Poppin

Tony, quick question! Having to deal with this has made me a lot more confident now. I've done my job but I've decided to go ahead and drain the system anyway and fit a proper drain cock and vertical filling pipe. I have no idea how old the fluid is so i want to avoid corrosion! Regarding the vertical pipe, would it not make sense to put an auto bleed valve on the end instead of a cap? It would be the highest point in the system and there isn't one currently (exiting one, you are quite right, is on the engine coolant circuit). You mentioned bleeding the radiators as I refill (2 person job). How would this work? Have them all open until they start to leak from the top? Would like to do this without another person if possible.

Good to know. The instructions you posted seem to suggest for a pressurised system, to fill up the radiators themselves as much as possible with the antifreeze water mixture. I suppose with a flexible funnel or something. Then pressurising with domestic pump tops it up. I guess all trapped air escapes during first fire up via the via the bleed valves.

As a short term measure... what if I just depressurised the system, disconnected the pipe and quickly put some stop ends and socket plugs on? Should loose minimal water and would be able to move the radiator. Then when I re pressurise from the domestic water pump it would replace the lost water, which as I say should be minimal if it's just glugging out. Also trapped air shouldn't be a problem with the auto bleed valves? I can then drain and refill the system properly towards the end of summer when I have more time!

Can confirm there is not a non-return valve in the filling loop, which seems remarkable. Basically I have two service isolation valves either side of the black lever valve. Presumably I could easily put a non-return valve in here, even without draining the system (by closing both isolation valves, disconnecting the flexipipe and screwing one in?)

Thanks so much Tony, super knowledgable as always! By the way, just to see what would happen, I tried to pressurise a bit just now. I turned the black lever and it did indeed start to climb. However after it reaches about 0.5 bar it stops and goes no further. I also expected the domestic water pump to kick in when pressurising, but I heard nothing, does that mean all the water is pushed in via the accumulator? I thought the domestic pump should kick in, especially since it does so when it fills the calorifier as hot water is used, and this is basically the same pipe.

Ok so just so I'm clear, when I'm pressurising the system I'm just adding more water to it from the domestic water pump? And I want it up to one bar when cold. Presumably this also means diluting the antifreeze currently in the system? If I understand correctly I can do this pressurising by opening the Phillips screwdriver type isolation valves around the black valve, and then slightly opening the black lever valve until sufficient pressure is reached?

By the way, I have just noted that the pressure gauge rests at 0 unless the heating is actually on, then it begins to climb.

Thanks Tony, I think this is a two coil calorifier because there are two outlets for the webasto and two others for the engine. I'll try and take a photo to show this. There are also another two outlets (bottom and top) to feed domestic taps. You are correct, the metal box is a heat exchanger, and the black pump is a circulation pump. If the engine is running and the pump activated, it looks like it draws the water from the webasto pipes through the heat exchanger and then pumps through the rads to provide heat when underway. The heat exchanger seems to be heated via the engine coolant at the same time as the domestic water, as the coolant passes through the exchanger on the way back to the engine. The heat exchanger is effectively a part of the return circuit. Do i understand your message correctly? Because I think you are saying that I can re-pressurise or refill the system via the domestic water pump by opening the two, currently closed, valves that lead from the red tank to the domestic water? This pipe also seems to lead to the white accumulator. Am i correct in thinking that cold water is drawn into the calorifier at the bottom and leaves at the top? There must be two separate compartments inside it, otherwise newly added cold water would bring down the storred hot water temp. I suppose the black circulation pump could be used to drain the heating pipes completly if I just depressurised first and then unscrewed the outlet currently leading to the heat exchanger and connected to that disused outlet pipe leading to the engine bay. Those hose would reach so perhaps this was originally setup. I really want to do this myself, and whilst it's becoming clearer I am still leaning towards finding someone to explain this in person!

At first I thought i had found the drainage hose which leads from the pipework to one side of the engine bay! But alas, you'll see from the second picture that inside the cabin it isn't actually connected to anything! There is what looks like a brass nossel at the lowest point of the system inside the cabin, you'll see that in these pictures. This is close to an underfloor Sump pump tray which I wonder if was on purpose, engine bay seems to make.moe sense for draining. If that brass nossel is indeed for draining, I could connect it to the engine bay outlet by hose, but the hose itself would raise a couple of inches in the process. Curiously, the pressure gauge seems to read 0. There is also what looks like a brass copper pipe with a kind of end cap higher up, filling point? Or perhaps it's the top of this white tank with a black cap that unscrews? I would very much like to pay someone to come and teach me how this works, and perhaps service/ drain the system. Anyone reccomend in the Bath area?

