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Electrical issues - please point me in the right direction.


MartinW

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Well that will be a lot simpler. Thanks. Someone who knows the boat has told me that the original electrical install was done by some very skilled woodworkers. I think that once I get to my mooring with a proper shoreline I can start to go through it properly, looking at LED lighting instead of what look like about 20 B&Q downlighters, and setting out proper cable-runs and systems. The ceiling will be coming-down anyway so that will be a good opportunity to pop in some decent conduit and check what's there now.  

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1 hour ago, MartinW said:

Thanks as always for that advice. There is a three position switch 'Shoreline', 'off' and 'Inverter' so does that count as a master-switch or do you mean the red plastic cut-off switches?

 

No that is 240 volt AC, leave it alone

 

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I notice that the 'load' positive is on the same battery as 'load'negative. If there is enough play in the positive 'load' cable it would be much better to move it to the positive terminal on the furthest battery. Best practice is to take the load from opposite ends of a battery bank

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Thanks for spotting that. I have seen the postings about the different ways of connecting up batteries. I aim to get stuck in to optimising it all once the weather gets a little warmer and drier and I get the boat somewhere more practical. 

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I have a further question i(n order to distract myself from the composting controversy) which revolves around the letters 'S' and 'E' drawn on my 240v trip board. What do they stand for? I realise that the easy option would be to switch everything on and then see what goes off when the trip is flipped but that isn't practicable at the moment as I am about 30 miles away. the 240volt equipment fitted includes a microwave and lighting but there are also std household sockets (The 'S'?) I also realise that the person who did the original marking might have just had a personal code that only means something to them. Ingenious suggestions are also welcome but I really would like to know!

240v fuse boardcropped.JPG

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It might mean something. However  as that is set up,  unless you have another MCB in line,  you are relying on the bollard you are connected to for overall over current protection.

The 25 amp RCD needs to be replaced with a 16amp RCBO.  The 20amp MCB is OK on 2.5mm cable but a 16amp MCB would be preferable.

Sorry I am just being picky 

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16 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

S for  sockets? 20A MCB would suggest.

E for ?  6A MCB may suggest lights?

 

From previous use?

 

Good spot - I'd missed that.

 

I'm sticking with circuit 3 and circuit 5, but I'm now saying that circuit 3 is lights and circuit 5 is sockets.

 

13 minutes ago, davidg said:

My money would be on someone who can't spell immersion (heater)

 

I've seen "emersion heater" on fuseboxes before, but I am sure Tracy nailed it with lights and sockets.

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35, very good! - I tend to agree with Sockets and Lights. I'll have a look at what kind of trips they are before replacing them as I have been caught out before with obsolete types of fitting-rails. I must have a good look at the cauliflower (It is under the bed) to see if it has an immersion fitted but 6amps sounds low for an element.

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1 minute ago, MartinW said:

I must have a good look at the cauliflower (It is under the bed) to see if it has an immersion fitted but 6amps sounds low for an element.

 

Lots of boats have a 1kW immersion heater fitted not a 3kW one.  6A is enough for a 1.5kW or smaller element.

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6 minutes ago, TheBiscuits said:

 

Lots of boats have a 1kW immersion heater fitted not a 3kW one.  6A is enough for a 1.5kW or smaller element.

Thanks, it looks like I'll get  across tomorrow so I'll try and have a check, then. Thank you.

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Well, as usual you were all right. I first took the battery leads off to try and optimise the wiring but sadly they weren't long enough. whilst they were off I installed the cables for the charger and fed them back through into the electrical space.

I found the ring main and installed a socket for the charger. at the same time, Looking at the cauliflower under the bed showed what looks very much like an Immersion with a sticker that says 1kw and that leads back to the trip with the 'E' on ('eater' or 'emmersion') on which it is the only load.

Now I can start to trace back all the pipework to see how it is plumbed out but I am somewhat confused that I don't have a separate switch for the 'emmersion.' I can only think that the previous owners flipped the trip when they need it to be 'on'. The only control is just on on/off for the Mikuni. The skin tank is completely on its own but two other pipes from the engine run into the boat to the flow and return for the radiators (and have a header tank) and two more from the Mikuni do the same but go to the calorifier. There is also a header tank on the cauli. Is it possible that the mikuni pumps its water through the central heating as well as heating the water or am I over-thinking a simple system which only heats water with the immersion and the engine and mikuni do the rest? 

