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Background I bought a new Refleks 66MW heater. This is the smallest heater which is wallmounted. Since I got it I had issues where I had insufficient fuel flow into the pot. Basicly, I could only keep the flame alive when using setting 6 - and then barely so. Tried all sorts of things, but ultimately had to send the heater back to Refleks (DK) who looked it over. They found nothing significant but did adjust the fuel screws on the regulator. I got it back and it was working like a charm. Setting 1 had become as expected, turning my 8m boat into subtropical temperatures in a matter of hours! The stove has been working perfectly for about one and a half weeks… untill two days ago. The issue We had a lot of wind over the weekend, which caused the flame to behave rather irregular. Didn’t pay much attention to it, but it may be significant as I now have a stove that does not work! By “not work” I mean that the flow of Diesel into the pot is insufficient to keep a normal flame going. This is irrespective of which setting I choose, as 1-6 doesn’t really appear to make a difference in the amount of diesel that reaches the chamber. Things to consider * This model does **not** allow one to open the regulator on the top (it is sealed shut) * The cleaning pin has of course been moved multiple times - it shows nothing. * I have not changed the setup (gravity fed with a filter in between) * I did put new diesel into the day tank (10 L) from a jerrycan which is kept outside. I’m unfortunately not sure if problems started after this, but it is possible. Does anyone have any idea what has caused this problem and how to solve it? Thanks for any help!

I was not sure where to mention this, but we have added a map to complement our Moorings and Marinas map that show the location of Pump-out, Elsan and Diesel services, I am sure it not complete, but so far we have 250+ sites in the database, many shared with the Moorings and Marinas map. https://floydtilla.co.uk/find-a-pump-out-need-diesel/ Again as normal let me know what I have missed or got wrong 🙂 Thanks David

Hello! We are looking at purchasing our second Narrowboat, one vessel that we have viewed has Hurricane Diesel Hot Water Central Heating System. When tested it was quite noisy, does anyone have experience with this type of system?

Hi there, I am looking to sell my two Kelvin TASC-8 diesel engines, from 1986. The box is not available, but all ancillary parts are available. 8 cylinders, 31 liter. 440 hp, rpm 1200. I thought there may be a collector out there interested, or a company who could find the parts useful. Does anyone know a place that would take these off my hands? Thank you for your suggestions.

Our boat in France has an ancient (1950s/1960s) Mercedes OM312 engine. We recently went out to the boat for the first time in 18 months (due to Covid etc.). Much to our surprise while it was dirty outside and needed a thorough clean it was mostly OK. In particular the solar panels have kept both Leisure and Starter batteries in good condition. The engine even started fairly easily but immediately tried to rev itself to pieces so I had to close it down immediately. I tried a few more times but it did just the same. So, presumably, the governor has got stuck. Does anyone here know if likely failure modes? I'm pretty sure it's a centrifugal governor and I do have a manual for the engine but if I can go back with a few pointers it would be helpful.