It seems that we have a sealed / pressurised heating system on our new boat. A webasto heats 5 radiators and the domestic water. The engine also heats the water, and it seems also the radiators via a separate circulation pump if activated. I am finding it very hard to get my head around the mess of pipes, pressure gauges and capped ends. There seems to be a callorifier, red expansion tank, and another white accumulator / expansion tank. It all works right now, but I need to move the first radiator back a couple of feet to expand the bedroom. Luckily, this can be done without too much alteration to the pipes as they seem to branch off separately to feed this one before heading on to the other rads. All I need to do is shorten the two pipes in the photo and move the radiator back. The problem is the pressurised system. At first I thought I could simply act fast and cap the ends after removing the pipe for shortening. Now I'm told I should really drain the whole system, but it's really not obvious how to go about this without a clear drainage valve. Also once drained I'm not sure how to refill a sealed system, somone told me I'll need mains pressure? It really would be much simpler If i didn't have to drain the system for this. I realise it will need to happen at some point eventually for servicing, but I have so many other things to do aboard right now. Could I perhaps use molegrips on the surrounding pipes while I cap them off properly? Any advice at all is really appreciated!

Sorry if I've posted in the wrong category! Will soon be making the trip from Oxford to Reading on the Thames. I know this trip can be done in a couple of days, but we are travelling with a baby who needs naps every few hours so we plan to take our time over a week or so. Problem is finding mooring information for this stretch. The Thames visitor moorings map doesn't list much at all, unlike the trip we did last year from London to Reading. I'm guessing there are lots of open stretches for mooring that they aren't responsible for? Is there somewhere with a comprehensive list so I can plan for potential stops between locks, etc? Reccomendations welcome!

Thanks Tony, and the gearbox would need to come out to fix this? I suppose it may have to wait until we are back on the mooring in a couple of weeks! Not ideal to travel like this though, constantly topping up oil

I've been booked up with work, but plan to clean up under the engine at first opportunity (Monday). Once clean, should I just put some standard paper towels underneath and run the prop for a bit? (Since the oil only seems to drain when on the move). What I don't understand is, if a seal has failed inside the housing, how will this help locate the problem? If it just drips out, runs along the casing and goes everywhere? Surely it will end up in a puddle regardless. Thanks for offering so much help to a clueless person. This whole experience has been very disappointing indeed. The boat yard who supplied the gearbox have now taken to not replying at all, which won't look good for them when this progresses legally. But in the meantime, I'd love to pay some magician to fix this. If it is a seal, can the repair be done outside of a boat yard? Can anyone recommend good engineers around Oxford? That's where we are for the time being!

Checked the header tank, just water. I believed the oil on the rear engine mount (and possibly the housing) to be the mess made by the trainee when he overfilled the oil. He had no funnel or rags, it went everywhere. I presumed this was correct since the oil levels were holding steady and the engine mount has had no oil on it since I wiped it clean. If the oil on the housing indicates the problem, is the problem inside the housing itself? Sounds like a big job to fix

The mystery of the leaky gearbox has returned. It must have gone a good 10-12 days without a noticeable drop in oil levels. The boat yard's trainee has come and grossly overfilled it, and tightened some connections. During the 2 week period since, I had a visit from Tony B who also noted the high oil levels. I also took the boat to Calcutt and oil levels were fine at the time. Now for some reason it is draining again. I filled it this morning after checking, and now after 6 hours of cruising I have checked again and it's almost empty. None of the connections seem loose, though the oil cooler pipe was slightly oily at the nut so with some force I managed to tighttten a bit more. Laying paper underneath I plan to do in a couple of days. What on earth issue going on? Could vibrations from the engine be making things loose repeatedly? My insurance company have advised they will cover legal costs of pursuing the boat yard, but in the meantime I must solve this leak issue. Edit: could oil be seeping through one of the hoses, despite no actual crack? I have insssulated them all now to prevent further rubbing but they are oily