kayak

Well............sort of..............but no, i dont understand any of that! Only joking (half) but it does semm that Chris W was working out the pressure settings rather than the volume? I need to order one in the next couple of days as it one of my next jobs. K

Hi all. Is there anyone out there who can tell me how I should size an expansion tank on my hot water system. I have 2 twin coil calorifiers at 40 lt each connected (or will be!) in series. Any help is gratefully received as always. Many thanks. Kayak.

Hi All. Just out of interest, what would be a typical price per foot in a private marina around the Loughborough/Barrow Upon Soar/Sileby area? Thanks. Kayak.

Hi all. Quite a simple question really, although could have some complicated answers. If your doing your own fit out, and are not planning on selling for 5 years etc, it is worth going down the RCD route? Would it even have an effect on resale price in 5 years time? Your thoughts? Kayak.

Good morning all. I am after a little advice about the bits and bobs needed to connect the wastes from the bath and shower to the sink waste. I cant seem to find anything that will connect a domestic waste to the smaller bore to run through the jabsco pump, and then on from the pump back to the waste pipe that will run from the sink to the skin fitting. My idea was to have the pipe from the sink to the skin fitting draining by gravity and the wastes from the shower/bath tee'd in from above from the pump. One more chaps, any help is greatfully recieved! Kayak.

All this is great guys, thanks for all the responces. Your starting to give me back my sanity! Its a great help to hear what you have and how it works. Keep it coming! Thanks. Kayak.

Hi all. Just a quick question with regard to back boiler central heating if I may. I would have thought that with a pumped system, it woukd be ok for the flow to enter at the bottom of the radiators, rather than at the top as with a gravity system. I have just spoken to a heating engineer for some tips, who specialises in this type of thing, but in domestic installations rather than boats. I was basically told that one side of the system, either hot water or heating, must circulate due to gravity. I know this is true in a domestic installation but then again im not working to HETAS and building regs! I can see the point of this in case the pump fails. I am thinking of putting in one radiator that would circulate due to gravity to act as a heat sink in case of a pump failure. I was also told that the header tank should be around 45Lt!!! that sounds huge and he told me that i was standard practice to put in on top of the cabin roof! This doesnt ring true to me. I suppose that what im asking is, Is there anyone out there who can reliably offer any professional advice on fitting a system like this in a boat? Alright, it wasnt a quick question after all but im starting to get this really frustrated with the build at the moment. Please help! Kayak.

Or just sell knee patches? Could you imagine that on Dragons Den! K

What about wetsuits though? Kayak!

Why not? I am a fast learner. It aint that hard. All you have to do is stuff the pipes in the fittings and test for leaks with a match (or a lighter if you are really posh) Are you implying that i am not a "Competant Person" ? ONLY JOKING! I have a "man" to do the gas. Thanks Kayak.

Metal inserts????? where do i get these from i have used the normal pipe inserts! Kayak.

Morning All. After taking all of your helpfull advice i went back over to the boat last night and started again. It seems that lubrication was the key! I put a little PTFE on the thread of the nut and tightened it back up. With a bit of a turn the olive must have started to bite because now the wholoe thing is rock solid (he says!) so we will just have to wait for the water to be turned on, we shall soon see if there is plumber in me yet! On another note, the cantral heating running from the Alde 3010 is being done in 22mm speedfit. I was told by a plumber/friend that i should spend the extra and use inserts in the ends of the pipes. I did this and it makes a very positive joint. However, if you try to take the joint apart all that you end up doing is pulling the pipe out and leaving the insert in the fitting, in this case a 22mm to 15mm reducing tee! You can push the pipe back in but it isnt the best situation. Thanks all for your comments, once more they have proved very valuable. Kayak.

Point taken on the PTFE, the trouble is i dont think i dare tightn it up any more. Its getting so tight it is starting to creak and im worried i may snap the nut!

I think that if i broke the joint i would still be able to remove the olive. i dont think that they are designed to swivel. Why do say not to use PTFE? Kayak.