Hi all, I am a new boater, excited to be on the canals, enjoying the experience, and learning a lot in a short period of time. After a recent visit from a River Canal Rescue (RCR) engineer, who was very helpful, I found myself in need of a tank clean and an informal recommendation to use Tankbusters. As this seems to be an issue many boaters will come across at some point I thought an honest review of the Tankbusters service and what to expect from their pricing would be useful. I've seen a request on this forum for advice too. I called Bruce from Tankbusters and after a pleasant phone call ended with a quote for cleaning the fuel tank on my narrowboat which amounted to £275 for a "base clean and removal of contaminants", plus extras and the hire of their generator, filters and £0.22 per mile for travel. A few days later Bruce and his Wife arrived in their van. The actual tank cleaning was pleasant enough. We helped with the fetching and carrying of equipment from the van, the Tankbusters along with a very friendly fellow boater helped us pull my boat a short distance to the nearest bridge. Before Bruce started I asked how much the actual total would come to and in a joking way Bruce told me a story about a large river boat "at least twice the size of yours" whose tank he had recently cleaned "they had change from a grand" at the end of the process. This was given across with a joking reassuring tone the implication being "so yours will be nothing like that". With the £275 quote at the time I was assured that all would be well. During the cleaning conversation flowed, and I kept the tea and biscuits coming. The Tankbusters gave me a few samples of the nitrile gloves they were using, we used my power cable for their generator. For interest, the process was simple, a generator runs a pump connected to a long metal nozzle and a filter, sucks up the diesel, filters it and runs it back into the tank. This is repeated as required. At the end of the cleaning (approx two hours) I was given three diesel samples from my tank, a sample pre-cleaning, a sample post-cleaning and one Tankbusters considered as minimal requirements for any diesel we put into the tank. I was advised strongly against taking fuel from any work narrowboats on the canal and informed I should take the "minimum requirement" sample to any refueling station from here on in and not to refuel if the diesel was dirtier than the sample. When it came to starting the engine up, the Tankbusters sprayed a little quick-start to get things moving. We helped pack the gear away I was given an invoice for the job (which I confess I did not pay close enough attention to - it was getting dark and I wanted to move the boat to out of sight of the bridge to moor overnight. We said goodbye with the understanding we would take care of payment the next day. The next day I looked at the invoice for the service, this amounted to £679.70 The original quote was £275 The extras had totaled £407.70 Water filters (£192) 1 micron filter bags (£68) Fuel additive (£24) All year fuel additive (£18) Generator (£12.50) Mileage had been added at 0.55p a mile. (£90.20) I called Bruce to discuss the invoice, he insisted that I has misheard the cost per mile for travel, I had written this down during the quote conversation and certainly would not have been happy with 0.55 a mile. I also communicated that I believed he had over charged me for an extra set of filters (£94) which had not been used and also that I believed he had misrepresented the final cost of the job when he had given me the quote. He told me the invoice was correct and that he cannot give a full quote at the time of quoting as he does not know the full extent of the job before arriving. Personally I think it would be an honest better practice to give the price of the filters and a general impression of the final cost. Also to give the correct price for mileage. The next day Bruce called and informed me the 4 water filters were added accidentally to the invoice and he would subtract them from the total. I requested an updated invoice to reflect this which I would pay. Bruce demanded I paid the full amount before sending the invoice and after a back and forth of text messages Bruce agreed to produce the invoice. I pressed the point for an invoice as by this time I was concerned at the amount of trust I should have and I wanted to cover myself in case something more were to happen. Bruce emailed the invoice through, a total of £583.70 (still a £308,70 difference) & I paid. On a personal note, I would consider that if the 'extras' for a job are to exceed the quoted price to this extent then an explanation of these costs of those extras should be explained at the time of the quote. The jovial demeanour and impression over the phone in my case certainly did not reflect this and was, in my opinion a calculated decision. Now I must stress that this was my personal experience and I have no experience with any of the Tankbusters team beyond Bruce. Obviously it goes without saying that you are free to make your own choices. My sincere hope is that my experience is useful to anyone who is looking to have their tank cleaned in the future. As a new boater (and as such in a vulnerable position) I certainly would have benefited from this information and I would have made a very different decision at the time. It is probably obvious that I had a disappointing experience here but I have tried to be as objective as possible so other boaters might benefit from the experience either way. Happy boating!

https://www.rya.org.uk/newsevents/news/Pages/court-rules-against-HMRC-over-red-diesel.aspx Any thoughts?

Hi there, I've got a problem with my BMC 2.2 diesel engine that is giving me no end of trouble - any knowledge or advice would be much appreciated. Basically, the engine starts fine with the normal amount of smoke which dies down after a short while. The boat runs nicely, doesn't hunt or miss and will run for over an hour whilst moored up either just on idle or revving the engine during the process. The problem occurs when I go up river. After about 10 minutes of cruising at a slow speed the revs drop . If I push the throttle forward then the revs pick up again but after a while they drop again. This happens repeatedly until the throttle is fully open but the engine is only doing perhaps 1000 rpm. The engine will then stall and not restart. After about 10 mins the engine starts and all seems fine but again it will do the same after another short run up the river. At no point is the engine overheating and is maintaining about 60 degrees when warmed up. So far I've done the following. Replaced fuel pump and all filters. Emptied and cleaned tank and put in fresh diesel. Cleaned air filter. Replaced fuel pipe on inlet side. Checked and cleaned tank vent (and tried with fuel filler open) Checked for diesel bug. Bled (several times) filters, injection pump and injectors. I'm really stuck on what it could be. Any suggestions? Philip

Hello everyone! A friend of mine purchased a "Coventry Victor HDW" diesel flat engine. Unfortunately we do not have many information at all about this engine. I found some data on oldengine.org though. The engine's badge says HDA2, which implies it is an "A"ir-cooled engine. I believe the badge has been channged, as my friend's engine is definitely water-cooled. There are two parts, one on each side of the cylinders from which we do not know what they are for. Can anyone help? I attached pictures. Many thanks!

