nicknorman

It’s a little confusing but I think bottom mid-right “glow relay” is misnamed. It and the 1 second timer relay bottom left all seems to be part of the stop solenoid, the clue being in the 2 stop solenoid connections “pull” and “hold”. IMO when the starter is activated the “glow relay” puts voltage on the “pull” part of the start solenoid, which will be a low resistance high current high power winding to move the solenoid into the run position. After a second, the timer operates to disconnect this high current “pull” and just leave the lower current “hold” winding operating. All this to avoid excessive power drain and overheating of the solenoid. The actual glow plug relay (near the top) is unrelated to all that stuff.

That diagram is just the engine side of things. There will also be a wiring diagram for the panel. The grey wire is obviously important as you say. Worth bearing in mind that power for it is routed via the panel and ignition switch. So the flow of power is from the battery via starter solenoid, via F2, via the brown wire, via the multi-way connector, up to the ignition switch on the panel, back down via the multi-way connector, via the grey wire to the stop solenoid etc. So there is plenty of scope for bad connections! The multi-way connector is renown for being problematic due to corrosion etc, so that is perhaps the best place to start. Unplug it and check the contacts for corrosion. Also check the fuse F2 as sometimes they can corrode too. As for the glow plug light, it’s difficult to suggest a cause as the panel wiring diagram, which includes the light, is not shown.

OK fair enough. It’s just that eg your first paragraph that I’ve quoted above seems to imply something abnormal - else why would you have written it. But of course if the generator has stopped for any reason, the inline RCD will trip because it has become unpowered.

There are some in line RCD devices that need power to stay on. You say “non-latching in-line RCD” which implies it’s not one of those, but I struggle to see how an RCD can trip when there is no current flowing through it. You do mention starting the genny and then setting the RCD. Can you set the RCD to on and THEN start the genny? If not I suggest that the inline RCD needs power to remain set to on. In which case not surprising that it trips off again when power is removed (generator turned off).

I would suggest waiting until the tank is empty before cutting into the pipe.

The plastic filter is on the inlet to the pump, so if you didn’t turn off the water stopcock then when the filter cracked, all the water will come out of the tank. For future reference, what I do on leaving the boat is to turn off the gate valve at the tank exit, then disconnect the pump inlet. I then run the pump (which sucks in air) and open the taps to push out as much water as possible. Because the lower you are in an unheated boat in winter the warmer it is (because the canal bottom never gets that cold) any water lying in the pipes at the bottom of the boat is unlikely to freeze badly and conversely things higher up eg shower hoses and valves are more prone to freezing. So I always disconnect the shower hose from the taps and drain it, push air through the shower valve etc..

Can you access the point where the pipe leaves the tank going to the pump? I would have thought that was a more likely source of leak. Could be wrong of course!

It’s worth mentioning that the top of the flue should be able to slide a bit in the deck collar as otherwise thermal expansion of the flue will put a big force on the top of the stove and maybe crack it. Also note in the envirograf instructions, no flame to be playing directly on to it. So you use glass stove rope to pack the bottom of the flue pipe / stove interface. The silicone goes on top of that to seal and look tidy.

It’s basically fire cement vs high temperature silicone. A lot of people use fire cement but IMO it only lasts a year then it cracks. It is terrible stuff! I use high temperature silicone which lasts as new until for some reason you need to remove the flue. Ie probably 10 years. This stuff. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/251723362373 The only people who prefer fire cement are people who have never tried the envirograf silicone

In house world you don't have a smoke detector in the kitchen, you have a heat detector. Trouble with narrowboats is that kitchen and living space tend to be one and the same.

You didn’t explicitly say it so I’m going to: many of the above topics are different within the confines of a narrow boat vs a house, which is why there is a separate ticket for marine lpg

Ah OK thanks for the clarification. Back to plan A! I've thought more about it and I think you are right. Put that on your mantlepiece!😱

I was thinking that as I typed. So I guess it must have been a nationwide thing assuming Scotland and Englandshire’s grids were connected back in the 1970s. But they did have the clock and he did talk about the cumulative time error.

A friend of mine worked in one of the hydroelectric control rooms in the Scottish Highlands and gave me the tour. Turbine machines would be taken on and off line according to demand and it had exactly the phase meters that you describe. The other thing it had was a domestic mains clock - driven by a synchronous motor which was normal at the time. As the load varied the frequency would change slightly and they would compare the synchronous clock to real time. I think the allowed short term error was quite big (as in a few seconds) but of course the long term error had to be zero, Of course you were there! After all you had just invented electricity and designed the research lab! So in one post you said same voltage, in another you said different voltage. Which post was wrong?

No it definitely isn't trying to generate a slightly higher voltage, it is as I said all about pushing the phase. The phase doesn't actually change significantly of course. You nearly touched on it when you originally said "What it actually does is to try generate the same voltage* and phase as the incoming mains but also dump in-phase current into the load to generate power. " * make your mind up, either the same voltage or, as you said later, a slightly higher voltage. It is the dumping of in phase current as you say. But that is done not by increasing the peak voltage, but by adding the current slightly ahead of the phase - what I would call pushing the phase. It is of course "in phase" because the phase is the summation of the shore power and the inverter power, and with the low circuit resitances only the tiniest of phase differences is needed to radically alter the balance of currents.