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eggpie

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Everything posted by eggpie

  1. So I left the fridge turned off for a couple of days, came back to it today, and it's behaving perfectly. Weird. So I fitted a new 15a breaker and ran away. Neighbour seems happy for now, anyway. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try the controller next time it stops working...
  2. Yep. The breaker was tripping long before the voltage dropped enough to set the !ow voltage light off. There's still around 12.5v with it running, so it has to be the fridge. Shoreline said they'd only ever seen a handful of compressor failures. They were more evasive when I asked about the controller though.
  3. Its a dedicated fridge circuit. I traced the cables to look for stray connections and there's nothing else. If I turn the fridge off there's no current. This makes me suspect the fridge.. The 20a was measured with a clamp ammeter and may not be exact. Its not enough to blow a 15a blade fuse. I probably need to make a more accurate measurement
  4. It's a dc breaker, attached to an old switch panel. I've given up on the breaker. What still concerns me is the warm 15a blade fuse, and the high reading on the clamp meter. My shoreline draws somewhere around 5a when running, and the 15a fuse is definitely not warm. Neighbour says his was working perfectly, but his definition and mine may be different. I'll check the fan and grill for dust though.
  5. What would make a 12v fridge trip a 15a fuse? Yes, another fridge thread. It must be summer. Essentially, my neighbours fridge has been repeatedly tripping the 15a breaker since yesterday. It runs for up to a minute, then blows the breaker, so at least the compressor definitely starts. I've temporarily replaced the breaker with a 15a blade fuse,which doesn't blow, but it definitely gets warm. My clamp ammeter suggests its drawing around 20a when running (may not be entirely accurate due to survival of 15a fuse). I've checked the connections from the isolators forwards, and remade all of them (except for some previous soldered ones where the 16mm2 cable joins a short piece of 6mm2 cable behind the fridge). Could those be creating resistance? Shoreline told me earlier that the danfoss compressors never draw above 13a when theyre running, which might be enough to make the blade fuse warm? Also there are no flashing lights on the fridge to suggest faults, and I've tested it with the engine running at >13v, and there's still no obvious voltage drop at the fridge due to wiring. Any suggestions what I'd try next?
  6. Chandlers are closed on Sunday due to January. Retired for consolation beer. I'll give you a call tomorrow about the housing and possibly a better bolt. Thanks for the help!
  7. There's no more than 5mm of thread. The whole bolt is c.24mm long. I think the stripped part of the filter housing is only the first couple of mm, so potentially a longer bolt could be a (possibly temporary) solution. I'm going to poke around the local chandlers this afternoon as a first step.
  8. So I should just replace the one I have? Is the banjo bolt meant to only fit in by a couple of turns? It doesn't seem like enough, but maybe that's just the weakened metal.
  9. The banjo fitting on the engine side of my fuel filter was leaking, so my initial plan was to replace the copper washers and tighten it all up again. However, the thread inside the housing has stripped, so it's not going to tighten. Also, the banjo bolt that was in the stripped housing is only long enough to engage by 2-3 turns. That seems a little short. Is that the correct bolt? Are there replacements easily available? Or should I take this as an opportunity to fit a Cav style pump somewhere? There's no lift pump, just a hardi electric fuel pump by the tank, and the whole supply is made of 1/8 copper, so would it be better to remove the banjo/filter, join the ends and fit an alternative filter off the engine? Suggestions that are likely to be obtainable from Uxbridge boat centre (or nearby) on a sunday will receive extra credit..
  10. I'd second (third? Fifth? Seventeenth?) the series / parallel wiring. My only concern is putting 4 x 150w panels into a controller that is rated "Max Rated Charging Power (20A), 260W"..
  11. Assuming I wanted to make one (or find someone with better welding skills to make one for me), does anyone have any pictures of existing designs? Are the bottles chained inside, or would a bar of some sort be enough to keep the bottles secure? I assume that the doors would bolt shut from the outside? Google doesn't seem to be much help with the pictures, and I can't get out stalking piper boat owners until the weekend..
  12. Which is exactly what 7.2.4 seems to be checking. And 7.2.3 says "Door seals with no signs of gaps or damage must satisfy check 7.2.4 or pass the smoke pellet test." As everyone has said, there's no point having seals on an external side opening locker that's required to have a drain to the outside anyway
  13. Exactly! Is 7.2.3 (which Alan quotes above) meant to apply only to side opening lockers on a deck, not outside? The 2005 BSS guide also says (after 7.2.1) "Best practice : Lockers that open from the top or from the outside of the boat are easier to make and keep LPG-tight. "
  14. Has anyone got a gas locker that is accessed from the cabin sides? Would making such a thing be easy? . The boat project I'm looking at has an extended cabin that covers what used to be the front deck, so there's no room for a gas locker. Obviously the trad stern has no room either. I'm thinking about side doors, like a hatch, that open to an enclosed steel cabinet for a couple of gas bottles. It'd only be really used for cooking, so potentially using one bottle, or two smaller ones, would be an option to make the locker smaller. Making sure it drains outside should be relatively easy. Is there any other BSS requirement that I'd need to be aware of? I was thinking about the retrofit hatches that kedian makes, but with an attached locker that sits in the cabin. It'd take up some headroom, but if that was in the engine room it wouldn't be in the way.
  15. If you use an equally decent relay, powered via the ignition key, instead of the manual isolation switch, the problem of forgetting goes away (as long as you remember to turn the key off..)
  16. Bayonet fittings are fine (at least according to the BSS inspector who passed mine). The isolation valve is essential though.
  17. eggpie