I appreciate that it is hard to work all this out without better pictures than these so if there is any aspect that a different view would help with please ask and I'll take those next time I'm over. 

cauliflower (7).JPG

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yes, it was upside down! Doh! Two of the four pipes heading backwards are the radiator flow and return and the other (Top) two are to and from the mikuni. This picture shows the pipes going forward from the calorifier to the heating, kitchen hot (along the wall), shower hot (on its own). There is a drain-off as well which I think is the one resting on 1229649423_cauliflower(6)resized.JPG.7740d8bfa5c6d97c2ed5c2c53bcf0ba7.JPGthe ballast brick!

This might make it clearer

cauliflower (5)forward reduced.JPG

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37 minutes ago, MartinW said:

Well, as usual you were all right. I first took the battery leads off to try and optimise the wiring but sadly they weren't long enough. whilst they were off I installed the cables for the charger and fed them back through into the electrical space.

I found the ring main and installed a socket for the charger. at the same time, Looking at the cauliflower under the bed showed what looks very much like an Immersion with a sticker that says 1kw and that leads back to the trip with the 'E' on ('eater' or 'emmersion') on which it is the only load.

Now I can start to trace back all the pipework to see how it is plumbed out but I am somewhat confused that I don't have a separate switch for the 'emmersion.' I can only think that the previous owners flipped the trip when they need it to be 'on'. The only control is just on on/off for the Mikuni. The skin tank is completely on its own but two other pipes from the engine run into the boat to the flow and return for the radiators (and have a header tank) and two more from the Mikuni do the same but go to the calorifier. There is also a header tank on the cauli. Is it possible that the mikuni pumps its water through the central heating as well as heating the water or am I over-thinking a simple system which only heats water with the immersion and the engine and mikuni do the rest? 

I appreciate that it is hard to work all this out without better pictures than these so if there is any aspect that a different view would help with please ask and I'll take those next time I'm over. 

cauliflower (7).JPG

You would only want it on while on shore supply

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update for today, Thursday. I fired up the generator and it ran for four hours with the charger on 'High' 'Recondition' mode. (Like the instructions say, It flashed for an hour and then changes mode. Through all that time the generator was working hard. At that point rain stopped play at about the same time I ran out of petrol, so I'll refill my can and repeat the process, hopefully on Saturday. I took the opportunity to try out most of the 12volt circuits. most worked except the radio which runs off a four-fuse block so I pulled the fuse to find it and it's contacts white with fuzz and in need of replacement, which I will also do. The new bilge-pump uses 28mm ID hose so I've ordered some of that and a reducer to the original 20mm which I will place as close to the skin outlet as possible to keep flow restriction to a minimum. Will this discovery of disasters ever end? probably not, but at least I'm not under any illusions about that.

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In balmy spring sunshine today I replaced the bilge pump and linked the flow and return for the now defunct Mikuni together .so I can still use the engine or Immersion to heat water  until I decide what to replace it with.

I fatally removed one loose tile from the shower wall and ended up pulling off the rest (mostly with my fingers). They were tiled onto OSB board which had been treated but still wasn't very good at hanging on to the tiles. Now I have that board out I can get to the space between the shower tray and the hull to check for rot (amazingly, it was fine). The shower tray is connected to the Gulper by flexible pipe. I should dearly like to connect the basin into the shower drain system as it's current skin fitting is too near the water for peace of mind (!00mm) I wonder if anyone does a multi-inlet box WITHOUT a pump in it so that I could connect shower, basin and gulper into it? I could place it by the Gulper (Under the bed) so it could be serviceable. 

whale(5).JPG

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34 minutes ago, MartinW said:

I should dearly like to connect the basin into the shower drain system as it's current skin fitting is too near the water for peace of mind (!00mm) I wonder if anyone does a multi-inlet box WITHOUT a pump in it so that I could connect shower, basin and gulper into it? I could place it by the Gulper (Under the bed) so it could be serviceable. 

 

 

Yes they do but they can be prone to leaks that fill up your bilge with smelly water.

 

If the skin fitting is above the water line and the pipework to the basin is either ridging or hose in good condition and double clipped then even for a hire boat its perfectly legal BSS wise. The basin rim is almost certainly 10" 250mm above the waterline. For extra peace of mind see if you can fit a shut-off valve to the skin fitting.

 

I think sump boxes are a bad idea and you can get basin water running into the shower tray.

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