Narrowboat Communicator

We want to get some additional heat in our back cabin, we don't want a fire in their and have diesel heating throughout our boat, but from the engine room to back cabin is unheated. When we leave the engine room fire doors open, it is warm in their but not cosy. I have been looking at the modern Japanese direct injection flue less heaters. The one I'm looking at is 3.2kw and runs up to 50 hours on 5 litres of fuel. Thermostatically controlled, I know they will use 2.8 amps per hour and on preheat ( approximately 3 minuets) 70 amps. So sounds ideal when out cruising. They are safe with carbon monoxide and air quality metering, burn almost 100% efficiently so condensation and fumes are things off the past!! Well so they tell me!! Has anyone had any experience of this type of heater? Here is the web page if you want to see it http://www.dry-it-out.com/inverter-5006-3kw-liquid-fuel-heater-free-fuel Look forward to your feedback Richard Nb Communicator

That would make sense, im wondering whether it iseasier to change the whole boiler. Is getting the matrix in and out in easy job, or will it start to give me problems like leaking etc What I will say if you turn the boiler off and let the water flow through the flow rate is high it's only when the boiler is turned on the flow rate is slow Would normal descailer work? Thanks for your help

Hi I am on my second rinnai 58e water heater soon to be third. We have had it 4 years on our boat and its playing up like our old one did It has started to go out and water flow decreases on its own. Just before our old boiler packed in it started to boil water in its matrix, it sounded like is was going to blow up. But that was because the water flow regulator was restricting the flow in correctly. Is this a common fault? Our water pressure is perfect and has been the same for the last 6 years. We have accumilater and a jabsco pump Is 4 years of every day use good for one of these heaters? Shall I just buy another or opt for a repair? Cheers

Thanks for your information. I have just filled our tank to the brim, approximately 100 gallons. I take it we have plenty of cruising hours in there. When I was told a gallon per hour I thought better fill her up........ Lol

I want to renew my boat bow and stern fenders, I live in kings Bromley staffordshire. The only place I know to is street hay wharf or midland chandlers. Apart from being a total rip off the quality is not that great, just mass produced stuff. I want to know where to get some good looking high quality bow and stern fenders from in Fradley/kings Bromley area..... Cheers :-)

How much did the silencer Quieten it down, it still has a good old thumping sound coming out the roof!

as little as 1 to 1.5 litres per hour. Thats surprised me. I wish i had i day tank. I've got a year tank under my floor :-) i only know its empty when my fire goes out! I've put in 70 gallon so far in my tank and its still not full. But from what you said I've got lots of cruising hours in there.

Can anyone give a guess how much diesel a lister ha2 or a similar engine would consume per hour? Only a rough idea. I was told around a gallon per hour......

Thanks for all your replys it means a lot, those of you who had a ha2, how much diesel would you say you use per hour?

to be fair i think my engine is loud enough without straight through pipes. They are generally loud engines compared to water cooled ones.

you ever heard a ha2 with straight through pipes?

how much would the size of the silence have on its horse power? We have a large standard one on our boat and are having it replaced when its out the water in September. I fancied like fitting a smaller box to get a slightly louder sound but wouldn't want to alter back pressure to much. What size silences have you got on yours?

my engine used to be coupled to a generator or a water pump. Can't remember which one it was :-( so would of been GOVERNED

my plate says its 18hp at 1800rpm

hi my lister HA2 has 18hp stamped on its serial number. From what i have read the HA2 is 22hp and not 18hp like mine says. Any ideas why? I know the lister HB is 24hp and Thats only Due to a larger Flywheel allowing higher rpm.

looks like I'm going to order a new injector pipe. If it starts leaking again I'll just change it.

Where's the fuel override never seen that, always starts first turn, that's one thing I like about this engine is how easy it starts, even after months of no use its fires up instantly. The engine room is the only part of the boat that's not heated and last year hen it was super cold it wasn't a problem, I did put compression levers over as oil was thick due to the temperature bring so cold, it sounded like I had a lat battery, but it was the oil being so thick! Hope the engine doesn't leak diesel now, I'll find out next time I take her out or several hours. Cheers

Music to my ears lol At least I know if it starts leaking again up to 25% diesel in the oil shouldn't do any harm. :-)

Definately no leaks From spill off connectors. It was the joint from the pump to the injector pipe. You only could see the weap once you had the engine reving at working load. Otherwise if it was on tickover you wouldn't see anything. Cheers

No, I had a good look at the pumps and had it running with tissue paper wrapped around and seen no evidence of diesel. This time I seen it coming from the joint between the injector pipe and the pump. I reseated the pipe and it definitely not leaking now, I have had the return fuel rail repaired once as that split. But what's annoying is you know something else will start leaking, it's seems to be on going. I just wanted to know if it's possible to completely stop all weap permantly, or do all these engines weap diesel. Cheers

Hi Kevin This time it was the pipe that comes from the pump to the injector. I removed it and reseated it and it seems to have completely stopped weaping, but I have my doubts that it's going to start again. It looks like I will have to replace that injector pipe as it has flared ends that seal on the pump and the injector. Yes using 10-40 oil. Cheers

I have a lister HA2 on my boat, and over time the engine oil gets filled up with diesel. I have had the rocker covers off and side plates and tightened everything and had engine running for hours and all the leaks were fixed, but after a few weeks the engine oils has risen on the dipstick about quarter of an inch. I want to know if this is normall for this type of engine as all the diesel pipes and pumps are in the engine. The pumps are fine and so is all pipe work. No splits no nothing. Yesterday I found a weap on the union from the pump to the injector and removed it checked it and re seated it and it's not leaking now. But I bet when I come back from my holiday (16 days cruising) it will need a oil change as there will be diesel in the oil. I am taking 20 gallon of engine oil with me as I may need to do a few oil changes lol Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Hi We're taking our boat out for our summer holiday at the end of the month, but need help to find a good route that consists of eating out every day/evening and good pubs etc on the way. We live on our boat near fradley junction, and have had our boat communicator for five years. We take boat out for long weekends most weeks, so can handle pretty much anything that the canals can through at us. We have done the four counties, done the Avon and river seven. I fancied the gloucester and sharpness canal but from my experience on rivers, finding a mooring on a evening is hard and theres not many pubs or restaurants close by?? We have 16 days for our holiday so should be able to cover some distance. I've heard the Llangollen is good for food and drink?? Beings its our holiday we would prefer to eat out most nights and would appreciate some ideas on where to go :-) obviously we would eat in or BBQ on the accasional evening if there was no other option. We're open to ideas of any kind. We have cruised through the night on several occasions to gain some distance and would do some late nights cruising to get that bit further. Thanks