Hi David, thanks for the reply. Yes i am using the olives supplied by them, they do seem a little loose on the stubs and rather chunky. As you can tell i dont know great deal about plumbing. This may seem like a silly question but how much (if at all) should a compression joint rotate when tightened up. I can get the nut and olive tight on the stub but i can still rotate the valve with a bit of force. This is on the TRV side only, on the lockshield side it is rock solid! is a bit of play ok or will this leak, should i use PTFE around the olive? Kayak.

Morning all. I have decided to fit TRV's to my radiators in the boat. For those of you who dont know it is a new fit out. I have purchased TRV's made by Honeywell from Screwfix but i have hit some trouble tightening them up. I have assembled them and fitted the stubs into the rads but tightening the nut and olive around the stub is a nightmare, it is fine on the lockshield side but on the TRV side i cant get them to tighten up. Have any of our plumbing gurus had a problem with these? or any comments as to the quality of these fittings? Thanks all. Kayak.

Is there anywhere that points to the rules on stove already? A little off topic but the log burner in my fit out will be integral to the plumbing layout of my boat and i want to get it RDC'd. Also, if new rules were brought in, how long would it be before they were enforced? Kayak.

Someone else has recomended a Jabsco 50880-110 Self-priming diaphragm pump. Any thoughts on this pump. The benefits i can see is that it is cheaper, and has a longer warrenty. Kayak.

I have just contacted the engine maker and they are getting back to me. I just wanted to know what other people use. We have had nightime temps of around -3 predicted and it always colder where we are. I need to top up my Isuzu 4x4 also so really wanted to know if the same stuff i normally buy would do the job. It looks like it will. I have just been called back by HMI and told "Any standard antifreeze". Case closed. K

Morning All. I have looked through the manual for my engine and cant see any referance to what type of antifreeze to use in my isuzu engine. I dont really know if there are differant types but if there is i want the correct one so i dont invalidate my warrenty. Any ideas? Thanks. Kayak.

That's a good point. I was hoping to avoid that by use of the diverter valve that i would like to use. This way the pump will either empty the bath or the sink. So, if the bath is being pumped out, then the pipe to the shower will be cut off. K

Im very dirty by nature! Its SWMBO who likes me clean Joking aside, both hobby and work (some of it) can get quite grimy and i was more that content with just a shower. But, SWMBO clapped her eyes on this bath and decided she must have it! Now the whole bathroom (and most of my life it seems) must revolve around this damn bath!!!! It is nice, but due to the amount of water it will use can only be used as a treat, the shower will be be the main "cleaning machine". The bathroom is quite compact and even though i say it myself, quite well layed out. The boat is wide beam (11 foot fatty!) so we have the room. K.

Thanks Proper Job. Thats what i was hoping to hear. My idea in that cae is to put the pump in the main line with the shower and then bring the bath in on a tee just in front of the pump. Woul there be any benefit from putting the connections on a valve type arrangement so i can cut down on the amount of air drawn in, say from the empty shower pipe when pumping out the bath? Cheers. Kayak.

Morning all. First a thanks to those who gave me advise last time I was asking about waste pumps for my showeer and bath. For the bath i have decided to go with a Whale Gulper, in-line with the waste pipe, on a manual switch. Im assuming that due to the speed of the pump and the fact that i have a little bath i wont be any hardship for me to hold my finger down on a button for a few seconds or have an on/off switch (and not forget to turn it off!). what i would really like though is to use this same pump to empty my shower. However, if I "tee'd" into the bath waste with the shower waste and due to the fact that the shower waste wouldn't supply water to the pump as fast as the bath would the pump start sucking air and spuluttering? The only outcome i can think of is to have a gulper for the bath and a sump box type pump ( i know that these have thier faults) for the shower as these have a float switch. Is it usual with a bath and shower to have two pumps or is there a way to rig just one up? Please help, i want to order my pumps! Many thanks. Kayak.