Sea Dog

Only looking at them yesterday and thinking that 60 quid was a bit pricey. Thanks for posting

I have a 7 year old Eberspacher programmer which works fine in the manner you suggest (although I tend to use it manually after reading Eberspacher bulletin about short cycling causing early death of their heaters). The photo you've supplied looks much more up to date and I'm inclined to agree that it would be expected to be fully programmable. What's happening seems to serve no credible purpose. Until someone comes along with that very model, if you have not had any success finding the manual online, I found one here for that unit... http://www.melloronline.co.uk/Vehicle_and_Marine_Heater_Accessories_plus_repair_parts/5300/product.html?gclid=Cj0KEQiAhuSzBRDBoZfG56bK9-YBEiQARiPcZVAf6Usl1LPNbyc7TrqrOvpsGeZlm44dZKawXWSa5GYaAu9z8P8HAQ It does say programme up to 7 days in advance though!

Thanks, that's most considerate of you!

Whoa, Rufus! I have been to both but still have no idea what you've been doing in Greece and Turkey! I would prefer it to stay that way too, so please, please, don't feel you need to clarify. We certainly don't "all do it on hols to those lands" (whatever 'it' is), even if most of my visits have been working ones to parts not necessarily frequented by foreign tourists. However, whilst I agree you don't want to risk stuffing big wodges of super strong quilted tissue into a macerator, and certainly nothing else you haven't eaten, it is designed to cope with moderate use of proper toilet paper. Quite how much of it you'd need to use to mean you were pumping out more frequently I have no idea, but again I'm in no rush to be enlightened.

And definitely not a condenser model that uses up your fresh water supply in the drying cycle and takes longer to dry stuff too, but it's too late to supply that advice now.

I don't think you've thought this through enough. If you go for a 4 way valve, you could also recycle your shower water as a first rinse. Obviously, you'd need to get your timing right.

Oh! Apologies to the spell checker then! I must try to keep up.

Nicknorman might enjoy that spell check induced miss quote!

The decent Mastervolt stuff can be switched to charger mode to prevent that. The inverter can be also set to cut in in the event of a power failure, etc, but not when in charger mode. Why have a couple of grand's worth of battery charger and conditioner and switch it off in the winter when it's needed most?

That looks pretty good actually, although relatively expensive. Someone will be along shortly to advise stringing loads of them together!

Yeah, make sure your anti-syphon valve is installed the right way up, which is highlighted as being important in the manual. Mine was done by a reputable builder.... upside down!

Leave the Mastervolt to look after them. It's designed to do just that and will protect your investment for about a fiver a month. Outside the winter, the solar will do the job, and it might even do so now, but why take the risk whilst you get to know your new equipment?

It's odd that this subject should always be so emotive. After all, those with potties, dump-throughs or macerators are largely stuck with what they've got fitted already. First time boat buyers will be swamped by the subjectivity of the argument, so only the very occasional person changing or someone experienced having a new build is really going to understand another's opinion or likely to be convinced. Yet still it must be one of the subjects that folk get wrapped around the axle about the most. Go figure.

Well yes, but it all depends in a fairly predictable way. Many manufacturers provide tables showing how many charge cycles you can expect from their batteries depending on the depth of discharge. It's easy enough to look up how much more the life diminishes with heavier discharging. Personally, I think my balance is better served by not going down as far as 50%, but I have 440Ah on tap and a couple of pretty powerful charging options. Others may draw their line elsewhere, whilst different configurations and battery types may give different results. So, like George says, I guess it all depends

I think there's a key issue here that wasn't properly considered at inception. The CRT have not simply replaced BW, they've picked up all kinds of other remits too. Every engineer knows that, if you're making adjustments, you only change one thing at once. Otherwise, when it doesn't work properly, you don't know where to look first to fix it. I'd offer that what should have happened here is that the responsibilities as Navigation Authority should have been taken on first. Only when the transfer of BW's former role had been successfully completed, and the waterways were being well run and maintained by CRT, should the additional roles and responsibilities have been considered. It's often referred to as learning to walk before you run.

You're gonna need that top plug you couldn't shift Rusty. It's the bleed valve to let the air out when you've refilled the skin tank.

I woke up this morning to find a helicopter outside my bedroom door. Then I realised that the missus had left the landing lights on! Moral of the story - turn electric stuff off if you're not using it.

Ah, I remember when that happened to Ted Heath.

I did

You're over-thinking it Sys, but hey, it's fun! It's not broke, so don't fix it. If it's been good for 6 years, it's been good. My batteries are now 7 years old, my engines a Beta 43, my starter and domestic batteries are the same, but I have 4 domestic 110s rather than your 3. We're in a pretty similar position: close to replacement time of something that's given better than average service. Given your update, I think I'd stay as you are and consider whether you want to upgrade to, say, 440 Ah by adding an extra domestic battery when the time comes.You have the 175A domestic alternator, right?

Good advice further up. Your system is typical, and for sound reasons. The Beta 43 is really well set up to look after both banks too, particularly with that big old domestic alternator. If you're finding 330Ah insufficient for your domestic consumption, try the following: change your lighting to LED; don't do anything when you're moored that you could do whilst cruising, eg charge laptops; do a power audit to identify power hogs and wasted energy; add a battery gauge so you can see what's going on. Lastly, consider adding another battery to the bank. It's normally accepted practice not to mix old and new batteries, but the new one won't be adding a weak link. I'd probably consider replacing the starter battery and adding the old one to the domestic bank with its same aged Numax sisters. You'll already have noticed that there's some really good battery and charging expertise on this forum, and someone may be along shortly to give you more help and advice. Edited for syntax

If it's anything like mine, there's a solenoid driven anti-syphon valve in the flushing circuit, which allows air into the supply pipe post-flush to break the syphon effect. I think what can happen is that a bit of rust or crud ends up preventing the valve from fully seating. The effect is that it passes water and slowly fills the bowl - the give away being that the water pump cuts in here and there when you're not drawing water - or wet feet! I first had this problem when refilling my tank after draining it (either winterising or sanitising). Tapping it whilst flushing the toilet cleared mine, but in my investigation, I also rectified that my valve had been fitted upside down. Now I ensure that I draw a quantity of water off through the first tap (galley sink) when there is a possibility of there being any crud in the pipework, like after refilling from empty or very low. Then I re-prime my shower and bathroom tap, so that by the time I flush the toilet anything in the lines has already gone down the drain. It takes longer to write than do in reality! I hope that helps. If it doesn't, do remember to switch off your water pump when you go to bed, are steering, and when leave the boat.

Ho ! Ho! Ho! That's very funny.... but also very naughty!

Ah yes, I saw that.... and downloaded the link tooin fact! Very thorough. Back on this topic, I drained all my system down, inc calorifier, through the engine drain cock, but the bottom hose should do too. I then used a cheapo syphon pump to empty the skin tank. I think that's pretty much the norm but, of course, systems vary. Hope it goes OK for you

Absolutely Arthur, but someone had to take the responsibility of chasing said owner up, providing advice or giving them fair notice before taking action and then billing them. The earlier that process starts, the more likely a sensible outcome. Surely we don't just leave them where they lie until they pose a danger?