Hi All, So, after a year of living aboard a boat that only generates hot water via running the engine and slowly warming up water in the calorifier which is all over in a hot minute. Ive decided that its time for some home improvements, mainly in the guise of hot water. My initial thought was Webasto, but I read very recently that they don't like to work as just water heaters and need to do central heating as well. Lovely in times like this but I don't particularly want to be heating the boat via rads in the middle of the summer every time I want to do the washing up. Other thing is the quite high cost or purchase and what ever parts of the install I cannot do myself plus regular maintenance. Second thoughts a Morco gas boiler, but from what I see in the specs of the ones I've been looking at they only heat the water to 25C above the water temperature. Thats just not hot enough for most hot water requirements. Secondly I heard that BSS is wanting to phase out gas from boats so is investing is a gas boiler perhaps not wise. Immersion heater, to be honest I've done little to no research. Just the huge power output has put me off even considering it as an option. However knowing that my battery bank needs replacing and a new solar array is on the shopping list maybe it could work. I guess what I'm asking is what from the above is myth, what people are using, what you find the pros and cons of your set ups are and how much they have cost you to purchase/install. I've got a fair bit of cash to spend on the batteries the solar and the water heating I just want to make sure I spend it wisely and don't regret it in a few months years down the line! Look forward to hearing what you all have to say. Thanks in advance.

Hi all, So like the numpty newbie that I am smashed on the 24/7 heating to get through this cold snap and almost completely ran out of diesel. Resulting in the flame going out and the stove (a Morso squirrel conversion) sooting up quite heavily.. something thats never happened before. Any way I awaited a diesel delivery gave the stove a good clean out and froze to death for a couple of nights. I was hoping that a full tank of diesel would be all that was required to get some heat back in our lives. Not the case. The stove can be lit and burns a healthy blue flame but after about 20 minutes (can also hear a rather loud and fast dripping sound) the flame gradually lowers itself down the burner pot until its just a yellow flame burning away the remaining diesel in the hole where the fuel drips through until it burns out. Anyone have any ideas whats going on or what I can do to remedy this. I have used the cleaning rod, I have cleaned out the stove, paying attention to remove the coke from all of the little air holes in the burner pot. If I turn the regulator on I can physically watch the diesel entering the burner pot. The stove has been rock solid until running out of fuel, really need to get this sorted as its unbearably cold right now! Thanks in advance

Apologies for raising a topic that has possibly been often covered before but my forum search didn't help too much in relation to diesel fuelled stoves specifically. My Bubble diesel fuelled corner stove is a basic bit of kit with no sophisticated air /fuel mixture control to compensate for short flue or windy conditions. Currently it has typical boat flue/ chimney with a vane type cowl atop and it works reasonably well at high temperature settings but not so well at low settings. Snag is my boat is small and rarely has need of the high temp. settings. The main problem is of course the short flue/ chimney length and that gives problem of maintaining correct air/fuel ratio in anything other than a dead flat wind. There is talk of 'H' type cowl, vedette cowl, Rotor cowl, etc., etc. so many options but which is best suited for my application? Shall be grateful for comments.

I'm no expert on diesel installations (my previous boat was home built with a petrol engine modded to run on paraffin!) but now I've got one I'm trying to understand it. I believe the normal fuel line set up has a return from the common rail or high-pressure pump back to the filter and then to the tank, the reasoning being that the fuel injectors react more quickly than a pump can so it's better to have excess pump capacity and return the excess fuel than to have the pressure drop when the injectors want more. My boat doesn't have any of that, just a single fuel line via the filter to the pump. I guess that because it's an old engine (Perkins 100 series) without any fancy ECU set up the injectors just squirt what the pump sends. Could also be that it was originally a petrol engined cruiser and the diesel was fitted by a cowboy, so I'd like your opinions. Is it OK as it is?

I've just bought an old Trentcraft GRP cruiser with a Perkins 100 series 3 cyl diesel engine. It has a heat exchanger that incorporates the exhaust manifold and uses canal/river water to cool it (and spits it out of the exhaust). There's a separate clean water supply via a header tank on top of the heat exchanger and a conventional (ie car type) water pump driven by vee belt. There's a bottom hose from the heat exchanger to the water pump but whereas on (old) cars you get a thermostat housing on top of the cylinder head and a top hose to the rad on this there's nothing like that. I assume the flow is through the cylinder head straight into the heat exchanger. According to a downloaded manual (which isn't very clear) there should be a thermostat behind the water pump, but the temp gauge varies from about 40°C on a canal to 70°C going upstream on a river so I suspect the thermostat is either jammed or missing. I'll strip it down at the end of the year and check. There are two tapping points on top of the water pump, currently plugged with threaded blanking plugs. I would like to fit a small calorifer but can't figure our where to connect to. Are the two tapped holes on the pump usable as flow and return? If so which is which, is there some way to find out? Or should I take hot water from one of those (which?) and return to a tee in the bottom hose? Any advice anyone?

