NMEA

What he said.

There is a new pressure jet heater soon to be released that will run on 12v and will wipe the floor with the likes of Hurricane. It is small enough for most narrowboat installs but has enough output for widebeams. It will not be as cheap as a Thermo Top but cheaper, less bulky and more powerful than the Hurricane. Also a unit of similar size to the Thermo Top but copes better with cycling, it is already available in 24v so just waiting for the 12v model to get marine approval.

Solder can crack on a boat, when using copper we use Yorkshire Tectite push fit fittings as they have a little give and have never had an issue, nice brass Munsen rings for tube support makes for a lovely looking job.

OK then cutting the correct black one will (or should) do that. I will need to look up the pin number. Kind regards David.

That's the proper marine loom then, what exactly do you want the timer to do?

That timer is not a marine timer and is designed to use a three wire loom, if it has two black wires in the plug at the back as all marine looms do it will not turn off automatically without disconnecting one of the black wires and I would need to look up which one it is. If you cut the wrong black wire it will not work at all.

Anything from a basic system at around £700 to a lovely designer or retro set up with copper pipe etc at up to 3k.

+ radiators, tubing, valves and other fittings.

Ballpark number including the Thermocall app at my pay grade in London for supply and fit with three year on board warranty would be around £4200 for a turnkey narrowboat install, adjust downward for being in the sticks.

Pedant mode on today?

If you are prepared to be very disciplined on the length of time you run the heater it can be done but increased service intervals would almost certainly be required, there is a new 5kw Webasto to be launched which will cope better with cycling as it is ramped like the air heaters rather than stepped. Also shortly to me launched is a new pressure jet boiler the same size as the current Thermo 90 which will be brilliant for larger boats, a pressure jet boiler is the best type for extended runs and also for short runs.

I tire os saying this, if you are running the calorifier you need to have another load like the bathroom towel radiator or you are storing up problems in the future, this is simply not acheavable other than by simply turning the other radiators off at the valves. Trying to be too clever will bite you in the arse. Refurb units are not true refurb units unless from an oficial Webasto source, its a lottery and you may be lucky or not so pay yer money and take the gamble, I have seen some halfway decent units and some right horrors.

If you look on the Webasto site there is a daler locator, if you just put in your postcode it will bring up some around you.

Marine 16 is fine with the Webaso but just checking for water and contamination will not be enough. Yes length and bends are important, the specs are all in the manual.

Re your coking up, some of the “refurbs” on eBay have their sintered evaporator damaged by over enthusiastic decoking of the sintered evaporator, this can lead to rich running and early coking up, especially if the burn rate has not been checked and set using an exhaust gas analyser after install when the exhaust and air intake resistances are a known. Personally, I would never touch an evaporator except to remove loose carbon and if heavily carboned always replace them. As the cost of a new burner cartridge almost equals the price of some of these “refurbs” it does make one wonder. I have been asked to install these for people who have bought them and politely declined on every occasion as I don’t want unnecessary agro down the line. However, the age of your diesel will also be a factor, possibly a big one. I have had brand new units coke after a week and ditto the replacement, installing a temporary tank with decent new red diesel to EN590 proved the point in each case. I honestly think it is a really good idea to install a 25l tank which is kept topped up so fresh diesel is always available, more so where the tank is a long way from the heater as the fuel pumps for all these heaters need to be close to the tank as they are “pushers” rather than “pullers”

Yes and also a sealed self pressuring header.

Indeed, a header tank is fine but a pressurised system is better.

If you drop me a P.M. with an email address I will send you a PDF of the Webasto marine install manual, it covers all the above questions and a lot more. Specifically Though 1) no. 2) it is the best way but you can use a header tank if you wish. 3) the narrowboat kit has all you need 4) many controllers are available all of which can be retro fitted including the Thermo Call remote system. 5) Engine bay is best. The size of Webasto will be governed by the radiator load but a Thermo top C is usually more than adequate.

Yes the lower box should have the rating on it though. And they need to be reduced as their quoted rating is measured with vehicle coolant temperature which is higher than heater temps by quite a margin.

Being the official Webasto sales and service centre for London we could of course supply and install also sign off for 3 year warranty. A rough guide to working out the radiator load is to measure up then look for the same size and type (single double etc) on the Screwfix website, the wattage is listed there. Ignore the calorifier.

TTE or a TTC depending on the radiator load, you need to match it correctly.

During a bench test when this type of symptom presents, the following procedure should be used in order to replicate the install as closely as possible: Along with the heater also use the fuel dosing pump from the vessel, draw off 3 or so litres of fuel from the vessel and run on that, temorarily remove the exhaust system from the vessel and attach to the heeater during bench test. Anything less than the above is not a realistic bench test. Also the voltage at the heater should be checked during start up and that voltage should be replicated during the bench test. Sadly few people follow this procedure or even know about it especially general fix it people and boat mechanics, and why should they? Accordingly they are not really the people to be doing it as it is not fair on them or the owner as it is just groping around in the dark.

Good move.

Belching out white smoke is unburned diesel, does it continue to run and belch out smoke or do it for a while and shut down? It is worth mentioning that if you had it installed it may still be covered by warranty and the local Eber dealer (Certainly would be if it was a Webasto) should come out and rectify the issue. It is unlikely to be coked up after such a short time but it could also be poor fuel, have you taken on diesel lately? What was the usage pattern last winter, did you run it for long periods?