Diesel air heater not firing up.

[Mad Harold]

Heater wouldn't fire up.The fan was turning,the battery was well charged,the fuel pump was working and also the glowplug.The LCD screen showed error code E10,which was unhelpful as the handbook only goes up to error E8.

Removing the inlet and exhaust from the unit,about a cupful of black water and diesel ran out of the exhaust.The diesel from the heater trying to start,but the water was puzzling untill I remembered going down a couple of locks ago,as the locks were emptying,jets of water were squirting out of the brickwork.The exhaust outlet must have unluckily been in line with one of these jets.

On re-assembling the exhaust,the heater fired up normally.

An unusual fault,but one to be aware of in future.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, Mad Harold said:

Heater wouldn't fire up.The fan was turning,the battery was well charged,the fuel pump was working and also the glowplug.The LCD screen showed error code E10,which was unhelpful as the handbook only goes up to error E8.

Removing the inlet and exhaust from the unit,about a cupful of black water and diesel ran out of the exhaust.The diesel from the heater trying to start,but the water was puzzling untill I remembered going down a couple of locks ago,as the locks were emptying,jets of water were squirting out of the brickwork.The exhaust outlet must have unluckily been in line with one of these jets.

On re-assembling the exhaust,the heater fired up normally.

An unusual fault,but one to be aware of in future.

Maybe a swan neck in the exhaust 

[Alan de Enfield]

Maybe just re-install it so that it is sloping downwards.

[Mad Harold]

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Maybe a swan neck in the exhaust 

 

1 hour ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Maybe just re-install it so that it is sloping downwards.

Both sound suggestions but, the heater is in the undersink cupboard on the floor about two foot below the exhaust and air inlet  hull fittings which are just under the gunwale.

There is not enough clearance from the hull fittings to the underside of the worktop for a swan neck.

Thank you both for your suggestions,but I am going to make a couple of suitable bungs for the outlets  when locking and hope I remember to remove them before turning the heater on.

This is the first time this has happened in the two and a half years the heater has been installed so it is obviously a fairly rare occurance.

[PCSB]

Could you fit a cowl turning through 90 degrees and pointing down over the exhaust - it would have to be quite small of course otherwise could get knocked off ...

[Mad Harold]

2 hours ago, PCSB said:

Could you fit a cowl turning through 90 degrees and pointing down over the exhaust - it would have to be quite small of course otherwise could get knocked off ...

I had thought of that,but having seen these type of outlets on other boats for fridges squashed against the hull,I decided not to do this.

I think the simplest solution is a couple of bungs in the inlet and exhaust hull fittings when the heater is not in use,and perhaps a warning notice on the control panel reading,"Have you removed the bungs"?

[David Mack]

5 hours ago, Mad Harold said:

Both sound suggestions but, the heater is in the undersink cupboard on the floor about two foot below the exhaust and air inlet  hull fittings which are just under the gunwale.

There is not enough clearance from the hull fittings to the underside of the worktop for a swan neck.

How high are the skin fittings above the waterline? It may be worth moving them down a little so that you can fit swan necks in.

Edited July 13, 2021 by David Mack

[cuthound]

19 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Maybe a swan neck in the exhaust 

 

Bluddy swans, poking their beaks in where they are not wanted! 😂🤣

[Tracy D'arth]

If any changes to the air inlet or exhaust could be construed as modifications to the original heater design you may be sticking your neck in a noose if anything goes wrong.

 

I doubt it would fire up with bungs in so perhaps that would be a fail safe adaptation.

[Mad Harold]

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If any changes to the air inlet or exhaust could be construed as modifications to the original heater design you may be sticking your neck in a noose if anything goes wrong.

 

 

Good point!