Hedgepig

Success at last! Could've done with seeing your post last night as it took me aaaages to find the li'l critters! Black elbows and a few bruises later, my stove's burning a treat A few final questions: Do I need to use the collar/ring that seems to sit on the ridge above the bottom row of the larger air holes or just the catalyst (haven't heard back from Lockgate yet), and does anyone know how much diesel these stoves get through? I've a 45 gallon separate tank for it. Cheers, all!

Looks like yet more scraping around for me this evening! I *will* find these pesky small holes... thanks for the encouragement! Did you find many?

Think you can get them direct from Lockgate. Something like £6.95 per pack, including postage...

Interesting - thanks Denboy. I found some small holes behind the larger holes on the side of the drum and cleared those out with a drill bit. Also checked around the very bottom but could only find the main inlet and the rest of the drum seemed very smooth - if there are any air holes down there they're proving tricksy to find but I'll have another peer. Will also see what Mike has to say - thanks for the heads up!

Many thanks, Koukouvagia! It's not a Refleks (more like a Morso Squirrel) but I think it may have a washable fuel filter at the bottom of the regulator so will take it out and try that - do I need to use any particular cleaning product or just plain ol' washing up liquid? Will also get some of those cleaning tablets as it was out of use for a few years... Thanks again!

Hi folks Well, I finally got round to re-installing my (old) Hestia Lockgate diesel stove last week and have been enjoying the luxury of waking up to a toasty boat! Thing is, I'm not 100% sure if I've got it set up right as didn't have any instructions - it seems to be running fine but the flame is very orange and a tad sooty, particularly on the lower settings. I just re-attached the fuel line, tightened the compression fittings and placed the stack pipe and flue where they'd obviously been originally. There are 2 bends in the chimney (sharp angles so not fra off the vertical), just after it leaves the top of the stove, then it's a straight run up through the roof and up to the flue. I cleaned all of the gunk out. There's a central 'catalyst' (cylinder of metal mesh) but I'm not sure if the open end should be uppermost or the other end which has a flat metal plate in the centre. There's also a metal ring/collar that seems to sit on a rim just above the bottom row of burner holes. Not sure! The fuel just drips out of the inlet hole onto the bottom of the drum and burns from there. It's gravity fed rather than pumped. If any of you have a similar Lockgate stove and have any top tips or advice I'd love to hear from you! Maybe it's running fine and I'm just being a bit paranoid, but still! Thanks in advance and here's to a warm and snug winter! Hedgepig

'Eh? They sound ingenious - whatever they are!!

Hello! Yes, it is higher than the top of the engine and mounted to the wall, with a pressure cap on top. It has a line showing the max fill level and the hole's appeared an inch or so beneath this - have always kept it topped up plus plenty of antifreeze (50% ish) since we bought Grub. Do you think I could have a go at fixing it with some metal putty in the interim (although likely to ping out after a while due to the pressure) or is it simply a case of draining the header tank, removing the jubilee clips/pipes and brackets and replacing with a new (plastic) one? I'd say the existing one holds a few litres.

Hi Alan Apologies for my scant description! It's a metal tank, remote from the engine and bracketed to the engine room wall, to the right of the engine. It looks accessible enough and the pipes all look sound. I'd post a pic but am at w*rk at the mo! Cheers! Hedgepig

Morning all Yesterday a small hole mysteriously appeared in our coolant header tank - a few inches below the max fill level. As we were tinkering about in the engine room we caught it before too much water had escaped, but on close inspection we couldn't see any rust/gunk around the sides of the hole - it looks really clean, more like a puncture... As we only bought Grub in January I guess there's a chance that the hole was already there and had been cleverly plugged so that both ourselves and the surveyor missed it. Could this be possible and what's the likely cause? She's been running fine although we haven't been out for a few months. There was a calorifier but it was disconnected before we bought her. We're going on a 3 week round trip up to Warwickshire in July (can't wait!) so am wondering if it's fixable in the short-term or if it's better to get and fit a new header tank (ours is a Ford). Either way, is it quite straight forward for a newbie like me to have a go at? All suggestions/handy hints welcome! Thanks so much! Hedgepig

Took our boat (Grub) up to Bull's Bridge in early January for the dry dock and survey before we bought her - Steve (Eddie's son) was great and did a good job on the blacking - yes, it's quite an old and characterful dock but he's certainly knowledgeable and capable. He's built boats up there and training to become a surveyor so reckon you'll have no problems. He's a really nice guy too! Hope it all goes well! Hedgepig