    10W 40

    Synthetic or not, the SR manual I have suggests that 10w is only suitable for temperatures below 0C, although it's vague on the subject of multigrade. My SR3 is definitely happier with the 20w50 than even a 15w40 though, albeit with some slightly sluggish starting in the depths of winter. But, as Alan says, other people have different experiences.
  18. The wording (at least according to this nbw page http://www.narrowboatworld.com/index.php/leatest/5871-have-you-invalidated-your-bss-certificate ) is "The validity of a BSS pass result may be affected and can be cancelled if the vessel is not properly maintained; and/or non-compliant alterations are made" The previous owner got his last BSS certificate in 2015, and has "mostly refitted" it since then, so in any meaningful sense that safety inspection is worthless. Knowing that he hasn't bothered to test the gas install, or fix a stove that would "never pass a safety inspection" ,either of which could take out him and/or his neighbours, what does that say about his corner-cutting attitude towards maintenance and safety elsewhere on his DIY fitout? He's epoxied the skin tank and rewired using the "best wiring". Check out the sagging,exposed pushfit water pipes in the bathroom picture. It's not a bargain-priced boat either. Whether the bit about BSS being invalidated is ever enforced, however, is a different matter entirely..
  19. For contrast, check out the latest clown boat for sale there. No safety issues at all.. https://www.gumtree.com/p/cars-vans-motorbikes/45-1991-steel-narrowboat-864-hull-recently-surveyed-and-recent-refit/1164049256
  20. However, if it happened to fall into the water all by itself, you'd be doing CRT a favour by removing it within 28 days. 14, I think you said it'd take you. It takes them months to remove unlicensed boats around here, especially if they cant find the current owner. Or it didn't have a clear license number. You'd be saving them thousands. Or, as staarek says, if the current untraceable owner claims it has no testable elements, and pays for a short term license, CRT are unlikely to check that. Especially if nobody lets them on board to look round.
  21. That's my point. I'd expect someone who stayed anywhere most of the time to get that letter (even if I don't necessarily agree with it). I received that for not moving far enough one time (although I didn't even do that..) If CRT can't define the size of a general area, how exactly are we supposed to avoid it? What happens to London Boaters when their arbitrary "general area" becomes the size of London? I agree with you and everyone else about keeping a log, although lazily mine has tended lately to be more of the dated phone picture variety, so that's probably what I'd send them. Although I think I prefer Tony's suggestion of a carefully crafted response including the word "tripe"..
  22. Yes, it's the first time I've had one of these messages (but its a valid question), which is why I'm unsure how to respond. As everyone has said, I can point out their error, with documentation, and it does indeed say "let us know if you disagree". I'll be disagreeing in the morning. However, I'm still trying to establish how far one would have to move to be out of the "general area" and not trigger that warning in the first place. I'd expect someone regularly shuffling between the two points to be targeted, but I'm surprised to be warned for what seems to be merely not moving far enough for them on this one occasion.
  23. I've just received this nugget from CRT: "Weve been looking at our sighting records and they suggest that your boat XXXXXX has been moored in the same general area for more than 14 days." For context, imagine a journey of ABCD (actually much longer). Having travelled to D, the boat turns round and returns to somewhere fairly near C, but definitively not C. Lets call it C2. I'm assuming that the spotters have missed the trip to D (definitely far enough), and I'd have accepted the warning if I'd overstayed at C (which the message suggests they accept I haven't done), so this must mean that they think C and C2 are too near each other. How big is a "general area". Is it bigger than a neighbourhood or a place? Is there a map? If its okay to warn boaters who moor too near previously visited spots, how exactly should one make a return journey these days?
  24. I was turned away from a scrapyard in Brentford for not arriving by car. Firstly, for not having a registration number, and then because "health and safety" prevented me walking 50 metres across their otherwise empty open yard as it was meant for vehicles..
  25. eggpie

    Pre. CC1

    But everyone of those non compliant ccers will now have a mooring. Result: exactly what we have now, but with more money for CRT If an online mooring costs £2k (which is £40/week, or about 2 pints in London) and there are 5000 non compliant ccers (or more, if you up the enforcement/crushing range) that's £10 million/year. Isnt it all about the money CRT get?
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