value of double glazed (ask the manufacturer) , then add insulation to the single glazed windows to simulate double glazed. This would probably be a foam (e.g depron) and sticky tape experiment. The R value of a glass and foam sandwich is easily calculated by adding the two r values. Mathematically, R=1/U and U values are easier to find. Library U values: Ref http://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/U-values U single glazing = 4.8 W/m2K. R=.21 m2K/W U double glazing = 2.8 W/m2K. R=.35 m2K/W Check out what your proposed supplier R value is and adjust as needed. R improvement needed .35-.21= .24 m2K/W 6mm depron R=.17 m2K/W http://www.depronfoam.com/depron-foam/resource/Depron-White-Technical-Data-Sheet.pdf I'd buy some 6mm depron and stick it on your windows overnight and experience the difference, double it up and try again. You could try other insulating material, you'd have to do the research. Depron is commonly used for under floor heating insulation and I use it to make model aeroplanes ! Hope this helps Graham

On the ships I was on, the bunks were aligned with the length of the vessel. In heavy weather, the trick was to shove your lifejacket under the edge of the mattress, so you were wedged against the wall. It worked well when one was alone.....never had the opportunity to try it 2 up. Graham

Can't comment on the outcome yet, but I have homebrew equipment cleaner and steriliser in mine. Be careful bleach doesn't damage any rubber seals, don't ask me how I know. Graham

It interests me too as I took my dog on a walking holiday this summer and was denied access to a number of pubs and cafes. I asked at one and was told it was "food standard regulations". Well, regs is my thing (for the moment) and so I looked it up. EU Regulation 852/2004 has this to say - about places where food is prepared, handled or stored. For me, and I am not a lawyer, that suggests kitchens and store rooms, not the actual eatery. Another case of regs being pompously quoted out of context? Sorry about the font in what is pasted below. Graham 4. Adequate procedures are to be in place to control pests. Adequate procedures are also to be in place to prevent domestic animals from having access to places where food is prepared,handled or stored (or, where the competent authority so permits in special cases, to prevent such access from resulting in contamination).

Yes. Once you factor in helping / rescuing others to your contingency plans, it makes preparation easier. I keep a throwing line and have practiced using it, although I accept it may not have helped much in this situation. Parbuckling is a very efficent and surprisingly easy way of rescuing a casualty from the water, rope can be used in place of straps, but practice makes perfect. http://www.hollowellsc.org.uk/parbucklehtml.html I only know of this stuff due to a background in SCUBA diving and did lifesaving and practical rescue management courses. Graham