I'm afraid I have stupidly run out of diesel while running the engine. Of course it shuddered to a halt after running a little hesitantly for a while, and the dip test confirms the merest hint of diesel. Annoyingly, tomorrow I was going to fit the new fuel filters. Bearing all that in mind I wonder what procedure I now ought to follow - ie while the system presumably has air in it, could that be the best or worst time to do the fuel filters? It's a canaline 42. I'm off for a jerry can of diesel anyway

Hi All, I have a ford 1.8xld with Bosch alternator, also the boat has a smith industries tacho, which has never been connected. I have searched and found links from other sites, as I understand it the Tacho is wired to ground and to the 'W' terminal of the alternator. See pics. As you can see from the alternator picture, the 'W' terminal appears to be missing, I am assuming that I will have to connect my own terminal her, probably by soldering. Is this correct ? The second picture is from the back of the Tacho. Assuming this is the wiring diagram, single ind is a single alternator setup, dual ind, for a dual alternator setup. So if I am reading correctly, 'W' connector from alternator, to pin 1 of Tacho, pin 2 of Tacho to Ground. And now if I wanted to connect the second Alternator, then the same for pins 3 and 4 ? If any one can just confirm or deny, been a while ( 18 years ) since working on this type of equipment.

Hi All, I am in the process of buying my first narrowboat, 46ft and it has a really rubbish wood burner that I would like to rip out and put in a new bubble diesel stove. The little 4kw corner one. What I am struggling with is approximate costs for retro fitting one. Has anybody done this and what were the rough costs involved. I know it's really dependant on the boat etc, but I I am mainly wondering how much to budget. Not including the stove are we talking £500? £1,000 £2,000 etc. I don't currently have a dedicated diesel tank, just the main one. Any help appreciated.

Hi I'm having problems with the gravity feed to my diesel stove. It is currently fed from the main diesel tank at the stern whilst the stove is right at the front of the boat. I have thought about having the fuel 'polished' but this is quite expensive and I'm not convinced it would cure the problem. A more permanent solution would be to fit a small separate diesel tank somewhere in the well deck with a simple gravity feed. Something like a 40 litre tank would do as I doubt I'm getting through more than 30 litres per week. Has anyone done this either DIY or getting a bloke in? If so, can you provide some advice and potential costs please? I've found some tanks online that aren't too expensive, but it's the fitting I'm not sure of - especially in terms of the BSS implications. Many thanks Adam

Hi. Just back from looking at a boat and thinking of making an offer. However, this particular boat has its' fuel tank in a thick plastic container on the stern deck. Haven't seen that before and wondered if anyone else had? Should I be concerned about this? Is it hazardous in any way? Also, is fuel theft a problem on our waterways? Any advice much appreciated.

Hello, My Canaline 38 unexpectedly cut out last week. Through following instructions of a competent mechanic we filled up the tank with diesel, drained water out of both fuel filters, changed two fuel filters, pulled through fuel the diesel until there was zero water content and then tried to start the engine. It's turning over but not starting. Any thoughts? Thank you Jo

Hi I had my Lockgate diesel-fuelled stove serviced a couple of months ago, but have been unable to test it due to an apparent blockage in the fuel line. Now that the weather's beginning to turn, I need to sort it out. It has been suggested that I get a simple pump and install it inline, close to the stove. This will allow me to run it very briefly until I can see fuel entering the bottom of the stove, then flick it off again. I'm not sure, without removing wooden panels, whether I have a 12v supply near the stove but I definitely have 240v as there is a wall light right next to it. So, I'm thinking that 240v will be fine, especially as I will only want to run it for a few seconds at a time and when I'm on the cut, this won't draw too much from the battery bank. Has anyone else done this before? Can you recommend a pump? Is this a good idea?? Many thanks

Dear Forum, First post! We are fitting out our boat and want to replace the solid fuel stove for a diesel heater. Lockgate/Morso Squirrel and Kabola Old dutch seem to be our favourites in terms of design and I hear they are both reasonably reliable. Problem: I can't find a single chandlery, place, person who sells them. Lockgate is not responding Kabola.nl doesn't list them kuranda marine - kabola's distributor in UK - only list the OD7 which seems a bit much for our 40ft as it has 7kw. Could anyone advise where to get either of the above? I am leaning towards the Old Dutch 4. So I would be super happy if someone could point me in a directin. Thank you Forum. Phelan

Hi all, Long story short, I had my pump reconditioned some months back. It's always ran like crap at idle but luckily on Saturday a mechanic came out and sorted the timing out and it sounds great now, not perfect but good enough without getting the pump off and using a timing tool. Anyway, the pipes that come out of the back of the pump seem to be leaking around the nut, hard to tell as I've ran out of TP and Kitchen Roll but it would make sense as these were slackened to turn the pump. Is it just a case of removing the throttle plate and making sure they're all tightened up or are there any washers in there that may have likely perished?